P55 Motherboard Suggestions

[Optix]

So I just tripped over a 2nd 6850 and want to get my feet wet running two cards for the first time. The H55 board that I'm using now limits the 2nd PCI-E slot to x1 so that just won't do.

What board(s) would you recommend keeping in mind that I need to carry over my current CPU, keep USB 3.0 support and have a budget of around $120 Canadian?

The current front runner is the Gigabyte P55A-UD3 but it still limits the 2nd PCI-E slot to x4.

My biggest concern is that I do not want the chipset to the be bottleneck if one exists. I'd also like to pick up SATA 6Gbps support if possible.

Discuss!

 

[Rob Williams]

Perhaps it'd be a good idea to wait a month and see where things stand with Sandy Bridge, because you might be tempted to upgrade to that platform. The CPUs might not be a tremendous upgrade, but the motherboards are going to be more robust than ever. Not to mention, you'd be able to take full advantage of UEFI which will be featured on most of the P67 boards.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

Also, don't worry about the 4x slot limit on the second card, it makes very little real difference to the total frame rate (runs at 97% of maximum), on single GPU solutions. It's only first generation PCIe that will prove to be a bottleneck, PCIe 2.0 won't. Dual GPU single slot cards are a different matter.

 

[Kougar]

Tharic-Nar sounds spot-on with that 97% number. PCIe 2.0 has enough bandwidth that 4x won't be an appreciable handicap... it will knock a few percentage points off performance but that's it.

I do agree with Rob though... it will cost you a new CPU, but if you are buying a new board already then I would personally make that jump to P68 in an instant. If things are tight then any P55 board should be fine, I am not aware of any specific advantages to ASUS or Gigabyte boards as far as P55 goes so I can't recommend any one over another.

 

[Optix]

It looks like a P67 upgrade is the way to go after all. I'll have to round up some pennies from the i5-2500K but that coupled with two 6850's, my SSD, Vantage 240 and Lian Li case should do me for a while.

My wife will be happy at least.

What's that? Tick? Uh, honey, you know I love you...

 

[Kougar]

Hmm, yeah actually P67, not P68 like I said.

I guess I have a bit too much wishful thinking for X68 and Sandy Bridge E. Maybe that is because of certain starships that also have an E on the end, I dunno.

Ya could spring for some RAM, then give her your current PC if she needed some convincing, perhaps.