I am interested in GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3P but I dont know if it support SLI or not. Does anyone know? Also, does it support Xeon processor?
Thanks!
Thanks!
About SLI
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lopri
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- Jul 27, 2002
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It supports CrossFire but not at the best condition. The top PCIe slot (of the two long slots) is at x16 electrically, and the bottom one is at x4. So there is already a huge difference in available bandwidth for each GPU. Not only that, the bottom GPU will compete for bandwidth with other stuff that's attached to the south bridge. I wouldn't recommend CrossFire on P965 or P35.
If you want dual GPU setup, you have several options:
1. Get a natural-born dual GPU card. Such as HD 3870X2 or upcoming 98800GX2. Make sure to check its benefit and limit before making purchase decision.
2. For CrossFire, get a board that properly configures PCIe bandwidth negotiation. Currently among Intel chipsets, boards based on 975X and X38 are capable of doing this. X38 is preferable in that it supports PCIe 2.0 and give full x16 bandwidth for both GPUs, hence more future-proof. The downfall is that there aren't many choices yet and they tend to be expensive and run hotter. I haven't seen exact data regarding the PCIe lanes' power consumption figures, but more lanes means more power/heat - that much is clear. Also double check whether a board supports DDR2 or DDR3. 975X is such a venerable chipset and the performance even today is great, IMO. Big disadvantage is its limited upgrade path, supporting only 1066 FSB CPUs natively and PCIe 1.0. Also they are not good at handling quad-cores. But if you have a E2000/E4000/E6000 series CPU and don't mind the limited upgrade path, it's still a convincing option. Since it was a top-of-the-line chipset, boards are tend to be built as such but current prices aren't high as they used to be.
3. For SLI, NV chipset based boards (650/680i SLI and 750/780i SLI) are the only option. They will not perform as well as Intel boards in CPU-Memory intensive apps, but their performance shines in 3D. At current state, I wouldn't recommend 680i unless you can get one for a bargain price since 780i is kinda like a revised 680i with many issues fixed, plus PCIe 2.0 support. AnandTech editor Gary Key recommends 650i/750i for mid-range buyers instead of 680i, and I suspect the reason is not the north bridge, but rather the south bridge. The high-end boards utilize MCP55 (NF590 SLI for 680i SLI, NF570 SLI for 680i SLI LT, and NF570i SLI for 780i SLI), and mid-range boards utilize MCP51 (NF430i SLI). MCP51 is a newer than MCP55 despite its lower denomination, and doesn't seem to cause as many troubles as MCP55 does in most occasions. There are a few features you lose on 650i/750i compared to 680i/780i. The most notable one is halved PCIe bandwidth. 680i/780i have x16/x16, 650i/750i have x8/x8. At first glance, the 650i/750i might look seriously crippled, but not necessarily so if you consider that the x8/x8 is rooted in one chip, unlike 680i's x16/x16 which are split between north bridge and south bridge. And in the case of 750i, since PCIe 2.0 doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0, the x8/x8 is theoretically and practically equal to (or possibly better than) 680i's x16/x16.
There are a few other features missing (such as number of available USB ports, dual gigabit, etc.) on 650i/750i that exist on 680i/780i as well, so it's up to your needs. But as a rule of thumb, I'd advise towards 750i/780i instead of 650i/680i if you choose to go SLI. And I can't stress enough for a good air circulation for nForce boards in general. Another unique feature of nForce Intel is that they're currently the only chipsets that allow memory running slower than FSB, therefore greatly reducing the need of fast memory when overclocking. However, this feature is kinda moot right now because 1) DDR2 sticks are dirt cheap, 2) There are inevitable performance loss by going that route (unless you can manage to run memory @1T).
If you want dual GPU setup, you have several options:
1. Get a natural-born dual GPU card. Such as HD 3870X2 or upcoming 98800GX2. Make sure to check its benefit and limit before making purchase decision.
2. For CrossFire, get a board that properly configures PCIe bandwidth negotiation. Currently among Intel chipsets, boards based on 975X and X38 are capable of doing this. X38 is preferable in that it supports PCIe 2.0 and give full x16 bandwidth for both GPUs, hence more future-proof. The downfall is that there aren't many choices yet and they tend to be expensive and run hotter. I haven't seen exact data regarding the PCIe lanes' power consumption figures, but more lanes means more power/heat - that much is clear. Also double check whether a board supports DDR2 or DDR3. 975X is such a venerable chipset and the performance even today is great, IMO. Big disadvantage is its limited upgrade path, supporting only 1066 FSB CPUs natively and PCIe 1.0. Also they are not good at handling quad-cores. But if you have a E2000/E4000/E6000 series CPU and don't mind the limited upgrade path, it's still a convincing option. Since it was a top-of-the-line chipset, boards are tend to be built as such but current prices aren't high as they used to be.
3. For SLI, NV chipset based boards (650/680i SLI and 750/780i SLI) are the only option. They will not perform as well as Intel boards in CPU-Memory intensive apps, but their performance shines in 3D. At current state, I wouldn't recommend 680i unless you can get one for a bargain price since 780i is kinda like a revised 680i with many issues fixed, plus PCIe 2.0 support. AnandTech editor Gary Key recommends 650i/750i for mid-range buyers instead of 680i, and I suspect the reason is not the north bridge, but rather the south bridge. The high-end boards utilize MCP55 (NF590 SLI for 680i SLI, NF570 SLI for 680i SLI LT, and NF570i SLI for 780i SLI), and mid-range boards utilize MCP51 (NF430i SLI). MCP51 is a newer than MCP55 despite its lower denomination, and doesn't seem to cause as many troubles as MCP55 does in most occasions. There are a few features you lose on 650i/750i compared to 680i/780i. The most notable one is halved PCIe bandwidth. 680i/780i have x16/x16, 650i/750i have x8/x8. At first glance, the 650i/750i might look seriously crippled, but not necessarily so if you consider that the x8/x8 is rooted in one chip, unlike 680i's x16/x16 which are split between north bridge and south bridge. And in the case of 750i, since PCIe 2.0 doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0, the x8/x8 is theoretically and practically equal to (or possibly better than) 680i's x16/x16.
There are a few other features missing (such as number of available USB ports, dual gigabit, etc.) on 650i/750i that exist on 680i/780i as well, so it's up to your needs. But as a rule of thumb, I'd advise towards 750i/780i instead of 650i/680i if you choose to go SLI. And I can't stress enough for a good air circulation for nForce boards in general. Another unique feature of nForce Intel is that they're currently the only chipsets that allow memory running slower than FSB, therefore greatly reducing the need of fast memory when overclocking. However, this feature is kinda moot right now because 1) DDR2 sticks are dirt cheap, 2) There are inevitable performance loss by going that route (unless you can manage to run memory @1T).
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