4 PCI 2.0 Express Slots, Worth getting?

MrBucket

MrBucket

New Member
Alright i was thinking about getting this board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130136, thinking in the next coming years i could keep adding 4870's or you know other like-cored gpu's. But right now it seems that most CF setups with higher end cards are being limited by the CPU. I hear about Denebs are going to be coming out soon which should unleash some of the CF's power. But do you guys think i should even stick with this board or just go to a a 2 x PCI 2.0 express one because i'm not sure if AMD is gonna make their cpu's AM2+ compatible forever.
 
AMD's track record for sticking with a single socket type hasn't been great. In the time Intel stuck to LGA 775 they changed from 939 to AM2 and now AM2+.

One other limiting performance factor in multi GPU setups is software. In order for you to see the best of gains the game or program has to be optimized for SLI and Crossfire and it's only optimized for 2 way SLI then it's a bit of a waste.

To answer your question, you'd probably be best going with 2 4870x2's
 
MrBucket said:
Alright i was thinking about getting this board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130136, thinking in the next coming years i could keep adding 4870's or you know other like-cored gpu's. But right now it seems that most CF setups with higher end cards are being limited by the CPU. I hear about Denebs are going to be coming out soon which should unleash some of the CF's power. But do you guys think i should even stick with this board or just go to a a 2 x PCI 2.0 express one because i'm not sure if AMD is gonna make their cpu's AM2+ compatible forever.
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The first two Phenom II are going to be AM2+ parts, then they are going to AM3, the AM3 are going to have a DR2/3 memory controller and most should be compatible with AM2+ boards. But bypass that MSI board. If your wanting to upgrade to a AM2+ AMD chipset board get one with the SB750
 
alright so i should just save a few bucks and stick with a 2 pci express slot board than? Most of the boards im looking at are 790GX base boards and i see that they run crossfire at x8 x8. Will that bottle neck the 4870's im planning to get?
 
well i know right now most setups with 2 x 4870's in CF aren't that much improved over a single 4870 (with some exceptions of course) because of the bottlenecking with the cpu but you really think AM2+ compatible processors in the next 1-2 years are gonna unless that much gpu power? i mean those boards are an extra 50 bucks and i don't overclock too much so i don't necessarily need top highend boards
 
Think your going to have to make up your mind if you want to run C/F now or later or not at all before picking a board. The MSI 790FX link you gave is a ok board with the SB600 if you not really into overclocking and it does do 16X/16X in C/F. The SB750 just improves USB performance, more Sata slots and helps improve overclocking. The SB750 just wasnt ready when they released the NB700 series and they slaped the older SB600 on them. But then again my board has the SB600 and I've had this 5600 up to 3.4ghz. Thats one reason I got this board, used to run alot of SLI setups and got board with it and decided to get a cheaper single slot board.
 
i might overclock a little bit but probably no water cooling for me, just probably a decent cpu HSF and a case with good air flow. I might up just going for the 790fx board with the SB750 because i hear that right now the reason why x8 x8 isn't a big thing in games today is because of just how many textures are being displayed not really just the quality of them. So when newer games come out and the draw distance and things like that are gonna be further and further, more of my video cards memory is gonna be needed which means i'll need more bandwidth. So i guess i kinda just answered my own question but you made me research alot before i just went ahead and made a choice ha
 
With upperend cards like the 4850/70 in CF with 8X/8X you will probable take alittle hit in performance. If I was going to get a CF board right now I would bite it and go for a FX with a SB750. But like I said the MSI with the SB600 is not a bad chip, its just alittle limited compared to the 750.
 
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