Upgrade or?

[SKDgarbage]

I'm currently using a Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 but I just ordered two 9800GTs. I've been under the impression that it supported SLi but it looks like I might be wrong I've seen some articles where people are using hacked nvidia drivers to run SLi on it but is that an option for me running linux? If I do in fact need to upgrade to a new motherboard can someone point me towards a good one?
I need the following

socket 775
SLi support
plenty of SATA ports
at least 1 PCI slot
cheap but a good brand

any clarification or suggestions would be great.

[markkleb]

take a look for a 750i chipset board. (in the low $100 range)
Are you planning on OCing?
Is low cost more important than the accs?

While I havent used one before this looks like a pretty good deal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16813157120R
I like how the memory slots are separated and there is an 8 pin for the CPU.

[SKDgarbage]

Thanks mark! I'm looking at the non open box one but I'm not seeing an SLi bridge, and SLi is the reason I'm upgrading. Would they just not show that it comes with one? I'm willing to go into the $100-$200 range for a bigger name. I've never actually used asrock before. Besides the previous though the board looks alright. The onboard RAID is a big plus to me. Would it help to find one if I listed all my other parts? Thanks again

[markkleb]

SLI bridges should be with the mobo if you get a Retail version (Openbox ones rarely have them)
I guess mostly it matters if you are a push the envelope kind of guy, or are a plug it in and go kind of guy?

The 750i chipset mobos have a few advantages over the 650 series. Im pretty sure the 650 series is PCI E 1.0 and the 750s are 2.0 (double the bandwidth on the PCI EX slots)

I havent found a lot of difference between the 1.0 and 2.0 in real life except on the X2 cards (2 GPUs using 1 slot) On the 9600GTs and 8800/9800GTs its almost the same.

I use a BiostarN750 and love it (AMD though) The MSI mobos pretty good too (Ive used a few of these)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130175
(I take Neweggs reviews with a grain of salt most probs are due to operator error)

[SKDgarbage]

If it helps I'm running a core 2 duo E6600 2.4, two evga geforce 9800 GTs, a RAID 0 array, need an extra SATA port at least, I don't remember the FSB on my CPU or RAM atm though. I had actually looked at the MSI board you linked, I'm diggin it

[markkleb]

take a look at the Platinum version of the mobo (like $20 more but extra features)

[SKDgarbage]

Yup! I think that's the one. How OC-able is it? It looks like it'll support all of the upgrades I plan on doing. Any cons you can think of?

[markkleb]

all parts have +s,-s but for the $$ that one looks pretty nice (plat version) here is a pretty good review
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?...hlbnRodXNpYXN0

I like the 3 PCI Ex slots, plenty of Satas, 8pin power for CPU, room between the GPUs in SLI. I wish the dual channel memory slots were separated but thats a small complaint.

[SKDgarbage]

Alright, I just checked my PSU for the extra 8 pin, I'm sold. That's the one. Thanks a ton mark!

[markkleb]

keep us (me too) informed on how it goes for you