Motherboard hunting.

Toothless · Jul 14, 2014

Okay so my current board (ASUS M5A97 R2.0) is dead and I'll have $325 total soon. Is there a motherboard that has SLI on it for a max of $125 that supports AM3+ that is AN ACTUAL GOOD board?

Also, will a 530w PSU power two GTX660OC GPUs in SLI? Or will that need an upgrade?

GhostRyder · Jul 14, 2014

Here you go!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514&cm_re=990fx-_-13-128-514-_-Product

Second, I would not trust a 530 watt to two gtx 660 overclocked and an fx processor.

Toothless · Jul 14, 2014

So how big of a PSU would you think of?

MxPhenom 216 · Jul 14, 2014

Lightbulbie said:
So how big of a PSU would you think of?

A good 650w+

Seasonic/Corsair/Silverstone/Evga.

Evga has been killing it with power supplies lately.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...438017&cm_re=750w_Evga-_-17-438-017-_-Product

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 14, 2014

I'd think 650-700w.

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usa...=220-G2-0750-XR&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1422

Pretty nice deal

Toothless · Jul 14, 2014

Awesome, thanks guys.

RCoon · Jul 14, 2014

MxPhenom 216 said:
Evga has been killing it with power supplies lately.

You're telling me, they're currently selling the cheapest Gold rated 650W PSU in the whole of the UK, and it's not even that bad either.

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 14, 2014

The G2s are cheap and actually pretty damn good units.

The older NEX ones are pretty crappy though.

Toothless · Jul 14, 2014

So that leaves me with $125 short of going SLI. I MUST APPLY FOR MORE JOBS.

Aquinus · Jul 14, 2014

Lightbulbie said:
So that leaves me with $125 short of going SLI. I MUST APPLY FOR MORE JOBS.

SLI is overrated. Save your money for a single nice single GPU, it will pay off long term if you're not doing anything more than 1080p for gaming.

XSI · Jul 14, 2014

SLI 660 gtx is wonderful idea, one of the best combination (like 650ti boost sli) will outperform 770 gtx by a good margin and should be cheaper as well. One card is not always best solution.

ne6togadno · Jul 14, 2014

why dont you sell that 660 crap you have and get http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp42765kr or http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr928wf3oc3gd
you wont need to oc them and both will work fine with 530w psu

MxPhenom 216 · Jul 14, 2014

RCoon said:
You're telling me, they're currently selling the cheapest Gold rated 650W PSU in the whole of the UK, and it's not even that bad either.

Their Supernova G2 and P2 PSUs are amazing.

RealNeil · Jul 14, 2014

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-Motherboard-Motherboards-970A-G46/dp/B0073JYZ48

I have this with an 8350 in it. I'm using two GTX-570s in SLI ATM. 750W PSU

GhostRyder · Jul 14, 2014

Lightbulbie said:
So how big of a PSU would you think of?

600 minimum, 650 to include overclocking headroom and less stress on the PSU.

I like (Like others have stated) the EVGA PSU's, Seasonic, and Rosewill (If your looking for a deal). Corsair is also a good option but here are a couple choices I like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182071

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151137

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438022
This last one is an EVGA refurb, not sure if you want to try one of these (They are out of stock of the normal ones) because it would still come with EVGA's warranty.

newtekie1 · Jul 14, 2014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157479

$129 w/ Prom Code. I know you said $125, but for $4 more this board is just a killer deal.

If you absolutely have to stick to your budget then there is always this for $110: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130677

As for the power supply, this one is way more than enough for what you need and only $60 after MIR and Promo Code: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139051

ne6togadno said:
why dont you sell that 660 crap you have and get http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp42765kr or http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr928wf3oc3gd
you wont need to oc them and both will work fine with 530w psu

You realize that SLI GTX660s will absolutely destroy both of those suggestions right? I mean, you call the 660 crap and then suggest the 760, that is barely an upgrade...

Misaki · Jul 14, 2014

How did you kill this motherboard?

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 14, 2014

I'd avoid Corsair CX PSUs, there are better options for the price. Also, avoid the older EVGA NEX units, they are group regulated, so the voltage regulation is horrible under crossloads.

