MB OC Report :: EVGA 790i Reference
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...vga_logo-1.png
I do them for memory so why not motherboards...right? So here we go with my initial MB OC Report. If you are un-familiar with my OC Reports, learn how to read, I post them bloody everywhere. For those that are familiar with the OC Reports of my past, then you will know that this is going to be half review, half overclocking results thread. Let's get started with a brief overview of the NVIDIA nForce® 790i Ultra SLI® chipset and this motherboard for those that have been living in a cave eating dung beetles for the past few months.
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...dia_logo-1.png
The NVIDIA nForce® 790i Ultra is the latest chipset released from NVIDIA® in a long line of disappointing Intel chipsets. Okay so I may be a bit critical with that statement but...it's true. It was long considered that Intel processors were only going to be able to run well on Intel chipsets for us enthusiasts, that changed drastically with the NVIDIA nForce® 680i SLI® but NVIDIA® still had a ways to go. NVIDIA nForce® 780i SLI® was recently released to much fan fare with tri-SLI® support and better FSB clocking but there was still a lot to be left desired.
This is where things get exciting, the nForce® 790i Ultra chipset is suppose to be everything we had been hoping for all these years. Finally we get a chipset that can clock like the Intel chipsets but supports SLI®. Early reports are that this chipset is definitely living up to the hype but there are of course some potential draw backs...*cough* data corruption *cough*. Either way, it finally looks like NVIDIA® has cooked up an Intel ass whoppin casserole and tonight we dine on this creation.
Directory:- Index
- Quick Specifications & Pricing
- Package & Layout
- Cooling Alternatives
- Mmmm...Burning Solder: Voltage Mods & Read Points
- Blue Martini's: BIOS Screenshots
- Appetizer: FSB Clocking
- First Course: 2x1GB Memory Clocking
- First Course Continued: 2x2GB Memory Clocking
- Second Course Blasphemy: Red Bleeds On Green
- Main Course: 2 Turn Tables & A Microphone
- Dessert: Random Work & Benches
- After Dinner Deep Thoughts...By 3oh6
Quick Specifications & Pricing
This is the boring part but like I said, for the dung beetle eaters with their head in a hole, here are the specifications of the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset...and yes, this is stolen directly from the NVIDIA web site. It's only borrowing if you give credit though, so you can find all of this information and more at NVIDIA.com.
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...0i/specs-1.png
One thing I wanted to find out was if the firewire port was 400 or 800 but that seems to be privileged information as I can't find it anywhere. Since the EVGA board is simply the reference board with an EVGA sticker on it, there are no differences what so ever from the NVIDIA board. This is both a good thing and somewhat bad thing. Since they are the same boards, the BIOS is interchangeable so when NVIDIA updates a BIOS, this EVGA can be updated with it. It also means that the EVGA board is exactly the same as any other manufacturers reference boards such as XFX so users can share experiences and information since they are identical boards. Comparing results from the reference boards to the Asus over-priced, hard drive eating, nForce 790i offering is impossible since the Asus board is completely different.
Enough of my blabbing though, if you want to know any further specifications of the board, go here or here and leave me alone :D.
As for pricing...yeah, bring your wallets, credit cards, and cheque books, it is that bad. We start off with Canada because that is where I live and well, it is better than anywhere else...especially the west coast (not sure what that has to do with anything but I have been missing the left coast lately).
Wow, Canadian prices don't suck compared to the USA, they are actually on par. For once we don't get bent over, guess I should pull my pants up...sorry, it's just habit. I personally bought my board at a local retailer because I like to support the local guy...and I am lazy, they are literally right across the street. I can see into the store from my bedroom window, waaaaay too convenient for a guy like me with a hardware addiction. That's right folks, straight up retail sample...no handpicked spoon fed monkey stuff like that Dinos guy gets that overclocks way better than anyone else’s :rolleyes:.
