Okay, here is my little dilemma. I bought a DFI NF4-D thinking it was an SLI board. I know, you probably think I am an idiot because i didn't look far enough into this board before buying it, but I have had good experiences with my NF3 250 GB and I looked at the pictures on Newegg and saw an SLi bridge. Well, I ordered my board and received it today and noticed that there was no SLI bridge and looked further into it and realized that this board supports two graphics cards, but not SLI. I went through the process of getting an RMA and haven't recieved an answer yet. Should I just keep this board? I like my DFI board now, but without the capabilites of SLI, I feel somewhat cheated, even though it is my fault for not looking completely into this board before buying. I am thinking about taking the RMA and getting an ASUS A8N-SLI maybe the delux but probably the regular model. I don't have an SLI setup at this moment, but I want to ba able to use it in the future when my video card starts to not preform and then I could just add a second one. My new setup is:
AMD 3200+ Venice
XFX 7900GT
1GB Rosewill RAM (weak, I know, but I wanted a gig)
Ultra X2 X-Connect 550W Power Supply
(2) Maxtor 200GB Ultra Series (not the greatest, but I only paid $20 a peice)
Lite-On DVD burner
ThermalTake Tsunami Dream Case

Open for suggestions. Any help is greatly appreciated.

That's a nice card there, how does it perform?

Yeah returning it wouldn't be a bad idea. SLI is a great way of adding another card.

If you want SLI then get a new board.

It's not really a dilemma, but a choice. If you want SLi then get another board...simple as that. I would look into the Asus A8NSLI-Premium, which is a great board.

http://forums.pcapex.com/deals_and_s...b_card_89.html

If you are going SLI here is a link by Thrasher2 that would be a good start.
They are 6800 XT cards but the price is good for getting 2 on a tight budget.

Keep the board. Do you really need SLI? I think that your CPU is actually the bottleneck of your system not the video card. Do you really think that you are going to max out a 7900GT?

I've got both, an SLI version and a non-SLI version. Both boards are great. I found that unless you are going big with both graphic cards, you are just fine with one in the non-SLI board.

I haven't gotten to use the card yet. I only have socket 754 3000+ right now. Ordered a new motherboard, video card, CPU. In a way, I agree with both of you. PurpleDiamond, right not I might now be able to max out a 7900GT, but let's say in a six month perspective. Yeah, my CPU is somewhat of a bottleneck. I thought about OCing this little gem. I have read somewhere someone had theirs up to 2.7 and up on all stock. I plan on possibly getting a dual core or maybe just a higher rated CPU. I still don't know what to do. I would like to return and get an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe/Premium, while on the other hand don't want to pay shipping. I might just keep it so I can use it. This card is sitting here in front of me not being used right now. It is killing me! haha..........
If i don't get a reply to my RMA request tomorrow, I might just keep the board I have.
When I get everything up and going I will update you on how I like my 7900GT
I just want to try out BF2 on all high settings with high frame goodness. Mhhmmmmm Frames......

Right now running BF2 on a 3000+ (754) with an ATI AIW 9600 is killer. Loading times suck. Really bad.

i read somewhere over at xtremesystems.org of a mod to allow you to use SLI on that board... i will do some searching to see if i can find it...

Ok it wasnt xtreme....

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10736

here you go...

Chrome, that was on early boards that had the traces exposed. They quickly changed the design and buried them once word got out.

OH? I didnt know that....
well i learned something..

But, it may be worth pulling the sink to have a look.....

Well, with my very unsteady hand and my not-so-good-for-close-ups digital camera, I cam up with this:

I saw that mod earlier. It looks like it would work.

The RMA went through. Now, what motherboard should I get? ASUS A8n Sli-deluxe/Premium, DFI NF4-SLI D/DR, what? Need suggestiong quick. I want to get it ordered tonight ASAP.
Thanks

ASUS or DFI will do you a nice job.
If you plan to OC go DFI.

I've experienced problems with the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe and Premium:

The Deluxe couldn't run my RAM (G.Skill 2GB DDR500) 1:1 with my 3200+ OC'd to 2.5GHz, I had to run the RAM on a divider to get the CPU to 2.5GHz.

The Premium could run the same RAM at DDR500, but fluctuations with the Vcore prevented the same 3200+ from running higher than 2.2GHz.

I'm currently running my 3200+ at 2.5GHz and the RAM at DDR500 on an MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Non-SLI. I recommend saving up for the MSI K8N Diamond Plus (The one with the copper heatpipe). But if you're keeping the Rosewill RAM, go with the A8N-SLI Deluxe because you'd have to use a RAM Divider to overclock anyway.

I kind of went over board. I just ordered way too much stuff. I ordered the ASUS A8n-SLI Premium with a gig of GEIL ultra. also went ahead and threw in a zalman cnps-7700. Not all top of the line, but hey, still good. Now for the antagonizing wait.

For bf2 your still going to load and play slow! You NEED 2 gigs to play bf2 and be happy! Your not going to be to happy man!



Should of went with 2 gigs




Matt

Well darn, you might have to stick with stock speeds or a mild overclock unless another member can come in and give you some overclocking help.

Where'd you buy your things anyway, if it's Newegg you'll be able to return the memory for some good 2x1GB RAM but you probably can't return the motherboard for a refund or exchange.

I couldn't afford the 2x1gb kit right now. What is wrong with GEIL? I thought it was good memory.

As far as I know Geil is a good company, the real problem is the memory demands of games like BF2.

Certain tests show that having 2 sticks of 1GB RAM can lower the load time in BF2 versus 2 sticks of 512MB.

Oh, I see what you are saying. I thought you meant GEIL was bad memory. Believe me, I wnted the 2gb, but couldn't afford it. I knew that more=better. Not that dumb. haha I wanted to get the gskill 2gig for 160 but don't have much money after buying all of these parts.