Recommend a X50 mobo with these features...

Recommend a X58 mobo with these features...

Hi guys I recently got a Sabertooth x58 from asus an excellent mobo but with a big flaw, it can't run SLI/CF without cooking your gpus to sinder.

Anyway I now need a new mobo to exchange this one for, and I'm not sure wich ones that would work for me so I'm hoping some of you might have some ideas.

My requirements are:

1) Must have large space between the two main pci-e slots
2) Both slots must be pci-e x16 2.0

Less pressing things are:

3) USB 3.0
4) Sata 3.0
5) Nice Ocing bios with atleast llc and a full spectre of voltsettings
6) Around 200-240 dollar mark
7) IDE connection
8) Good passive cooling, no annoying little screamy fans to attach
9) accessible PCI or PCI-E 1x when two gpus are in the system ( soundcard )

Well if you think of something ontop of your head don't hesitate to post with a nice little link of the specs and pics.


Atm I'm leaning towards the Asus P6T WS, atleast it has alot of space inbetween main PCI-E slots, both 2.0 and accesible PCI-E 1x slot at the top for soundcard.

 

The Asus P6T WS is quite expensive is it not? You specify $200-240 and over here in the UK that board is around £345! Maybe cheaper elsewhere, im not sure.

Maybe something in the middle like a Gigabyte UD5, Asus Rampage II Extreme, Asus P6X58D PREMIUM or EVGA FTW3

 

Gigabyte X58A-UD3R

 

UD5 and UD3 looks really nice deffo gonna add that to my list, 4x pci-e 2.0, thats awesome, even at 8x it won't saturate my cards.

One question though wich one of these pci-e slots are the x16 ones, is it the two top slots or have they been smart and mixed it? I really don't understand why boardmakers would put two main pci-e slots next to eachother like that. The graphic cards are getting hotter each year and need more breathingspace not less


/edit

Yup yup that UDR is nom nom

How is it to OC on? I'm blown away by this sabertooth its just crazy but alas can't really run my 2nd card on x4. Tested it in BC2 just now and it works and I probably ain't missing any fps in this title since it is so cpu dependant but in games like metro, crysis I think I will prolly loose 6-7 min fps and thats just stupid.

 

Isn't a PCIE2.0 8x basically the same as a PCIE 16x performance wise? All 2.0 did was double the bandwidth, or is there more to it?

EDIT: Grr... I'm reading specs elsewhere for the Sabretooth and they are saying the 4x slot is 16x. I hate it when people do that.

 

With the UD5 the top slot is PCIe 2.0 X16, the second slot it PCIe 2.0 X8 the third is PCIe 2.0 X16 and the last is PCIe 2.0 X8. This is excluding the PCIe 2.0 X1 slots at the very top. Im only refering to the blue slots.

Obviously you'll put your Graphics card in the top slot running X16 blocking the 2nd slot which is X8. So that leaves you only the 3rd and 4th slots.

If your second card occupies the 3rd slot they'll both run X16, but they'll be close together, though not too close i dont think like your sabertooth.

You can pop one in the 4th slot instead to run Sli, however i believe they'd be running X16 X8 but as there both PCIe 2.0 expansion slots i dont think its going to be a problem.

 

I can get my i7-950 to 4.3 easily (and the BClock/QPI has a lot more in it), just the heat the CPU generates is too much beyond that point, so mad OCs are easy enough if you have the right CPU cooler and a hell of a lot of patience.

 

yah i was confused by that aswell hence I never really thought much about it when purchasing - secretly hoping it would all fall in line anyway

 

X8 2.0 is fine, but one can hope that have the same layout on the UD3 as the UD5 with overlapping speeds, I mean nothing else really makes sense. I don't get it why ASUS put the pci-e slots the way they did on the sabertooth, ruins the board imo.

Marketing it as a SLI / CF enthusiast board then in reality the pci-e slots are too close together for anything but single slot cards. I mean my top card where idling at 66 degrees while the bottom card where icecold at 36 degrees last night, thats rediculous.

I would have taken one look at that mobo scheme and said "hey guys put the 2nd pci-e 2.0 at the bottom so ppl can run SLI without blocking air intake for gpu 1" I mean it goes without saying imo.

Going through the UD3 manual now, throughly this time, to look for the pci-e layout.

Thanks again all for the nice recomendations !

