I want to build a gaming/video editing system and have some questions about some technology I'm confused about. The new mobos talk of Crossfire and nforce 4 chipsets, pciExpress x8 and x16 for 1 or both slots. I want to go intel cpu and ati gpu as I have those parts of the system already, but which mobo and chipset has me reeling. I have heard that some say x16 for the video but if you use two cards in sli, it goes to 8x for each and do any apps or games even come close to using all this bandwidth? I want something to be ready for the new technology coming in the next few years, but I do want some stabilty. thanks in advance for any advice...
Well I am going to assume that you've already got the necessary compatible PCI-E video card. If you don't its probably AGP and you'll need a new motherboard/whole system really. While in single video card mode, most motherboards give the video card x16 channels for bandwidth. However, you're correct in assuming that they split the x16 into 2 x8 channels for each card. You can buy a motherboard such as the Abit A8N32 which gives each card in SLI their own x16 channels, but it seems the performance advantage is quite minimal.
