Best Motherboard Even Available Yet???

[KaosFaction]

Okay, Im looking to eventually go with a premium SLi setup (Dual BFG Ultras).

On the motherboard hunt, Im kind of worried about not actually being able to fully utilize all of their potential. I have read a few articles about how the currenty SLi mobos will only allow for 16 pipelines total, thus in SLi mode, they only use 8 each (8x8) instead of the optimal 16x16.

Is this true with the current boards from like Gigabyte, Asus, DFI, etc?
If so, any ideas when the newer mobos with the 16x16 pipeline option will be available? If not, what is your pick as the best mobo for an SLi system with slight overclocking.

Thanks!

 

[Continuity27]

All current SLI boards will use 8x + 8x instead of 16x. This is not a problem, nor will it be for a few years, because video cards won't saturate 8x for that long most likely.

That's not something you should worry about today, by the time they have the video cards that can saturate 8x, we'll likely be on PCI Express Revision 2, thus making it pointless to have 16x + 16x today.

The only things you should think about are:

A. Company reliability
B. Distance between the SLI slots
C. Type of switching method used from 16x to 8x + 8x

As for A, I'd say the most reliable are DFI, ASUS, and MSI at this point.

B, I'd say the newest ASUS motherboard is best because it features two slots between the video cards, allowing more airflow and space for larger coolers.

C, the methods currently used are: PCB switch card (ASUS, MSI), jumpers (DFI), and BIOS (newest ASUS). Jumpers are harder to set up, but extremely reliable. PCB switch needs to be rammed in the slot, and at an odd angle. ASUS's newest motherboard (is this one out yet?) has a BIOS option, that's obviously the easiest to use.

 

[Continuity27]

And as for overclocking, DFI is the best, followed by MSI then ASUS.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Yes, the new Asus A8N-Sli Premium is out, as I have one on my desk ready to be built. ZZF and Newegg carry it.

 

[Aenslead]

People seem to forget quite oftenly about ABIT; they have the best line of enthusiast oriented motherboards, along with DFI.

Gigabyte is solid.

 

[KaosFaction]

No....im not talking about the slot speed or anything, Im talking about the number of pipelines they incorporate. I think they are also called "lanes". I heard that actually the newer boards have 24lanes and will take 16 pipelines from one card and 8 from another.

Anyone know if this is true? Because now that the 7800GTX is out, I could get one and fully utilize the 24pipelines off the card by itself.

 

[rise]

no you are confusing different things me thinks.

the lanes are an sli bus width issue and the pipes are on your vga. the pipes, all 32 if you are in sli will still do their thing, its how the info is transferred to the mobo and all that is limited by lanes.

thats how i understand it.

 

[SNM]

The "pipes" on a video card refer to the pixel pipelines, which are used in the card to calculate how different pixels are lit and shadowed and such. The most pipes available on a video card is 24, on the new GeForce 7800.
The "lanes" refer to how much bandwidth the physical PCIe slot (and the card contained therein) get. This really isn't an issue right now, as even 8 lanes is far more bandwidth than any game is capable of utilizing (except in uses such as HyperMemory/Turbocache, but there are other performance limiters there). No chipset available now contains more than 20 lanes.

 

[rise]

thanks for the better explanation snm

 

[Continuity27]

Originally posted by: KaosFaction
No....im not talking about the slot speed or anything, Im talking about the number of pipelines they incorporate. I think they are also called "lanes". I heard that actually the newer boards have 24lanes and will take 16 pipelines from one card and 8 from another.

Anyone know if this is true? Because now that the 7800GTX is out, I could get one and fully utilize the 24pipelines off the card by itself.

Yeah, you're definately confused.

Video card pipelines have nothing to do with PCI-E lanes.

1 PCI-E lane is equivalent to 1x on AGP for bandwidth (in one direction). 8x PCI-E is equivalent to 8x AGP as far as a video card is concerned. (AGP has less going in the other direction, but that's besides the point). No video card released for a long while will saturate AGP 8x. Keep in mind, doubling frame rates with AA and AF on means absolutely nothing in relation to bandwidth needed, the video cards do such calculations internally. So a video card that does 40 FPS at 1600x1200 4x AA + 16xAF will not take up double the bandwidth as a card that does 20 FPS. More like going from AGP 4.2x to AGP 4.6x.

PCI-E 8x + 8x is not bandwidth limited for any video card out yet.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
People seem to forget quite oftenly about ABIT; they have the best line of enthusiast oriented motherboards, along with DFI.

Gigabyte is solid.

ABIT SLI and Fatal1ty SLI boards have nice tweaks and nice layouts. ABIT has treated me well in the past (typing on an NF7-S right now!)

 

[imported_Kensai]

Currently, the Tyan K8WE is the only board that I know of that support SLI and run with two x16 slots.

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Currently, the Tyan K8WE is the only board that I know of that support SLI and run with two x16 slots.

QFT

 

[KaosFaction]

Argh, but Im looking at things like this:
http://gear.ign.com/articles/558/558044p1.html

Im still kinda confused.

So if I were to buy two 7800GFXs, they would have bus speeds of 8x each, but the motherboard would utilize all 48 pipelines?