quickie computer help question

Sackynut

so im buildin a new computer and I already know its gonna be SLI, but Im lookin at two different mobo's and I need opinions on them. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136164

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128301.

Price is sortof an issue, so if they are both the same then just recommend the cheaper one. A few things to note, the gigabyte one has a passive heatsink that may heat up. the gigabyte one doesnt seem to support HyperTransport (as far as i can tell). I want a mobo that will last and perform SLI greatly. Thanks, and all opinions count!

Asmodeus_

Could anyone explain to me, what SLI is?

FilipinoFury

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Originally posted by Asmodeus_
Could anyone explain to me, what SLI is?

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SLI:Scaleble Link Interface

It is where you have two graphic cards hooked together via a little bridge chip thingy.It is only for Nivida but ATI is coming out with somthng very similer called Crossfire.SLI requires two PCI-E slots and a special motherboard and pretty big PSU atleast 500watts maybe 480watts.The two crads communicate when needed.You'ed think you get double the performance in games but you wont only about a 15% gain in performance until games take full advantage of it.I personaly would not upgrade to SLI. I dont think it's worth spending another 200-500$ on a second GPU when you only get a 15% gain.

shae

Well I personaly swear by DFI, I'm currently using the DFI DR/NF 4 on my SLi set up and it's blazzingly fast compared to whats out there. There's a great review at Amandtech on what is available, you may find it useful and so you can read it HERE.

But what you have to remember is your not dealing with premium mobo's, which is fine but when your looking at a budget board it's best to go with a company that knows there stuff. Not to say anything bad about Gigabyte, I absolutely loved the K8nX lines but when it comes to raw speed, performance and stability, in my eyes you just can't do better then DFI. Incidentally, there's a wonderful review on budget boards vs premium boards at Tomshardware, you can read up on it HERE if you like.

About the only issue I have with DFI Mobo's is that yes they are very well built, have wondeful features and are lightning fast BUT they rarely come out of the box that way. DFI makes it so they are a tweakers board, and so you have to spend some time playing around with the given software, in the bios amd homing ram mhz to really get every square inch of power. Sometimes that can be a daunting task for the unitiated so you may opt for a more basic set up with the Gigabyte.

Hope that helps and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

shae

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Originally posted by bulldogg




Originally posted by Asmodeus_
Could anyone explain to me, what SLI is?

SLI:Scaleble Link Interface

It is where you have two graphic cards hooked together via a little bridge chip thingy.It is only for Nivida but ATI is coming out with somthng very similer called Crossfire.SLI requires two PCI-E slots and a special motherboard and pretty big PSU atleast 500watts maybe 480watts.The two crads communicate when needed.You'ed think you get double the performance in games but you wont only about a 15% gain in performance until games take full advantage of it.I personaly would not upgrade to SLI. I dont think it's worth spending another 200-500$ on a second GPU when you only get a 15% gain.

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And just to expand slightly on Bulldogg's explanation on SLi. A SLi set up in and of itself is not solely meant for a massive increase in gaming speed but rather it's performance in the ability to draw high  resolution, high texture mapping with much less strain on the system and GPU and with much greater ease then we've seen in the past.

Ask any gamer that takes building high end rigs seriously and they will all tell you that once you hit a plateau of frames per second, a few more here and there really does not make a difference. What DOES make a difference and where SLi comes into the picture is being able to keep that same high end frames per second performance but while being able to increase the gaming experience through multiple mapping sequences, dynamic lighting, high res texturing and on and on. THIS is what SLi is meant for and this is was SLi does best.

And honestly from someone who has a SLi set up, it is entirely worth the upgrade to a SLi set up if you can do it, the gaming experience is quite worh the time, energy and funds spent on it.

One last comment, as Bulldogg said, SLi rigs commonly need a really big power supply, but it's not important to look at the total wattage, what is important to look at is the amprage demands for your specific SLi cards and then what make sure that they 12v rail on your power supply can provide those amps propwerly to the cards. Without the propper amps comming for the 12v rail, you will have nothing but head aches and heart attacks, the good news is that most companys are very careful now about making all this information easy to read and find.