(I'm allowed to have inside jokes in my reports so deal with it)
Mmmm...Burning Solder: Voltage Mods & Read Points
This is obviously not your normal section in a review but hey, this isn't a review dammit. It is my idea of a fancy information and results thread. At this point, all of the volt mods for this board aren't really 100% confirmed but that is simply because I am a little busy with all kinds of things so I haven't tested them all. As time goes by and I get off my butt and test the mods, I will post them here. Until then, feel free to hit up Dinos22s thread over here where there is a bit of a start on all the vmods for this board including what I don't have posted here.
vDROOP
It was posted that a 50k ohm VR was needed for this mod so that is what I used but you could likely use a 20K or even 10K ohm VR without issue as it is tuned to almost 0 resistance to eliminate vDROOP. As it stands, tuning the circuit down to about 600 ohm did the trick to stabilize the vCORE from idle to load. I could also lower resistance even more and raise vCORE at idle and load from what is initially set. You will want really small gauge wire because this one is a tight solder. Rookies need not apply. Here are the photos:
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...l/vdroop-1.jpg http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...l/vdroop-2.jpg
vCORE
I started this out thinking 100K ohms was necessary but a 50K ohm VR is perfect. So please excuse the second 50K ohm VR in the photo that I ran in-line as it wasn't necessary and later removed. This one is very straight forward and the capacitor we solder to is an 0805 so decent size. It is pretty easy compared to the vDROOP mod. You can use any ground, I have used the ground pad of the un-populated transistor behind the CPU fan header.
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/vcore-1.jpg http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/vcore-2.jpg
vSPP
Dinos22 post was again bang on and the soldering point was correct. Measured resistance of the circuit was 776 ohms so I went with a 20K ohm resistor. After the mod, resistance dropped to 745 ohms and voltage was 0.06v higher than selected according to the BIOS monitor. I still don't have a confirmed vSPP read point on the board so I am just going with the BIOS reading as it raises with lowered resistance. Very easy to solder to the IC leg and a perfect mounting point, as seen, alongside the I/O tower. The vSPP mod has definitely helped with FSB clocking and memory clocks but additional cooling is required.
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/vmch-1.jpg http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/vmch-2.jpg
Blue Martini's: BIOS Screenshots
"Into the great wide open, under them skies of blue..." as Tom Petty would say, in our case it is the BIOS of blue. The BIOS we are looking at is not the EVGA BIOS, it is the P03R2 NVIDIA reference board BIOS. EVGA has since released P04, P05, P05b, and P06. P04~P05b show no real differences and the only additional options are the inclusion of the P1/P2 options that were already available in P03R2. P06 seems to be a bit different story with stories of bandwidth lowering for users. Perhaps chipset latencies loosened a bit to help with the corruption issues that were apparently fixed in P05 (I think). Either way, P03R2 should look exactly the same as the newer BIOSs so these will not be updated any time soon.
Main Menu // Standard CMOS Features // Advanced BIOS Features
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-1.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-2.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-3.png
The BIOS is your typical Award BIOS and we all know there is nothing really exciting here so well, yeah, let's leave it at that. The layout is very obvious and all the overclocking resides in one section which is nice. Speaking of the overclocking section...that’s what is up next.
Advanced Chipset Features // System Clocks http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-4.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-5.png
As mentioned, everything for overclocking is right here, including the ability to save 3 timing/voltage profiles. I would prefer it saved all the BIOS settings but you can't complain with at least the ability to save the important stuff.
The System Clocks page provides us access with CPU multiplier control as well as the PCI-E and SPP<->MCP frequencies. To get half multipliers simply enable the CPU N/2 Ratio which becomes available when the 8x multi is selected with the E8400. The PCI-E frequency options are 100~200MHz at 1MHz increments. The SPP<-> frequency can be adjust from 200~230MHz in 1 MHz increments then from 230~500MHz in 2MHz increments. The HT multiplier options are 1x~5x for both upstream and down from the SPP to MCP.
FSB & Memory Config
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-6.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-7.png
Moving on to the FSB & Memory Config section we are getting into the meat of the overclocking diet. I like how there is a display showing what CPU multiplier we have selected and what the ultimate frequency will be...what I don't like is that NVIDIA continues to use the QDR FSB frequency. We get it, you want to be different from Intel chipsets but come on...quit making me use a calculator in the BIOS. In nTune you list FSB as the actual frequency, why not in the BIOS? Hmmmm? Either way, FSB is adjustable between 400~2800 or 100MHz~700MHz so the BIOS selections won't be holding us back any time soon.
