Putting a PC together is a pretty easy thing right? We just slap a few pieces of hardware into an enclosure and then flip the switch. If nothing came out of the box Dead On Arrival, we'll be rewarded with the single beep POST. I think actually picking which parts to piece together can be pretty nerve-racking. It gets even a little more tense when you're trying to build a gaming rig.

    If money is no object, you can just pick the parts with the best stats and the chances are good that you'll end up with a pretty cool rig. Truth is, there is almost always a budget to consider, so the pieces have to be picked carefully. Most buyers will be looking for both longevity (as much as can be reasonably achieved) and performance. The choice in CPU is largely decided upon by budget, but most enthusiasts also take into account the CPU's overclocking potential. Which brings us to the motherboard.  We'll need a motherboard that can deliver the goods; gaming performance, overclocking potential, and some longevity.

     One of the most popular motherboards that fits into that category is the Asus P5N-E SLI.  It is an Intel socket 775 mainstream nVidia 650i SLI chipset motherboard. While Intel chipsets certainly get all the attention for their overclocking abilities, gamers who favor nVidia based graphics cards can not use an Intel chipset if they wish to utilize the Scalable Link Interface. Yes, we all know that Intel Chipsets can run the AMD (or should we still call them ATI?) Crossfire technology which is to ATI what SLI is to nVidia. nVidia video cards hold the majority among my personal gaming buddies, and I know a few more online gamers who just wont' put anything but an nVidia based video card in their rig. So that limits their choices if they want to run their cards in dual.

     nVidia has put a few spins on the 600 series chipset and the 650i is in their third tier offering. They maintain a full technical spread that compares/contrasts all the differences between their chipsets, but as is the norm in the computer industry, the higher the model number  (680, 650, and 630) the more loaded the feature set.