2nd pciex running @ 4x only

[zolo]

I'm building a system, specs: core2duo Q6600, 2GB ddr2 800Mhz, 2X 8800GTS 320 SLI, 2X500GB SATAII HDDs, DVD-rw drive, 4-5 case fans...

I'm thinking about getting this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128046
It's the only decent SLI motheroard that I can get in my country for a good price, but I just checked the manual and it says the 2nd pciex slot runs @ 4X ONLY,,, is this a deal breaker for me? since I'm going to buy 1 8800GTS 320MB, and add another one in a month or two cause I'll be hooking up this PC to a 37" 720P monitor and gonna be gamming alot (Fear, NFSMW, HL2, FARCRY.. and upcoming games..)
Would I be wasting my money by buying a 2nd 8800GTS and running it on a 4X pciex bus?


What's the minimum PSU to run this reg? Do I need an 700-750W or more? or is 550-600W good brand name with tons of amps on +12v rails, is enough?

P.S. I didn't buy any of those parts yet, but will buy em tomorrow..

 

[Yanagi]

Its only a 720P monitor, SLI would not be needed as of now. Better to save the money and buy a more powerful card down the line in my humble opinion.

 

[zolo]

Thanks for the fast reply Yanagi.

I have my laptop, the one I'm selling today and use the money towards the build, kinda struggles when playing games such as pro evolution soccer 6 on this 37" hooked up through dual link dvi-dvi cable, playing on highest settings on 720P resolution, specs: dell e1705, core2duo 2.00Ghz, 2GB ddr-667, 100gb 7200rpm, nvidial 7900gs. While playing the same game on the laptop screen on 1080P + highest setting, it flys. That's why I thought I needed an sli solution in order to play games on the 37" eventhough it's gonna be on 720p only, or am I wrong?

 

[Peter]

That's because these Intel chipsets do not have more to offer than 16x off the north bridge and 4x off the south. The 2nd slot isn't only throughput limited, but thanks to the extra bus "hop", it's also slower in latency.

Overall, such a chipset is not a good choice if you want to run two graphics cards.

 

[mkln]

unless im mistaken, the P35 will only run Crossfire; not SLi (2 ATI cards only; not 2 nVidia cards in dual mode)

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: mkln
unless im mistaken, the P35 will only run Crossfire; not SLi (2 ATI cards only; not 2 nVidia cards in dual mode)

This is correct. You can not run dual 8800GTS cards in SLI on a P35 motherboard. To run a C2Q with SLI you need either a 650i or 680i motherboard.

 

[RussianSensation]

Even if you did have a motherboard with dual PCIe 16x slots, the worst possible combination for high end SLI cards is in fact 8800GTS 320mb as a single 8800GTX crushes them. They are still limited by 320mb of ram and no amount of GPU power will make up for that in high resolutions/AA settings.

 

[MarcVenice]

Go with 1 8800gts 320mb now, and use the step up program from EVGA to buy a gtx in 3 months, or perhaps the new 9x00's series that Nvidia should be releasing in roughly 3 months.

 

[zolo]

Thanks guys/gals for replies

I guess I'll just buy 1 8800GS for now, it should be a step up from my 7900GS GO gfx card. I found a good deal ( hard to come by in this country, Saudia Arabia ) for a E6600 for less than half the price of that quad proc, so I'll just go for the Gigabyte DS3 mobo and save some money for a 88000GTX gfx card or the new nvidia 9000 series down the road.

I just sold my laptop, and only have a crappy P4 pc now with integrated gfx card, so I want to build this thing asap, and can't wait for 3 more months for the new nvidia series to hit the stores or for the 8800GTX prices to come down..

 

[Matt2]

Just buy one 8800GTS. At 1280x720 an 8800GTS will perform admirably at that res.

 

[PCTC2]

You can run SLI at huge performance loss (compared to true SLI) on a P35 chipset with hacked drivers. Abit actually included SLI on their 975X chipset board for hacked drivers.

The nVIDIA 680i SLI is supposed to support Penryn (and hopefully the next generation of SLI cards) so it is an alternative if you really want SLI. I've been using an old 7950GT so I recently bought a second for $160 and set them up in SLI. Nice performance.