sli MOBO... do I HAVE to SLI initialy???

[Nagasama]

than what other real options are there to take full advantage of SLI other than the EVGA?

asus and msi both make a 750i board.

 

[illnastyimpreza]

Newegg.com - ECS N8800GTS-512MX GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

awesome thanks... If I don't go evga for step up than I'll definatly pick that one...its like $100 less

asus and msi both make a 750i board.

yes but I was told that to take FULL advantage of sli I need to go with the EVGA ... whats the storry there ??

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The evga is a non reference design with all solid capacitors and support for x16/x16 sli while the other 750i's only support x8/x8.

 

[illnastyimpreza]

^ what does x8/x8 mean ???

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The Pci express x16 slots only operate at 1/2 their speed (x8) when they are running 2 cards.

Sorry, I was wrong it looks like the other 750i's also have x16/x16 in sli.

 

[veg1992]

750i FTW goes at 16/8

the rest are 8x/8x

 

[illnastyimpreza]

oh cool.... good to know

now to decide whether to go single 8800GTS(or GTX)
OR

SLI 9600GT ... (for now)

 

[Nagasama]

16/8 or 8/8 or 16/16...you aint gonna tell the difference.

 

[illnastyimpreza]

how much does the slow opperating at half its speed effect the actualy graphics?? is even half speed close to the bottleneck of the cards output ??

 

[Nagasama]

like i said, it you will not be able to tell a difference. probably not even with a benchmark.
maybe 5%.
not worth the extra money, trust me. i spent more on a 590sli mobo because i assumed it would give me better graphics performance (it has 2 x 16x pcie lanes). not true at all.