Get the right motherboard for your graphics card!!
Ok, so I know it's been a minute since my last blog post, and the reason for that is because I am still working on "The Big Brands" part three which has turned out to be much much bigger then I had originally planned. That being the case I have gotten a bit lazy about it. That is until now. While I was sitting here looking at some different forum posts on video cards, and single slot high end video cards -vs- dual slot high end video cards a question popped into my head.
Those of us who are always trying to get the best out of our rigs for as few $$ as possible have a tendency to do as much research as possible before we dive into some new hardware. When the money is tight (as it is for many of us in these tough economic times), we can't afford to spend a single penny on hardware that may not perform as good as something else we could have gotten for around the same price.
In a post in the video card section of the forums, a user who had his eyes set on a Radeon 3870 graphics card was wondering what the difference was between two Sapphire 3870 cards, one that was a single slot and one that was a dual slot.
Well it's no secret that the cooling on the dual slot card will be much better. Dual slot cards, like the name implies, use two slot spaces on the motherboard. The reason for this is because the card has a larger turbine like fan that draws cool air onto the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and Graphics Memory and then vents it out of the back of the computer.
A single slot graphics card like the name implies, only uses one slot on the motherboard. The advantage to having a single slot card is that you free up a valuable slot on your motherboard that could be used for something else (especially on smaller micro ATX motherboards). The disadvantage to this (especially if the graphics card is a high end card) is that it doesn't stay as cool as the dual slot cards. The reason for this is because the fan pulls in cool air just like the dual slot card, but after it is dispersed over the GPU and memory, it is vented back into the computer case.
What kind of video card you need is really up to you. Single slot cards work just fine when serious gaming and video playback is not expected. But then again if you are getting a high end card, you most likely plan on doing some sort of gaming and you will most likely be watching a DVD or two. So you have to make that decision on your own.
My problem is really with the dual slot video cards. Well actually not the cards, but the motherboards that we put them in.
In most cases when somebody is purchasing a high end dual slot graphics card, regardless if it is an ATI or Nvidia card, they are putting it on a bigger motherboard. For example, in my rig I have a Radeon HD 2900 Pro dual slot card. The problem is that even on my Asus full ATX motherboard, the dual slot card is taking up one of my PCI slots. While right next to that PCI slot is a PCI-E x1 slot that I am not using. I would love to use the standard PCI slot, as I still seem to have a plethora of standard PCI devices that I would like to continue using.
What I am constantly seeing is high end motherboards with dual PCI-E x16 slots, and those PCI-E x16 placed right next to standard PCI slots which are still one of the more used slots on a motherboard. Why are the motherboard manufacturers still doing this? I understand that there is still a push for us to use more PCI-E x1 hardware, but the hardware is just not really available to us yet (at least not allot of it at decent prices). To date I still have only purchased one PCI-E x1 device, but I still have plenty of standard PCI sound cards, gigabit network cards, firewire cards, sata controllers, wireless network cards etc... However when it's time to stick a dual slot high end graphics card in our computers, or for some of us two if them, we use up those valuable standard pci slots while leaving our PCI-E x1 slots usually wide open.
Now I will admit, my current Asus mortherboard has pretty good onboard sata controllers, onboard gigabit networking, onboard HD audio etc... But the audio I can get from my new Creative sound card is better, and I trust my PCI gigabit network card more. I am one of those guys who would rather not use the many features built into my motherboard and would rather use after market hardware. But when my dual slot Radeon HD 2900 Pro graphics card uses up one of my valuable standard PCI slots, I am left with using one more of my motherboards onboard devices.
A high end computer enthusiast is most likely similar to myself in that he or she will also want to use more PCI devices as opposed to the items integrated into the motherboard.
So here is my challenge to you the avid reader. In your replies to this blog post, please post links to good high end motherboards, prefebly motherboards with dual PCI-E x16 slots, where the slots are not sitting right next to a standard PCI slot. Post links to all types of motherboards as well. I would like to see motherboards with Intel, Nvidia, AMD/ATI, and other chipsets. Also show us some of the better micro ATX motherboards with PCI-E x16 slots not sitting right next to a standard PCI slot for those who like to build the high end HTPC and micro gaming pc's. If any of you can find a really good motherboard with dual PCI-E x16 slots with also more then three standard PCI slots, please please post it.
Alright, you have your mission, get to it.