Motherboards Ugh, I made a noob mistake [PC UPGRADE COMPLETE!]

I feel like an idiot, and I hate learning the hard way...

I've been anxiously waiting for the past month (that's right, June 29th ordered, received today 8/4) to get my second 5850 for a crossfire setup - in my nvidia based 680i chipset. Short of hardwiring a AMD chipset into this thing I'm screwed. I even upgraded my PSU to accommodate the new card (granted it is useful in a new rig).

So now I am sitting with 2 5850's debating on whether to send the other 5850 back or do an upgrade to a new i5 system with an intel chipset (support for both SLI/crossfire). But would easily spend about $400-$500 in the process...

Talk about overlooking things... Although this would be my first dual-gpu system, so I assumed that SLI/crossfire where the same... clearly and loudly they are not...

Damnit... Damnit...

So what to do?
1. Send the 5850 packing!
2. Keep and upgrade rig Cheesecake!!

 

Could you just upgrade the motherboard?

 

Ouch.

Here's one to make you feel better about yourself: a little while ago one guy on here stabbed his brand new x58 motherboard with a knife trying to get the CPU socket opened.

 

Looked into that on newegg. Currently there are very few Mobo's that have the correct intel chipset, DDR2, and dual pcie 16x slots. Tons of single lanes. Plus Q6600 support. The list grows smaller as LGA 775 diminishes...

 

If you have the Nvidia 680i SLI chipset, you probably have a socket LGA 775 board am i right?

Edit: Question already answered^^

 

ebay the 5850s and buy two 560s?

Although I'd use it as an excuse to upgrade to sandybridge x)

 

Aye, that helps.. A bit, lol

Indeed, although it would be a decent excuse to upgrade to i5 too. lol

 

Sell both and buy a 6950 or else go i5

 

You need a x38 or x48 chipset really.

They crop up on forums now and again but tend to keep value well on ebay.

Id sell up if you couldnt find one cheap.

 

I think it depends on your budget, for an update to i5 you can easily spend 600$ and more,if you choose some HQ components.

The cheaper way would be the ebay way, but you'll never know what you get.

 

with ram being so cheap now its the best time to go i5. 8gb of ram for 59 quid.

 

Go i5. I swapped over yesterday to a Maximus 4 gene + 2500k and the results already are amazing. The Gene does look a little silly in my case though.

 

You've already got the cards, which are decent, and you probably can only return one...
Seeing as you're still on a DDR2 platform I'd suggest just biting the bullet and taking the opportunity to upgrade the board/CPU/RAM.

 

Yea go the upgrade path and sell the old bits in the market place

 

Ditch the 680i. By standards these days it's a very hot chipset and I'm certainly glad I upgraded from it!

 

i just need a way to persuade the wife it's time i upgraded my stuff

 

well the i5 will definitely be less power hungry, so tell her you are reducing your electricity bill... ;-)

 

arnt there some re-written drivers that let you use crossfire on the SLI board?

 

crossfire and SLI are too problematic. sell the 5850's and get a 6950.

 

Thanks everyone for the input.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and upgrade. I've put together a wish list on newegg and would appreciate any input on the components. I am assuming that the pci-e 16x slots will default to an 8x 8x configuration in crossfire, but I dont see anywhere on there in the specs that that is the case (of course 16x x2 would be fantastic).

If crossfire ends up being more hassle (stability/compatibility) I'll sell them and get a better card, but as it sits I am more curious and want to try it out (I've never had a dual GPU setup).

I'm going to part out my current rig, so if anyone is interested keep an eye out for a 'for sale' thread in the near future.