680i Board that doesnt suck ?

[S1nn3r]

Thread title says it all realy ..

As part of the ongoing saga of my system rebuild/upgrade im considreing going to "the dark side" GPU wise i.e Nvidia( I have a bias to ATI) and therefore am looking at the options as far as NV Chipset boards go on the Intel side first as I already have a ES 6600 I can use vs haveing to buy a AM2 AMD CPU to get the new hotness mobo wise on the NV/AMD side.

Corse from what ive read on here pretty much all the 680i boards have a fair few issues, but it would seem that the EVGA A1 is the most fixable in this respect via BIOS/BIOS Hotfixes/Pencil Mods. This a fair summary ?

[gosmeyer]

+1 for the A1

[Nate P.]

+1 for the A1
+2 for the A1, but honestly I wouldn't get a 680i... Not with the P35 an X38 chipsets out...

[S1nn3r]

+2 for the A1, but honestly I wouldn't get a 680i... Not with the P35 an X38 chipsets out...

I am looking at P35 to. Just keeping my options open realy, am very close to finalizing the rest of the rebuild I think, just gotta decide on the mobo and gfx upgrade(if any, as NV and ATI have new GPUs planned pretty soon so may stick with the 1900XT for now) side of things.

[linflas]

Unless you are SLI avoid them.

I have had a few of the the EVGA, the Abit IN932X-MAX, and currently on the Striker Extreme.

At this point, with my experience, any of them could be good or bad, kind of a crap shoot IMO.

[The Nemesis]

Most people after 680i boards are running 8800 series graphic cards sli. It's the only reason to even bother. If you have a quad core cpu and want to overclock a bit go with the evga A1 (easy) or Asus Striker (bit more picky). If you have a dual core cpu the DFI 680lt is the best 680i board i've used. It's even faster than the Asus Striker in most benchmarks. Not sure what Nvidia's 780i sli will bring other than PCI-E 2.0, but it may be worth a look since its only a couple of weeks away. If your not planning on sli then P35 or X38 are much better boards then nvidia's offerings. Especially where Quad clocking is concerned. Also P35 is a better value than X38 right now.

[Phosphate]

Not sure what Nvidia's 780i sli will bring other than PCI-E 2.0, but it may be worth a look since its only a couple of weeks away.

It is supposed to be able to run triple SLI (3 Video cards) and because of this it has three PCI-E 2.0 x16 lanes. Whether or not all PCI-E slots can run x16 simultaneously I don't know.

[The Nemesis]

Triple sli is just a driver update. It will be coming to the 680i chipset later after the 780i release. Should be interesting. Have yet to see triple sli results though.

[Phosphate]

Triple sli is just a driver update. It will be coming to the 680i chipset later after the 780i release. Should be interesting. Have yet to see triple sli results though.

Supposedly GX2 cards will be coming out also. This could be the beginning of "Hex" SLI (6 GPUs in 3 slots). LOL!

[S1nn3r]

Most people after 680i boards are running 8800 series graphic cards sli. It's the only reason to even bother. If you have a quad core cpu and want to overclock a bit go with the evga A1 (easy) or Asus Striker (bit more picky). If you have a dual core cpu the DFI 680lt is the best 680i board i've used. It's even faster than the Asus Striker in most benchmarks. Not sure what Nvidia's 780i sli will bring other than PCI-E 2.0, but it may be worth a look since its only a couple of weeks away. If your not planning on sli then P35 or X38 are much better boards then nvidia's offerings. Especially where Quad clocking is concerned. Also P35 is a better value than X38 right now.

The DFI is out as i am in the UK and hence a victim of DFIs sucky distribution here .. the only Intel DFI board I can actuly easly get here is the LP UT P35-T2R right now. Would the EVGA A1 be worth it for a ES C2D 6600 do you think ? or should i just jump on board the bandwagon that is the DFI LP UT P35-T2R ?

[Losai]

I heard Striker Extremes are good with E6600 but I never tested it out... I had a Q6600 on a Striker and switched to a P35 cause I couldn't get pass stock speeds on the Striker

[Brian MP5T]

I have the P5N-32-E-SLI and it's so far the best Mobo I have ever had.

i have built 10 Systems in the past 4 months for friends and it has been the backbone of every system.

[punisher69]

Non-SLI - I would go Asus p5k deluxe for p35. (Tho has issue's if you decide to use raid)
SLI - (ati gpu's) I would go ASUS Maximus Formula SE
SLI - (nvidia gpu's) I would go with the evga A1 or stick it out and wait for the 780 chipset.

[S1nn3r]

Looks like the vast majoity are saying the EVGA A1 would be the way to go on the NV/Intel front. So that I think is the direction ill go should i go down that path. Am still looking into all the other options, including my original AMD 790 idea to.

I hate makeing choices when doing a new build/rebuild .. heh

[S1nn3r]

I have the P5N-32-E-SLI and it's so far the best Mobo I have ever had.

i have built 10 Systems in the past 4 months for friends and it has been the backbone of every system.

10 Systems on that board and no issues at all ? they OCed systems ?

[Borgod]

My DFI 680i broke the other week so I too am stuck in this dilemma.

Im running a C2Q with 8800GTX SLI and decided to wait until the 780i is out before I commit on a replacement. In the meantime I just got an Asus P5E SLI (650i) to tie me over until then. Runs fine on stock clocks.

[SaRaNaC]

I have owned a striker for almost a year now. (purchased in December). I will tell you i had some issues at first but after alot of bios updates i like it. Running a e6600 at 3.5ghz, ram @ 4-4-4-12 800mhz, and dual boot. Sometimes i will have a error on the lcd on the MB (which is a perk of asus) about the usb ports but that is no big deal to fix.

[JargonGR]

Just avoid the In9 32MAX if you are going with a quad or any new stepping Core 2 Duo - I had my second dead one sitting on tis box and I am not going to even return it anymore because I have cut the heatpipes and I am not buying another one. Instead I went with an A1 EVGA and I am running the Quad at 3.6Ghz 1.49 vcore really stable for the last 2 months. I have not even tried to push further and it took less than 5 mins to have it stable like that. It is relatively cheap too. However I am all on water , CPU, SB, NB, GFXs.

[tylerw13]

my 2 cents stay away from the 680i i had a evga and thank the good lord the x38 came out and i could get it!!! so much better than that damn 680i

[happychappy]

Im getting 8800GT SLi next week, so im in the same ship, i could either use my P5N32-E or buy a new 680i board, which would i best be doing?

I want to reach at least 3.6GHz with my quad

[Brian MP5T]

10 Systems on that board and no issues at all ? they OCed systems ?


Modest OC for most.

All run minimum FSB of 1600 Mhz with E6750

Some run Q6600...

[tet5uo]

I'm liking my DFI 680i LT so far.

Has maxed out for me so far at 480 FSB... and it lets you run your DDR2 at 1t, something my evga board couldn't handle.

I had my ballistix 8500 doing 450 mHz 4-4-4-13 at 1T it gave my 3d benches some real snap in their step.

[vladimir]

I've been really happy with my Striker Extreme, I've had it since late last November. It has some issues with some overclocking holes, but all of the 680i boards to some extent. The only thing you have to really watch out for are a couple of BIOS updates that aren't quite up to par.