The other major feature of the NVIDIA chipset that we are all well aware of is the fact that we can 'un-link' the memory from the FSB for all kinds of crazy FSB/memory frequency combinations. It isn't a true un-linked memory where we can adjust both independently as ratios are still at the heart of this ability but there is definitely a greater memory/FSB freedom with the NVIDIA chipset than there is the Intel chipset. Of course, we also have standard linked ratios of 5:4, 3:2, and Sync (2:1).
At the very bottom of this page before the Memory Timing Settings we see the elusive P1 and P2 options. These are the much discussed options that appear to be disabled at 475FSB (some users report at 450FSB+) and beyond resulting in horrible memory bandwidth. With the P03R2 beta BIOS and up, we have the option to override these settings and manually keep them enable keeping memory bandwidth and performance where they belong at higher FSB frequencies. This of course puts more stress on the chipset and may require more vSPP or even limit overclocking for some users.
Memory Timing Setting // CPU Configuration // System Voltages
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-8.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...all/bios-9.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/bios-10.png
The Memory Timing Setting page is just that, the section for adjusting memory timings. They have the timings broken up into two sections with the main timings at the top and secondaries at the bottom, plus, the timings are in 'typical' order keeping it nice and simple. This will make it less confusing for the rookies to get their uber l33t memory timings set and should lead to less whining in the forums about RAM not running at what it is rated for saving the 'Beards, Tony, Eric, Greg, Michal and others some hassle. The other nice feature is that the column to the right shows what is currently set...very nice to have sometimes. I will mention that the timing list is limited and there is no tRFC available from the BIOS but you 2x2GB owners fear not as this board sets ridiculously high tRFC at all frequencies and Memset allows the tuning of that down for us benchers.
Looking at the CPU Configuration section we can see the typical CPU features listed here for enabling or disabling along with the ability to shut down individual cores of the processor, another nice touch.
The last of the screenshots above is that of our voltage options. Again, nothing fancy going on here with our basic voltages but we do have individual GTL reference voltage adjustments. These range from -155mv ~ +155mv at 5mv increments. The rest of the voltage ranges are as follows...
Code:
CPU Core = 0.51250v ~ 2.00000v in 0.00625v increments
CPU FSB = 1.10v ~ 1.45v in 0.05v increments
Memory = 1.500v ~ 2.275v in 0.025v increments
nForce SPP = 1.30v ~ 1.55v in 0.05v increments
nForce MCP = 1.500v ~ 1.750v in 0.050v increments
GTL Ref = -155mv ~ +155mv in 5mv increments
Integrated Peripherals // Power Management Setup // PnP/PCI Configurations http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/bios-11.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/bios-12.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/bios-13.png
Yeah, well...what do you want me to say about these sections? Ohhhh, you can enable or disable all of the integrated peripherals. I think the screenshots speak for themselves so I will just go sit in a corner until you finish looking at them.
System Monitor // Dynamic Fan Control
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/bios-14.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/bios-15.png
The System Monitor page isn't loaded with temperature readings but we have the basics. What is odd is that newer versions of Everest pick up a couple more like SPP/MCP temp in Windows so I'm not sure why they are not listed here. As you will see, Everest picks up SPP and MCP temps which are very nice to have access to. It also picks up vDIMM and the rest of the voltages and since v4.50.1383 of Everest, the vDIMM reading as well as all other voltage readings appear to be bang on. Older versions of Everest provide an elevated vDIMM reading. The one interesting line here is the CPU Current which shows the Amps that the CPU is drawing. I am not sure how accurate it is but it certainly scales with clocks and vCORE.
Dynamic Fan Control gives us full control over the CPU, Chassis, chipset, and auxiliary fan speed. The options available are pretty straight forward but having this control from the BIOS without the need for additional software to be installed in Windows is always a welcome feature for 24/7 users. That wraps up this boat ride so...like..."good trip eh?".
