Z97-HD3 SLI

[ryyo96]

Hi Everyone.

 

Just wondering, I am getting the hardware delivered for my new gaming rig pretty soon. I've chosen the Z97-HD3 motherboard. First of all. whats it like? What are your opinions on it?

 

Secondly, in future if i ever wanted to upgrade the machine and have two gtx 970's in the machine for SLI, will the motheboard be able to handle it? Can the Z97-HD3 have 2 GTX 970's?

 

Thanks.

[Str_Mape]

It's a decent board but it has no SLI support so you'd need a different board for SLI,  these options are the lower end SLI capable boards, Gigabyte Z97X SLI, Asrock Z97 Extreme 3, Asus Z97-E or MSI Z97S SLI Krait

[Altecice]

Why did you buy a motherboard without researching it?  :huh: But as the person above said, it does not support SLI so you will need a new motherboard for that.

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It only supports crossfire, not SLI.

[MajorVegas]

That motherboard is not SLI compatible

[AnnoyedShelf]

Hi Everyone.

 

Just wondering, I am getting the hardware delivered for my new gaming rig pretty soon. I've chosen the Z97-HD3 motherboard. First of all. whats it like? What are your opinions on it?

 

Secondly, in future if i ever wanted to upgrade the machine and have two gtx 970's in the machine for SLI, will the motheboard be able to handle it? Can the Z97-HD3 have 2 GTX 970's?

 

Thanks.

It has support for 2 way crossfire. NOT SLI.  It's an alright board I guess, can't really go wrong with Gigabyte.  Just make sure to steer clear of Biostar.

[ryyo96]

It's a decent board but it has no SLI support so you'd need a different board for SLI,  these options are the lower end SLI capable boards, Gigabyte Z97X SLI, Asrock Z97 Extreme 3, Asus Z97-E or MSI Z97S SLI Krait

 

Thanks. You say that the boards you mentioned are the low budget, SLI compatible ones. I take it the boards are good ones? I also meant to ask, the board that I am getting, will it have room to upgrade the ram in future also? I'm getting 8Gb of ram so in future, is there room to get another 8Gb in there?

 

Don't know if you can tell but I'm very new to all this. What make a good motherboard?

[Str_Mape]

Thanks. You say that the boards you mentioned are the low budget, SLI compatible ones. I take it the boards are good ones? I also meant to ask, the board that I am getting, will it have room to upgrade the ram in future also? I'm getting 8Gb of ram so in future, is there room to get another 8Gb in there?

 

Don't know if you can tell but I'm very new to all this. What make a good motherboard?

They're all pretty good, some people tend to avoid Asrock but I haven't had any issues with them, each of the boards and your current board support up to 32GB ram with 4 x 8GB dimms so you've got plenty of room to upgrade.

[ryyo96]

They're all pretty good, some people tend to avoid Asrock but I haven't had any issues with them, each of the boards and your current board support up to 32GB ram with 4 x 8GB dimms so you've got plenty of room to upgrade.

Great, thanks. If I were to get a new board and get 2 970's, will the system be able to handle it? i am getting a 600w PSU from Corsair. Would that be enough wattage to support the 2 GPU's? Plus what board would you recommend that i get that is the most reasonable priced but the most future proof for upgrading.

[Str_Mape]

Great, thanks. If I were to get a new board and get 2 970's, will the system be able to handle it? i am getting a 600w PSU from Corsair. Would that be enough wattage to support the 2 GPU's?

600W in theory will be fine, which model specifically? If it's the CX/CXM I'd replace it with a higher quality option before getting another 970

[ryyo96]

600W in theory will be fine, which model specifically? If it's the CX/CXM I'd replace it with a higher quality option before getting another 970

 

It is a CX model actually. These are the specs:

 

Fractal Design R5 Case

 

Intel Core i5 4690K Haswell Refresh Processor 3.50 GHz (Overclocked to up to 4.3GHz)

 

Noctua NH-D15 Air Cooler (CHANGED FROM CORSAIR H55 LIQUID COOLER)

Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Motherboard - Haswell CPU only

 

8GB PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 4GB sticks)

 

Chillblast NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Graphics Card

 

250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive

 

Seagate 2000GB 7200RPM Hard Disk - 6Gbps

 

Corsair Ultra Low Noise 600W PSU

 

So, if I want SLI and I am using a Nvidia card, I need to change the motherboard. You also suggest if I plan on doing that, I should change my PSU since it is the CX600. What should I change it to?

 

TBH, I haven't got the parts coming just yet, but I am almost at the stage where I am going to order them.

[Str_Mape]

 

~snip~

 

I'd go with something along the lines of a Coolermaster VSM power supply 650W or more,  Seasonic M series 620W or more, G series 650W or more then with EVGA the GS series 650W or more, B2 750W or more and G2 750W or more. There are other good options but these are well regarded and typically well priced and at least some of them should be available.

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They're all pretty good, some people tend to avoid Asrock but I haven't had any issues with them, each of the boards and your current board support up to 32GB ram with 4 x 8GB dimms so you've got plenty of room to upgrade.

 

I haven't had any issues with Asrock either but their english is TERRIBLE and they have so many spelling mistakes when responding to customers I literally can't buy another one.