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Thread ID: 89696	2008-05-09 00:47:00	New o/c SLI motherboard	LOWTEC (7821)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
667474	2008-05-09 00:47:00	after making a fool out of myself by buying a crossfire mobo when I really wanted an SLI one I now need to swap motherboards after only just finishing my new rig . :blush: :blush: So I'm after an SLI board for a gaming pc with good overclocking features . I was considering the XFX nForce 680i LT but I can get the Asustek P5N32-E SLI which is about $330 here for the same price of just under 200 (NZD) from the states . so as they are both based on nvidias 680i technology and have similar features, it would seem the asus board is the best deal simply because its worth more? However I dont like the fact that both of these boards despite being more expensive than my current asus P5K-C only support up to ddr 800 ram which is what im using now but I would like to try and future proof my purchase as much as you ever can with new pc parts . sorry for the huge post but finally to my question: can anyone reccomend to me a good board to go with given my requirements above? price is not so much of an issue but say nothing above 350 . thank you	LOWTEC (7821)
667475	2008-05-09 01:02:00	Nvidia are the only chipsets that support SLI with an Intel cpu, and nvidia are quite expensive. You say you want to future proof, however you would therefore need to buy the latest chipset mobo which would cost over $400 at least. Do you have 2 graphic's cards? If not why bother, there are so many great single graphic cards that really, unless you have a huge 30' monitor, SLI is not really required...2cents	SolMiester (139)
667476	2008-05-09 01:16:00	I'm running SLI at home on my gaming box Though it came with a rather high price tag i'm very happy with my Asus Striker 2 Formula motherboard that forms the base of my gaming machine. Supports up to 3 Nvidia graphics cards though currently its only housing 2xAsus En8800GT 512mb in SLI, mainly cause project "throw money at my gaming machine" ran out of money so i had to stick with the power supply i had which couldnt handle any extra load from a 3rd card and triple SLI wouldnt work with GT cards anyway. it was about $450+gst from memory, and required me to buy some better ram but its been nice and stable and the little LCD "whats BIOS up to" display that it has as one of its features is pretty nifty. I have a Q6600 sitting in there and it quite happy to be clocked, though i tend not to bother unless i get bored. 4gb ram in there though its not all being used due to my 32bit OS hasnt given me any issues either. Runs Crysis really well using a mix of looks good and handles well settings. and laughs at the other games i like to play. no hesitation recommending the striker 2 formula as its got a ton of stuff you can play with on it and seems stable enough. *EDIT* Didnt read OP post with price limit, but I highly recommend spending the extra $$ and getting the best mobo you can, its worth it.	kersonan (13264)
667477	2008-05-09 01:41:00	I'm running SLI at home on my gaming box Though it came with a rather high price tag i'm very happy with my Asus Striker 2 Formula motherboard that forms the base of my gaming machine. Supports up to 3 Nvidia graphics cards though currently its only housing 2xAsus En8800GT 512mb in SLI, mainly cause project "throw money at my gaming machine" ran out of money so i had to stick with the power supply i had which couldnt handle any extra load from a 3rd card and triple SLI wouldnt work with GT cards anyway. it was about $450+gst from memory, and required me to buy some better ram but its been nice and stable and the little LCD "whats BIOS up to" display that it has as one of its features is pretty nifty. I have a Q6600 sitting in there and it quite happy to be clocked, though i tend not to bother unless i get bored. 4gb ram in there though its not all being used due to my 32bit OS hasnt given me any issues either. Runs Crysis really well using a mix of looks good and handles well settings. and laughs at the other games i like to play. no hesitation recommending the striker 2 formula as its got a ton of stuff you can play with on it and seems stable enough. *EDIT* Didnt read OP post with price limit, but I highly recommend spending the extra $$ and getting the best mobo you can, its worth it. What is your screen size?	SolMiester (139)
667478	2008-05-09 02:58:00	its a VX2835wm www.viewsonic.com it was cheap and its huge, which is good for RTS games.	kersonan (13264)
