ati crossfire/motherboard question

[missilekt7]

I needed to start a new thread about my computer upgrades b/c i felt i got all the answers from the old one.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/question-about-compatibility-recommendations-186201/

My only remaining concern is about motherboards and trying to figure out exactly what I should get for exactly what I plan on doing.

It comes down to this:
-AM2/AM2+ compatible
-SATA 300/IDE connections
-PCIe 2.0 x16 (at least 2 slots for crossfire)

Now for the most part, the only thing I'm really scratching my head over is the whole deal with video cards in crossfire. I will only have one in there at first, running at x16 as I would suspect. I do plan on adding a second card within 6 months or so.

However, every 2 slot PCIe 2.0 x16 motherboard i see says that using the 2 slots makes the 2 video cards run x8 by x8.

So my question is: Should I get a motherboard that'll let me run 2 video cards both at x8, or would getting a motherboard with say 3-4 slots that'll let me run 2 video cards at x16 be that much better in comparison.

Either way, it'll probaly run the same no matter what mobo I get with the one card running.

Are there better options then:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130136
since it'll let me run 2 cards at x16 in the future

or

Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX3 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
as i've been told it's a better motherboard than the MSI one.

I'm really in the dark on this one so please feel free to give suggestions or comments so that I can get these upgrades ordered asap =P

cost = less than $175ish =P

 

[alvoss]

I'm not really familiar with the amd chipsets but with intel boards when you use the p45 chipset the second video card goes to x8. Since the card isn't using the full 16x anyways there is only a slight drop of a few percent in performance.

So although there will be a drop on boards that go to x8 it probably won't be noticeable.

 

[veg1992]

You are completely set on AMD?

Newegg.com - DFI LANPARTY DK 790FX-M2RS AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
and
Newegg.com - 790gx

But Intel is better performance currently

 

[missilekt7]

I'm not really familiar with the amd chipsets but with intel boards when you use the p45 chipset the second video card goes to x8. Since the card isn't using the full 16x anyways there is only a slight drop of a few percent in performance.

So although there will be a drop on boards that go to x8 it probably won't be noticeable.

so basicly, running two 512mb PCIe 2.0 x16 cards in crossfire at 8x by 8x is the same as running one duel core video card with 1gb of video memory?

You are completely set on AMD?

Newegg.com - DFI LANPARTY DK 790FX-M2RS AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
and
Newegg.com - 790gx

But Intel is better performance currently

Well I've always been an AMD guy, most likely because at the times of my upgrades/new computers, they've been on top. But other than that, I guess I'm am open to Intel as long as the performance/price is comparable.

So if that's the case, I would have to rethink both my motherboard and CPU choices, CPU choice as follows:

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core black edition Processor - Processors - Desktops

The other thing that is swaying me towards this CPU is the combo deal with:

Newegg.com - Rosewill RX750-S-B 750W ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91 SLI 8800GTX SLI CrossFire Ready Active PFC PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies