Foxconn ELA Intel P45 Motherboard retail for $184.99 shipped @ newegg

[ghost_recon88]

Board normally goes for $239.99.

Linky (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186153)

Use promo code EMCBAAHCJ to knock $55 off instantly.

$239.99 - $55.00 = $184.99

[MakubeX]

Interesting placement of the NB on the board.

How good of an OCer is it?

[jason4207]

That board can run x16 or x8/x8/x8. No x16/x16/x16 or x16/x16 on this board.

However, x8/x8/x8 at PCIe2.0 is still plenty of bandwidth for most applications.

Throw 3 4850's in there and you have some serious gaming power!

[nd4spdbh2]

btw theres no way its a full 8x 8x 8x 2.0slots... the NB of the p45 chipset can only provide a max of 16x 2.0 electrical straight to pcie slots, then it links to the SB with DMI (2.0GB/s = 8x 1.1 pcie spec... so in this case a 4x pcie 2.0 link)

So you have a maximum of 20x pcie 2.0 lanes to play with.... so either they have the top slot at 8x, and the 2 lower slots splitting the second 8x from the NB... or 2 full 8x slots from the nb then a slot off the south bridge with 8x electrical but limited to the DMI 4x bandwidth as well as all the other perifferies.... id imagine they would do the first ... thats what that extra chip is inbeween the first and second slot.

But id imagine even sharing a 8x pcie 2.0 between 2 cards (even though theres electrical connects for 8x in all slots its gonna be limited ya kno) i doubt there would be much bottle necking, i dont think we are much past the point where you could max an 8x PCIE 1.1 SLOT.

[jason4207]

btw theres no way its a full 8x 8x 8x 2.0slots... the NB of the p45 chipset can only provide a max of 16x 2.0 electrical straight to pcie slots, then it links to the SB with DMI (2.0GB/s = 8x 1.1 pcie spec... so in this case a 4x pcie 2.0 link)

So you have a maximum of 20x pcie 2.0 lanes to play with.... so either they have the top slot at 8x, and the 2 lower slots splitting the second 8x from the NB... or 2 full 8x slots from the nb then a slot off the south bridge with 8x electrical but limited to the DMI 4x bandwidth as well as all the other perifferies.... id imagine they would do the first ... thats what that extra chip is inbeween the first and second slot.

But id imagine even sharing a 8x pcie 2.0 between 2 cards (even though theres electrical connects for 8x in all slots its gonna be limited ya kno) i doubt there would be much bottle necking, i dont think we are much past the point where you could max an 8x PCIE 1.1 SLOT.

From what I understand that extra chip handles it so that it can provide x8/x8/x8.

Foxconn has another mobo coming out soon, the P45 Avenger, that will have x16/x16 and it uses a similar chip.

[sno.lcn]

From what I understand that extra chip handles it so that it can provide x8/x8/x8.

Foxconn has another mobo coming out soon, the P45 Avenger, that will have x16/x16 and it uses a similar chip.

Any idea when it'll be out? I haven't heard anything about it in a while :-/

[jason4207]

There were some issues w/ the manufacturer in China.

Saaya at XS says he should have some samples in this week, and that we need to keep our fingers crossed and hope that it'll be available in a couple weeks.

[nd4spdbh2]

From what I understand that extra chip handles it so that it can provide x8/x8/x8.

Foxconn has another mobo coming out soon, the P45 Avenger, that will have x16/x16 and it uses a similar chip.

ya it will have 8x 8x 8x but 2 of thoes will be spliced off a single 8x. cus the p45 only has 20 pcie lanes...


16 for gfx, and 4 that go down to the SB.... so you tell me how you get 24 lanes out of 16? its the same type of thing that goes on with the 3870/4870X2 it has a pcie lane splitter chip.

[Shiggity]

Well consider this too, Thideras fiddled with tri-fire and he had nothing but problems.

[jason4207]

ya it will have 8x 8x 8x but 2 of thoes will be spliced off a single 8x. cus the p45 only has 20 pcie lanes...


16 for gfx, and 4 that go down to the SB.... so you tell me how you get 24 lanes out of 16? its the same type of thing that goes on with the 3870/4870X2 it has a pcie lane splitter chip.

Yeah, I completely agree w/ you. I'm not sure how it's done, but the extra chip somehow 'splits' the lanes (to borrow your terminology), and gives full x8 bandwidth to each card.

Yep, same thing as the chip on the dual GPU cards. Both GPUs still get full bandwidth in that scenario as well.



Hmmm....

Are you saying that you think the cards get an x8 link, but that bandwidth is still theoretically compromised? Similar to how you can have a Gb ethernet link but still only be transferring at ~400Mb/s?

If this is what you're saying then there may be something to this. I really don't know, though. The thought just popped in my head.

[nd4spdbh2]

its just the fact that for the best senario 8x of the gfx lanes from the NB go to the chip. that splits it up into "8x" and "8x" ... yes the interconnect between the 2 cards and chip will both each have 8x bandwidth, but then once the data gets past the chip you have 2 cards fighting for the same 8x bandwidth between the chip and NB... thus you could say each card gets 4x.

[jason4207]

its just the fact that for the best senario 8x of the gfx lanes from the NB go to the chip. that splits it up into "8x" and "8x" ... yes the interconnect between the 2 cards and chip will both each have 8x bandwidth, but then once the data gets past the chip you have 2 cards fighting for the same 8x bandwidth between the chip and NB... thus you could say each card gets 4x.

By that logic you could say the 4870X2's GPU's only 'really' get x8 each when the card is inserted in a x16 slot. On PCIe2.0 this isn't a big deal, but on PCIe1.1 it could limit you somewhat. I haven't heard of any issues w/ folks running the 4870X2 on a PCIe1.1 board, though.

I understand and agree w/ your logic fully. However, I've also read some posts about the new Avenger running x16/x16 using the plx chip having 13+% improvement over other P45 boards running x8/x8. They both have the same number of lanes available from P45, but somehow the PLX chip allows more bandwidth.

Perhaps not as much communication is needed b/n the gfx cards & CPU via the NB, and most of the communication is b/n the gfx cards themselves. Just guessing.

A good test might be an X48 vs. P45 Avenger w/ 2 gfx cards in cross-fire at 2560x1600.

In the end I still think the ELA board that this thread is all about is probably the best solution if you want a Intel based board that can run 3 gfx cards in cross-fire. I really don't think the cards will be that starved for bandwidth, but I'd love to see some tests of that nature.

:beer:

[nd4spdbh2]

oh no ill agree with you it would be tough to fully saturate the 4x pcie 2.0 each of the lower card gets with a single gpu in each. espically in a xfire setup where the cards really arnt being fully utilized.

Id imagine the gains using a plx chip would be due to the fact that its specialized for just that function to split up the pcie lanes... also maybe due to the fact the cards can communicate with eachother quicker than if they had to go all the way back to the NB.