667479	2008-05-09 03:40:00	Nvidia are the only chipsets that support SLI with an Intel cpu, and nvidia are quite expensive. You say you want to future proof, however you would therefore need to buy the latest chipset mobo which would cost over $400 at least. Do you have 2 graphic's cards? If not why bother, there are so many great single graphic cards that really, unless you have a huge 30' monitor, SLI is not really required...2cents I was going to buy another XFX 8800GT XXX edition as I have been very underwhelmed with the performance of my single one. I do have a 32" secondary HD tv but I dont usually use my 32" for gaming only the occasional round of something. Since I still get very average fps on new titles set to full specs (not just crysis!) I thought that by buying another 8800GT it would increase the performance to a similar level as that of buying a single high end gpu? is this not the case though? as much as I would like a striker or any of the high end gaming spec asus mobos I cant really afford them as im student:illogical For informations sake my rig specs are intel E6550 cpu o/c at 3.2ghz, 4gb super talent ddr800 ram with heatsinks, asus P5K-C mobo, 20" samsung monitor and 32" secondary samsung HD tv, seagate sata hdd's, 650watt thermaltake psu and vista 64 home premium.	LOWTEC (7821)
667480	2008-05-09 03:58:00	Well, in Kersonan's case, yes SLI @ 1080p......but 20' 1650x1080 I think SLI is just too painful. I would trade the card on either 9800GTX or 9800GX2	SolMiester (139)
667481	2008-05-09 05:29:00	oh ok thanks for info on that, I might be wrong but if you look at this anandtech review it shows a pair of 9600gt's posting similar frames as a 9800GX2 and almost double that of my 8800GT even on a low resolution of 1600x1200 - cod4 . so would It then follow that if I ran 2 8800GT's they would be posting similar frames as 2 9600GT's or 1 9800GX2? or am I on the wrong track here? link: . anandtech . com/video/showdoc . aspx?i=3266&p=4" target="_blank">www . anandtech . com	LOWTEC (7821)
667482	2008-05-09 06:13:00	oh ok thanks for info on that, I might be wrong but if you look at this anandtech review it shows a pair of 9600gt's posting similar frames as a 9800GX2 and almost double that of my 8800GT even on a low resolution of 1600x1200 - cod4 . so would It then follow that if I ran 2 8800GT's they would be posting similar frames as 2 9600GT's or 1 9800GX2? or am I on the wrong track here? link: . anandtech . com/video/showdoc . aspx?i=3266&p=4" target="_blank">www . anandtech . com Don't worry about the GX2, it's not even nearly worth it . I'd save myself the hassle and get a 9800GTX . In fact, I went through the same dillema, having eyed up the p5k-c but found out about the SLI thing a bit earlier than you, I still went for a P35, because i can't see myself wanting more than the one card . I think SLI is, for the most part, not really worth it . Just get a better card . You could go crossfire though . . . if you really wanted to go ATI . Personally though, I wouldn't .	Thebananamonkey (7741)
667483	2008-05-09 12:09:00	couple of other bits of advice you might find handy as you embark down the SLI path. Make sure you do your maths on the power supply, depending on the cards you use they will draw differing amounts of power under load, don't expect to get a stable system by just reusing your old 300watt bog stock PSU check the specs for the cards you want to use and don't forget your other power drawing items like optical drives, HDD, fans a lot of these don't draw heaps but omitting them in your calculation is a one way trip to bad times. Remember that most of the cards you'll be looking at need to have additional power connectors at the back of the card hooked up, some older power supplies simply don't have the correct plug anywhere in the loom to connect to the video cards. If you have a decent older PSU you can get adapters to connect the traditional 4 pin molex plugs to the graphics cards, some cards include these. its good to check this out in advance, as theres nothing more frustrating than not being able to play with your new beast because of some miserable plug you don't have and theres no shops open. If your working with a smaller case or one with stock cooling keep in mind that like all cards an extra graphics board could disrupt airflow and raise your internal temp a little. when your running it for the first time make a note of the temps and check from time to time to make sure all is ok. Before you go to SLI benchmark your single card system and record the results, using 3dmark or something similar, my box was built for Crysis so i used its benchmarking when i was looking to see the increase in performance. Good ole windows can sometimes be a little iffy with fitting drivers to a second card on my vista machine it saw that the card was the same as the first one but installed its own windows driver, a second manual install was required to clear that up. SLI isnt the magic performance bullet that its made out to be, your expectations should be a lot more realistic, i didn't notice a massive difference in FPS, there was a nice increase but nothing ultra major. Instead games are a lot smoother i found that the peaks and troughs in frame rates that i had with a single card setup were replaced with a smooth constant play at a higher rate than before. Don't buy the hype that SLI is made from candy and puppies and will make you successful in life. All that said if you can afford the bits then go go SLI, its fun to revisit the glory days of twin card(well 3 really when you count the 2d card) machines like 2 12mb voodoo2 12mb, or even further back the 4mb S3 Virge + 4mb voodoo 1 quake goodness. I'm very happy with this machine of mine and it really does enlarge your epeen :) hope thats of some help	kersonan (13264)
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