Best motherboard for SLI ?

MEgamer · 2011-07-26T12:21:28+00:00

When buying a motherboard for SLI, what are the recommended PCI-e slots needed for SLI, is it ok to buy a MoBo with { PCI Express 2.0 x16 : 2 (x16, x8) }, or...

taekh3

scorz wroteThings are more clear now.
Thanks for your help Beej & tarekelkhaledi!

Edit: And thanks yasamoka, I just read your post :)

You're welcome Mate ;).

Beej

Yasamoka... "I am dissapoint"

1) Your mistaking pci-e for being just about memory bandwidth. This is wrong, bandwidth wise, yes pci-e 2.0 x8 even fully satisfies the bandwidth. But the gtexel and gpixel are starved with pci-e 2.0. I am not going to explain, i will show you a video. Though too extreme, one can learn. First this guy disabled the driver lock for pci-e 2.0/3.0 in the registry (you can google how to and you will see). 4 way gtx 680 using 4320x2300 (as you can see its even bigger than normal 1080p surround or 2560x1600 res) in bf3 fps with 4 way gtx 680 on pci-e 2.0 avg fps are 69, when pci-e 3.o was enabled fps jumped to 120+ frames. So yea big difference, not related to bandwidth, but the gpu feeds more than just mem bandwidth. He also said that he ran heaven andskyrim, and the differnce was dramatic too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkZzssm-kWs

So you might say yea but its 4-way and very high res, yes true but on 1080p there is a slight increase. And actually running 2x 680s on 1080p showed +20$ increase going from 2.0 to 3.0.

Also he said minor work, so he will not need the power of the 7970, though its a beast when it comes to oc.

yasamoka

Well yes Beej you're right. I didn't take notice of any other aspects. I just assumed that the 7970 benefits from PCI-E 3.0 because it has a higher memory bandwidth (264GB/s). Seems other factors come into play.

About Ivy Bridge. I still don't know. I mean, what have Intel done? Thermal paste under IHS? Seriously?? One theory was presented, that they were avoiding cannibalising SB-E sales. Well to me, they already cannibalised it with regular Sandy Bridge, which has proved to be just as powerful for the majority of us (and I'm convinced of that, and I am on X58). Intel's flagship platform are NEEDLESSLY expensive.

EDIT: My brains are fried (Finals). I will make sure to post something informative soon. NEED_TO_POST_SOMETHING_INFORMATIVE. Urgh, the urge is killing me. Don't make me research :P AT least until Friday.

The-MMMs

MrClass wroteWoah! Hold your horses. What you're saying is a false positive. I had a bad experience with ASUS motherboards; I actually blacklisted them as a brand. My ASUS nforce based motherboard was utterly crap it died in less than a year. Even some options and expansion ports were disabled till a more stable BIOS release (example: the board had 3 PCI-express x16 slots, only 2 were enabled, the third was not till the release of a BIOS update 6 months later!). I'm rocking a Gigabyte now and couldn't be any happier. I recommend EVGA as well.

Maybe the new ASUS boards are ass-kicking, but I wouldn't get one ever.

Do not take this personally, but just because you had a bad experiance doesn't mean the rest should. Im more of a Intel or MSI guy when it comes to my motherbaords, heavy duty (then again that's just me)

I've had other things fail on me, i remember i had an ATI Radeon 9200 LE (old ass card) lasted me 7 years and i was "annoyed" when it died. I bought an Nvida 8800 GT - despite their infamous fail rate it lasted even less, less than 3 years; yet i still went out and bought a nvidia card

What im trying to say, is that i doubt companies make bad hardware. Im not undermining your opinion or decision, you seem to know your hardware really well, but i don't think that that experiance should let you pass up on trying one of the new Asus boards.

taekh3

Ramzi, Surprisingly you've missed that!!!. It's a First...

Edit: Concerning your Fried Brains due to "Deep Study Mode" :D, i wish you the best of luck in your finals.

Note: NEED_TO_POST_SOMETHING_INFORMATIVE, I'm really waiting this :P.

To The-MMMS, i agree with you mate one bad experience doesn't justify passing out some new stuffs.

MrClass

tarekelkhaledi wroteRamzi, Surprisingly you've missed that!!!. It's a First...

Edit: Concerning your Fried Brains due to "Deep Study Mode" :D, i wish you the best of luck in your finals.

Note: NEED_TO_POST_SOMETHING_INFORMATIVE, I'm really waiting this :P.

To The-MMMS, i agree with you mate one bad experience doesn't justify passing out some new stuffs.

