So you're in the market for a new super gaming motherboard. You've researched motherboard manufacturer sites, E-tailers, several discussion forums, and foreign sites...until your eyes are bleeding and your skull feels like it’s been stuck on one of those automatic egg-scrambler thingys.
You've FINALLY decided what you want - a board that is compatible with Intel's latest and greatest Penryn 45nm CPUs, DDR2 memory because that DDR3 stuff is way to hard to swallow, and can also sport a couple of those groovy G92-based Nvidia graphics cards in SLI. NForce 780i, here I come!
But wait. What about all of that other stuff I want to use in my new uBer gaming rig. A PCI sound card is a must, along with that hardware RAID controller I’ve been eyeing.
Ahhh – we finally get to the real purpose of this thread. Make sure you do your research! Not all boards are created equal in 780i land.
These new 780i motherboards can support up to three graphics cards in what Nvidia calls TRI-SLI. That’s a full three slots of PCI Express x16 connectivity and three-way SLI, leaving little (if any) room for all of that other stuff I wanted to use.
Edit: For clarification, the PCIe 2.0 slots are the upper and lower-most slots in these boards. Dual-SLI uses the uses these two slots.
TRI-SLI uses all three PCIe slots, with the middle slot only being PCIe 1.0.
This is where pictures become your best friend.
First, a reference 3-way SLI pic:
Now, take a gander at the motherboards below; you can see that both the EVGA and XFX boards appear identical. Well, they are. They are both manufactured by Foxconn. Notice there are 2 PCI and 1 PCIe 1x slots…
EVGA:
XFX:
The lower PCI and 1x slots are NOT available if you run two cards in SLI - and you HAVE to use the upper PCIe x16 slot, always. Fortunately, one of the PCI slots is in the center of the board for a sound card.
For you guys that want to 3-way sli, all of the slots are covered with stock coolers. There are some aftermarket single-slot coolers available that may, or may not open up one of the slots.
There are also flexible PCI extenders/risers available, depending on your hardware requirements.
The EVGA and XFX boards are set up pretty good compared to some of the other boards that are either already released or on the way.
This is a shot of ASUS' P5NT-Deluxe:
Only 1 PCI slot on the P5NT-Deluxe...
And now, the mack daddy ASUS PWNage Striker II Formula. Expect to sell your organs and first-born in order to afford this thing when it comes out...
It's set up similarly to the EVGA and XFX 780i reference boards.
The bottom line - Make sure you look at these boards carefully. Verify all of the components you want in your new rig will be compatible.
Buck
You've FINALLY decided what you want - a board that is compatible with Intel's latest and greatest Penryn 45nm CPUs, DDR2 memory because that DDR3 stuff is way to hard to swallow, and can also sport a couple of those groovy G92-based Nvidia graphics cards in SLI. NForce 780i, here I come!
But wait. What about all of that other stuff I want to use in my new uBer gaming rig. A PCI sound card is a must, along with that hardware RAID controller I’ve been eyeing.
Ahhh – we finally get to the real purpose of this thread. Make sure you do your research! Not all boards are created equal in 780i land.
These new 780i motherboards can support up to three graphics cards in what Nvidia calls TRI-SLI. That’s a full three slots of PCI Express x16 connectivity and three-way SLI, leaving little (if any) room for all of that other stuff I wanted to use.
Edit: For clarification, the PCIe 2.0 slots are the upper and lower-most slots in these boards. Dual-SLI uses the uses these two slots.
TRI-SLI uses all three PCIe slots, with the middle slot only being PCIe 1.0.
This is where pictures become your best friend.
First, a reference 3-way SLI pic:
Now, take a gander at the motherboards below; you can see that both the EVGA and XFX boards appear identical. Well, they are. They are both manufactured by Foxconn. Notice there are 2 PCI and 1 PCIe 1x slots…
EVGA:
XFX:
The lower PCI and 1x slots are NOT available if you run two cards in SLI - and you HAVE to use the upper PCIe x16 slot, always. Fortunately, one of the PCI slots is in the center of the board for a sound card.
For you guys that want to 3-way sli, all of the slots are covered with stock coolers. There are some aftermarket single-slot coolers available that may, or may not open up one of the slots.
There are also flexible PCI extenders/risers available, depending on your hardware requirements.
The EVGA and XFX boards are set up pretty good compared to some of the other boards that are either already released or on the way.
This is a shot of ASUS' P5NT-Deluxe:
Only 1 PCI slot on the P5NT-Deluxe...
And now, the mack daddy ASUS PWNage Striker II Formula. Expect to sell your organs and first-born in order to afford this thing when it comes out...
It's set up similarly to the EVGA and XFX 780i reference boards.
The bottom line - Make sure you look at these boards carefully. Verify all of the components you want in your new rig will be compatible.
Buck
