[SOLVED] How to choose motherboard, when I already have all other components?

[weetabixharry]

I want to buy a new motherboard after my brother gave me two graphics cards to run in SLI.

My current motherboard (Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI) only has one PCIe slot. So, ideally I just want to replace it and keep everything else, in particular:
CPU: i5-6500
RAM: 2x 8GB DDR4
GPUs: 2x GTX770

I'm not so worried about the rest. Smaller form factors are preferred and an M.2 connector would be a bonus. My PSU is 750W, which I suspect might be borderline okay. If it blacks out, I guess I'll pick up something a bit beefier.

My question is how can I find a motherboard that supports my CPU, RAM and GPUs (with SLI). I live in Switzerland, so my options are pretty much limited to this one website (in English):
https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/producttype/motherboards-65?pdo=12-746:278771&tagIds=76

(or importing is another option).

I've checked several motherboards against NVIDIA's SLI-Ready Motherboard List, but none of them are there. Is there a better way for me to find what I am looking for?

 

[richiestang_78]

I wouldn't spend money on a motherboard in order to run two cards in SLI since for the most part SLI is a dying technology with little to no benefit. The issue is that Nvidia hasn't done much with it on their end and almost no game developer spends any real time optimizing their games to use it due to the small percent of computers that have multiple GPUS.

If I were you I would save up and buy a new graphics card such as a 1660 Super, RX5500XT, RX5700 etc. Or look on the used market for a GTX 1060, GTX 1070, RX580.


if for whatever reason you do want to go for SLI, which again is not worth the money, then all you need to do is make sure that it is a motherboard that is for Socket 1151 (not 1151 300 series wchih is for 8th gen INtels and up) that also supports SLI. That usually will be a ATX sized Z170 or Z270 motherboard. There are a few MicroATX sized motherboards with two PCIe X16 slots but youll just have to look around whats available to you. Mainly just look for a board that says SLI compatible.

You can use pcpartspicker.com and sort motherboards by features such as SLI.

 

[weetabixharry]

Thanks - what you say makes a lot of sense.

My problem now is that I know very little about GPUs and have no idea what represents good value among the 1000 or so options available:
https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/producttype/graphics-cards-106?tagIds=76&so=5

Choosing a graphics card seems significantly more complicated than choosing the whole of the rest of the system!

I tried looking for the cards you suggested, but even then I don't know which of those are better or worse, or how much I should be aiming to pay. There are an unbelievable number of variants of each card, which makes it difficult to even find benchmarks.

I haven't bought a graphics card since about 2002 for exactly this reason!

EDIT: Using this GPU hierarchy, I have narrowed it down to 4 options:
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super EX (4GB) ($165)
Gainward Geforce GTX 1650Super Pegasus OC (4GB) ($172)
XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition (8GB) ($185)
MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT MECH 8G OC (8GB) ($219)

Thanks a lot for your help. I'll look at these options and if I have any more questions, I guess I should direct them to the Graphics Card forum.

 

[richiestang_78]

Thanks - what you say makes a lot of sense.

My problem now is that I know very little about GPUs and have no idea what represents good value among the 1000 or so options available:
https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/producttype/graphics-cards-106?tagIds=76&so=5

Choosing a graphics card seems significantly more complicated than choosing the whole of the rest of the system!

I tried looking for the cards you suggested, but even then I don't know which of those are better or worse, or how much I should be aiming to pay. There are an unbelievable number of variants of each card, which makes it difficult to even find benchmarks.

I haven't bought a graphics card since about 2002 for exactly this reason!

EDIT: Using this GPU hierarchy, I have narrowed it down to 4 options:
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super EX (4GB) ($165)
Gainward Geforce GTX 1650Super Pegasus OC (4GB) ($172)
XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition (8GB) ($185)
MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT MECH 8G OC (8GB) ($219)

Thanks a lot for your help. I'll look at these options and if I have any more questions, I guess I should direct them to the Graphics Card forum.

I would get the 1650 Super. It wi be alittle faster in most titles, use less power and runs cooler.

It's perfect for 1080P 60fps gaming.


You'll have to go up a tier if you want more to either a 1660 Super or 1660ti on the Nvidia side.

 

[weetabixharry]

I would get the 1650 Super. It wi be alittle faster in most titles, use less power and runs cooler.

It's perfect for 1080P 60fps gaming.


You'll have to go up a tier if you want more to either a 1660 Super or 1660ti on the Nvidia side.

Ah, great advice. My monitors only go up to 1080p, so that sounds good.

I noticed the low wattage, which is definitely a bonus (more in terms of heat and fan noise than power consumption, as I really don't play games often). Actually, the only 3D game I own is GTA5, so that's all this card is ever likely to be used for. It would just be nice to be able to crank all the graphics up to the maximum