Good NVidia SLI Motherboard < $150?

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HottSauce

Weaksauce
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Jun 26, 2005
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I'm looking for a good motherboard to run dual 8800GTs, preferably under $150. What are the best options out there? I've never run SLI before so this is all new to me.
 
The boards based on the 650i SLI chipset are well-regarded and sell for about $115-130.

See this list. Actually, with rebates they're even lower than that. The MSI P6N Platinum on that list is a favorite, I can't believe it's come down to $119 after MIR. Its little brother, the FI, is now $85 after MIR. If you don't need legacy support the GIGABYTE GA-N650SLI-DS4 is pretty sweet too.

Edit: that all supposes you have or want a Core 2 processor. If you're on AMD, I dunno...
 
Thanks for the quick response guys. Okay I've been looking into it and a have a couple of questions. If I get the 650i does it really matter what brand when it comes to performance? I'd like to moderately overclock an E6750 in addition to my two 8800GT's.

What does 680i offer that 650i doesn't?
 
Commander Suzdal said:
The boards based on the 650i SLI chipset are well-regarded and sell for about $115-130.

See this list. Actually, with rebates they're even lower than that. The MSI P6N Platinum on that list is a favorite, I can't believe it's come down to $119 after MIR. Its little brother, the FI, is now $85 after MIR. If you don't need legacy support the GIGABYTE GA-N650SLI-DS4 is pretty sweet too.

Edit: that all supposes you have or want a Core 2 processor. If you're on AMD, I dunno...
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yea i have the MSI P6N sli-Fi (though they have since dropped the FI from the name) and let me tell you with the current bios this board is a monster. It oc's great and I was running dual 8800gts with no problem. Only downside to this board is the northbridge overheats sometimes...I would suggest either getting the platinum version with improved cooling or rigging a fan to blow on the northbridge heatsink.
 
HottSauce said:
Thanks for the quick response guys. Okay I've been looking into it and a have a couple of questions. If I get the 650i does it really matter what brand when it comes to performance? I'd like to moderately overclock an E6750 in addition to my two 8800GT's.

What does 680i offer that 650i doesn't?
Click to expand...

yea it matters the msi board (I beleieve there is a good asus 650i board as well) is great for ocing as it has very little vdroop and the platinum version has solid caps (i think). As far as 650i vs 680i I think the only real dif is 680i= 2 16x pci-e slots whereas 650i= 2 8x pci-e slots... 8x per slot is plenty for two 8800gt, there is no current video card that can use all that extra bandwidth anyway
 
i heard the msi p6n didnt have a real high fsb... but i dont think that would been an issue with that proc ur using.
 
haadij404 said:
i heard the msi p6n didnt have a real high fsb... but i dont think that would been an issue with that proc ur using.
Click to expand...

its supports very high fsb actually... Ive been able to run my e6400 at 1720mhz at 7x multi orthos stable for 24hours (with the case open).
 
haadij404 said:
nice but thats not nearly as high as my p5n's 1850fsb also 24hr stable :p
Click to expand...

that could also just be your processor... also I never tried just lower my multi real low and shooting for the highest fsb. My clock speed on my e6400 is limited to around 3ghz regardless of the multi or fsb, so 7 x 430 (1720 qp)= 3010mhz. Which is a really kick ass oc. But if I were to have wanted 1850mhz fsb I would have to have lowered the multi because 7x462.5 (1850 qp)= 3237mhz which would have been unattainable so I would have had to lower the multi to 6 which would have gave me 6x 462.5 (1850 qp)= 2775mhz which would have been far less powerful than the 7 x 430= 3010mhz setting. Also keep in mind im running the value version not the platinum version so Im getting equivalent oc'ing at what is $85 now vs $125 for the Asus p5n. For the the price of the p5n the OP could get the platinum version with solid caps and better cooling.
 
Also dont get me wrong if the OP decides to get the Asus p5n he will have bought an excellent board...I just think the MSI P6N Sli Platinum is the better bang for the buck.
 
yeah for $85 you can't go wrong.

the p5n hasnt really come down much i bought it for $130 when it first came out :cool:

but yeah any of the 650i's will work great. im running sli with mine with a good overclock its great.

only negative thing about the p5n is that if you overclock the northbridge gets incredibly hot and needs active cooling to be stable.
 
