Great budget SLI Intel board?

The ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 (5 year warranty) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... and if you don't have already either the CPU or GPUs then I'd look at the Ivy Bridge i5-3570K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... and a single GTX 670 or GTX 680 (EVGA or ASUS) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

Cheaper but very good ASUS P8Z77-V (3 year warranty) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If you are looking for a budget SLI board get this one...
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
It is $150 and has earned the Customer Choice Award from Newegg.

SLI 460s are very powerful... I'd look at the GTX 560 Ti cards however. In SLI they are super!

If you live near a Micro Center you can get an i5 2500K for $169.99 and an ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 w SLI support for $114.99 when you purchase them together. $285 for the combo... Can't beat that anywhere!

That board is $185 at newegg...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Yeah, I've already looked that Sabertooth over a couple of times. Freaking expensive in my opinion, but it has some awesome features no doubt. As for the higher end graphics cards, I don't see the point of them. Yes they are great, and yes I understand that the GTX 680 has more cuda cores and whatnot, but remember that two GTX 460 in SLI, especially when paired with a powerful CPU like the i5-2500k, can run even a demanding game like Crysis and spit out some very acceptable, or even better, graphics. Maybe not constant sixty plus smooth frames-per-second, but the human eye can't see past twenty-five or thirty if I remember correctly.

Not exactly my flavor of Kool-Aid, but you are entitled to your opinion. And even if it wasn't exactly the information I was looking for, I appreciate your response. It is always worse when someone just completely ignores a question instead of attempting to help out.

Not sure what you're referring to here? I posted (2) MOBO's -- one in your exact price range and one a tad above.

(2) SLI GTX 560Ti = (1) GTX 670. Games are getting more demanding not less, I said my peace.

The human eye can see and detect a lot more than 25 FPS. Rendering > refresh rate of your monitor is also a waste (60Hz = 60FPS). I am much more interested in Quality over Quantity but anthing <45FPS with Highest quality, 4xAA, shadowing, you name it makes the experience much less enjoyable and harder on your eyes. Our gaming rig uses 120Hz monitors and I can see the difference over the more eye straing 60Hz -- folks rationalize until they experience something better -- then they'll choose to admit it or not.

If you have not purchased -- I stated clearly "...if you don't have already either the CPU or GPUs then I'd look at..."

The 460s were great when they came out, don't get me wrong. They really hit the sweet spot in the price/performance arena. Also the current prices on them are really a steal. And yes they still hold their own in most games especially in an SLI configuration.

They've been on the market for over 2 years now and they are "on the out" in terms of the minimum gpu you'd want to have in a machine for respectable framerates. When building a new system you want it to last a while. In two years those 460s will be four years old and likely not able to play the games being released.

Soon the GTX 660s/660 Tis will be out in the market and the GTX 560 Tis will drop in price. I'm guessing the release price on the 660 Tis to be at around $300 with the 660s at around $225-$250. I'm guessing the 560 Tis will actually drop below $200 once the pricing settles down.

Anyways... buying a 560 Ti now will give you about an extra years worth of use on the GPU. I'd look into it if you can swing it.

On that subject, what do you think of the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... ? I have been looking it over for the past few days and it seems like a great deal. I doubt I would be able to afford two in SLI at the time of purchase, but one is actually less then two 460s for SLI, at least right now, and I think one of these would satisfy my needs very well until I could afford a second for SLI.

Also, say I had two of these cards in SLI, would this power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... be enough to handle them and an overclocked CPU along with the rest of the system?

And I stated clearly: Not my flavor of Kool-Aid. I was just attempting to share with you my opinion on the subject while being respectful of your own opinion. As for the motherboards, the Sabertooth is not a tad over budget, at least for me. It is nearly forty dollars over budget. It is a great board with some great features, and so is the other ASUS you recommended. But both of them just don't appeal to me or what I personally need out of a motherboard, at least right now. I thought I communicated that well enough, but I'm sorry if there was any confusion about my previous post.

Yes, games are becoming more and more demanding. That is a fact and I agree with you completely on that subject. However, unless you want to run every detail of every game you play in Ultra, something like the GTX 580 or 690 is not only hugely unaffordable but won't even be fully utilized by an average budget gamer like myself. In addition, many games other than titles like Crysis actually cannot even make full use of these brand new cards, because they are simply overpowered for damn near everything that isn't capable of rendering something nearly life-like.

Now, add to the massive price of most of the higher-end video cards the greater power requirements of each of them. Plus, add in the price of a high quality case with effective ventilation and room enough to fit even a single one inside. And a high-end motherboard with the features necessary to support two in SLI without a whole bunch of probelms or compatibility issues or something.

In addition, most budget gamers like myself are probably more interested in maxing out older titles that have far less strenuous requirements of the hardware of your typical modern gaming rig. Also, any game developer would be insane to create a title, either today or five years from now, that is so hugely demanding that only those able to afford the most up to date and most high end hardware could play it and enjoy it. Why? Because people on a relatively small budget like myself who have to save up their money for a year or longer just to be able to afford what most people refer to as a budget gaming rig make up a significant portion of the PC gaming community. Therefor, any developer stupid enough to make a game like that would be denying themselves a massive amount of income from sales of the game alone, not to mention downloadable content.

Please do not misunderstand me here. I'm not attempting to prove you wrong. I actually agree with most of what you said. I'm just sharing my own thoughts on the subject.

Best answer selected by TheYellowEyedMan.

This topic has been closed by Nikorr