First Course: 2x1GB Memory Clocking
Alright, FSB has us covered up to 1100MHz with this board for memory without having to un-link it. I wish I had time to investigate the entire memory clocking realm of this board and performance hits, if any, there are at the various ratios but life just doesn't allow that. Heck, I have a couple care packages from my motherboard manufacturing nemesis coming in as we speak so I am all but out of time with this board as it is. Needless to say, I have managed a voltage limited Dual 32M SPi OC Report of my latest Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 (non-XMP), but first, a look at highest CPU-Z validated, and 1M stable...
Max RAM Frequency w/Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 - CPU-Z Validation :: 1100MHz
click for validation page...
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...lidation-2.png
Naturally it took a bit of effort and vDIMM set to 2.125v (2.1v ish actual) to get the magic 1100MHz validation but I managed. I tried getting Everest but it was a no go so this frequency is extremely un-stable. Once I get some more vmods done to the board and increase vDIMM, I am sure I can get 1100MHz benchable with this kit and others. Heck, loosening timings up could make a world of difference...but 8-7-6 at this frequency would be so much nicer. Mmmmm, 550*9 1:2 1100MHz 8-7-6 with P1/P2 enabled :D
Max RAM Frequency w/Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 - 1M SPi :: 1086.1MHz
click for full size...
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...-6_543x8-2.png
A bit of a drop off from the max CPU-Z and I was actually able to get a 1090MHz 1M done but when trying to run Everest bandwidth the system would reboot. Next up is single 32M and then an abbreviated dual 32M SPi OC Report on this kit of memory.
Max RAM Frequency w/Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 - 32M SPi :: 1070.0MHz
click for full size...
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...-6_535x8-1.png
Only 2.153v (actual) was used because more voltage didn't help. I am finding that perhaps the vDIMM circuit on this board is a little weak at higher voltages because there seems to be stability issues going over 2.200v set in the BIOS. It could just be this kit of memory as well so further testing will be needed. I will try a few other kits and if the same results are found, then it will be Maximizer time for this board.
Dual 32M SPi OC Report w/Corsair Dominator PC3-14400
As mentioned, this is an abbreviated session since time is constrained but it gets the general view of how this board clocks memory as far as dual 32M is concerned. Since initially putting this MB OC Report together, I have done a complete OC Report on a kit of Crucial Ballistix PC3-16000 and the results are absolutely ridiculous. You can find that report in my signature at the end of this MB OC Report or right here if you are the impatient type. For now, this was the first memory clocking I did on this board with the Noctua NC-U6/Thermalright HR-05-SLI cooling setup and no volt mods...here is how it shook out:
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...m_memory-1.png
Dual 32M at 1060MHz with only 2.102v is a mighty fine accomplishment and 960MHz at 7-6-5 is pretty decent as well. One thing to note, however, CL7 stability is far below what we see here. At 8-7-6 I could achieve 100% stability at 1045MHz w/2.10v and 825MHz at 6-6-5, but with 7-6-5, I was only able to squeeze out 917MHz which is quite a deviation from the gap at the other two timings shown above. Hopefully a new BIOS alleviates this issue otherwise some CL7 kits coming out are going to have a nightmare with compatibility with this board if they are rated above 900MHz. I could also have been overlooking something, in which case I get a boot in the ass. Here are the screenshots, from left to right...
6-6-5 @ 830MHz // 7-6-5 @ 960MHz // 8-7-6 @ 1060MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...-6-5_830-1.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...-6-5_960-1.png http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...7-6_1060-1.png
First Course Continued: 2x2GB Memory Clocking
This is an entirely fresh section of this MB OC Report and it will solely deal with the clocking and compatibility of 2x2GB kits of memory clocking. This seems to be the hottest topic surrounding motherboards these days as a lot of users are going the 4GB route. I will keep a diary of sorts of the work I have done with 2x2GB kits on this board so don't mind the vacancy right now, this section will get some tenants rather soon. Starting off with a little Mushkin Ascent 2x2GB PC3-12800 action...this kit of memory is a review sample sent directly from Mushkin and used in a review for HardwareCanucks.com. If you want to see more results from this memory, including full stability testing, just fire me a PM or ask in this thread.
click for full size...
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev.../mushkin-1.jpg http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev.../mushkin-2.jpg http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...l/ascent-1.jpg
The Mushkin Ascents are a very solid 2x2GB DDR3 offering I have found, and they absolutely love the 790i, in fact, a little too much. Here is the dual 32M SPi breakdown of what they were able to achieve on this board.
