Question on future SLI maybe

[jeremychiam]

Ive planned on a rig, and wanna get the GTX 460 1gb due to good reviews.

Ive got rest of the thing planned out so far but, whats the cheapest SLI compatible motherboard, and if i wanted to run dual GTX 460s in the future, wat kinda PSU should i buy now so i could run the 2 cards later on

the rig would be a standard i5 750, 4gb 1600 G.skill and ur suggested PSU and mobo that is future LI compatible

 

[WR2]

ASRock P55 Extreme $130 or BIOSTAR T5 XE CFX-SLI $135
For PSU somthing like an excellent quality 600W PSU or a good 650~750W PSU.

 

[WR2]

Here is a review on GTX 460 SLI performance. GeForce GTX 460 SLI review @ TechpowerUp

 

[jeremychiam]

i cant find the ASrock p55 extreme but i do find the AsRock P55 DE3 is that the same?

any gigabyte or asus cheapest SLI compatible mobo u could name

 

[WR2]

AsRock P55 DE3 has 2x PCI-e x16 that does CF/SLI at x16/x4. AsRock P55 DE3 review
ASRock P55 Extreme & BIOSTAR T5 XE have a slightly better CF/SLI x8/x8

Other options with SLI x8/x8:
BIOSTAR T5 XE / EVGA 121-LF-E652-KR / ASRock P55 Deluxe / MSI P55-GD65 / ASUS P7P55D EVO / ASUS P7P55D PRO / BIOSTAR TPOWER i55 / GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P

 

[jeremychiam]

is it a real big difference from x4 to x8?

 

[WR2]

It varies between games somewhat but when TechPowerUp looked at Radeon HD 5870 PCI-Express Scaling the drop from x16 to x8 was about 2% and from x8 to x4 about 5%. This testing was done with just one card - not CF - so I expect a CF/SLI setup using 1 x16 and 1 x4 to be scale up a bit better than an x4 alone.

 

[jeremychiam]

thanks again WR2, uve been alot of help.

to end the discussion, ive selected what i can find from australia and i really like the idea of future SLI with the gtx460 from its good reviews

select the 1 that u think is best and why, and another for best part for the money and also why

ASROCK P55DE3 115
ASROCK EXTREME 199
GIGABYTE P55M UD4 169
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P 224
ASUS P7P55D/LE/PRO/DELUXE $167/$139/$155/$264
ASUS P7P55D-E/LX/EVO/PRO $169/$145/$236/$205
MSI P55 GD65 169

 

[WR2]

ASROCK P55DE3: When I double checked I found it supports Crossfire, but not SLI. No support for USB3 or SATA 6GB/s.
ASUS P7P55 D-E LX has just a single PCI-e x16 slot. Perfect for a budget build where you upgrade your video card after 18-24months vs adding a 2nd card to CF/SLI. By selling the GTX 460 and buying a (for example) GTX 660 you can keep up-to-date with future games. Has support for USB3 or SATA 6GB/s.
GIGABYTE P55M UD4 has 2 PCI-e x16 slots (x8/x8 CF/SLI) but using a double slot cooler like the GTX 460 means you'd lose the use of the rest of the expansion slots on the micro-ATX sized MB. No support for USB3 or SATA 6GB/s.
ASRock P55 Extreme has 3 PCI-e x16 slots (x8/x8 CF/SLI plus 1 @ x4). Allow for SLI and a Physix video card. No support for USB3 or SATA 6GB/s.
ASUS P7P55 D-E PRO has 2 PCI-e x16 slots (x8/x8 CF/SLI). Has support for USB3 or SATA 6GB/s.
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P has 2 PCI-e x16 slots (x8/x8 CF/SLI). Has support for USB3 or SATA 6GB/s.

Boards without USB3 or SATA 6 don't get ruled out because you can buy a USB3/SATA 6 expansion card. However the P55M UD4 would not have an uncovered slot due to SLI GTX 460 covering remaining slots on the micro-ATX board.

Best SLI motherboard available:
(1) ASUS P7P55 D-E PRO Review and it's also the MB recommended in THG Recommended Builds by Usage (see the Gamer: $1,123.89 build list). ASUS P7P55 D-E PRO Homepage you can download the manual and get a head start reading up on the board.
(2) GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P essentially the same quality and feature list as ASUS P7P55 D-E PRO, just a bit more expensive.

Best part for the money:
ASUS P7P55 D-E LX only 1 PCI-e x16 slot (so you're also buying just 1 video card) means you're on a single video card upgrade path instead of going with dual SLI video cards. It's a trade off with overall cost vs optional increased video card power the 2nd SLI card can give you. It's the MB recommended in the THG Recommended Builds by Usage Budget Gamer: $808.90 build list.

 

[jeremychiam]

as the MB provides usb3 and sata6 do my parts take advantage of it? or even useful?
think im gonna go for the asus p7p55 d-e pro if the usb3 and sata6 is any useful with my plan, else ill go the cheaper GIGABYTE P55M UD4 169

twin gtx 460s definately looks promising in the future

thanks again WR2

just to confirm...

GTX 460 1GB 279 (FOR NOW...)
CORSAIR TX 650 116
CORE I5 750 242
SEAGATE 1TB 78 (is there a specific hardrive to look out for gaming?)
THERMAL TAKE V5 BLACK WINDOW 77
G.SKILL TRIDENT 146 (OR RIPJAWS FOR 136 is there a big difference?)
ASUS P7P55 D-E PRO 206 or GIGABYTE P55M UD4 169

total 1144 AUSD with asus MB and trident ram
since newegg doesnt exist here

 

[jeremychiam]

Best answer selected by jeremychiam.

 

[WR2]

I checked the RAM. Trident are DDR3 1600 and Ripjaws are DDR3 1333. Both are Cas Latency 8 and both get excellent reviews.
You would probably not be able to a performance difference although you might be able to measure a very minor advantage with DDR3 1600.

as the MB provides usb3 and sata6 do my parts take advantage of it? or even useful?
think im gonna go for the asus p7p55 d-e pro if the usb3 and sata6 is any useful with my plan, else ill go the cheaper GIGABYTE P55M UD4 169

Not at this time. A fair chance it will be useful in the future. Best use for SATA 6GB/s would be a future Fast SSD. Current SSDs are nearly maxing out the SATA 3GB/s bandwidth. Future monitors might be USB3, along with external HDDs and other high bandwith parts you could install externally.

I think it's more likely you'll use 2x video cards than USB3/SATA 6GB in the next year or three. GIGABYTE P55M UD4 would be a safe choice. You might be able to get back some of the price difference selling ASUS P7P55 D-E PRO since it should be more attractive 3-4 years out when USB3/SATA6 are more likely to be in demand.