[ashsin]

Hi, theres so many mobo's to choose from but the boards that i would buy is one of the P5E series but they have crossfire instead of sli, theres two reasons why i would buy one, 1st is the fact that they have EPU ( energy processing unit ) which is good because my electric bills went up just because of my last upgrades, and the 2nd is the O.C capabilities 1800 DDR3 and 1600 FSB.
my problem is should i buy a P5E3 series board and make do with one 8800 ultra xxx or two msi radeon 3870 or should i choose a different mobo with sli and the EPU but does'nt have the O.C capabilities and run one 8800 ultra xxx or two 8800 gtx, what would you choose to do if you had the choice ?. i want to build a rig that best for game performance and a mobo that i can keep upgrading in the future, What should i do ?

[cheesewheels99]

or you could get 3 8800ultras or gtxs
EDIT
oops forgot the link! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=evga%2b780i

[Carbon]

or you could get 3 8800ultras or gtxs

Don't do this.

Refer to this guide, specifically the high-end recommendations in each section.

[cheesewheels99]

why not? dont you want 3 gaphics cards?

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by cheesewheels99 why not? dont you want 3 gaphics cards?

No, because it would be essentially the same as throwing a wheelbarrow full of cash out a six-story window.

[cheesewheels99]

wat if you have a wheelbarrow full of cash that you dont want? that is the only way i would get it

[Aceras]

Originally Posted by Carbon No, because it would be essentially the same as throwing a wheelbarrow full of cash out a six-story window.

*uproarious laughter* ahhh good times.

i read somewhere that SLI wasn't really that great since most games haven't coded for it. mind, you should at least get a MoBo that supports for future use *nods to self*

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by Aceras *uproarious laughter* ahhh good times. i read somewhere that SLI wasn't really that great since most games haven't coded for it. mind, you should at least get a MoBo that supports for future use *nods to self*

Not just dumping the cash, the whole damn wheelbarrow!

Not only is SLI not coded for a lot of games, it's also subject to another nail in the coffin: the law of diminishing returns. Adding a extra card to a system has a maximum performance increase of 40%, so it's necessarily not equal to the value of the card itself. Buying two Ultras would not only be a dumb move with the 9800GX2 coming out in like a month, it'd take a lot of heat dissipation, a huge PSU, and a disregard of benchmarks (the Ultra is about a 10% increase over the GTX, which itself is essentially equal to a 8800GT). Tri-SLI is even sillier.

I also have a friend with too much money and too little sense. He bought a Blackbird 02. Dual 8800 Ultras, nice cabling job, $6000, going to be paying that off for the rest of his life probably. He actually gets better performance in a lot of games turning SLI off: in fact, he couldn't get more than 15 FPS using FRAPS with SLI on in Supreme Commander without turning it off.

So if you're going to SLI, get a couple 8800GTs. But do wait until the 9 series comes out in a few months if you can. Throwing down cash on high-end upgrades? Get one of those fancy 45nm quad-cores with the unlocked multipliers or DDR3 or something, you might actually get something out of it.

[cheesewheels99]

well if you have money to waste if your like a billionare gamer or something why not!?

[Soverntear]

Originally Posted by Carbon Don't do this. Refer to this guide, specifically the high-end recommendations in each section.

can we get a sticky for this lol