Asus P5WD2 955 SLI OR THE P5ND2-SLI DELUXE Nforce4 for my 7800 GTX's

[Eltigre88]

I just read that Nvidia came out with an Nforce 4 SLI 16X where both cards run on 16 lanes each. Maybe I should wait?

[Lars]

To put it simply. If you want to run SLI with an Intel chip, right now Nforce 4 IE is the only choice. It simply isn't possible to enable SLI on the Asus P5WD2 at the time being. I have tried, it's a no-go. However, having said that, the Nforce4 IE chipset is absolutely horrible compared to the Intel 955X chipset when it comes to serious overclocking and running high DDR2 memory speeds and tight timings.

I am currrently testing the Abit NI8 SLI board out, and I've lost over 500 Mhz cpu speed, and 300 Mhz DDR2 memory speed, Compared to the Asus P5WD2. The fact of the matter is that that the NB/MCP on the Nforce4 IE chipset is inferior to the one on the Asus P5WD2 to a degree one would never expect reading reviews online. Having discussed numerous issues with fellow Nforce 4 IE overclockers, on Xtremesystems as well as on smaller local forums, IMO it's quite safe to say that the issues experienced with the Nforce4 IE chipset is not manufacturer specific either.

Now before some fanboy might start jumping all over me for being biased, I might add, that I currently have the highest published 3dmarks scores in 03 and 05 for any Intel SLI setup in the world, with my cpu running @ 4655 Mhz

Personally I suspect the memory controller to be the culprit, but also the rather "meager" power curcuitry on the Nforce 4 IE chipset compared to the Asus P5WD2 could very well be a problem for serious overclockers on the Nforce 4 IE chipset. Also the NB chip gets extremely hot compared to the 955X chipset. Especially in 3dmark05 it's obvious that something is odd with SLI results on the Nforce IE chipset.

Regardless of chipset, IMHO you also should consider that running 2x 7800GTX in SLI is going to be extremely CPU limited, even at very high resolutions. I can run my CPU at up to 4.65 Ghz in the Abit NI8 SLI, and Doom 3 is still largely CPU limited @ 1600x1200 4x fsaa 8x af. For every 100 Mhz increase from 4.0 to 4.6 I still gain around 2.5 fps at this resolution.

I really hope the new chipset with dual 16x pci-e slots will fix a lot of the issues I've experienced. The Nforce 4 IE chipset is really not too bad for a first time Intel chipset, it's just nowhere near as good a chipset as the 955X. It does, however support SLI...

[wheeljack12]

Jakup, I figured out the Raid problem. You can't have more than three SATA drives on the nforce controller or you get the machine exception bluescreen. And you can't use the primary IDE controller when you are using SATA on the nforce 4 or the same result. So, going Pure Sata is the best solution Like back in another thread you said you did. As for SLI, I would either wait for the SLI 16x which has two 16x pci-e slots by nvidia or the new intel chipset that will allow either ATI Crossfire or Nvidia's SLI in 8x and 8x. I think it's 977 or 975, something like that. There is some threads on it on the site.

[jAkUp]

Well, the dual 16x board is coming out. But even nVidia said that it make really no difference, since the cards aren't being used to the full 16x bandwith.

[grimreefer]

there is no such board as a p5wd2 sli.... if u wanna go single card, i would recommend the p5ld2, which is a cheaper version of the p5wd2

[Eltigre88]

Well I have moved on since this pole to the Asus P5B Deluxe and love it. Curious what other owners of this board think?