Crossfire motherboard

[lancec2c30]

I was just piecing a crossfire computer for the heck of it and came up with this. Now is the x38 chipset in the Asus Crossfire board I picked out supposed to be better then the p35?


GPU: Sapphire Radeoen HD 2900XT 512mb (2 in crossfire) $389.99 Each

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100201SR Radeon HD 2900XT 512MB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Motherboard: Asus P5E lga 775 x38 chipset $249.99

Newegg.com - ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: Intel lga 775 Quad-core Q6600 2.4ghz 2x 4mb L2 cache $277.99

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2gb (2x 1gb) ddr2 800mhz $65.99

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Hard Drive: Western Digital SATA 3.0gb/s 500gb 7200rpm $114.99

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Power Supply: Corsair 620W $140

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

Case: Cooler Master CM stacker ATX Full Tower $144.99

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER CM Stacker STC-T01-UWK Black/ Silver Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

 

[veg1992]

its not really better... its just like an enthusiast board (or so they say) remember 975x and 965p? thats sorta the situation... i'd say get a gigabyte p35-ds3p

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P Rev 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[lancec2c30]

But that board only operates at 16x/4x crossfire. the x38 runs at a full 16x on both slots....

 

[b1gapl]

Graphic cards don't even take advantage of x16, let alone the full x8 bandwidth, of the of PCIe slots.

 

[lancec2c30]

Okay, I see. But what about newer cards coming out? 9 series... etc? Will they use more bandwidth or are they going to start on a totally different design?

 

[b1gapl]

My guess would be that they would use more bandwidth, but I'm not sure if it will use all.

 

[lancec2c30]

So if a board is 16x/4x the Secondary card wouldn't even use all of 4x?

 

[b1gapl]

I assume it would.

 

[lancec2c30]

Then technically it would be a performance limiter. So the board vernong suggested would not give the 2 cards their full potential?

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P Rev 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail