Which SLI? Asus, Gigabyte, MSI

[fixxxer0]

for all of you saying the gigabyte is more expensive yadda yadda....

did you all see the 3D1 Gigabyte card/package release? they are *claiming* to have the 3D1 (2 6600gt's in SLI config on a single card) available around mid/late jan and bundled with a gigabyte SLI mobo for $300-400.... now to be honest that sounds really super good to be true, but its just what they said in thier release.

 

[TheGeek]

Originally posted by: fixxxer0
for all of you saying the gigabyte is more expensive yadda yadda....

did you all see the 3D1 Gigabyte card/package release? they are *claiming* to have the 3D1 (2 6600gt's in SLI config on a single card) available around mid/late jan and bundled with a gigabyte SLI mobo for $300-400.... now to be honest that sounds really super good to be true, but its just what they said in thier release.

thats about an nforce 4 ultra board, not SLI

 

[Zebo]

Wait.... for DFI.

 

[stickybytes]

for me, asus has always been rock solid and stable. they're motherboards are usually always the most reliable and one of if not the best performing one's as well. i have had no experience with dfi. are there motherboards just as reliable and stable as asus's? how did they even make their name?

 

[bap4201]

oh please, if you want a good rock solid, stable board, go w/ asus a8n-sli. Custom makers like Falcon Northwest and Alienware choose Asus boards time and time again because of their stability. They would damage their own reputation if they built unreliable machines. If you are an EXTREME overclocker, then go w/ dfi or msi. Asus is not know for their overclocking, but rather for their stability and quality.

 

[wylecoyote]

I'm going to go ahead an strongly disagree with that....

It is true that Asus in the past have produced fantastic motherboards that set the standard for stability and reliability.

HOWEVER, we're talking about SLI... and Asus' A8N isn't exactly hitting it out of the park with the stability and reliablity. It couldn't even get a bunt.... it just swung and missed. They were the first on the market with SLI, snagging up a large amount of the market (us) simply because we all had been waiting for so damn long. However, these boards, in my opinion, were NOT ready. BIOS problems, slow mem results, and so many SLI bugs you'd think you were an entomologist. Just look at the posts going up on this board.... they're often not positive.

Granted, I don't own an A8N. I've never used one... but I trust the experience of others on here, and I trust that Asus will, down the road, produce a second revision board that maintains their reputation as a company that excells at reliablity and stability.

To address the DFI-- Supposedly available mid-january... however, I have become increasingly wary of "suppossedly available"... Frankly, if history is any indicator, that means DFI will bring to the retail channel their SLI board sometime around... say, late Feburary early March.

And I'm not waiting that long.

 

[bap4201]

people with positive results don't usually post in these forums. It is those that come here when they have problems. What I'm saying is the chances are greater that there are much many more with no problems at all.

 

[wylecoyote]

An excellent point, and one that I did consider... I just wouldn't jump on the A8N bandwagon until the wrinkles were ironed out... especially for a board that performs slightly below the Gigabyte.

 

[buckZor]

You have to factor in the corporate greed factor. I too think that Asus rushed theirs out the door and banked on their previous reputation, and maybe they had a bit of arrogance too, thinking they could get it right in pre-production but as the date came close they still had problems and chose greed over what was right. *shrug* just my .02.

 

[amol]

Between Asus & Gigabyte for me

Gigabyte is winning . . .

 

[user1234]

unbelievable how many morons exist on extremesystems forums, i wouldn't trust their "reviews"

 

[TheGeek]

anyone know where to find a review that compares the performance of these different boards?

 

[AlexBmur]

I just want to put in a good work for the Asus. I got mine almost 2 weeks ago and have had absolutely no problems and performance has been great. I am not one to run out and run tons of benchmarks and I am not doing any overclocking, but the performance has been top notch. This board was the easiest and quickest build I have put together, and I highly recommend it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[TheGeek]

finally a good opinion. thanks

 

[flexy]

I think ASUS pushed their board out the door early to pick up sales in advance of everyone else, especially before Xmas.

bingo

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: wylecoyote
I would agree Asus pushed their board into the pool before she could swim...
And as for the Xtremesystems folks with the pre-release boards from MSI and DFI, could you post a link?

For some reason I'm attached to the Gigabyte, but could be swooned by MSI easily. DFI may be to far down the road for me to wait.

i havent seen any pre/reviews of the Gigabyte except the ancient previews with the beta bios.

Although there are a couple of people who already have early MSI boards and run this thing at HTT/FSB as high as 300 and something..the MSI must be THE overclocking beast and thats why i am strongly leaning toward the MSI !

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Wait.... for DFI.

we're all waiting tooooooo long

 

[TheGeek]

i concur

 

[TheGeek]

It's now crunch time for my new system. Could someone give me the pros and cons of each? I'd appreciate it

 

[bob661]

flexy,
Where can you get the MSI one's? Thanks.

 

[TheGeek]

ZipZoomFly has them

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

It's crunch time here too. I need to get a mobo sometime this coming week.

DFI > MSI > Gigabyte > ASUS

DFI is too far off, so that's out. MSI would be my 1st choice if it comes out on time. Gigabyte looks solid on NF4, but is way overpriced. ASUS is a little bit cheaper, but apparently is a lousy overclocker with a beta bios.

 

[bob661]

ZZF is out of stock. Est delivery time is 1/4. $209 isn't a bad price.

 

[TheGeek]

Anyone know where else to get the MSI board?

 

[flexy]

>>>
I haven't seem many reviews of the MSI, except for an early one on Tom's Hardware (versus the A8N no less) that I'm reluctant to believe simply because the boards were such an early revisions (I think the MSI wasn't even a production version).
>>>

there are people on xtremesystems
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php
who actually HAVE the MSI up and running.

This board seems to kick a$$, especially for overclockers.

There is only ONE recent review of the Gigabyte (on tbreak, jan 2nd !) where they say its a good board, but they could NOT overclock the board at all from bios but had to use software tool. Also....in non-sli mode it looks the MSI is a bit faster.

Asus...if you dont want to overclock..maybe. I dont want one..the MSI wins hands down from all reviews/preview ii know 'til today.