The Facts about Chipsets and Multiple Videocards

If you have a 30-inch high-resolution display, your games may get a serious performance boost if you run more than one videocard. But know this: You’ll have to choose your GPUs before you buy your motherboard because multiple Nvidia cards must run on boards that support SLI. This means you’re pretty much restricted to Nvidia’s nForce chipset. And that chipset will not support AMD GPUs in a CrossFire config, but Intel chipsets will. In other words, if you want to eventually run multiple videocards, don’t buy an nForce motherboard and an AMD graphics card.

And another thing: While the boards reviewed here support two or more graphics cards at high speeds, not all motherboards do. Some boards have just one x16 PCI-E slot; others have an unbalanced PCI-E configuration, in which one slot runs at x16 data rates and another runs at just x4. This can impact performance, so know what you want to do before you purchase your motherboard.

PCI Express 2.0: One Better than Its Predecessor

PCI-E 2.0 is exactly what it sounds like: a sequel to the phenomenally successful PCI-E 1.0. In a nutshell, it doubles the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.0, so an x16 slot goes from 8GB/s to 16GB/s. To take advantage of the extra bandwidth, you need a newer PCI-E 2.0-compliant videocard, such as the GeForce 8800 GT or the Radeon HD 3870. And with double the bandwidth you can expect faster graphics, right? Of course not.

Given today’s games and 2.0 graphics cards, the added capability doesn’t pay huge dividends. It’s best to think of PCI Express 2.0 the way you thought of SATA 3GB or any other newfangled infrastructure upgrade. You lay the road before it gets choked with cars. Newer applications and newer cards will eventually consume that bandwidth.

We’re not yet at the point where PCI-E 2.0 support is a make-or-break deal, but regardless, you’d be hard-pressed to find a new high-performance board that lacks it.

DDR3 Is Here—Get Used to It

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that changes in memory technology rarely go over well. The move from PC100 SDRAM to Direct RDRAM was a disaster, and the move from DDR to DDR2 wasn’t pretty either. People bitch and moan when it’s time to toss their RAM.

Well, we’ve got news for you, Bubba, it’s time to switch yet again. If you care about performance, if you want to see your RAM clocking in at 1,800MHz data rates, then DDR3 is the only game in town. It’s even getting affordable. While many people still think 2GB of DDR3 costs $500, you can actually get it for $120. You won’t get the highest frequency or the lowest latency DDR3 RAM for that price, but it sure as hell makes DDR3 performance more accessible than it was six months ago.

That said, DDR2 is still a viable option, which should console folks who have a ton of it around or just aren’t after that extra bit of performance. Just know that most motherboard vendors are offering only their very best models in DDR3 trim.

Onboard Audio Isn't That Sucky

Hardware aficionados and audio snobs will naturally look down their noses at “free” onboard audio, but it’s really not that bad—at least, not when compared with the onboard audio of five years ago.

Today, onboard audio is very sophisticated and capable of offering real-time Dolby Digital encoding, SPDIF and optical I/O, and surround-sound capabilities. In other words, it’s good enough for most people. Of course, not all onboard audio is the same. The particular audio chip on the motherboard, where it’s mounted, and the software that runs it are all critical to a mobo’s sound quality. Some board vendors also use risers to get sensitive audio parts away from the electrically noisy surface of the motherboard. The most popular chip is Realtek, which until very recently had questionable EAX support. Chips by Sigmatel Audio and Analog Devices are also popular. We generally prefer Analog Devices, followed by Sigmatel and Realtek. 

Next: Picking the Right Board