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Started by bryan94sb | | 8 answers
Motherboards that are good for crossfire or sli
Hi i want to build my first computer but im not that knowledgeable about it yet. So I've done some research and read that to best optimize SLI or crossfire you need a pci express x16 running at x16 and another one running to ATLEAST x8. I was just wondering if there are any motherboards that have 2 pci express x16 slots both running at x16.

Also are there any motherboards specifically that you guys recommend me getting geared towards 2 gpus. I know the good brands are like Asus, gigabyte, etc. but which specific one is a good one?
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a b V Motherboard
August 2, 2014 9:44:23 PM

I found the Asrock Extreme-3 to be great for crossfire (and supports SLI) and great value.
a c 1530 V Motherboard
August 1, 2014 8:09:33 PM

Yes it's a good board.
August 1, 2014 7:55:18 PM

One question, would you guys recommend this motherboard for a future GTX 770 SLI OC plus a i5 4670K OC?
July 27, 2014 8:09:21 PM

Thank you guys so much for the info, im gonna take your guys advice and get one big and shiny graphics card. Im planning on going to 4k. Money isnt a really big issue for me but im not gonna just unload on things that are overpriced.

Right now im thinking of waiting for the GTX 880s to come out and most likely buy that since it has 8gigs of vram :D . I might go for the GTX 780 ti, but i dont think 3gbs will be enough for 4k. Of course I will go look into AMD and see if their new upcoming gpu's are just as good as nVidia or have more vram.
July 27, 2014 7:13:01 PM

Better to take GigaByte or ASUS, But 2 gpu's not better. Take one big graphic card. It also need less cooling facilities. Most new games supports SLI/Crossfire but it creates many problems. Like driver's problems, shuttering in games etc.. If u want SLI then take 2-medium end cards.

Best solution chosen by bryan94sb

a c 161 V Motherboard
July 27, 2014 5:38:12 PM

Two slots running x8 are plenty in PCIe v3.

Some of the confusion stems from many (all?) AMD motherboard still using PCIe v2 which is about HALF the bandwidth. Thus, PCIe v3 x8 is the same as PCIe v2 x16.

I would suggest building:
a) an INTEL setup with a suitable Z97 motherboard that supports SLI, and
b) use SLI

Example setup:
a) i5-4690K CPU
b) Asus Z97... motherboard
c) 2x (GTX870 3GB)

*Whether you "need" two cards depends on the games you play, your budget, monitor setup etc. The GTX880 4GB card should be $500+ and you may want to just stick with a SINGLE card.

SLI is not perfect. It varies in scaling from NO benefit to about 80% or so depending on the game and there are some other issues though SLI (when supported) is pretty good now. Crossfire on the other hand STILL hasn't fixed DX9 runt frames so I can't recommend them (games in DX9 tend to produce almost nothing on 2nd GPU thus it reports 60FPS but only show 30FPS).
a c 104 V Motherboard
July 27, 2014 5:35:06 PM

checkout socket 2011 motherbds, but they also require a socket 2011 cpu.

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