Other than that I'd say you, like me, have some saving up to do

Batou1986 · Jul 14, 2014

No 970 board is good for sli or cfx the first pci-e will be 2.0 16x and the second is 2.0 8x, for whatever reason it had issues and would get stuck at 16x 4x 1.1 as well.
It bottlenecked my 6870's and general did not work well at all .

Secondly SLI/CFX is a gimmick when it does work, it works well in certain games and not so well in many others, you are much better off getting a single better gpu.

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 14, 2014

In the games it doesn't work you are unlikely to need SLI for 1080p60Hz...

Toothless · Jul 14, 2014

Misaki said:
How did you kill this motherboard?

It just kinda died. No overheating. All plugs connected and tight in.

GorbazTheDragon said:
In the games it doesn't work you are unlikely to need SLI for 1080p60Hz...

It's for future games. I'd love to crank up the settings in Watch Dogs someday when I get it.

So I should just save up for when the 800-series comes out, huh?

64K · Jul 14, 2014

Well, one way to look at is that you won't need to buy a new PSU if you decide not to SLI your GTX 660.

newtekie1 · Jul 14, 2014

GorbazTheDragon said:
I'd avoid Corsair CX PSUs, there are better options for the price.

You say that and then don't actually post any recommendations. Can you find something better than the CX750M for $60, because I can't.

Batou1986 said:
Secondly SLI/CFX is a gimmick when it does work, it works well in certain games and not so well in many others, you are much better off getting a single better gpu.

I pretty much all the demanding games SLI/CFX works extremely well. In most indie games it doesn't work, but it isn't really needed. So basically SLI/CFX works when it is needed and doesn't when it isn't. They definitely aren't gimmicky.

Toothless · Jul 14, 2014

64K said:
Well, one way to look at is that you won't need to buy a new PSU if you decide not to SLI your GTX 660.

True, but I want my rig to last longer in the long run.

64K · Jul 14, 2014

Lightbulbie said:
True, but I want my rig to last longer in the long run.

Is your GTX 660 the 2 GB VRAM? If so then there may be games in the long run (like Watch Dogs) that will limit how high you can crank up the settings even though your SLI GTX 660 OC might have the grunt to handle it.

System Name	Veral
Processor	5950x
Motherboard	MSI MEG x570 Ace
Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s)	Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case	Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s)	Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard	Corsair K55
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores	PEBCAK

System Name	SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor	i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard	Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling	RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory	Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s)	GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage	Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case	Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s)	Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply	Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Logitech G19S
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016

System Name	Veral
Processor	5950x
Motherboard	MSI MEG x570 Ace
Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s)	Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case	Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s)	Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard	Corsair K55
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores	PEBCAK

System Name	Ryzen Reflection
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling	2x EK PE360 \| TechN AM4 AMD Block Black \| EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory	Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s)	Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G \| 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage	WD SN850 500GB (OS) \| Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) \| Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s)	Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS \| Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS \| Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case	Lian Li PC-011D XL \| Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s)	FiiO K7 \| Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse	Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit

System Name	Indis the Fair (cursed edition)
Processor	11900k 5.1/4.9 undervolted.
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Unify-X
Cooling	Heatkiller VI Pro, VPP755 V.3, XSPC TX360 slim radiator, 3xA12x25, 4x Arctic P14 case fans
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 2x16GB 4000 16-19-19 (b-die@3600 14-14-14 1.45v)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 2080 Super Hybrid (T30-120 fan)
Storage	970EVO 1TB, 660p 1TB, WD Blue 3D 1TB, Sandisk Ultra 3D 2TB
Display(s)	BenQ XL2546K, Dell P2417H
Case	FD Define 7
Audio Device(s)	DT770 Pro, Topping A50, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Røde VXLR+, Modmic 5
Power Supply	Seasonic 860w Platinum
Mouse	Razer Viper Mini, Odin Infinity mousepad
Keyboard	GMMK Fullsize v2 (Boba U4Ts)
Software	Win10 x64/Win7 x64/Ubuntu

Motherboard hunting.

