Re: MB recommendation

Rayn wrote:
I'm currently looking at Asus commando as my primary choice.
Reason being I need a MB that has 3xPCI, 2xPCIeX (SLI), raid0, SATA, passive cooling, and ofc, support for core2duo, quad, and extreme. I recently found that this is not as rare as I first thought. So.. any similarty priced MB's out there that you would reccomend over this one?
Becase, AFAIK, this MB is mostly popular because of it's great OC-ing potential, which I don't really need that much (not that I wouldn't overclock if I could, just not my primary purpose when choosing a MB).

Also, does anyone know if commando has analog outputs (the typical, usually colored, headphone/speaker plugs) for the audio? I know it has integrated sound, but from the pics i saw on the net I couldn't see if it has anything besides digital out.

The MB is planned to work with:
core2duo E6850, GF8800 GT 512MB, 2x1GB ddr2 800, 2xsata disks (raid0), and will be primarily used as and audio workstation (audio editing/production).


Thanks in advance.

I have a suspicion you are mixing up your technologies here. SLI is
something a gamer would use. If you instead, seek to build a
multiple monitor setup, that is not SLI or Crossfire. That
simply uses more than one video card. There are fewer restrictions
on multiple monitor setups.

Video cards typically support two monitors (dual head). Two
video cards will support four monitors in total. You can even
do more monitors than that.

SLI uses two video cards. It combines the power of two GPU
chips, to increase 3D performance. Only one monitor connector
works on the two cards, when running them in SLI. I believe
Crossfire (the name of a similar scheme from ATI) also restricts
the number of monitor outputs that work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_CrossFire

For gaming, the two companies have decided to restrict operation
to particular chipsets. SLI works on Nvidia chipsets. Crossfire
works on ATI chipsets and Intel chipsets. The restriction is at
the driver level. So SLI won't work on the Commando, not because
of a hardware reason, but because of driver restrictions.
(Also, the Commando slots are wired x16 and x4, so the slots
don't even have the same bandwidth.)

On the other hand, there are no restrictions on multi-monitor
usage. You can plug an Nvidia card into an ATI motherboard, or
vice versa. And add as many dual head cards as are needed
(up to the limit that the OS supports). And for 2D work, there
is no perceptible difference between x16 and x4 slots. Only
3D has so much traffic, that the slot bandwidth matters.
(Some multiple monitor users, have used PCI cards, and
the slot bandwidth there is limited to 133MB/sec.)

If you really are building an audio workstation, I suspect
there are a lot of motherboards that would meet the requirement.
Chances are you only need one video slot, to control two
monitors.

For PCI slots, you probably know the exact minimum number of
slots required. So knowing that number, will help predict how
many motherboard solutions there are. You can use the
Advanced search menu here, to more quickly select something
to fit the application. (Click Advanced, then select the
number of PCI slots. Set the socket to LGA775 etc.)

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=280&name=Intel-Motherboards

Paul
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