SLI or no SLI?

[guptasa1]

So I'm bulidng my new dream system. I was PLANNING to go the SLI route, but I'm a little bit hesitant to because of some of the limitations of these boards, specifically only one usable PCI slot in an SLI configuration.

This machine will be used for productivity more than anything, but I also do quite a bit of gaming when I have the time. I'm also going with a large (probably 24") wide-screen monitor, which means high resolutions if I want to game in native...

The problem is, I was planning on putting in a fax/modem (yeah, I know, but my work requires Internet, and I like an alternative if DSL happens to go down for some reason), a Creative Sound Card, and possibly a Physics Card later when more games require it. No room for a RAID card if I wanted to do that either. So I sorta feel limited as far as expandability with SLI.

Is SLI really worth it? And if not, what are some good single-PCIe mobos? Thanks!

 

[moosey]

Read this

I'd think you'd be fine w/ 1 8800GTX.

For a motherboard, I'd take an Intel chipset but you need to answer these...
1. What CPU?
2. Budget?
3. O/C?

 

[guptasa1]

Going with the quad-core QX6700 for the processor. Pretty high budget for this thing - pretty much want something that'll last me another 5 years (how long this one has, and it still does respectably). It does certainly look like SLI has its perks from that article.

 

[moosey]

Well w/ your high end budget and QX processor you'd be able to take advantage of SLI. If going that route check out the 680i boards or the Asus 650i Plus board that does x16x16.

 

[cubby1223]

(1) raid will give you bare marginal performance gain at best - SLI gives you significant performance boost.
(2) you can get an external modem
(3) if you're not dead-set on a particular board, there are some with more pci slots than others, like for quick example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135026

 

[Zap]

Pics of my SLI rig.

After going the SLI route, I can say that (speaking for myself) SLI did not give me my "money's worth." Sure, benchmarks numbers went up nicely, but my gaming experience did not change a bit. I have basically $500 worth of video cards in it, and that's just shy of an 8800GTX. Basically a single, faster card would have been the better choice IMO. If you aren't chasing benchmark numbers, just price out the two video cards you were gonna SLI with, and use that amount for one fast card. Unless you were wanting dual 8800GTX, in most cases a single faster card is as good/better overall for a variety of reasons.

 

[KoolDrew]

Is SLI really worth it?

No.

 

[guptasa1]

Hmmm. Thanks guys. The one board which would offer two PCI slots looks nice, though I know very little about the brand, so that'd make me nervous.

I dunno. Still really, really torn. The external modem was a good point, but then it'd be a choice (with my first choice of mobo) between a sound card now or a physics card later.

I dunno. Still may look at some different mobo options too.

 

[ebeattie]

SLI= better performance, but you can kiss any reasonable upgrade path out the window. ask me how I know.

 

[sjandrewbsme]

You can get a USB based faxmodem and I don't see PCI-e based physics cards being anything other than a neat idea for quite some time.

SLI is also a neat idea, but I don't see it being that much benefit. I have an SLI motherboard and I just ordered another. The board I have now (A8N-SLI) I bought with the idea of using SLI as a viable upgrade path. The trouble is that by the time I felt I needed a new card, I could get a single card that was 3X faster than my two cards in SLI for about the same price.

For the most part, I got this new board (P5N32-E SLI I think - so many numbers) for the 680i and the off chance I may go with SLI down the road.

The point being is that I think you present a false dilemma sort of. On the one hand, I think you can get SLI and still have expansion room for what you're talking about (less the PhysX card which I never see being a real need with the advent of multi core processors - but I could certainly be wrong). On the other hand, I don't see SLI being a real beneift now anyway.

I would say if you have your heart set on SLI, get the SLI board and run SLI.

I'm sort of a weirdo as I know lots of people think I'm crazy for spending the extra cash on an SLI board that I will probably never use. But....I just figured that for the relatively small amount of extra cash I might as well....

 

[rpf717rpf]

From my research it seems that if money is NO object at all that SLI is a good option. However, for most of us that is not the case. By the time a reasonably priced SLI configuration is released a superior card that would equal the price of 2 SLI cards will be released. I've built several systems with SLI MB's and have yet to invest in a SLI configuration as every time a superior card is released.

that being said, if money is no object, get the two best cards on the market and configure it in SLI.

 

[guptasa1]

So, if I were NOT going SLI (still haven't made a final decision on that), what are the best boards on the market currently? Looking for solid performers that can take best advantage of a single card and don't have the expandability limits I was worried about. Big fan of ASUS boards, and looking for the Intel Socket-775 chipset.

I was planning on going with the ASUS Striker Extreme up until now btw (with the Gigabyte another possibility).

Budget wise, I'm willing to spend a lot on this system, but I want it to hold me for a while and really have upgrade potential for the future. As I said, my current machine lasted me 5 years (with some upgrades along the way of course), and I'd like to do that again if possible.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew

Is SLI really worth it?

No.

/thread

 

[yh125d]

Heres some nice P965 single-card boards

Gigabyte S3 or DS3
Biostar Tforce 965PT
Asus P5B/P5B deluxe

 

[jsalpha2]

This Gigabyte
Board has a nice layout. If you go with a single video card there is room for a double wide video card and still have full use of 3 PCI slots.

 

[guptasa1]

Hmmm, interesting. I'm still rather confused. LOL =oP

My, how quickly things change. The last time I was pricing parts for a system, it was basically 1 AGP slot, 3-4 PCI slots, and an ISA slot.

Now I'm having a hard time adapting to all the different PCIe variations (x16, x8, x1) with only like, one or two PCI slots.

I've noticed even with a lot of these boards, there still isn't much more expansion than if I were to buy an SLI board and just not use SLI. Or am I wrong? (Though the Gigabyte would definitely free some PCI slots).

Another thing...for "single-card" boards with multiple PCIe slots, wouldn't that mean they still could do SLI? Or is that a specific feature set not present in those boards?

If there's any good resource that explains all about the advent to PCIe, that'd be helpful btw.

Confusedly and gratefully yours... =oP