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...2x2gb_oc-1.png
At first glance you may think that I am not done with the clocking of this kit...well, that is complete the opposite. To be truthfully honest, this board is done all together. The initial results up to 2.01v were from when I was still completing the review of this memory. I then came back to them specifically for this section, but after the CL6 testing, in which the memory absolutely took off...the board stopped cooperating. It still runs fine and all, but getting clocks north of 500FSB seems to be an issue now. Further more, CL7 is clocking worse than it ever did. I have taken a break from this motherboard for now in hopes it just needs a rest but I have a feeling this MB OC Report has gotten all of the results it is going to.
Here are the screenshots to accompany the results posted above. In all of the screenshots, voltages and all settings should be visible for those interested:
6-6-5-X 1T / 6-5-5-X 1T:
NVIDIA 790i:
Click link for full size screenshot...
740MHz :: 1.86v | 775MHz :: 1.91v | 800MHz :: 1.96v | 820MHz :: 2.01v | 850MHz :: 2.10v | 880MHz :: 2.20v
As mentioned, at CL6, this memory not only surpassed my PC3-16000 2x1GB kit, but did so with less voltage and continued to scale with voltage as far as I was willing to go with it. At one point, I was ready to solder the Maximizer to the EVGA board just to go further with voltage on this kit but decided against it. At an impressive 880MHz 6-6-5, this kit had no problems running dual 32M and likely could do single 32M at close to 890MHz.
7-6-6-X 1T:
NVIDIA 790i:
Click link for full size screenshot...
875MHz :: 1.86v | 895MHz :: 1.91v | 916MHz :: 1.96v | 930MHz :: 2.01v
These above screenshots weren't origianlly intended for the 32M OC Report of this kit but after the review and the CL6 clocking, the board went south so I wasn't able to re-do the CL7 dual 32M clocking and also wasn't able to push past 2.01v. It is a shame because at the pace this kit was going, 970MHz+ looked to be a possibility at 2.20v or less.
8-7-6-X 1T:
NVIDIA 790i:
Click link for full size screenshot...
975MHz :: 1.86v | 1000MHz :: 1.91v | 1000MHz :: 1.96v | 1010MHz :: 2.01v
It is the same story for the CL8 clocking. I only went up to 2.01v to ensure I didn't damage the memory before the review was finished and the plan was to really push them for this report. We might also be looking at the limit of this particular 790i sample as the gains really slowed down above 1.96v with both 1.91v and 1.96v showing similar clocks, just with tighter timings on the higher volts. Even still, 1000MHz at 8-7-6 with a 2x2GB kit for dual 32M is quite nice, especially for a PC3-12800 kit.
Second Course Blasphemy: Red Bleeds On Green
Yes, I am cursing in church, walking on someone’s grave, dating the boss's daughter...running an ATI video card in this NVIDIA motherboard. Something that should just never been done, well, I did it and here are the results. Things got switched up a little bit this afternoon. Some 1/2" neoprene was found locally so I had to put it to good use and slapped a Chilly1 SS phase change on the E8400 and took this board for a sub-zero test drive with the top down. First, a shot of the setup which is still with just the Noctua NC-U6/Thermalright HR-05-SLI cooling and no volt mods...yet.
All results are without LOD or any Mip Map tweaking...I NEED LOD adjustments with the HD3870X2 in :D
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...ll/phase-1.jpg
I told you that dual slot coolers had no problem with the HR-05-SLI mounted on the MCP. It actually worked out rather well with the HD39870X2 fan acting as an active cooler for the Thermalright chipset cooler, not that it is really required. Enough babbling, on to some results...
