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I am in the process of picking up i7 parts for testing purposes.
I have already purchased an i7 920, LGA1366 bracket kit for my lapped TRUE, and a set of 3x2GB Corsair 1600Mhz Dominators.
I also picked up a Creative Labs Titanium sound card (in order to use the common PCI-E slot above most graphics cards).
The only stumbling block thus far has been the motherboard. I originally was planning to purchase the Gigabyte UD4P but upon looking at its slot layout, realized that it will not work for what I want to do.
I currently have two Asus HD4870X2's TRI-Fan version (sitting in different systems for now). I would like to be able to mount them on the same X58 board for crossfire.
The issue is that they both take 3 slots due to the size of the cooler. I can mount the sound card above the first graphics slot in most cases so that won't be an issue.
The problem I have seen is that on the Gigabyte boards, there is not enough space between the first PCI-e slot and the second to put dual 3 slot cards in.
Some boards with 3 slots have the bottom graphics slot running at 4x and that obviously won't work as well.
So what I need is a board with its two 16x PCI-E slots at least 3 slots apart.
The board also needs to be able to do 4ghz with an i7 920 from an overclocking perspective. I'll be using my lapped TRUE with push/pull Silverstone FM121 (110 CFM fans) so I am assuming with hyperthreading disabled, I will be able to sustain 4ghz 24/7 with manageable temps.
Any recommendations would be appreciated
I need to be certain though that the two slots in question will have full bandwidth for crossfire (a necessity with the X2's) and not 8x or 4x in the lower slot.
Attached is pics of my tri-fan mounted on my UD3P to denote its size.
My other concern is that if the second pci-e slot 16x is at the bottom of the motherboard, then I wil have to change cases (see attached pic) as the space between the bottom pci slot and the power supply is very narrow. Ironically the antec 1200 I recently sold would have plenty of space for this purpose. Mind you, as much as I enjoy the Sniper, I don't mind terribly if I have to change it.
thanks



I have already purchased an i7 920, LGA1366 bracket kit for my lapped TRUE, and a set of 3x2GB Corsair 1600Mhz Dominators.
I also picked up a Creative Labs Titanium sound card (in order to use the common PCI-E slot above most graphics cards).
The only stumbling block thus far has been the motherboard. I originally was planning to purchase the Gigabyte UD4P but upon looking at its slot layout, realized that it will not work for what I want to do.
I currently have two Asus HD4870X2's TRI-Fan version (sitting in different systems for now). I would like to be able to mount them on the same X58 board for crossfire.
The issue is that they both take 3 slots due to the size of the cooler. I can mount the sound card above the first graphics slot in most cases so that won't be an issue.
The problem I have seen is that on the Gigabyte boards, there is not enough space between the first PCI-e slot and the second to put dual 3 slot cards in.
Some boards with 3 slots have the bottom graphics slot running at 4x and that obviously won't work as well.
So what I need is a board with its two 16x PCI-E slots at least 3 slots apart.
The board also needs to be able to do 4ghz with an i7 920 from an overclocking perspective. I'll be using my lapped TRUE with push/pull Silverstone FM121 (110 CFM fans) so I am assuming with hyperthreading disabled, I will be able to sustain 4ghz 24/7 with manageable temps.
Any recommendations would be appreciated

I need to be certain though that the two slots in question will have full bandwidth for crossfire (a necessity with the X2's) and not 8x or 4x in the lower slot.
Attached is pics of my tri-fan mounted on my UD3P to denote its size.
My other concern is that if the second pci-e slot 16x is at the bottom of the motherboard, then I wil have to change cases (see attached pic) as the space between the bottom pci slot and the power supply is very narrow. Ironically the antec 1200 I recently sold would have plenty of space for this purpose. Mind you, as much as I enjoy the Sniper, I don't mind terribly if I have to change it.
thanks