DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR EXPERT vs a8n32

batchie · 16 Jan 2006 at 07:54

i have been looking at these 2 boards (see title) theres a couple of questions that i trying to work out,

1.am i right in thinking only the asus board offers true x16 perfermance in sli mode ( ie both cards running at x16 not x8)

2.if i purchase a single 7800 gtx graphics card would i gain a boost over my twin 6800gt's...
any help would be appreciated ,i know the lan party is the best overclocker from many reviews i have read , but my main area will be gaming and video transcoding my setup at the the mo is in my sig..

Arcane · 16 Jan 2006 at 09:25

Hi,

The Asus is true 2x16, the DFI is 2x8 (or 1x16). I've got the DFI Expert so I'm obviously biased towards that, however, I've heard excellent things about the Asus, it's supposed to be easy to set up and very stable. To be honest, I've found the DFI no problem either, but then I like fiddling about with them.

I came from an SLI 6800gt setup (432/1300) to an SLI 7800gtx setup and there is a difference between the former and a single GTX. As well as the performance there's also noise, the GTX is much quieter and cooler.

Hope this helps.

GAMEfreak · 16 Jan 2006 at 13:13

is there a performance boost using SLi with the asus board at all or does it just provide more bandwidth for the slots ( which isnt yet needed)

subxero · 16 Jan 2006 at 14:06

I believe there is a small boost with the Asus using SLI, its because the channels don't become too bogged down with information iirc, but we are only talking about something like 3%

I would have the DFI board personally, more stuff to fiddle with

Arcane · 16 Jan 2006 at 14:44

The noticeable improvement was using the 512meg cards iirc.

batchie · 16 Jan 2006 at 16:50

some good advice to go with thanks arcane , to be honest i've always wanted a lan party like i said previously all the reviews on that board have come up trumps....
The only down side is i cant stretch my budget to 2 7800 gtx at the moment :rolleyes:

thanks again

Arcane · 16 Jan 2006 at 17:02

No problem mate. Just remember that the Lan Party's are a tweakers board, they do take some effort to get the best out of them, (though that's the fun bit, right?)
Good luck!

CB666 · 16 Jan 2006 at 21:54

also worth noting that with newer BIOS many people are struggling to get above 1.58Vcore on the asus, only a concern for very good air/H2O/phase really though.