8800GT SLI and MSI P6N Platinum

[mrw1986]

On the MSI P6N Platinum would the 8x per PCI-E in SLI hinder the performance of the 8800GT? Or would it not matter because the 8800GT does not take full advantage of the 16x bus, at least I think it doesn't. I'm trying to find a good 650i/680i board thats under $150 that would pair well with a Q6600/Q6700 and 2x 8800GT. I put Q6600/Q6700 because I'm not sure which I'm getting yet. So far the MSI P6N Platinum looks phenomenal compared to others boards I've looked at in that price range. How are the eVGA boards?

 

[Behemoko]

I say go with the Q6600, as it is about half the cost of the Q6700. Sorry I can't help on your main question though, lol..

 

[mrw1986]

Well the difference for me is only like $20 I'm going through the Intel Retail Edge Bundle. The reason I'm not sure which one I'm getting is because I'm not sure if I can meet the requirements for the Q6700. I think by the time the bundle ends I should in which case I'm getting the Q6700. If not, the Q6600 is where I'm going. Also, the Q6700 is a guaranteed G0 core as well it has a better multiplier of 10x.

 

[patton45]

go with the open box ebga 680i lt or 680i board you can get the lt board for your price range
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188019

as far as msi boards go i would not get the platnium my bro has the diamond and its a much better board he orginally had the platnium but the diamond has way more features including 4x16x pci-e good for 4 graphics cards once supported

 

[b1lk1]

Get a 680i board if you like RMAing motherboards. They are garbage. The 650i is perfect both in price and bandwidth for your application.

 

[patton45]

dude your full of it ive never rma a single 680 and the 650 is the same frickin chipset but striped down for noobs its sucks go with the 680i its way more features options more upgrade options plus you can go sli unlike the 650. the 650 is like the 570 crap crap crap

 

[Tatty_Two]

You are fine sticking with the dual 8x, I am assuming you have checked to ensure the 8800GT can run at 8x??/ In a review I read matching the 680i versus the 650i chipsets using Dual 8800GTX's in sli the overall bench difference across 8 games and the usual synthetic benches showed across the board 3-5% improvement with x16, I would suggest with the GT it would be nearer to 2-3% if that.

I see no point at all in not only upgrading the board, not just for cost but for the effort as well to get 1FPS higher in Stalker at medium/medium high res.......but thats just my personal opinion.

 

[Tatty_Two]

dude your full of it ive never rma a single 680 and the 650 is the same frickin chipset but striped down for noobs its sucks go with the 680i its way more features options more upgrade options plus you can go sli unlike the 650. the 650 is like the 570 crap crap crap

Lol, so have you ever owned one? your right in saying that it's a cut down budget version of the 680, are you aware though for example that 650i boards generally tend to overclock better?...excluding the Quads where the 650 are crap....I will agree with you on that and in 3D Benched the 650i chipset is a little faster also!

Dont get me wrong, the 680's are better boards, but if your calling overclocking a C2D to a stable 4.28 gig crap then damn you really must be an overclocking genius It's a good job I am just a retired overclocker Ohhh and I could name you a couple of guys in here that have had to RMA 680 boards, geberally if the board is fu**ed then its not the chipset thats goes but another controller or interface elsewhere.

 

[patton45]

ya i have i had a 570 and 650 boards started with them but i have found in sli 680 boards have better performace in sli and he said he wants sli so why go with a board thats slower in sli the second slot only performs at 8x now normally thats not an issue but hey has 8800gt and i wouldnt be suprised if it would hurth the performance on 650 over 680 cause of bandwidth issues cause i have seen a little bit bigger gains espically between my abit 570 and dfi 590 sli's but that could have just been boards cause for me i went from 18123 to 20560 that's why i suggested 680 plus he didnt mention wanting to be able to over clock so if thats no issue go with what will make your gpu's faster. i could be wrong but i havent found a 650i board with full bandwidth

 

[Tatty_Two]

ya i have i had a 570 and 650 boards started with them but i have found in sli 680 boards have better performace in sli and he said he wants sli so why go with a board thats slower in sli the second slot only performs at 8x now normally thats not an issue but hey has 8800gt and i wouldnt be suprised if it would hurth the performance on 650 over 680 cause of bandwidth issues that's why i suggested 680 plus he didnt mention wanting to be able to over clock so if thats no issue go with what will make your gpu's faster. i could be wrong but i havent found a 650i board with full bandwidth

No your right.....but as I said, is the extra cost worth like 1FPS in stalker?.....I doubt it, the performance hit is neglidgable is all I am saying. If I was upgrading for SLI and I could find a bargain 680 only a little more then yes I would go for it, I certainly wouldnt pay $60+ for it though IMO.

