Motherboards that support 2-3 Graphics cards and Sound card.

[Tysuro]

Ok I have seen only 3 Motherboards the ASUS® P6X58D-E: and the premium version but when I tried to configure 2 graphics cards and a soundcard there wasent enough room.. The only choice is the Rampage board which I don't think I really need? since it's more of an overclocking board which I proberly won't ever use since I don't have the knowledge on how to OC so yeah any other options?

 

[Tysuro]

And before you ask why don't I use hte onboard graphics is becuase when I tried to speak on ventrilo said I dident have a soundcard so I guess I need one .

 

[PCS]

Onboard sounds is more than adequate - you don't need to order a specific soundcard.

 

[Sleinous]

Ventrilo lied, besides if u dont have the pc yet how do u know what vent is saying? Basing this on what ur current comp says? My guess is onboard isnt configured correctly on ur current setup. Yeah u cant have 2 and a PCI card AND a pci express wireless card unless u asked pcs to put the PCI express x4 card in a PCI express x16 lane (longer lane) like the bottom lane. This is because most modern gpus are dual width unless ur watercooling them.

Id show a pivk of the mobo and draw what i
mean on it but im on iphone

 

[Tysuro]

Just assumed you would need a soundcard since thats what Ventrilo said but if that isent the case and it's my current PC oboard settings i'll be able to give the added soundcard a miss and i'll go for the Assu premium board.

 

[Sleinous]

i should think they mean by this - some form of sound chip, onboard is still a chip

 

[pengipete]

It's a shame that Asus placed the PCI slots where they are overhung by double-height graphics cards but you can still add a soundcard - just look for one with a PCI-e interface. They're readily available - Creative's X-Fi range and the highly rated Asus Xonar both include PCI-e versions. Even if you use all three graphics card slots on P6X58 board, there's a PCI-e1 port free.

Two things to bear in mind...

Two or more graphics cards will kick out a lot of heat - especially so on those mobos as the slots are so close together - so any soundcard will be subjected to alot of that heat.

Secondly, you really ony need a soundcard for a few very specific applications - in particular, audio and soft-synth recording and real-time monitoring. The reason a soundcard is required there is that most decent add-on cards include specialised drivers (ASIO) which deal with a problem called latency - that's where it takes too long for the soundcard/PC to process the sound and the supposedly "live" sound comes out a fraction of a second late - rather like hearing your own voiced echoed when you are using a mobile phone. For a musician, that's a serious problem. The onboard Realtek solution is sadly lacking in that area as it has no ASIO support.

In case you hadn't guessed, making music is one of my main uses for a PC and I'm pretty fussy about sound. I can assure you that the onboard sound on the P658X boards is good - very good, in fact - so I'd get the board up and running and then maybe think about getting a soundcard if you decide it's actually necessary.