AquaMark3 :: 307705 @ 5031MHz 945MHz//1017MHz
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...017_5031-1.png
3DMark 03 :: 74838 @ 4995MHz 918MHz//1017MHz
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...017_4995-1.png
3DMark 05 :: 32339 @ 4950MHz 891MHz//999MHz
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...999_4995-1.png
3DMark 06 :: 21112 @ 4950MHz 918MHz//999MHz
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...999_4950-1.png
Apparently I didn't save a screenshot of 01, not sure how but, it's not here. Either way, 01 sucks because I still can't get LOD set in XP and well, 01 just sucks on the HD3870X2 so we aren't missing much. As for the rest of the scores, they are all slightly lower than what I achieved on the P5K3-Dlx but that is primarily because the HD3970X2 wasn't clocking near the same. On the P5K3-Dlx I was able to run all benchmarks at 945MHz/1017MHz, that clearly wasn't the case here. Either way, still some great numbers and plenty to be excited about with this setup.
Main Course: 2 Turn Tables & A Microphone
2 x BFG 9800GTX OC in SLI
We will start off with some dual 9800GTX action in XP and then move on to a 3-way with Vista. The main reason for this is to get some 3DMark 01 and AM3 run in XP. For all of the benchmarks in this section, CPU cooling will be accomplished via the Chilly1 single stage. Here is the first real session with the CPU frequency hovering around 5GHz and the motherboard still on air cooling and no volt mods...
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/phase-3.jpg http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/phase-2.jpg
If you look close, no Thermalright HR-05-SLI. I ended up grabbing the south bridge heat sink off of a P5B-Dlx. Temps are 15C higher but the system seems stable so I am going with it. Here are the results from the first session with un-modded cards...at the time of doing these runs, these were all personal bests. It was quite the exciting afternoon and some of the scores I am still quite proud of.
AquaMark3 :: 314964 @ 5073MHz 841MHz//1240MHz//2050MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...240_5073-1.png
My personal best AM3 score just kept going up with each session. I apparently had a better mount of the single stage as I was able to bench a good pinch higher than last session. Turns out, it was just a bit of a luckier run as FSB is what was really holding CPU clocks back.
3DMark 01 :: 104615 @ 5022MHz 831MHz//1241MHz//2050MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...241_5022-1.png
http://www.madonion.com/compare?2k1=9368983
And the personal bests kept falling like no body's business. This I have to admit I was quite proud of. I am not as experienced a 3D bencher as I am SPi but I worked my ass off for 100K and managed it at less than 5GHz...getting almost 105K on a single stage is just the icing on the cake :up:
3DMark 03 :: 88802 @ 5022MHz 820MHz//1251MHz//2050MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...251_5022-1.png
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=5820974
Chalk yet another PB up to the list. This score isn't really that impressive but 03 is more geared towards the 3SLI so I am not concerned. Although a pair of 9800GTXs easily crush an HD3870X2 in 03. Of course, adding a third card can't compete with a pair of the HD3870X2s though and the newer 4xxx series super cards blow NVIDIA out of the water here.
3DMark 05 :: 34247 @ 5051MHz 820MHz//1231MHz//2050MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...231_5051-1.png
http://www.madonion.com/compare?3dm05=4218905
3DMark 05 was another PB at the time for me and another strong benchmark for the 9800GTXs in SLI. All things considered this is a pretty good score for stock cards and only 5051MHz on the CPU clock.
3DMark 06 :: 23657 (PB) @ 5000MHz 820MHz//1231MHz//2050MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...231_5000-1.png
http://www.madonion.com/compare?3dm06=6457507
Last but not least is 3DMark 06. I admit I didn't spend much time on 06 but when you just have a dual core, it is like fighting an uphill battle on a skateboard. 23K though is about 2K better than the best I could squeeze out with the HD3870X2.
That pretty much wraps up the initial SLI results. There will be further updates later on after volt mods to the cards as well as the board and the additional cooling. If you thought this little E8400 was doing good up to this point with just a single stage strapped to its back, you'll certainly like the next couple of sections :D
3 x BFG 9800GTX OC in SLI
So the 3-way with the ladies is done. It went much quicker with only 03 to run since 05 and 06 show zero gains from 2 to 3 cards but likely has more to do with Vista being a dog. 03, however, is a completely different story. Now this isn't the highest NVIDIA 03 out there, but it sure is top of the ORB and BOT for 9800GTXs for now...and this is fully on the up and up, no mipmap, just LOD, OS, and hardware tweaking :up:
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...ll/phase-4.jpg
What a bloody mess...but getting air into the heat sinks is not an easy task. Temps are the biggest issues so I am not sure how much volt mods are going to help the 3-way SLI setup. For just 2 cards they should give a nice boost though.