/edit

Found this





Seems it is exactly the same as on the UD5R

1= pci-e x16 @ x16 2.0
2= pci-e x16 @ x8 2.0 ( technically speaking a x16 1.1 )
3= pci-e x16 @ x16 2.0
4= pci-e x16 @ x8 2.0

Wich gives me the option to put a card in 1 + 3 or 1 + 4 for optimal airflow with soundcard in either pci or pci-e x1_2.

Gonna snag this tomorrow then

/edit2

Ha played some BC2 before today, and on the new map Oasias I ran around on 32ppl server with 108-138 fps haha, the day before with my Q9450 @ 3.8 it was 28-65 fps, mostly sitting around 45-55 mark.

4.6 ghz i7 vs 3.8 ghz c2q silly how big the diffrence is.

 

Sounds good enough, just novelty to be able to run this Xeon W3520 at 4.6 ghz after litterally doing nothing put dial in the bclock, ratio and then hit save and then it just runs =d

Would have been the best board I ever bought if they had not done this to the pci-e slots

 

question, what do you think of the x58 sabertooth mobo, iam thinking of getting it, but i have had 2 gigabyte mobo's for two of my last builds and they have been great. The UD3R i have heard has had some weird issues with memory not being fully recognized and or having stability issues.

 

@ Sneakers

Yeah it seems as though the PCIe layout is the same from the UD3R upto the UD7. There cracking mobos, no doubt they'll OC well too! Though im not sure the UD3R will do aswell as that sabertooth your running now

@ stjuart

I know the question is for Sneakers, however i think he would say aside from the PCIe issue he's had he'd like it alot, especially how well its OC'ed his processor.

If your not after Sli or Crossfire it seems this is a cracking motherboard to own.

 

I may go to sli later on or crossfirex, but why would it not work, the mobo is supposed to have 2 x16 pcie slots.

 

^^ Check this thread

 

If you plan on getting a soundcard (or any other PCIe card) as well as SLI or Xfire then keep in mind the UD3 will only run in x8 x8 mode, not x16 x16. It's about 5% fps difference in games so I'll recommend Asus P6X58D-E.

 

ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366
is this board better than than the Gigabyte and Sabertooth. I need it to have support for I7 970 6core processor. I don't want to have to update bios in order to have the mobo recognize the processor.

 

Hmm got a point there.

But this is the layout of the Asus P6X58D-E mobo and to be frank I'm not sure this one can do x16 2.0 on all 3 slots ( with only 2 cards in ) either.





http://www.asus.se/product.aspx?P_ID=gFBKfNyhppW9tDbB&templete=2


Have a look guys and see what you think!

 

^^ According to the specs on their website it can do, x16 x8 x8 for tri sli or it can do x16 x16 x1 for sli.

 

Can it do X16 x1 X16?

I don't wanna use the 2nd in line PCI-E slot it will be the same result as on the asus, I want a full 3 way SLI bridge lenght between top and bottom else it won't work in practice, I'm not having the 100% fan noise that will generate

/edit


I mean seems like this board has its first PCI-E x16 @ x16 2.0 harware fixed

While the 2nd and 3rd slots share the bandwidth, so either they run x16 or x8 depending if it is 2 or 3 cards in there?

Question is if I put in a pci-e x1 card in the top slot what will happend to the bandwidth then? Will it drop to x16 top slot x8 2nd and 3rd slot no matter what?

Gonna exchange it tomorrow for either the ASUS or Gigabyte so need some clearity in all this.

Best would be to be able to run top slot x16 @ x16 2.0 3rd slot x16 @ x16 2.0 and then use the pci-e x1 slot for the soundcard without fing with the rest of the lanes?

Either that or I have to sell my newly bought soundcard lol and use my old pci one still. ASUS should let me design a board I'd make it awesomely

/edit

If the ASUS board can run the 3rd slot at true x16 2.0 speeds I will get that since it also has more powerphases to the CPU same as the sabertooth and that seems to be a winning concept.

If not then the UD3R seems to have better placement and an IDE port so I can put in my dvd rom again :d

 

To get an idea of how the UD3 Rev. 2 compares to the P6X58D-E:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2010/08/20/asus-p6x58d-e-review/1

EDIT: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2010/08/19/gigabyte-ga-x58a-ud3r-rev-2-review/1