lup31337 wrote on 2025-05-06, 13:17:
I have a windows xp macine with the follwong specs: Asus P5B Deluxe + E6700 + 8800 gtx
I want to make it best in class for year 2006.
The idea is to replace the CPU with X6800 and make an SLI setup. While I do have an extra 8800 gtx, my motherboard cannot handle SLI. I heard about some hacks which can enable SLI on intel-chip motherboards, however the 2nd pci slot is only 4x.
Yeah, probably won't be able to make the "best in class" machine with that board.
I've also read about those SLI hacks/workarounds on Intel chipsets and even saw the odyssey of another fellow forum member on another forum go through that - it wasn't pretty and it ended up not working properly most of the time. So probably not worth wasting your time on... unless you actually have the skills + tools + electronics knowledge to try to reverse-engineer a new solution (or improve on whatever current kludges there are out there on this topic.)
I say just keep your current config as-is. Maybe just OC the CPU as far as it will go and that's it.
SLI is kinda shitty anyways. Plus, 2x 8800 GTX will eat gobs of power. On the plus side, if you live someplace cold, the heat from that system will probably contribute nicely to your house heating. But if you live someplace hot where you have to run the A/C, you probably will hate using this system in the hot/summer months.
lup31337 wrote on 2025-05-06, 13:17:
As I have been researching, SLI capable boards with nvidia chipset are the worst for reliability.
They are indeed.
I won't touch a motherboard with an nVidia chipset anything past nForce 3 series.
.
.
OK, I lied. I actually have quite a few motherboards with nVidia chipsets and still continue to get "new" ones (well, new to me anyways 😉 ) if they are going for a decent price. What's a decent price? -That is all up to you to decide. For me, the limit is maybe $5 max for these boards, since more than half the time, they are with issues - most especially boards with the GeForce 6100/6150 series, though 600 and 700 series tend to be equally bad IME. nForce 4 is also flaky if not cooled properly (and most weren't or had tiny small fans on their coolers that often failed.) 500 series I can't comment on too much, since I only have 2 samples to go by. One is an AM2 motherboard and still works. But worth noting it came from a relative's PC that was used very infrequently and in a cool office. The other one I just got a few months ago and still haven't tested. It's an ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium. Only got it because it was super cheap and because they guy at the flea market said he was going to scrap it for metal otherwise. For $2 total, just the cooler and CPU (E6600) alone were worth it. I bet the board probably isn't working... but we will see.
I do recall seeing other dead P5N32- boards on Ebay over the years, so I would be surprised if that's not a dud series chipset like their others.
cyclone3d wrote on 2025-05-07, 03:42:
Just saw this exact same board the other day on a local listing. DEAD. Not sure if due to bad chipset, though. According to the description, it would power on and off for a few seconds only, suggesting a bad MOSFET. But that could be due to the chipset going bad, so no telling. If the price wasn't so high ($50) I might have considered it. But seriously, that kind of money for a DEAD motherboard is silly, IMO. Yea, I know it's a rare model, but still.
lup31337 wrote on 2025-05-08, 08:33:
Using 20 year old components with this kind of reputation doesn't look like a good idea.
Your gut feeling is probably correct.
AlexZ wrote on 2025-05-08, 21:18:
It's best not to rely on specific components. My GeForce RTX 2080Ti died from basically browsing internet after being unused for 1 month. Blank screen once driver initializes, works with default driver. Happens in both Windows 7 and Windows 10. It was thoroughly tested for about a week after I installed it and it was fine. I'm back to GeForce 980Ti.
Agreed.
But these newer cards (and hardware in general) are a new breed, really.
With the old "bumpgate" nVidia chipsets (i.e. nForce 4 and onwards), it was just down to cooling - keep these cool so that the underfill doesn't soften up (which was one of the major reasons these failed) and you could get hardware that actually lasted.
With "the new stuff" nowadays, even the cooling doesn't matter that much anymore - you can keep chips water cooled and you can still see failures. Modern silicon is simply not designed with longevity in mind, but rather as a consumable product. And that's that.
