Odd mobo question

[theburan]

Well... I'm looking for a mobo that will handle 2 dual slot graphics cards, still have 2 open pci slots, and have either a pci-e 1x slot free still or have esata available on the board.

I think this board would work: Newegg.com - Foxconn P9657AB-8EKRS2H LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards, but I'm weary about overclocking ability and the general pickiness of it... and if I read it right the 2nd 16x slot only supports 4 x mode electrical, which is low enough to make me go mmmmmm, before using a video card in it.

Anyone have any recommendations for a good board to look out for, able to handle either crossfire or sli (I have 2 7600's and 2 1800xt's handy right now... so either would work.)

Also, it'll be using an e6300 and a 2x2gb kit of ocz reaperx ddr28000 ram, if I were to get that.

Just curious if anyone knows of a good board... I haven't been seeing many options that would work. (3 free pci slots, e sata, and the ability to handle 2 double width video cards would be amazing too... but I'm not sure that's physically possible. or at least worth making. Lol. yeah....)

Cheap is good, too.

[garetjax]

No, there is a motherboard out there that fits your bill, for the most part. Check out the DFI's LanParty x48 motherboard.

Newegg.com - DFI LP LT X48-T2R LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

On second thought, it's lacking eSATA...

[theburan]

Nice... but pricey. It seems like every board that would work is a cheap board that's iffy, or really pricey. Hmmmmmm.

[polobunny]

Internal SATA to eSATA bracket, super cheap and works wonder.

[theburan]

Yeah, I'm more worried about the sound right now... music just sounds better on my xtrememusic or barracuda (both of which are getting sadly unused right now).... Hmmmm.

[screwballl]

most dual slot PCIe boards only have 2 PCI slots along the bottom of the board. If you have 2 dual slot cooling PCIe cards then you are limited to one PCI slot available. With the boards above it gives you 2 but I do not know of any with 3 available PCI slots with 2 dual slot PCIe cards

[theburan]

Yeah, 3 pci slots is just wishful thinking, I know that. It'd just be nice to have 2 usable pci slots, so I can have my tuner card and my sound card. hmmmm.

[theburan]

Ok, between Newegg.com - DFI INFINITY P965-S LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards and Newegg.com - ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards, which board would you recommend, especially if you're going to actually use crossfire? (i'm leaning towards the asus, but the one I found is still about 30 bucks more than the dfi I found.)

[Boy'nBlack]

You might be surprised to find the Audio quality of the Intel HD audio on these boards much more capable than the Extreme Music can accomplish. The C-Media CMI9880 is superior.

The Xtreme Audio is little more than the Audigy SE/SB Live(!) with it's lack of the EMU20K1 proc. It offers no processing and is all software bound...just like onboard. And good luck actually getting actual surround out of it. It's really a neutered Audigy and not worth wasting a slot for. Not when onboard sound is better than that thing.

So with ditching a PCI slot, you can also move well away from those legacy chipsets and aim for a P35. You're still basically limited to x16/x4 while in crossfire, but there's no actual performance limitation in crossfire. Well, not yet anyway! The P5K-E has everything plus a coupon for the kitchen sink. $110 here and there.