Two GTX 590s in SLI

[jsmith65]

Is it possible to put two GTX 590s in SLI on a P67 board that isn't rated for Quad SLI? Is running two 590s in SLI essentially the same as running two 580s in SLI? Must the mobo have the NF200 onboard to support a dual 590 configuration?

I'm about to begin ordering for a 3D Vision Surround focused extreme gaming rig and I'm going with the P67 platform. I was wanting to buy the Maximus IV Extreme, but I just can't figure out if it'll support the two GTX 590s in SLI.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ViRGE]

Motherboards aren't really rated for quad-SLI, they're merely rated for SLI. Anything that is SLI capable will support a pair of 590s; a NF200-equipped mobo is not necessary (though it's not a bad idea either). With that said you'll want to be sure there's enough space between the PCIe slots for airflow.

 

[Skurge]

Motherboards aren't really rated for quad-SLI, they're merely rated for SLI. Anything that is SLI capable will support a pair of 590s; a NF200-equipped mobo is not necessary (though it's not a bad idea either). With that said you'll want to be sure there's enough space between the PCIe slots for airflow.

Yeah, thats something to look out for. Space between the cards for good airflow.

 

[dma0991]

There are boards that have the NF200 to enable 16x16x8x on a P67 motherboard like the Asus RoG Maximus IV which I think you could pay a premium for considering 2 GTX590s are already expensive and money is not issue here. I say get it as it allows you to give more space to your cards to breathe.

 

[Jacky60]

Keep a fire extinguisher handy!

 

[Awkward]

dammit this thread got Katy Perry - Firework stuck in my head, and i hate that song so much

 

[FalseChristian]

I'm not a big fan of Quad-SLI. I don't think there is a big enough performance increase to justify spending that kind of money.

 

[RussianSensation]

As long as you have sufficient clearance, even something like an Asus P8P67 Pro would work. Although when spending $1400 on a videocard setup, you'd likely want full 16x/16x lanes. So grab that Asus IV Extreme (or wait a couple weeks until Z68 chipset arrives so you still have working QuickSync).

Unless you really care about 3D vision surround, you can also consider HD6990 + HD6970 setup. It would cost less and likely perform well enough.

 

[pcm81]

Having build many many PCs all i can say is that:
The most important part in your computer is the motherboard.

No matter how good of components you get, if you stick them into crappy mobo you will not get the performance you paid for.

On the other hand you do not need x16 in every slot pcie mobos to do SLI/Xfire. I am now running x16 x8 x8 with 2 6990s and a revo drive. Tom's hardwre did pcie xfire bench and anything above 4x for non-primary card works well (+/- 2% perf) main card is at x16.

 

[Grooveriding]

If you do wait for Z68 (I would if I were running 3 or more GPUs) I would go with 3 GTX 580s. They will perform better and offer more reliability and a better quality of card.

 

[pcm81]

If you do wait for Z68 (I would if I were running 3 or more GPUs) I would go with 3 GTX 580s. They will perform better and offer more reliability and a better quality of card.

3x580s is the ultimate setup for air cooled system. Costs as much as 2x6990s though... I would hesitate to run 590s or 6990s on air, especially in adjacent slots...

 

[RussianSensation]

Having build many many PCs all i can say is that:
The most important part in your computer is the motherboard.

No matter how good of components you get, if you stick them into crappy mobo you will not get the performance you paid for.

I would have to respectfully disagree. Pretty much all modern motherboards based on the same chipset preform within 1-2% of each other. If you go with Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock or MSI boards, they will more be "identical".
http://www.techspot.com/review/380-intel-p67-motherboard-roundup/

The main differences relate to the features (how often bios gets updated, # of i/o ports, color scheme, warranty swap, etc.). Therefore, a $150 motherboard will overclock and perform just as well as a $350 motherboard (unless you venture into extreme overclocking competitions with LN2).

The most critical component of a computer is the PSU. The PSU can cause instability, hardware failure and prevent delivery of stable power to the components, thus compromising the overclock. From a performance perspective, the SSD, CPU and GPU also have far more importance than the motherboard.

 

[pcm81]

I would have to respectfully disagree. Pretty much all modern motherboards based on the same chipset preform within 1-2% of each other. If you go with Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock or MSI boards, they will more be "identical".
http://www.techspot.com/review/380-intel-p67-motherboard-roundup/

The main differences relate to the features (how often bios gets updated, # of i/o ports, color scheme, warranty swap, etc.). Therefore, a $150 motherboard will overclock and perform just as well as a $350 motherboard (unless you venture into extreme overclocking competitions with LN2).

The most critical component of a computer is the PSU. The PSU can cause instability, hardware failure and prevent delivery of stable power to the components, thus compromising the overclock. From a performance perspective, the SSD, CPU and GPU also have far more importance than the motherboard.

