Mobo with Crossfire and Intel Core Quad

[MasterDex]

I'm about to finish upgrading my PC. Unfortunately, to complete my desired upgrades I'm going to need a new mobo. What I'm looking for is a motherboard that has 2 PCI-E x16 slots which are Crossfire ready, at least 2 DIMM ram slots, at least 3 PCI slots and must be Intel Quad Core compatible.
Thanks in advance for your help. Hopefully there is a mobo out there to suit my needs

 

[Maziar]

If u only need CrossFire with dual 16x mode , then u have to get X38 boards which are expesive

 

[MasterDex]

Well, money isn't an object as I've been hoarding away savings just for upgrading. Can you give me some more details about the X38 boards?

 

[evongugg]

Here are some for you to look at. I recommend Gigabyte.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=x38+motherboards

 

[Maziar]

X38 main difference with P35 is that X38 supports CrossFire @ dual 16x mode , but the best P35 board supports CrossFire @ dual 8x,(ASUS BLITZ FORMULA , and ASUS BLITZ FORMULA) mode and all other P35 boards support CrossFire @ 16x4x mode

 

[MasterDex]

Oh right, thanks for the info. I'm fairly noob when it comes to motherboards.
I've pretty much settled on this card: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=572&l4=0&model=1872&modelmenu=1
Also, is there anything to be aware of when I'm fitting the motherboard?

 

[hcforde]

This is another ASUS that may interest you. The Maximus SE

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=572&l4=0&model=1850&modelmenu=1

It uses DDR2, and gives you the option of liquid cooling on the North bridge. The board you are looking at uses DDR3 which is expensive and does NOT give an acceptable price/performance return. By the time the memory becomes reasonable(DDR3) you may require a new board anyway. Money may not be an object but that is no reason to throw it away needlessly. If you plan to overclock and don't have a water cooling unit use the difference to buy one .

 

[Maziar]

agreed^^,get DDR2 RAM and dont worry about DDR3, because DDR3 is still very expensive (u can get 8GB DDR2 with the price of 4GB DDR3) and also the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 is %0-%10 , get MAXIMUS FORMULA or MAXIMUS FORMULA SE (limited quantity)

 

[aevm]

I liked the reviews for Asus Maximus and GA-X38-DQ6. Both have only 2 PCI slots though.

I recommend the P5W-DH Deluxe, it's the only one I know matching all your requirements.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131025

 

[Maziar]

P5W-DH is a good board , but :
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=248&l4=0&model=1198&modelmenu=2

1_It supports CrossFire @ dual 8x mode (however dual 8x doesnt have alot of difference with dual 16x )

2_975x is an old chipset , if he will be satisified with dual 8x mode ,
P5W-DH is a good board, but as u know ASUS BLITZ FORMULA is one of the few P35 boards that supports CrossFire @ dual 8x mode too , and here are 2 reviews of it :
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Asus_Blitz_Formula_and_Extreme_P35_Motherboards/
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=451

 

[aevm]

Yeah, that 8x issue is annoying. I'm thinking the X38 is the best choice here after all, specifically the Asus Maximus. It only has 2 PCI slots, but I'm sure some things don't have to be PCI cards, they can be USB devices instead. TV tuners, sound cards, etc. for example.

MasterDex, just curious, let's say you find a motherboard with 7 PCI slots, what would you use in those slots? (There's no such thing, BTW, most I know is 3 slots).

 

[Maziar]

as i said 8x8x doenst have much difference with 16x16x, here is a reivew (its old , but it exactly talks about dual 16x vs dual 8x ):
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-a8n32-sli-deluxe.html

 

[zenmaster]

Not many cards will be limited by the 8x Slots.
The 8800GTX will I know.
Not sure about the 2900XT, that was not available for testing yet in that review.

However, going forward, some newer top end cards may be limited by the 8x bus. Considering "Money is little object", it sounds like the poster may have the cache to trade in whatever GPUs he has for when the new ATI Cards comeout that may be faster than the 2900XT. And those would certainly see 8x limits.

I think it's going to be a long time before we see 16x limits by a single card.