Motherbard recommend and newb question

[brbdc]

I am researching motherboards for AMD 64 X2 - dual core chips.

I am looking to get a motherboard with SATA and all the other MCP features but I am not too sure on SLI. I dont see myself buying a second video card or going that route.

I am wondering what boards you recommend that dont offer SLI. I dont know enough or trust myself enough to go overclocking heavy. I am leaning towards nForce 4 Ultra.

Is it practical to buy an SLI board without the intent to go SLI?
What boards are good quality boards and benchmark well for gaming and all purpose use?

 

[Fallengod]

Yeah some sli boards have some more features. Not to say they are necessarily worth the extra cost though.

I cant really say its not worth it for you. You have to look through the boards youself and decide for yourself if other features they offer you will be using and worth it.

Pretty much, your only choice is the nf4 ultra, if you dont do sli. You need something that supports the x2. I myself, just got an ultra board. Epox 9npa+. Thats a good one. So is the asus A8N-E. So is the DFI Ultra.

You can find many threads talking in depth about each here. Epox is good, costs the least, and overclocks good. Also seems to have the least ammount of issues that other boards have.

The board can be had at the egg for $95(before tax and shipping). Of course, you can find used A8N-E boards for around $75 shipped as well here on the forum from peeps, so..... Thats my 2 cents. Good luck.

 

[Superguy]

As current video cards can't fully exploit PCI-E x16 anyway, you may want to consider an SLI board.

Putting it in SLI mode gives you 2 x8 slots, plus whatever your motherboard has (an x4, multiple x1's, etc). This gives you flexibility to use a different PCI-E card peripheral in addition to a graphics card.

Or you could just get the new Nforce 4 refresh that has full x16 lanes and will offer a lot more flexibility, but won't necessarily perform better.

I'm using ATI hardware, but bought an SLI board for the flexibility.

 

[brbdc]

Yea I am reading and finding the nf4 ultra boards with all the stats and features I want. Now I just gotta find one that supports the new chip I want. I know its pretty new on the horizon so the new boards arent all out yet.

The chip I was looking at is:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor

Few motherboards specifically say they support X2 :/

 

[Fallengod]

ALL NF4 boards Ultra AND SLI all support X2. You just need a bios update, that would be worst case.