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

GhostRyder

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

GorbazTheDragon

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

RCoon

GorbazTheDragon

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man

XSI

ne6togadno

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

RealNeil

GhostRyder

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Misaki

GorbazTheDragon

Batou1986

GorbazTheDragon

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

64K

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

64K

System Name	HP Omen 17
Processor	i7 7700HQ
Memory	16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	GTX 1060
Storage	Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s)	1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s)	Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply	230W
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD+
Software	Win 10 Pro

System Name	Apollo
Processor	Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard	Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory	64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage	1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s)	Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case	MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s)	AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply	96w Power Adapter
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard	Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software	MacOS 12.1

System Name	Mother PC/XSI PC/ Laptop
Processor	I3 6100 Skylake@3.7/Intel Core2Duo E8400@3.0-3.7Ghz/Amd sempron 2100+
Motherboard	B150M MSI Night ELF/ASUS P5Q PRO P45/
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212/ X 2
Memory	Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR4@2133 Dual channel /Adata 2x2 GB DDR2@800 dual channel/ 2,5GB
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Windforce 950GTX/MSI 8800GT OC Zilent edition@660/1650/950 / ATI Radeon x1250
Storage	1pc:240GB SSD Kingston HyperX Fury/2PC:Intel 330 SSD 60GB/Samsung 500 GB/Samsung 320GB/80 GB
Display(s)	LG 22MP58VQ 1920x1080/ Samsung 2232BW - 22" 1680X1050 and LG Full HDTV 50" / 15" 1280x800
Case	Deepcool Tesseract Red/ Modded no name case
Audio Device(s)	Realtec 1150/Creative X-FI, Xtreme Gamer + Samsung 5.1 HT + additional 4 speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply	EVGA 500B Bronze 80+/ Chieftek 650W 80+.
Mouse	Cheapo 5$ mouse/ trackpad :)
Keyboard	Some cheap 10$
Software	Windows 10/Win 10/ Win 8.1
Benchmark Scores	later :)

System Name	Red Radiance l under construction
Processor	5800x
Motherboard	x470 taichi
Cooling	stock wrath
Memory	TridentZ Neo rgb 3600mhz (2x8 kit)
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Vega 64 nitro+
Storage	970 evo nvme
Display(s)	lc27g75tq
Case	tt core x5 tge
Audio Device(s)	sennheiser's pc323d usb soundcard
Power Supply	corsair AX860i
Mouse	roccat burst pro
Keyboard	roccat ryos mk fx
Software	windows 10

System Name	Home Brewed
Processor	i9-7900X and i7-8700K
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme & ASUS Prime Z-370 A
Cooling	Corsair 280mm AIO & Thermaltake Water 3.0
Memory	64GB DDR4-3000 GSKill RipJaws-V & 32GB DDR4-3466 GEIL Potenza
Video Card(s)	2X-GTX-1080 SLI & 2 GTX-1070Ti 8GB G1 Gaming in SLI
Storage	Both have 2TB HDDs for storage, 480GB SSDs for OS, and 240GB SSDs for Steam Games
Display(s)	ACER 28" B286HK 4K & Samsung 32" 1080P
Case	NZXT Source 540 & Rosewill Rise Chassis
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000 & Corsair RM850
Mouse	Generic
Keyboard	Razer Blackwidow Tournament & Corsair K90
Software	Win-10 Professional
Benchmark Scores	yes

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

Processor	Ryzen 5900X
Motherboard	ASUS Prime X470 Pro
Cooling	Arctic liquid freezer II 240
Memory	2 x 16 Gb Gskill Trident Z 3600 Mhz
Video Card(s)	MSI Ventus 3060 Ti OC
Storage	Samsung 960 EVO 500 Gb / 860 EVO 1 Tb
Display(s)	Dell S2719DGF
Case	Lian Li Lancool II Mesh
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G703
Keyboard	Logitech G513
Software	Win 11

Processor	i7 7700k
Motherboard	MSI Z270 SLI Plus
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB and WD Black 4TB
Display(s)	Dell 27 inch 1440p 144 Hz
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 850 W Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G105
Software	Windows 10