SLI vs X38

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hoofhearted

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I am trying to build me a new gaming rig. I ordered two 8800GT 670MHz at a steal ($208 apiece). They wont ship until 12/20. I also ordered and already received the new Asus Maximus Extreme X38 motherboard. Being somewhat out of it for a couple of years, I should have read a little more of the THG article, especially the part where they said X38 does not support SLI.

I have already got the merchant to agree on exchanging the board for a 680i based one. But now from all the reading I have been doing, that seems like it might be a mistake. (680i eats memory and such).

I don't plan to overclock much, but it is nice as an option, but my main thing is getting the best fps in FPS such as Crysis, COD4, UT2004.

I see one of three options:

(1) Cancel the 2x8800GT and try to find the 2x3870s and keep the X38 board
(2) Cancel 1 of the 8800GT and keep the X38 board
(3) Keep the 2x8800GT and get a e680i board (baord and brand suggestions? -- I am thinking Asus or eVGA)

And yes, I am posting this to both the video card and motherboard forum
 
The best solution depends upon what resolution you plan to game at. At resolutions below 1920x1200, SLI is of very little benefit. You would be better off selling one of the GT cards. However, at 1920x1200, the performance boost gained from the second card significantly outweighs any benefits had by going with an X-38 board, unless you plan to upgrade to a Penryn processor next year.

As for 680i reliability, early boards had problems, but later boards have proven to be quite stable, capable products. Throughout the product-life of the 680i chipset, the most recommended board was the EVGA NF-68-A1. eVGA has terrific customer support, and the A1 model ensures that you'll get a new revision without the 680i's early issues. However, the A1 model has been very hard to find of late -- likely because EVGA is spinning down production in anticipation of the 780i product refresh.

Given that you shouldn't necessarily worry about 680i reliability, the benefit of an X38 board over a 680i board is that the northbridge runs cooler and can provide for a faster FSB overclock. For example, you'll be hard pressed to find a 680i board that can reach 500mhz FSB, while an x38 board should have no trouble.

Ultimately, the choice should be made based on your monitor resolution. If you do decide to keep SLI, however, I would recommend waiting for the 780i product refresh, due out later this month, as the 680i boards are really at the end of their sell-lives. The 780i board will also support the next generation of Core 2 Quads, which the 680i boards don't.

Mark.
 
Exactly, what resoultion you game on? I think your best bet would be to cancel both 8800GT's and get one GTX maybe? If you do not game at high res, then just keep 1 GT and be happy with it. In all honesty, 680i has issues up the ass, I would try to stay away from it. I would personally go with P35 chipset, which can't run SLI at full 16x bandwith, but great for a single card solution.
 
I bought two 8800 GTs and ended up selling one. I regret buying an SLI capable motherboard, mainly because it doesnt really OC for shit. I would go with option 2.
 
Cancel the 2x8800GT and try to find the 2x3870s and keep the X38 board
 
i don't have a 680i motherboard but sli was the only way to go for me.
A 1920 x1200 rez i couldnt put aa on in many games with a single gtx now i can crank it and all is well.
Its really a eye candy and rez thing if you don't use alot of aa and high rez pass on it.
 
The 680i is not without problems. X38 is a great platform and 3870's in Crossfire are awesome and provide a tremendous value. Basically I just think there's not enough of a difference between SLI and Crossfire to warrant having to switch to one motherboard.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
I vote for the 3870's.

And I have a 680i with 8800 GT SLI.
Click to expand...

Is 3870 faster or equal. According to recent THG article, best graphics card for the money), they said 8800GT single is better than 3870 single, but when you crossfire/sli, the 3870 scales up better.

Anyone actually experience this? I am a little gunshy about gettng ATI cards.
 
The 3870 and 8800 GT are comparable until you want AA with your games at high resolution, in which case the GT (and GTs in SLI) become better cards.

Mark.
 
getting the 8800gt's at their msrp is very fortunate. you will not find 3870's anywhere near their msrp. the gt's do out perform the 3870's at playable settings, although in benchmark scenarios with settings that no one can really play at (like 8x supersampling aa at 1600 and above resolutions) the performance evens out. you need to leave crysis out of the equation because it kills anything short of 8800 ultra/gtx sli with high to very high settings above 1200 resolutions. i'm currently running 3870 cf in a 16/4 configuration with a x38 build in the wings. i don't yet know whether there will be an appreciable difference in performance when running 16/16 cf. considering the cost of 3870 cards you may want to stick with the gt's and swap the board.
 
I vote for option 1, X38 is really a good chipset and 2xHD3870 has around the same performance as 2x8800GT
 
rennyf77 said:
getting the 8800gt's at their msrp is very fortunate. you will not find 3870's anywhere near their msrp. the gt's do out perform the 3870's at playable settings, although in benchmark scenarios with settings that no one can really play at (like 8x supersampling aa at 1600 and above resolutions) the performance evens out. you need to leave crysis out of the equation because it kills anything short of 8800 ultra/gtx sli with high to very high settings above 1200 resolutions. i'm currently running 3870 cf in a 16/4 configuration with a x38 build in the wings. i don't yet know whether there will be an appreciable difference in performance when running 16/16 cf. considering the cost of 3870 cards you may want to stick with the gt's and swap the board.
Click to expand...

Too late, I already cancelled them. It was the Dell deal for $208. All the horror stories about 680i chipset (read on these forums) is what made the decision.
 
alg7_munif said:
I vote for option 1, X38 is really a good chipset and 2xHD3870 has around the same performance as 2x8800GT
Click to expand...

My vote, too. The X38 is a better motherboard and 2x3870 crossfired vs 2x8800gt SLI preform similarly.
 
I don't know whether this is just my luck or the X38 did play a role for this, I can OC my Q6600 to 3.2GHz easily, Orthos stable at stock voltage and it would boot into windows @3.6GHz with stock voltage but not Orthos stable without higher voltage. I could also OC my previous E6420 to 3.2GHz at stock voltage easily on this same mobo. I'm not a fan of putting more voltage, I just left it at stock voltage.
 
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