Crossfire Motherboard?

Cyanide · 30 Dec 2007 at 18:43

Well I think I've just changed my mind at the last minute and decided to get 2 3870's in Crossfire rather than a 8800GTX/S which mean's I'm going to need a crossfire board with 2x 16x PCI/E slots.

At the moment I'm tempted to go Spider and get a 790X/FX board and a Phenom but they don't clock well and it's putting me off.

Can anyone recommend a decent board that'll support a Q6600 and clock like mad? I've seen a couple that look ok but it looks like having a second PCI-E card would block the PCI slots? I've got a Audigy SE and a Netgear card to squeeze in too so I need access to PCI slots!

Cheers guys and I promise to stop posting "spec me" threads and just buy the damned thing by the end of the week

gary996 · 30 Dec 2007 at 18:58

X38 mobo

Cyanide · 30 Dec 2007 at 19:03

gary996 said:
X38 mobo

The cheapest x38 is the P5E and it looks like the PCI slots would get blocked if running crossfire? Or is there plenty of room and it's just my poor estimation of distances?

easyrider · 30 Dec 2007 at 19:03

Asus Maximus Formula

Predator · 30 Dec 2007 at 19:59

Asus Maximus Extreme with DDR3 all the way

HeX · 30 Dec 2007 at 20:06

DDR3 is a total waste of money.

easyrider · 30 Dec 2007 at 20:07

HeX said:
DDR3 is a total waste of money.

It is untilthe pirces drop.

Get the Asus maximus and DDR 2 Like mine

Cyanide · 30 Dec 2007 at 20:09

Predator said:
Asus Maximus Extreme with DDR3 all the way

I've not got quite that much cash to throw around :eek:

Ranger07 · 30 Dec 2007 at 20:33

Asus Maximus is an awesome board if money isnt an issue

HeX · 30 Dec 2007 at 20:35

P5E would be my choice, or the Giga X38-DS5.

Predator · 31 Dec 2007 at 02:06

Ranger07 said:
Asus Maximus is an awesome board if money isnt an issue

Totally agree mate. We all know its not cheap, but combine the board with ddr3 and overclocking becomes so much easier. I can't understand why ppl say its a waste. Yes its expensive, but it does the job!

easyrider · 31 Dec 2007 at 02:11

Why does DDR3 make overclocking easier over DDR2?

Scougar · 31 Dec 2007 at 10:08

Cyanide said:
The cheapest x38 is the P5E and it looks like the PCI slots would get blocked if running crossfire? Or is there plenty of room and it's just my poor estimation of distances?

(I've kept the picture in the quote for reference)

An interesting question. Who owns a P5E and can comment on the space available after slotting in a 2nd card (or just test fitting)? Would it restrict airflow severely?

Matthew

Predator · 31 Dec 2007 at 10:25

easyrider said:
Why does DDR3 make overclocking easier over DDR2?

DDR-12800 runs at 400fsb (1600mhz) as standard. So I don't need to overclock anything apart from the CPU multiplier to start with

easyrider · 31 Dec 2007 at 10:31

Predator said:
DDR-12800 runs at 400fsb (1600mhz) as standard. So I don't need to overclock anything apart from the CPU multiplier to start with

Thats dull tbh.

Its not hard overclocking ram and certainly no reason to buy DDR3

Predator · 31 Dec 2007 at 14:36

we all have our own opinions, but its not dull lol. Its just damn quick!

easyrider · 31 Dec 2007 at 16:38

Predator said:
we all have our own opinions, but its not dull lol. Its just damn quick!

Its certainly not worth the eprium and I doubt it thats much quicker with the looser timing that DDR3 offers.

gazza1970 · 8 Jan 2008 at 15:39

so does the actually run 2x 16 or does it get limited to 4x or something because im really intrested in the ix38 quad gt

ive already got the 3870 x 2 just need the board to go with them to get best out of them

possible change of mind for an ASUS P5E but deffo ........FULL BANDWITH 2 X16 PCI-E

plz dont say maximus extreme they fussy buggers from what i seen of them