searching for a specific sli motherboard (8 sata too and esata) anythoughts?

[markm75]

I'm having a hard time finding this type of motherboard config...

Here is ideal:

pcie x 16 = 3
pcie x1 = 2
pci =1
USB = 12 total
Firewire
Coax audio
SATA 8 ports (raid 5 a must)
ESATA on back

Secondary:
pciex16 = 2
pcie x1 = 2
pci = 1 or 2
Firewire
Coax
sata 6 ports (raid 5)
esata on back

In either case, i need the motherboard to support SLI, as i may end up
sli'ing my two 8600 cards at some point, whereas the 3rd pcie would
get ported to another room.. but i could get away with 2 pciex16 if
need be.

The tricky part is finding sata ports... prefer 8.. 6 minimum.. but
the more i look at this, the more i think i may just go with the
cheapest pcie x 16 = 2 board i can find, that has at least 4 sata and
10-12 USB, with an esata port on the back.. if i can find one.. then
addon a $100 controller card, so i can do raid5 with 3 drives later
on..

Any thoughts on good performing boards? I have had asus in the past
and they have done well.. but i'm still looking around for the right
match.

Thanks

 

[Paul]

I'm having a hard time finding this type of motherboard config...

Here is ideal:

pcie x 16 = 3
pcie x1 = 2
pci =1
USB = 12 total
Firewire
Coax audio
SATA 8 ports (raid 5 a must)
ESATA on back

Secondary:
pciex16 = 2
pcie x1 = 2
pci = 1 or 2
Firewire
Coax
sata 6 ports (raid 5)
esata on back

In either case, i need the motherboard to support SLI, as i may end up
sli'ing my two 8600 cards at some point, whereas the 3rd pcie would
get ported to another room.. but i could get away with 2 pciex16 if
need be.

The tricky part is finding sata ports... prefer 8.. 6 minimum.. but
the more i look at this, the more i think i may just go with the
cheapest pcie x 16 = 2 board i can find, that has at least 4 sata and
10-12 USB, with an esata port on the back.. if i can find one.. then
addon a $100 controller card, so i can do raid5 with 3 drives later
on..

Any thoughts on good performing boards? I have had asus in the past
and they have done well.. but i'm still looking around for the right
match.

Thanks

In terms of slots, sometimes you cannot use all those slots at the
same time, due to the size of the cooler on the video card. So there
may be some restrictions on usability.

MSI P7N Diamond
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130158

The P6N Diamond was the predecessor. The slot layout is a bit different.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130080

Maybe something in the other 680i or 780i offerings, would work.
Striker Extreme is another example. The enclosed SLI bridge,
seems to be long enough to span the two blue slots. The white
slot is x8.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074R

It is pretty hard to satisfy all the requirements at the same
time, and get a board that works good too.

Paul

 

[markm75]

In terms of slots, sometimes you cannot use all those slots at the
same time, due to the size of the cooler on the video card. So there
may be some restrictions on usability.

MSI P7N Diamondhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130158

The P6N Diamond was the predecessor. The slot layout is a bit different.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130080

Maybe something in the other 680i or 780i offerings, would work.
Striker Extreme is another example. The enclosed SLI bridge,
seems to be long enough to span the two blue slots. The white
slot is x8.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074R

It is pretty hard to satisfy all the requirements at the same
time, and get a board that works good too.

    Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for those tips..

I've finally narrowed it down to say the (sli 780i) Asus P5NT-deluxe
or maybe a Gigabyte (say the x48 ga-48-dq6 i think its the model)...

However, i'm leaning towards the asus, simply because it has 3 pcie
slots, which is great, as i will add a pciex8 controller card at some
point and can really use that 3rd pciex8 slot.

What i really wish, was that they made a board that would support
either crossfire OR sli with nvidia..

Or.. if i could find an x48 chipset that had either 3 pciex16 slots or
maybe 2 pciex16 with a real pciex8 slot available (along with at least
one usable pciex1).. this is the tricky one.

I'm waivering on sli vs x48 as i have heard the ati 4850 series will
support onboard hdmi audio so that bluray truehd will finally work via
a pc.. my pc will act as a video server, so i probably wont even use
SLI and i may not even use crossfire.. even if i had two ati cards
(not sure).

So in short.. if i could find a comparable x48 (dual pciex16 with
pciex8 and pciex1 or tri pciex16 with pciex1) this would be more
suitable.. though if not joining cards i guess ill be fine with the
p5nt in the long run as well.

*I originally was going to do onboard sata if i had at least 8 ports,
but this wasnt the best solution as if the board died and i was doing
raid5, i'd be out of luck unless it could be replaced. So i've
decided ill just do a dedicated 8 port raid card (pciex8 or higher),
this way i can have two 4 drive raid sets, one for the original raid
array then another when i goto a larger array size or just expand the
original