Something i don t understand about motherboards

[totalhannibal]

i'm extremly confused caus i found this great deal on a phenom ii x4 combo with a biostar board.
50$ off.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX 128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Special/Combo.aspx?Subcategory=343&Brand=0&SaveCompare=0&SaveAmount=&kwd=phenom+II+x4+940+&ListType=combo&action=search&item=

here's the deal, i plan to buy a 8800 gt card and maybe later a 260 gtx.
anyway, will this board do?
it has ati integraded graphics, is that a problem? how do i find out these things? :lol:
this is a great deal, i wouldn't want to miss on this because of incertainty.

 

[badge]

The link doesn't work properly, but aparently the MB has a built in graphics chip to produce video while borrowing from the system RAM. That's if you have no stand alone graphics processing unit (like an 8800GT). As long as there is a PCIE expansion slot an 8800GT will work just fine. Ninety-nine percent of all microboards have 'intergrated graphics' like this. Normally, having an integrated video processing chip within the NB configuration does not impede the performance of the chipset much if at all.

 

[totalhannibal]

this mobo has this: 2 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slot (CFX x8).
does this mean i can 2 graphic cards in there?

 

[badge]

CFX 8 would mean two ATI Radeon crossfire capable cards can run in Crossfirex 8 x 8 bandwith capable configuration. Not to confuse with two Nvidia cards which are 'SLI' capable.

Crossfire = ATI Radeon cards

SLI = Nvidia cards.

 

[badge]

If you are using the PII 940, the ATI 790 chipset is an excellent choice. I have my PII 940 on a 780g board (the first ATI integrated chipset after AMD took over ATI, I believe) at 3.6GHz. I run native crossfire with the onboard ATI 3200 and a Radeon 3450.

 

[totalhannibal]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.186959

Expansion Slots
PCI Express 2.0 x16 1
PCI Express x1 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1
PCI Slots 2

Will this do then?

can i use 1 or 2 geforce cards here?

this is a BIOSTAR TA790GX XE AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[badge]

The link doesn't work for me. The 790GX would run a single Nvidia card, but does not support SLI with two Nvidia cards.

You would have to go to an AMD chipset for SLI with the 940. ATI chipset is probably faster and more stable.

Yeah, I finally got that Biostar MB link open, the second one. That MB has a single PCIE 2.0 16x slot for a single video card, either ATI or Nvidia. Then the MB has an onboard:

ATI Radeon HD3300 Graphics with 128MB Side-port memory, Max. Memory share up to 512 MB
Support ATI Hybrid Crossfire

Check the MB product page for which ATI Radeon cards will run in native crossfire with this onboard Radeon HD3300. Onboard crossfire is kind of lame. A single high performance card would be better.

 

[totalhannibal]

final question:
how would you rate this card, i mean it s cheap as hell with the combo deal (50$) for a first time build.
i will want to overclock my phenom II X4 940 btw.

 

[totalhannibal]

what about that one?
Expansion Slots
PCI Express 2.0 x16 2 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slot (CFX x8)
PCI Express x1 2
PCI Slots 2

BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX

 

[badge]

final question:
how would you rate this card, i mean it s cheap as hell with the combo deal (50$) for a first time build.
i will want to overclock my phenom II X4 940 btw.

Well, before I bought the Biostar MB I would go the online product page and read the forum and check around there for any obvious problems. Also, check for updated BIOS and driver support. Then I would by an ASUS board with confidence. :lol:

 

[badge]

what about that one?
Expansion Slots
PCI Express 2.0 x16 2 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slot (CFX x8)
PCI Express x1 2
PCI Slots 2

BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX

This specification calls for 'dual' PCIE 2.0 16x lanes capable of running 'Crossfire' at 8 x 8 bandwidth.

 

[totalhannibal]

thanks man. you've helped me alot.

 

[badge]

I hope I didn't confuse. You're welcome.

 

[totalhannibal]

sorry again but i just found a combo that's different from the rest:
Expansion Slots
PCI Express 2.0 x16 1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1)
1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1)

For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16_1 slot. The PCIEX8_1 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16_1 slot. When PCIEX8_1 is populated with a PCI Express graphics card, the PCIEX16_1 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
PCI Express x1 3
PCI Slots 2

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.190732

how does this compare to the rest?

 

[badge]

Well, that last one has a single PCIE 1.0 16x slot. Then, they added a second PCIE 8x slot that will share bandwidth with the first slot if Crossfired with two cards and run at a shared 8 x 8 bandwidth. What will they think of next.

Obviously two PCIE 2.0 16x slots will allow dual matching ATI Radeon graphics cards at 16 x 16 bandwidth. I believe that is best spec you listed so far on any of these board. That's what I have on my X38 with two Radeon 3870's. My system scores 16.5 on 3Dmark. Not bad, but kind of becoming weenie high with what's out there today.

 

[badge]

I want to install my son's 9800GT in my 780g and see what the PII 940 will do at 3.6 GHz. So, depending on resolution set up a single more powerful card is better driven by a finely tuned, running rampant PII 940 at say 3.7-3.8GHz. Crossfire will add some speed at lower resolutions if you can afford two cards with your PII 940.

 

[totalhannibal]

so what cheap mobo would you recomend me? i want to use my 8800 gt now and later (in 1 or 2 years)purchase a second card for faster speed or wathever (i m a noob but you know that already :lol: )
i want to do some overclocking etc...
Remember, it s a geforce, not ATI witht hat in mind. i need the geforce for softmodding into a quadro therfore can t go with ATI. plus i have phenom ii x4 940, 8 gb ddr2 1066 mhz
Thanks.

 

[badge]

I believe the the 790FX is the top chipset for the the PII 940. That chipset will support ATI RADEON or Nvidia single PCIE cards of your choice. I would look to ASUS or Gigabyte for theior OCing/Enthusiast oriented ability. Also, epect up to date support from these guys.

I wanted a micro build so the ASUS 780G micro was perfect for my needs with the PII 940. The 780G has a pretty stout integrated Radeon 3200 graphics processing chip if I ever want to go PII 940 'light'.

Can't go wrong with ASUS or Gigabyte 790FX for the PII 940.