Motherboard related question that needs an answer please.

Its my understanding that the 35/45 CF boards are 8x/8x, while the x38/x48 boards are 16x/16x.

I laughed at your post a bit, because it doesn't make much sense to me. Even if the second slot is 8x instead of 16x, the 8600 is such a low end card that this shouldn't matter. 8 PCIe lanes isn't going to hold the 8600 back. I don't see how this made your card "useless".

+1 - you don't need that full bandwidth for a mid/low-end card.

I couldn't tell the differece between my x4 slot and my x16 slot with my 8800gt on 3d apps. (I also don't do Crysis)(Not saying there is no difference but I couldn't tell)

Playing Turok showed me the difference, not sure if it matters but their 8600 Fatal1ty editions. And I got a 20% increase in frames not using SLI...

Besides I didn't come here asking that question, read next time please.

EDIT: I found this motherboard at a cheap 200$
Should go well in Crysis and other games. 30+ FPS hopefully

You didn't come in here asking that question, but your asking the wrong question. What I tried to tell you is that it doesn't matter what motherboard you put two 8600GT's into, they still suck. With good/high settings, they will not allow you to play Crysis at 1680x1050 at 30+ FPS. It has NOTHING to do with the motherboard, it has everything to do with the low end 8600GT. Its been awhile since I've looked at 8600GT SLI scores, but the 9500GT is very similar.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1521/9/leadtek_winfast...

Lets pretend for just a second that you could actually get perfect doubling of the frame rates with SLI. In this case, that 9.11 would get doubled to 18.22, still to slow. Even if you game on a lower res monitor, 12.6 doubled is only 25.2, still sub 30+. Worse, you should know that SLI doesn't perfectly double your score, so you are looking at probably 13-15 at 16x12, and 16-19 for 1280x1024.

If you want to play Crysis at 30+, dump the low end SLI idea and just get a more powerful card. Seeing as you want to spend ~$200 on a new motherboard, spend it on the 4850. This will handle Crysis just fine.

Seeing as you are talking about your next build, you don't need to worry about getting the x48. The x2 doesn't need a CF motherboard. Any P35/45 will do fine. I personally wouldn't spend ~$200 on a motherboard if the new x58 series is coming. Upgrade options will be limited for such an expensive board.

Sorry if im being unclear.

The 8600's I have are different somewhat due to the extreme overclocking at which they were at, I don't plan playing crysis with it.
I plan playing crysis with dual 4850's.

x8 doesn't even hold an 8800GT back..

I would bench my results with SLI 8600's 16x and 8x and show you the difference between using one or two cards but I have no software to do such a thing, nor would I have the time.

Besides, it seems like every build I do I learn something critical to success.

My first build was utter crap about 4 years ago.
Celeron D
ASUS MicroATX (dont remember)
512 DDR
6600GT Doom 3 edition.
And a 400 Watt powersupply.

Results: Seemed fine until the motherboard got warped, tried to replace it and it shot out of the case, thus destroying cpu and video card.


Current build:
AMD Athlon 6000+ X2
Gigabyte MA-57SLI-S4
2GB DDR2-800 Corsair
8600 Fatal1ty X2
And 620 Watt PSU

Results: Worked perfectly until I found out chipset was crap. (Parts around Chipset were melting the Solder causing droopiness.)


The build that arrives today is in the first post.

My expected results will be more than 30+ FPS in Crysis or im donating it.

I live in Alaska, and here PFD's get my new comps each year, I donate the old ones to my school.

You can "extreme overclock" a crap card, but you'll still get crap frame rates.

I don't understand what your asking. You want a 16x/16x motherboard, but are getting the x2 so you don't need to worry about the other PCIe slot. Seeing as i7 is coming, I would NOT get the $200 motherboard, but a nice cheap P35. Should be $100 tops, and will run your x2 with ease.

An E8600 and the 4850x2 should handle Crysis at most resolutions just fine. The 4850 is quite a bit more powerful then the "junk" 8600 you've been dealing with. I wouldn't bother getting DDR3, 4GBs of DDR2 is much better.