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Best 3-way SLI Motherboard?

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SWTOR

Registered
Joined
May 31, 2010
Guys,

I am starting to put together my next build. I want the best motherboard to support 3 x nVidia GTX 480's. I will be populating the mother board with an i7 980.

Boards I am looking at include:

  • GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 - $700
  • EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 4-Way SLI - $429
  • ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer - $400
  • EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED 3-Way SLI - $390
  • ASUS Rampage III Extreme - $380

I know not many boards support true 3 x SLI. I am not all hung up on the "true 3 X SLI", what I am really looking for is the motherboard that will provide the BEST environment for the 480's. I want the highest frame-rate with maxed out settings possible (2560 x 1600 as well as a possible multi-monitor 3D setup).

Are there other boards I should consider? What are your opinions? What reviews/benchmarks did you base your opinions on?

BTW, I cant go 4-way SLI as I dont think the electrical circuits where I live will take that much power draw. I will be pushing it with 3-Way - I may even have to power my monitors, audio speakers and other external components on a different circuit!

What do you guys think?

SWTOR
 
I would suggest the Asus Rampage III hands down. It supports USB3 and Sata 6gb/s.
Asus includes very good software and the overclock like hell.
Really you can't wrong with any of these boards but the Asus Rampage trumps most.
 
Classified 760 or the RIIIE, it's a toss up.

Definitely do not buy the 980X, especially if all you're doing is gaming. 930 will more than handle ANY game. If you plan on Extreme benchmarking, then by all means, buy the 980X... but unless you are using extreme cooling, it will be an absolute waste of money. What are you trying to play that 1 480 can't handle, let alone 2?
 
Although I am a little biased toward the R3E, the P6T6 and P6T7 are also good choice (Nf200). The Gigabyte UD7 and UD9 were other boards that I considered as well, I wanted the SATA3 and USB3 (for adding SSD's and other future considerations). The EVGA FTW3 was not available at the time when I made my choice. I did consider the SR-2 (cheaper than the UD9), but the cost of an additional cpu and more memory I could not justify, although extremely cool,just not needed(for now).
 
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