Let me give you a counter example:
I bought a midrange mobo Asus Rampage III Formula.
I run RevoDrive X2 as my system drive, which has an onboard raid controller. If I enable my MOBO raid controller I can not boot from my revodrive, because mobo only supports 1 raid controller at a time... a $400 mobo would not have this problem...

This is just one of examples... quality = $$$

 

[RussianSensation]

Let me give you a counter example:
I bought a midrange mobo Asus Rampage III Formula.
I run RevoDrive X2 as my system drive, which has an onboard raid controller. If I enable my MOBO raid controller I can not boot from my revodrive, because mobo only supports 1 raid controller at a time... a $400 mobo would not have this problem...

This is just one of examples... quality = $$$

I've never heard of that limitation. I thought you can have more than 1 raid setup on a board (for instance if you have 4 SATA 2 controllers, you are telling me you can't have 2 Raid setups at the same time and boot from 1 of them as primary?)

 

[pcm81]

I've never heard of that limitation. I thought you can have more than 1 raid setup on a board (for instance if you have 4 SATA 2 controllers, you are telling me you can't have 2 Raid setups at the same time and boot from 1 of them as primary?)

1. Usually a motherboard only has 1 onboard raid controller, so all sata ports on mobo are either a 1 raid or a JBOD.
2. In my case I can't boot from non-onboard raid controller if onboard sata is set up as a raid. This is mobo limitation. Some mobos do not work with RevoDrives at all for this reason.

You get what you pay for.

 

[Rubycon]

Should be no problems with that configuration. 4way SLI is possible on a small handful of boards due to physical layout/limitations. Even if one slot is running at 8X PCI-E 2.1 has plenty of bandwidth.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Let me give you a counter example:
I bought a midrange mobo Asus Rampage III Formula.
I run RevoDrive X2 as my system drive, which has an onboard raid controller. If I enable my MOBO raid controller I can not boot from my revodrive, because mobo only supports 1 raid controller at a time... a $400 mobo would not have this problem...

This is just one of examples... quality = $$$

im going to have to side with russian and say that modern mainboards are pretty much similar.

the only exception i can think is those super-premium mainboards. i cant believe you call a $300 board a midrange board.

the only time buying a super-premium board made sense is when we had FSB and MCH's. this way, the expensive board could have got a binned, cherry picked MCH for a higher OC. now with boards only housing PCH's; and the MCH on the CPU, the benefits of buying a super-premium board have all but evaporated, except for better BIOS support and updates.

dont get me wrong, i do believe that the expensive board is made with better components, its just that those components cant be responsible for a huge boost over the "base" model anymore.

 

[tweakboy]

Go to BIOS put all defaults and see what happens..

 

[Soundmanred]

Go to BIOS put all defaults and see what happens..

See what happens with what?
This doesn't have anything to do with the thread...

 

[aigomorla]

dont get me wrong, i do believe that the expensive board is made with better components, its just that those components cant be responsible for a huge boost over the "base" model anymore.

typically the higher end boards are more drafted near enterprise specs.

They are designed to run harder and last longer.
While offering the full boat load options enterprise has + overclocking.

Which is funny, cuz i had an agreement with a friend the other day, on the real differences between true enterprise gear, and Enthusiast Gamer gear... im talking top of the top cream of the crop.

And as funny as it sounds... near the end of the argument, he agree'd with me.
Super high end Enthusiast gamer gear, with custom cooling > Enterprise setups.

I killed him when saying, tell me a server board which the SR-2 could not fill, and not slaughter without growing more cpu sockets.

LOL...

 

[Spikesoldier]

typically the higher end boards are more drafted near enterprise specs.
They are designed to run harder and last longer.
While offering the full boat load options enterprise has + overclocking.

i agree. super-premium boards cant charge the price they command and just use standards components and sticker swaps. they have the premium components and design to back it up. OC a bonus that you gain over an already rock solid enterprise platform.


Which is funny, cuz i had an agreement with a friend the other day, on the real differences between true enterprise gear, and Enthusiast Gamer gear... im talking top of the top cream of the crop.
And as funny as it sounds... near the end of the argument, he agree'd with me.
Super high end Enthusiast gamer gear, with custom cooling > Enterprise setups.
I killed him when saying, tell me a server board which the SR-2 could not fill, and not slaughter without growing more cpu sockets.
LOL...

well i think its because you two are enthusiasts that you see the ultimate gamer stuff as being superior, i also share that viewpoint. having more variables to manipulate (correctly) will always yield you a better result. but being an enthusiast also opens doors such as extreme cooling which you are known for and being able to OC now. imo, both of these would be very rare in a business setting.

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