NVM: Delete this thread
Well, my trusty 7600GT has finally died, and tormented by my Pentium 4, I though it was time to look toward a new computer. After seeing reviews of Nvidia's GTX 2X0 series and ATI's 48X0 series, I have made the decision (after much thought) to give ATI a try for this generation. Part of my decision was cost, after seeing that an 8800GT might not cut it for me, and the 4850 was the next best card up that was cost-effective. I also planned on going multi-GPU later on. However, when I started looking for an Intel Crossfire motherboard, that cost-effectiveness seemed to drain away. After doing some research, I found out that the cheapest updated CF chipsets were the P35 and P45. But it turns out that half of the P35 and P45 motherboards sold only have one PCIeX16 slot, or run one of the slots in X4 mode (which has a NOTICEABLE drop in performance for CF). The 750i SLI motherboard I previously selected was $149.99 and ran at full 2x16 speeds (I planned on using the money saved for the mobo for my 4850 upgrade). But the X38 and X48 with that 'feature' were far out of my price range. So can anyone recommend me a good CF motherboard that does at least 2x8 in CF mode for under $160?
Edit: Forget this thread, I've decided to go with the Gigabyte P35-DS3L. CF isn't as good as I expected.
Well, my trusty 7600GT has finally died, and tormented by my Pentium 4, I though it was time to look toward a new computer. After seeing reviews of Nvidia's GTX 2X0 series and ATI's 48X0 series, I have made the decision (after much thought) to give ATI a try for this generation. Part of my decision was cost, after seeing that an 8800GT might not cut it for me, and the 4850 was the next best card up that was cost-effective. I also planned on going multi-GPU later on. However, when I started looking for an Intel Crossfire motherboard, that cost-effectiveness seemed to drain away. After doing some research, I found out that the cheapest updated CF chipsets were the P35 and P45. But it turns out that half of the P35 and P45 motherboards sold only have one PCIeX16 slot, or run one of the slots in X4 mode (which has a NOTICEABLE drop in performance for CF). The 750i SLI motherboard I previously selected was $149.99 and ran at full 2x16 speeds (I planned on using the money saved for the mobo for my 4850 upgrade). But the X38 and X48 with that 'feature' were far out of my price range. So can anyone recommend me a good CF motherboard that does at least 2x8 in CF mode for under $160?
Edit: Forget this thread, I've decided to go with the Gigabyte P35-DS3L. CF isn't as good as I expected.
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