The P8P67 mb has two sets of Sata 6Gb/s each with two ports. OCZ ssd with the OS is #1 boot order... and that is connected into the Intel 6Gb/s sata port on the MB The Marvell sata has two ports on the MB and both are empty at this time. They are a data only sata connection from what I know used for raid setups. I have not setup any raid at this time. I am still working things out . It is the Marvell sata that is searched for and missing during bootup. http://www.marvell.com/storage/system-solutions/assets/Marvell-88SE91XX-Host-Controllers.pdf
Going back to how you can lose pci slots to video cards I will post two images of my setup that shows this. I don't even have some of the bigger cards. They can take up a lot of MB space.
My computer "guru," former dell builder, and owner of a gaming cafe and repair business, told be that the 295 cards will be the way to go. He wasn't happy at all with the 8400 gs cards as he said he had bad experiences with them. He said they'd be perfect for my NON 3D neccesary charting/data, but said I'd be happier with the 295's. Guess I need to hook him and scat up as they both seem to think alike. He DID build an ibuypower rig for me with the i7-2600k cpu, a 1000 watt power supply, water cooled (I really don't need water cooled imo unless you guys say otherwise), 1TB, ssd, 4 2.0 x16's, etc., for $1,067 without the cards at his price, looks like I'm going to hit the buy button Tuesday unless you guys know better. He wants $150 to install the cards, and make sure the system is running correctly. I can't beat $129each for 8 21'5" lcd backlight monitors plus the little bit I paid for the 2 quad Ergotron stands when I had the office setup built. I'm always open to suggestions though.
$150 to install the cards? Takes 5 minutes. Just plug in the cards and run the driver... and you don't need 1000W PSU unless you're running dual, high performance gaming cards.
I myself don't want a water cooled gadget (more component, more failure)... if the water pipe leaks down the road... it's your computer... But ibuypower.com is giving out one to you. That's why I left it in there. It's your call. You can certainly take it out. 1000W is absolutely overcooked. But it's okay. Just no need to buy more wattage. $150 to put in the 4 cards? I thought he was going to charge you $150 to put a system together from parts?!?! Now he takes your $150 just the same, without the harder work? Oh, yeah... he took our input and punched them in again at ibuypower.com for you. That's gotta worth his time. Anyway, it's your money. Spend it.
That's how I took our conversation on the phone. For 150, he needs to put the monitors on the stands, run the cables, and stop by everyday for the next week checking on the system. Lol! I'll probably try to do this myself. It doesn't sound like something I could screw up. And, agreed, I don't need the water cooling. I think Scat is right about the power supply. 800-850 max?
Just got off the phone with mr. computer. lol Said he'd do the cards for free. That helps He wants to build systems for several others in my office, and maybe that's where the "free" card installation is coming from?
Some of those "watt configurators" presume you'll be running full tilt on every component all of the time. Today's modern computers run about 150W at idle.. and near-idle is where most trading rigs all day long. Fanless workstation video cards take only about 15-30W each, so they don't add much load. The only time you'll need a bigger PSU is when you're gaming with powerful video cards and your CPU is crankin'. 500-600W is plenty for a trading rig... even with 4 video cards. PSUs are not something to skimp on. You don't have to spend a lot, but go with a quality name brand... Corsair, Thermaltake, Seasonic, Zalman, Cooler Master, others. Normal price should be $80-$120 for a good one.. often there are rebates and sales... so you could easily get a good one for $50 net.