What motherboard for this configuration??

[rozar]

I posted on this a couple of weeks ago and thought I had the configuration sorted out. However I overlooked one thing on the motherboard. The motherboard I wanted to use is DDR3 only. I am having a hard time finding a board that will fit my system. I have everything but a motherboard and dont really know what I want.

I want to be able to use 2 video cards if I want to and still have a slot for my SAS RAID controller.

Antec 300 chassis
http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=08300

600 Watt Power Supply
http://www.nspiregear.com/51381.asp

Intel X3350 processor (not coming from newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117167

Crucial Memory 4GB 4x1GB DDR2 800 modules
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA804

XFX PVT94PYDF4 GeForce 9600GT 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150277
I can switch to a ATI card if necessary for a crossfire board

Adaptec 5808 SAS RAID controller
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/sas_cards/performance/SAS-5805/

Seagate 300gb 15K RPM SAS drive for boot
3 Seagate - 750gb SATA drives for data in RAID 5

This is the must list:
The board needs to do either SLI or Crossfire
The board needs to use DDR2
The board must also have an additional PCIe (at least) x8 slot for my RAID card
The board must be a decent overclocker

Does anyone know of a board that will fit or should I switch to DDR3 memory? Almost all board that I have seen with more than 2 - x16 PCIe slots are DDR3.

 

[aevm]

eVGA 780i
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188024&Tpk=EVGA+780I

Your links are broken. Use the "Insert a URL" button to fix them if you want.

Try getting 2x2GB RAM, it's better if you want to have 8GB eventually.

 

[halcyon]

Well, if you can spend $200-$300 US I'd recommend:

ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131219

ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131227

or this...

ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131284

I have the Rampage and its a nice piece (replaced an Asus Striker Extreme)

 

[aevm]

Ummmm, where exactly do you put the RAID card in those 3 mobos?

 

[halcyon]

You're right...OP wants to use Xfire or SLi. That EVGA board looks nice but I wish nVidia would start using solid capacitors on their boards like most of the other top makers.

 

[aevm]

Yeah... Even the 780i might not be the answer, in fact, because dual-slot video cards tend to block the PCI slots....

@rozar: you know, WD has announced a new V-Raptor (to be available retail in May) which will be very close to that SAS drive. Maybe you could use one of those instead, and then you can go with X38 or X48.

 

[rozar]

780i looks like it might work. I didnt look at nvidia based boards but I would not mind using one.

Links are fixed

 

[rozar]

Yeah... Even the 780i might not be the answer, in fact, because dual-slot video cards tend to block the PCI slots....

@rozar: you know, WD has announced a new V-Raptor (to be available retail in May) which will be very close to that SAS drive. Maybe you could use one of those instead, and then you can go with X38 or X48.

I already have the SAS drive and at 5.2 ms access time and 115 mb a sec sustained data transfer (my tested times) its not bad, plus its on a rocket ship of a controller.

 

[chookman]

Asus make 2 boards that may "sort of" suit you... although both use DDR3

Based on the x38 and x48 chipsets they have a workstation mobo that had 4x 16xPCI-e slots, although they all dont work at full 16x they should work fast enough for you not to work.

P5K64 WS
P5E64 WS Evolution

Other than that you pretty much have to goto a 7xx series NVIDIA

 

[rozar]

If you read my first post on this I REALLY want to use the Evolution board.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249194-30-what-motherboard-system

I even have contact with Asus on when it will be released. I think if it were out right now I might be tempted to sell my DDR2 and get DDR3. (I might only get 2gb for now though) DDR3 will come down in price, but until then its very expensive right now.