crossfire x16 x16

[bowza]

Hi

When buying a motherboard for a crossfire system, do i need one with x16 x16 pcie slots?

thanks

Bowza

 

[Cairnsey]

ideally yes. But you can crossfire in 8x-8x, 16x-4x etc. but at reduced performance.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

As above. The amount of reduction in performance is dependent on the cards being used. Older cards won't have much trouble at all. New 3870 X2s will be badly bottlenecked with a 4x slot.

 

[bowza]

thanks,

as i am thinking 3870 512 cards, ill go for the oc uk P35 pro motherboard, this looks like a good solution for £70

thanks again

Bowza

 

[pastymuncher]

Despite what the description says that board has one 16x slot and one 4x slot. That's the standard configuration for P35 chipsets.

 

[bowza]

aghhh , thanks for the info.

Any recomendations for a x16 x16 motherboard suitable for 2 3870's

Thanks

Again

Bowza

 

[gurusan]

your only choice really is the x38 chipset. Or you could get an old school RD600.........but I'd look for a X38

 

[bowza]

MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

so where these boards say dual 16 pcie slots this is not true??

thanks

Bowza

 

[BillytheImpaler]

MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

so where these boards say dual 16 pcie slots this is not true??

The slots are physically of the x16 variety. They look just like x16 slots and your graphics card will fit. However, the second one of them is wired as x4, despite its appearance.

 

[Cairnsey]

misleading descriptions could have you fooled, but go for a x38 board. Cheapest on here is the Gigabyte DS4 @ ~£130. Or, wait for the J&W x38 board here.

 

[reflux]

I have the Gigabyte X38-DS4. Bought it a few months ago so I could run CrossFire. It seems a pretty good piece of kit, although I prefer my old Asus P5K Deluxe.