Motherboards for 2 4870's running CrossFire

Can I get some help on my previous post please?

Also:

2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16
(one running at x16 model, another one running at x8 model)

What does it mean by the 2nd one running at x8 mode? Would the 2nd 4870 work in that slot?

Lotsa room between the 2 cards = good. I wouldn't worry about the "8" lane configuration. You and i will never see the difference. More for marketing than anything right now.

I personally don't like MSI products. Too many bad experiences........ like they only last 2 or 3 years and they're toast. ASUS or Gigabyte are very reliable.. Look for the space between the cards. The cards will need the breathing room, trust me.

Thanks for taking the time to help.
I saw a couple nice X48 Asus mobo's which has the 2 16X
But from what you say, if I won't see much difference in performace, I'll have more choices.
I like to OC, so would that make a difference between the different mobo's we talked about?

Either brand would OC pretty good. The x48's are top notch. Select one that best suits your needs. .... what you need to plug in or hook up. Take note that you don't have to spend $300 to get a good mother board or one that over clocks well. Like processors sometimes it's hit or miss....... but usually hit on the better boards. As long as you can make your memory fly you'll get good results. ( fastest NAME BRAND memory you can get........... not always with the tightest timings though ) And I don't like Dominator either. seems they're almost clocked as high as they can go and when you try and get more out of them you usually don't get much. .....this is ddr2 now.

yes anything with the x38 and x48 chipset, or if you really want to push the boat out you could go for 17, i have to add that your doing the right thing by ditching the nvidia motherboard (there chpsets are just crap)you wont regret it

I have the Rampage Formula. It's great, but the Northbridge seems to get very hot; not sure if 55 degrees is too high?

That MSI board is good but if you're looking for an alternative go with a Gigabyte or an Asus. If you want something easy to use get a Gigabyte board. If you know what you're doing and don't mind messing with it go with an Asus. I do like MSI products as they generally have decent reliability and good overclocking options. Lately though they've been coming out with some weird board designs, especially their SLI boards. MSI also seems to have the weaker CPU support of the three while Asus has the best as they will release BIOS updates to support new CPUs even long after the board itself was discontinued. I don't suppose that will matter too much soon though since there won't bee too many new CPUs for LGA 775.

4870 x 2 is way better in price and in performance than 2 4870 in 1 fire  

Doesn't make sense... how can it be way better if it is still TWO 4870's whether it's a single card or two of them?

I have one already and want to add another one if it is a good performance gain.

i think what he meant was that if you started from scratch, the 4870 X 2 would be a better option than @ X 4870's in X-fire for 3 reasons. Takes up less room in ur Computer, Costs less, and since it's a single card, it'll scale better than 2 cards in crossfire as some games/applications cannot utilize crossfire to it's fullest potential. My guess is that the other poster disregarded the fact that you already have a 4870...

In your case, another 4870 would be cheaper, unless you sold it and bought a 4870 X 2

That is correct. I have my 2nd Asus Dark Knight 4870 coming via UPS this Friday.
This link shows my system with some nice pixs of the 4870 in it with the specs at the end. I think it will be a top notch system.

http://1-4u-computer-graphics.com/ATI-4870.htm

I got a nice score of 3DMark06 Score: 18,586 with the single card @ bone stock settings.
I'm hoping for 24-26K with some OC'ing when I go Crossfire.

that's a really nice rig, and it'll be even nicer once u get a new motherboard, (go with ASUS or Gigabyte like everyone else said) and have 2 of those bad boys running X-fire. I have to say, i would have never though that all of those colors of the rig u have would blend that nicely, if i was buying individual parts, i would not have selected that color scheme, but i would have been wrong, that's a sweet lookin setup you got there. Good Job. I went with ALL blue/silver/black myself