Tarek and MMMS both of you are correct, but the nforce based board I bought back then was super expensive and was considered the best of the best. I mean if you went and bought a very expensive item, but the item didn't work as expected, would you just say nothing about it? I'd raise hell on earth cause I paid a lot of money for something that is expected to run and last. I even baby-sitted the computer and took care of all the components like they were a part of me (geeky me). It was surprising to see the board die even with all the care I've done. Too bad the board died 11 days after warranty expiry. Good quality material + taking care of parts = death? Doesn't sound right to me.

Beej

It happens MrClass, it could be anything from power surge to the board itself was wron. Its just an electronic pcb. Nothing is hand tested or binned by ANY company. They just see if things are soldiered good or not.

yasamoka

@MrClass: What you are suffering with motherboards, many are suffering with Hard drives. You would see countless reviews saying: I WILL NEVER BUY [insert brand] again. What can you conclude? You can conclude that pretty much all brands have the same amount of complainers simply because they had a bad experience with a specific hard drive, even if in a matter of a few months years / not instantly. And also, there are two points of view:
1) When the hard drives are not properly dealt with, they either arrive DOA or their lifetime is decreased (if they work).

2) Hard drives, when they are off, have their heads parked. The heads are not on the disk. This would mean that if a hard drive receives a blow, and the drive is DOA, the head should have mashed into its parking space, I'm guessing. Otherwise, if it's still suspended above it, then it would also be suspended above the disk, because it floats on a cushion of air (this is why you see sometimes holes on the hard drive and they say: DO NOT COVER HOLE. This is because they allow filtered air in (and out?).

I could claim that your motherboard already arrived with some weak solder, or some weakness in its circuits. Then it would just be a matter of time till it died. I have an Intel board which, until now, has lasted 6 years, and it has gone through pretty moderate / heavy use. This does not mean that even an ASUS workstation motherboard is guaranteed to last 6 years. It SHOULD last more than any other board, I agree, but the matter of fact is that failure rates are accounted for in industry, and they are usually acceptable at 3%. For example: Initially, or after a while of release, the PS3 had a 6% failure rate for example, the 360 had a 50% failure rate! You could see that those were not acceptable. But if you were 1 in 30 that had his board fail, it could have been anyone else. There was a 96.7% chance that it would NOT happen to you. But it did.

taekh3

MrClass, I can see how much you loved that Mobo seriously not kidding that's why your pist off & as i told you before strange things happens every once in a while. Another "Dark Side" from the Story, if i was available back then & you've made the Purchase from me be sure you were enjoying your RMA right now;).

I've been using ASUS Products from 14 Years "since 1998", from my early Rig Based on My Dear P5GC-VM PRO (LGA 775 - Chipset 945GC-ICH7) moving to one of the Early ROG. Based Mobos the Mighty Commando (LGA 775 - Chipset 965-ICH8R) than the P5K-E/WIFI-AP (LGA 775 - Chipset P35-ICH9R) also picking the P5K3-DELUXE/WIFI-AP (LGA 775 - Chipset P35-ICH9R) Moving from Intel Chipsets to NVIDIA 780i SLI ASUS Striker II Formula & 790i Ultra Sli the Mighty Striker II Extreme, then shortly back to Intel with ASUS ROG X38 The Mighty Maximus Extreme than Moving to X48 My 1st Ever Rampage based Mobo the Rampage Extreme, The Most Popular in the Overclocking Arena yet The Ultimate 775 Platform & let me tell you this it seems like the Rampage Series Affected me Somehow :D, Moving to the 2nd Rampage "X58" than To the 3rd Rampage "X58" and Now Running the 4th Generation on par with the 4th Generation Maximus sure not going to count all the Gpu's, my Point is Never Had or Faced any Weirdos thus, if and only if i did that wont change my mind at all Either I'll fix it or I'll RMA it & as i explained before the Process of any Motherboard Testing Before Hitting Stores Shelves it's annoying for some End User's but for the majority it's like let the good times roll. (Depending on your Luck).

As for the "Death" Part, well at least she wasn't been burned from one Heck of an OC Session, she had a normal life & you did take care of her.
May Her Soul Rest In Peace.

yasamoka

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/14/geforce_680_670_vs_radeon_7970_7950_gaming_perf/3

MUST READ. After you read, please tell me what you think.
BUT: I don't agree with his conclusion. I will explain why, when it becomes a point of discussion.

taekh3

I agree with you Ramzi, it's a Push Pull Situation between both Vendors and to be honest it's never been CLOSER like this before thus the battle isn't over yet since both got lot's of Stuffs waiting to be released for the Public.

MrClass

Alright then Tarek, the next time I need an ASUS item I'll just go straight to you :P

taekh3

And I'm Waiting :P

MrClass

Tarek, mind if you share your shop coordinates on Google maps? I would like to pass by someday and have a look. I bet you have some interesting things there :)

taekh3

Oh Yeah Lot's of Interesting Stuffs :)

« Previous Page