3DMark 03 :: 108025 (PB) @ 5032MHz 820MHz//1250MHz//2000MHz
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...250_5032-1.png
http://www.madonion.com/compare?2k3=5821535
So I guess that means I joined two 100K clubs on this day. Sure the HD3870X2s are blowing NVIDIA out of the water in 03 but this 3 card setup puts up a bit of a fight. Either way, top of the BOT and ORB for multi 9800GTXs by a solid 10k is good enough for me ;)
Dessert: Random Work & Benches
This section will house the random benchmarks that I run on this motherboard that have occurred since the volt mods and additional cooling on the motherboard. Up to this point, all results we have seen are from an un-modded board (with the single FSB screen shot as an exception) with only upgrades to the chipset cooling but sticking to air. In all honesty, all of those results were capable on the stock cooling. It wasn't until the vSPP mods happened that the Noctua NC-U6 was even required and then going to water on the SPP is what really opened things up for my board. I start off this section with a little head to head showdown between my best 4GHz 32M run on the Maximus Extreme and the best 4GHz 32M on the 790i. The OS and benching methods are identical as this was to try and showcase just how close the 790i can get to the Intel chipsets clock for clock in SPi 32M.
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...showdown-1.png
You all know how this goes down, 4000.0MHz is the limit, 32M SPi is the game, lowest time is the goal. Same OS setup and same tweaks used for both runs. I am sure you are all familiar with my 32M SPi benching process so I won't go into details. The combatants are the Maximus Extreme & of course the EVGA 790i. Here is how it went down, click each time for the full screenshot...
Asus Maximus Extreme
500x8 1:2 1000MHz 7-7-6-18
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...down_x38-1.png
EVGA 790i Reference
533x7.5 1:2 1066MHz 8-7-6-18
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...own_790i-1.png
Obviously we have a couple different setups but that is the point of this whole challenge. Use each boards strengths to its advantage. The 790i excels at high memory frequency where the Maximus Extreme was able to run 7-7-6 at 1000MHz. The ME edged the 790i out but it certainly is a tight battle. It is definitely nice knowing that the 790i, although a small margin slower clock for clock with the Intel big boys, is still certainly competitive.
I wanted to do a 5GHz 32M challenge with the P5E3-Premium but my sample of that board was a complete dud and 555*9 wasn't even close to possible. Don't ask me about it but if you want a cheap P5E3-Premium for a quad core, fire me a PM before I make an X48 key chain out of it :D
PB 32M SPi
I will keep this roped off area to update my 32M personal best time with this motherboard. It seems like this time drops every day with this board as there is always more I can squeeze out of it. The next step is better cooling on the SPP in order to get higher clocks and take advantage of more volts. Either that or a higher multi CPU but until I get an E8600, I am done dumping cash on E8500s that don't even come close to the power of this golden little Q808A E8400 of mine...and yes, 1.56v is accurate for vCORE at damn near 5.3GHz. FSB is the single limit right now from this CPU going much higher...keep in mind, this is still under a single stage at about -25C (if that).
588MHz x 9 5290MHz / 1102MHz @ 8-7-6
click for full size...
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...-7-6_32m-1.png
I call this run "I strike the empire back..." because I was listening to Mos Def - Black on Both Sides while benching this session. There is now water cooling on the north bridge in the form of a Swiftech MCW30/PA 120.2/DD5/MCRES loop. It has obviously helped and allowed for more vSPP voltage. The maximum 32M FSB went from 575MHz up to 588MHz. At this point I am FSB limited as nothing will get me a 32M higher than 588FSB.
Along with the water-cooling on the SPP, this board also acquired a bit of a useless milestone...15K in Everest bandwidth Read:
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...rest_15K-1.png
Like I said, it's a little bit useless but fun to be the first to do so none the less...at least first that I have seen. You can see the entire thread about this little milestone here.
PB 1M SPi
Like the 32M Personal Best spot above, I will keep my 1M PB updated on this board in this spot here.
596MHz x 9 5362MHz / 1117MHz @ 8-7-6
click for full size...
