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Motherboard Needed for ATI Crossfire Setup

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masop   10-29-2008 at 03:43:49 PM

I am in need of a solid sub-$100 AM2+ based motherboard for an ATI Crossfire (dual x1950 pro 256mb) setup. I currently have an Asus M2N-E Deluxe motherboard which only has a single x16 pci-express slot. I need one with 2 of these slots. I don't know if it matters whether it is version 2.0 or not, as I have seen both. I want the board to be reliable. I will not be overclocking the system at all.

Aside from the basics, it should have a minimum of (6) SATA-300 ports, as I am using all 6 that I currently have on my existing board. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I have looked at the offerings from the major players (asus, abit, msi, asrock, gigabyte,
etc) and just have no idea which one to get, brand or model. I would prefer to not go over $100, as I will also be in the market for a high end athlon x2 processor (not phenom, no need for quad core) such as the 5600+ model. Thanks in advance for the advice.

-- MaSoP

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col-p-todd   10-29-2008 at 03:54:48 PM
- 0 +

This is the cheapest decent mobo you can get

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col-p-todd   10-29-2008 at 03:57:22 PM
- 0 +

ow sorry this mobo does not have 6 sata ports

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128352

this one has 6 ports.

When looking for a mobo I would only recommend asus or Gigabyte, but you could always look at a cheaper brand then you will not pas your 100 dollar limit

Reply to col-p-todd
stoner133   10-29-2008 at 04:22:57 PM
- 0 +

This is the board your looking for:

http://www.giga-byte.us/Products/M [...] uctID=2694

It has 6 internal SATA connections and 2 external eSATA connections. Plus full 16X support on both PCIe slots.

They are getting hard to find now that the new 750SB chip is out but as long as your not using RAID its an excellent board. I have one here and love it, though I'm not using that board for crossfire anymore. It does work great in crossfire and supports crossfireX if you ever want to move up. I just got a new board because this one officially doesn't support the 9950 cpu. It does support all others.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by stoner133 on 10-29-2008 at 04:25:05 PM
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masop   10-29-2008 at 04:51:20 PM
- 0 +

stoner133 wrote :

This is the board your looking for:

http://www.giga-byte.us/Products/M [...] uctID=2694

It has 6 internal SATA connections and 2 external eSATA connections. Plus full 16X support on both PCIe slots.

They are getting hard to find now that the new 750SB chip is out but as long as your not using RAID its an excellent board. I have one here and love it, though I'm not using that board for crossfire anymore. It does work great in crossfire and supports crossfireX if you ever want to move up. I just got a new board because this one officially doesn't support the 9950 cpu. It does support all others.



I don't see it anywhere online. Even newegg deactivated it. Damn. The only place that has it is upgrade nation for around $200. Any other suggestions? This is an incomplete list of the current models from the major players that I have come up with so far and the price at newegg:

abit ax78 - $85

asrock a780gxe/128m - $85
asrock aod790gx/128m - $125
asrock a770crossfire

asus m3a79-t deluxe - $189
asus m3a78-t - $150

gigabyte ga-ma78g-ds3h (rev 2.0) - $85
gigabyte ga-ma790x-ds4 (rev 1.0) - $110
gigabyte ga-ma790fx-dq6 (rev 1.0)
gigabyte ga-ma790fx-ds5 (rev 1.0)
gigabyte ga-ma790gp-ds4h (rev 1.0) - $129

msi k9a2 platinum - $150
msi k9a2 cf-f v2
msi dka790gx platinum - $155
msi dka790gx - $130

Out of those listed above, the following two seem to be the ones to consider, at least from current available models. Although they both include on-board video which I do not need, they seem to meet or exceed the specs which I am looking for:

asrock a780gxe/128m - $85
gigabyte ga-ma78g-ds3h (rev 2.0) - $85

I am still researching the major players to see if I am missing any, besides older models. Thanks for the input!

-- MaSoP

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to masop
masop   10-31-2008 at 04:51:13 PM
- 0 +

masop wrote :

I don't see it anywhere online. Even newegg deactivated it. Damn. The only place that has it is upgrade nation for around $200. Any other suggestions? This is an incomplete list of the current models from the major players that I have come up with so far and the price at newegg:

abit ax78 - $85

asrock a780gxe/128m - $85
asrock aod790gx/128m - $125
asrock a770crossfire

asus m3a79-t deluxe - $189
asus m3a78-t - $150

gigabyte ga-ma78g-ds3h (rev 2.0) - $85
gigabyte ga-ma790x-ds4 (rev 1.0) - $110
gigabyte ga-ma790fx-dq6 (rev 1.0)
gigabyte ga-ma790fx-ds5 (rev 1.0)
gigabyte ga-ma790gp-ds4h (rev 1.0) - $129

msi k9a2 platinum - $150
msi k9a2 cf-f v2
msi dka790gx platinum - $155
msi dka790gx - $130

Out of those listed above, the following two seem to be the ones to consider, at least from current available models. Although they both include on-board video which I do not need, they seem to meet or exceed the specs which I am looking for:

asrock a780gxe/128m - $85
gigabyte ga-ma78g-ds3h (rev 2.0) - $85

I am still researching the major players to see if I am missing any, besides older models. Thanks for the input!

-- MaSoP



I am quoting myself here. I've got an update to my own post, lol.

Below are the only boards worth looking at, however there are some caveats.

LATEST SOUTHBRIDGE:

Asus m3a79-t deluxe - $189 (supports dual pci-e 2.0 x16 for crossfire; SB750)

DFI lanparty dk-790fxb-m2rsh - $175 (supports dual pci-e 2.0 x16 for crossfire; SB750)

Foxconn A79A-S - $230 (supports dual pci-e 2.0 x16 for crossfire; SB750)


OLDER SOUTHBRIDGE:

MSI k9a2 platinum - $150 (supports dual pci-e 2.0 x16 for crossfire; SB600)


NOT AVAILABLE:

DFI lanparty dk-790fxb-m2rs (supports dual pci-e 2.0 x16 for crossfire; SB750)
GigaByte ga-ma790fx-dq6 (rev 1.0) (supports dual pci-e 2.0 x16 for crossfire; SB750)


Only asus, dfi and foxconn have current models that have 6 sata ports, 4 memory slots, sb750 southbridge and dual x16 slots for true crossfire support. Aside from the MSI board having the older SB600 southbridge, it meets the same specs as the asus, dfi and foxconn models. Have I left any boards out?

-- MaSoP

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