Good stuff guys, thanks. If I get the MSI or the P5N, do I have to be careful which brand of memory I get? I was planning to get 4 GB of this...
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098

Also are there any compatibility issues with either of these motherboards and an X-Fi card? I already have the card and would like to keep using it. Planning to go with 32-bit Vista as well.
 
HottSauce said:
Good stuff guys, thanks. If I get the MSI or the P5N, do I have to be careful which brand of memory I get? I was planning to get 4 GB of this...
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098

Also are there any compatibility issues with either of these motherboards and an X-Fi card? I already have the card and would like to keep using it. Planning to go with 32-bit Vista as well.
Click to expand...

No you wont have any problems with any of that hardware, or with vista.
 
The 680i boards have a lot of little extras--the faster PCI-E slots (as stated, not much real-world benefit), more SATA ports, two Gig ethernet ports instead of one, and so on. For me, the attraction of the 650i boards besides the cost savings is the legacy support, especially on the MSI. I have all PATA drives still and it has two PATA connectors instead of one. It has a floppy controller, PS2 connectors for mouse and keyboard, and a parallel port for an older printer like mine. If you are upgrading and carry forward older equipment like that until it dies (like me), the 650i boards will help you out--not so the 680i's, the P965's, the X38's, etc etc.
 
Commander Suzdal said:
The 680i boards have a lot of little extras--the faster PCI-E slots (as stated, not much real-world benefit), more SATA ports, two Gig ethernet ports instead of one, and so on. For me, the attraction of the 650i boards besides the cost savings is the legacy support, especially on the MSI. I have all PATA drives still and it has two PATA connectors instead of one. It has a floppy controller, PS2 connectors for mouse and keyboard, and a parallel port for an older printer like mine. If you are upgrading and carry forward older equipment like that until it dies (like me), the 650i boards will help you out--not so the 680i's, the P965's, the X38's, etc etc.
Click to expand...

This is a great point and one of the main reasons I chose the 650i boards.At the time I only had a PATA HDD and I didn't want to spend any more than I absolutely needed to and the 650 offered me everything I wanted without sacrificing legacy support.
 
Well I think I'm going to go with the MSI P6N Sli Platinum. Looks like it has everything I need. It was a toss-up between that and the Asus P5N.
 
Commander Suzdal said:
The 680i boards have a lot of little extras--the faster PCI-E slots (as stated, not much real-world benefit), more SATA ports, two Gig ethernet ports instead of one, and so on. For me, the attraction of the 650i boards besides the cost savings is the legacy support, especially on the MSI. I have all PATA drives still and it has two PATA connectors instead of one. It has a floppy controller, PS2 connectors for mouse and keyboard, and a parallel port for an older printer like mine. If you are upgrading and carry forward older equipment like that until it dies (like me), the 650i boards will help you out--not so the 680i's, the P965's, the X38's, etc etc.
Click to expand...

OMG, YOU ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!!
"If you are upgrading and carry forward older equipment like that until it dies (like me), the 650i boards will help you out--not so the 680i's, the P965's, the X38's, etc etc."
THANK YOU! !!!!!!!
 
gn3ric said:
OMG, YOU ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!!
"If you are upgrading and carry forward older equipment like that until it dies (like me), the 650i boards will help you out--not so the 680i's, the P965's, the X38's, etc etc."
THANK YOU! !!!!!!!
Click to expand...

You're welcome! One thing to watch out for--the 650i Ultra boards are cheaper than the 650i SLI's (no SLI support, just one graphics slot) but they drop most of the legacy support--odd design choice for a budget product, but there you go. So don't try to save a little more by getting an Ultra if you need the legacy support.
 
Commander Suzdal said:
You're welcome! One thing to watch out for--the 650i Ultra boards are cheaper than the 650i SLI's (no SLI support, just one graphics slot) but they drop most of the legacy support--odd design choice for a budget product, but there you go. So don't try to save a little more by getting an Ultra if you need the legacy support.
Click to expand...

DEFINITELY! P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI HERE I COME :D
 
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