Which Conroe mobo for Crossfire and SLI

IT Troll · 27 Sep 2006 at 16:58

As I am not sure which DX10 card(s) I will go for, which is the best motherboard for Conroe overclocking with the option of running both Crossfire and SLI?

Abit AW9D Intel 975X (MB-107-AB)
Abit AW9D-MAX Intel 975X (MB-108-AB)
Sound good, but that PCI slot means I would have to lose my X-Fi if I went for double height GFX.

Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (MB-152-AS)
Seems very popular but I don't really need all that Wi-Fi Digital Home junk.

Asus P5W64-WS Pro Intel 975X (MB-180-AS)
Expensive, but would this allow me to run a third GFX card in physics mode like the RD600 chipset?

DFI Infinity 975X (MB-020-DF)
Just a bit average?

MSI 975X Platinum PowerUP Edition (MB-072-MS)
Looks good and a nice price.

Intel Extreme D975bx-305 975X (MB-010-IN)
Ensures maximum compatibility?

Anything else on the Horizon? The DFI RD600 sounds great but I assume that will definitely not do SLI.

CORRSA · 27 Sep 2006 at 17:40

also

just wanting to know the rd600 chipset ??? is this available yet if not anyone know when ????? p.s i am in the same boat as the original post just a mobo short of a system now cant seem to choose ??????

IT Troll · 27 Sep 2006 at 18:27

RD600 is due October - there are a couple of preview boards floating around already.

Phunky Phish · 27 Sep 2006 at 20:12

No motherboard currently 'officially' supports both Crossfire and SLI.
Only option is go for a Crossfire ready board and use 'tweeked' drivers that support SLI!
I do not know, and have not seen, and drivers that run Crossfire on SLI certified motherboards.

Good luck deciding!!!

Tute · 27 Sep 2006 at 20:14

If you want SLi then it's either one of the nForce 5xx boards for Intel or hacked drivers on a 975X.

Crossfire can be done on 975X through drivers, or 965 (where 2 full length PCIe slots are provided). There's also ATi's chipsets, although the ones that support Conroe are scarce atm.

I'd recommend the P5W-DH, seems to be getting the best reviews and overclocks very well.

Jokester · 27 Sep 2006 at 20:19

Tute said:
I'd recommend the P5W-DH, seems to be getting the best reviews and overclocks very well.

Also works great with SLI

.

Jokester

Phunky Phish · 27 Sep 2006 at 23:24

May I also add to Jokesters 'it works VERY well'!!!

IT Troll · 28 Sep 2006 at 15:46

Thanks for the responses. Yeah, realise that SLI requires tweaked drivers at the moment, but hopefully they will be official soon.

It seems the Asus P5W DH once again wins the popularity vote. Definitely better than the Abit or MSI?

Massive Attack · 28 Sep 2006 at 16:07

anywhere to get these " Tweaked" drivers for the P5W DH, i am looking at getting a new coroe board but didnt realise that the P5W supported Sli

hardc0re_tid · 28 Sep 2006 at 16:23

Massive Attack said:
anywhere to get these " Tweaked" drivers for the P5W DH, i am looking at getting a new coroe board but didnt realise that the P5W supported Sli

yea same here, where are they avialable, linky please?

Technofr3ak · 28 Sep 2006 at 16:31

hardc0re_tid said:
yea same here, where are they avialable, linky please?

http://www.webalice.it/bairam/85.96_mod.exe

hardc0re_tid · 28 Sep 2006 at 16:36

done a bit of searching and found this:

http://www.mediamax.com/kompression/Hosted/intel_sli_85.96_mod.exe

beaten to it, a well atleast there is 2 links now

Massive Attack · 28 Sep 2006 at 16:42

i was wondering if some one with that board and mod has used the one in the links and are there any coruptions or anything like the sli doesnt work as well as its an intel chipset

BUFF · 28 Sep 2006 at 18:55

IT Troll said:
Definitely better than the Abit or MSI?

Nope.
The Abit appears to be as good & doesn't do the reboot thing that the Asus does but of course the layout may not suit some people.

IT Troll · 28 Sep 2006 at 21:43

What exactly is this Asus reboot thing - does it reboot every boot or just when you change the overclock settings. If it is every boot then that sure would be irritating.

Phunky Phish · 29 Sep 2006 at 09:15

Is this mod the one that removes the lock? As I have read elsewhere that Nvidia have changed the forceware driver so this 'patch' does not work with later drivers.
I have the 84.56 'tweeked' drivers working fine on my P5W-DH, which don't need any secondary 'patch' to unlock the SLI option.
Think I will start a link in gfx to see what latest drivers etc work.
But if this is the patch, you need to install the 85.96 drivers, then patch them with this mod to unlock SLI.

BUFF · 29 Sep 2006 at 13:12

IT Troll said:
What exactly is this Asus reboot thing - does it reboot every boot or just when you change the overclock settings. If it is every boot then that sure would be irritating.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=115839&page=13

Nelly · 29 Sep 2006 at 13:37

IT Troll said:
What exactly is this Asus reboot thing - does it reboot every boot or just when you change the overclock settings. If it is every boot then that sure would be irritating.

Does this effect ALL Asus boards for Conroe? Looks like I'll be going with the Abit board afterall!

Asus started making unstable boards - not like them.

Technofr3ak · 29 Sep 2006 at 14:34

Nelly said:
Does this effect ALL Asus boards for Conroe? Looks like I'll be going with the Abit board afterall! Asus started making unstable boards - not like them.

Why not wait another month and see what the guys from DFI & Asus do with the RD600?

If you craving for a motherboard to enjoy the power of conroe this board is *** http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110106

Technofr3ak · 29 Sep 2006 at 14:35

Nelly said:
Does this effect ALL Asus boards for Conroe? Looks like I'll be going with the Abit board afterall! Asus started making unstable boards - not like them.

Why not wait another month and see what the guys from DFI & Asus do with the RD600?

If you craving for a motherboard to enjoy the power of conroe this board is great http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110106