Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4

[Paul A. Procacci]

Frank Shute wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 01:06:30PM +0200, David Naylor wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am currently replacing my defunct motherboard, I am unable to test
>> the hardware before purchase and I am seeking advice on which
>> motherboard to get.
>>
>> Upon review I have selected a Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4, does FreeBSD
>> work with this board.  It does have a nForce 650i (and I am not sure
>> FreeBSD works with it?)
>>     
>
> I just built a workstation with a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (P35/ICH9)
> board and am running a core 2 duo on it with AMD 7.0RC1. Everything works
> including ACPI which is very important if you want to run more than 1
> core. 
>
>   
>> If anyone has an alternative suggestion please let me know.  The
>> motherboard will have to support (my budget is about < ZAR2000 ~
>> USD275): 
>>     
>
>   
>> o) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 
>>     
>
> Mine supports that with up to 1333MHz FSB.
>
>   
>> o) 4x 800Mhz DDR2 Ram
>>     
>
> Yep. I've got 4GB, don't know whether it will go to 8, the handbook is no
> help.
>
>   
>> o) 2x SATA HDD
>>     
>
> Yep. 4 Channels.
>
>   
>> o) 2x IDE CDROM Drive
>>     
>
> Yes. Only 1 IDE channel but supports 2 devices
>
>   
>> o) 2x nVidia 7600 GT
>>     
>
> I guess that's SLI which I don't know a lot about or whether FreeBSD
> (X) can make any use of it. Only 1 PCI-E x 16 on my board so I guess
> not for me.
>
>   
>> Thank you all for your help
>>     
>
> I don't know anything about your nForce650i chipset but as a rule of
> thumb, if the technology is more than 6 months old, it's likely to
> work unless there's non-disclosure by the manufacturer (I think Nvidia
> are quite good in that respect).
>
> May be somebody else can comment on whether it will work. Or if you
> can drop one of the video cards you can use the same motherboard as
> me since I've tested it (apart from sound). And it's probably cheaper!
> About 65 quid (130 USD).
>
>   
Just to add additional information for the OP.  I too have a Gigabyte 
P35-DS3R (slight difference in model, but nearly the same) rev. 2.1 
board, and it works like a champ.

My specs (whether relavant or not to you):

o) Core 2 Q6600 Quad Core OC'd to 1333 FSB.
o) 4x 1066Mhz DDR2 Ram
o) IDE channel(s) not in use.
o) 4 SATA drives in raid 0+1 in use, 1 SATA CDROM drive in use
o) Floppy Controller / Drive in use.
o) nVidia 8800 GTX obviously in use.

Like Frank mentioned, my video card doesn't run in Sli mode, however 
I've had nothing but luck thus far.

I hope this little bit helps.  Maybe next time if otherwise.