 

[kwchang007]

The performance hit is small almost nonexistent. But if you really want a quad core, 680i is better. But they have problems too.

 

[niko084]

Lets not go bad mouthing chipsets here...

I have recently built 6 machines with 680i boards and am yet to have the slightest issue with them. Thats a total of 10 out the door no issues.

Key-
Buy a quality board!
*Yes even quality boards can have bad batches doesn't make it a crap board*

8x/8x shouldn't hurt too bad, but if you can get away from it I would personally.
I would also get a Q6600, unless you want to wait for Intels new chips.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Lets not go bad mouthing chipsets here...

I have recently built 6 machines with 680i boards and am yet to have the slightest issue with them. Thats a total of 10 out the door no issues.

Key-
Buy a quality board!
*Yes even quality boards can have bad batches doesn't make it a crap board*

8x/8x shouldn't hurt too bad, but if you can get away from it I would personally.
I would also get a Q6600, unless you want to wait for Intels new chips.

Noones bad mouthing the 680....the only bad mouthing was against the 650

 

[mrw1986]

Why the Q6600? The Q6700 is $20 more for me, guaranteed G0 stepping, and has a better multiplier. Also, I guess 680i is a better option since I'll be running a quad...I'm such a huge fan of the 650i though...I've heard of a lot of problems with 680i...Also I will never buy an open-box mobo from Newegg. I personally don't mind paying extra for the box/accessories.

EDIT: Read some reviews on the P6N Platinum and people are OC'ing Q6600/Q6700 with no problems. What have you guys heard about it?

Also, I should of mentioned I was OC'ing, I thought by putting G0 stepping that would have been obvious, but I was wrong

 

[Tatty_Two]

Why the Q6600? The Q6700 is $20 more for me, guaranteed G0 stepping, and has a better multiplier. Also, I guess 680i is a better option since I'll be running a quad...I'm such a huge fan of the 650i though...I've heard of a lot of problems with 680i...Also I will never buy an open-box mobo from Newegg. I personally don't mind paying extra for the box/accessories.

EDIT: Read some reviews on the P6N Platinum and people are OC'ing Q6600/Q6700 with no problems. What have you guys heard about it?

Also, I should of mentioned I was OC'ing, I thought by putting G0 stepping that would have been obvious, but I was wrong

TBH, if you were wanting to CPU upgrade as well, I would wait for the 45nm quads in January, there are some nicely priced cores coming out then, for the sake of a few weeks I think you will find it's worth the wait!

 

[mrw1986]

TBH, if you were wanting to CPU upgrade as well, I would wait for the 45nm quads in January, there are some nicely priced cores coming out then, for the sake of a few weeks I think you will find it's worth the wait!

Well the difference for me is only like $20 I'm going through the Intel Retail Edge Bundle.

I'm getting it through Intel Retail Edge, I'm paying almost nothing for it.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I'm getting it through Intel Retail Edge, I'm paying almost nothing for it.

So you could not get a 45nm thru same I assume?, well if not then thats a deal not too be missed.

 

[mrw1986]

Its a very specific bundle, they won't do 45nm I wonder what next years bundle will be. Last years was an E6300, Vista Ultimate, and an Intel DG965WH. Hence my system specs, minus the mobo which I just replaced with the Gigabyte thats listed now.

 

[patton45]

ya to bad they dont have ultimate this year either. i need more chips damn it
ya but the bundle isnt avaliable till the fall i think

 

[mrw1986]

November 5th is what it lists on the Retail Edge site.