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...1m_596x9-1.png
This setup just kicks and kicks and kicks some more. It is like my old hopped up 2L 8v VW engine that was built for a 10K KM race season and ended up turning out damn near 45K KM at an average of 7K RPM before finally giving out in a smoke show attendees of the event will never forget. Taking the oil out of the engine at 8500RPM might have been the ultimate factor ;). Either way, this board just churns out the results every time I fire it up.
2x9800GTX SLI - vGPU Mods Done
This is the section you have all been waiting for, well, maybe not...but it sure is the most fun section of the MB OC Report. I figured I would leave the un-modded results in the other section and post these here. The CPU has also been changed from most of the other screenshots as was mentioned a little higher up. You can easily tell which results are with this CPU as the voltage is staggeringly lower. This new CPU is an Q808A476 E8400 and is an absolute monster on air or under the single stage. It has really helped push my 3D scores to above expected heights on this motherboard. All results in this section are personal bests as you might have expected.
Aquamark 3 :: 328310 @ 586MHz x 9 5272MHz // 880 / 1235 / 2172 // 1099MHz @ 8-7-6
click for full size...
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...235_5272-1.png
3DMark 01 :: 111026 @ 580MHz x 9 5221MHz // 860 / 1235 / 2122 // 1087MHz @ 8-7-6
click for full size...
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...235_5221-1.png
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=9371715
3DMark 05 :: 35578 @ 580MHz x 9 5222MHz // 860 / 1230 / 2122 // 1088MHz @ 8-7-6
click for full size...
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...230_5222-1.png
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=4238851
3DMark 06 :: 24615 @ 579MHz x 9 5216MHz // 850 / 1230 / 2098 // 1086MHz @ 8-7-6
click for full size...
http://3oh6.com/forum_posted/reviews...230_5216-1.png
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6577938
The cards are volt modded, the board is volt modded, everything is at the absolute limits that this setup could provide with this cooling...and the results speak for themselves. The idea of almost cracking 25K with a dual core under a single stage would have been laughed at before I got this setup and I didn't think in a million years I would see 110K+ in 01 without LN2 but with the help of a killer 790i motherboard, a monster E8400, and a weeklong lesson in 01 tweaking...it seemed to come rather easily. Hopefully you enjoyed these results as much as I did because I am officially hooked on 3D benching now...wallet, look the **** out!
After Dinner Deep Thoughts...By 3oh6
There it is...my first MB OC Report and a decent look at the 790i chipset. Of course there is so much more to cover but I didn't intend for this report to be all encompassing, just to share my results and thoughts on the board. Again, big thanks goes out to Dinos for his initial work with this board before anyone else had it. Makes for getting started real easy when some of the basic leg work is done and done well.
http://www.3oh6.com/forum_posted/rev...790i/6x1-1.jpg
Major Issues
There are of course a few issues that can't go without being discussed. The biggest being OS corruption or hard drive corruption. I personally haven't experienced any issues that couldn't easily be explained as pushing memory too far. With that said, I have loaded more drive images in the past two weeks with this board than I have with all others in the past 2 years...and I re-image a lot. Clearly there is something going on and I suspect a lot of the corruption issues are simply unstable memory or chipset latencies. Recent BIOS updates have alleviated these issues for most users and like I said, I didn't once corrupt an OS that I didn't expect to from pushing memory. I can also still bork an OS in a single boot if I want to. The other negative items on my list are the capacitors shown on the back of the motherboard. They are in terrible spots and back plates will contact them. Contact means grounding or straight up destruction. I am not sure how something like this could have been overlooked and as of yet, no one has been found to have done so in forums. Perhaps I am just being over critical of this design but I still don't like anything being back there.
Thoughts on the BIOS & Overclocking
There have been a lot of BIOS revisions come out since most of the work in this MB OC Report was done but nothing has improved results. P03R2/P04/P05 have all been really good to me and I currently run P05 for all work done on this board. As for overclocking, there are some quirks and oddities with the 790i reference design but nothing that can't be worked around. The ability to clock the FSB with something other than nTune in Windows would be nice but nTune gets the job done most of the time, sometimes, okay...once in a while.
There are some other issues with POST sometimes giving random POST codes hanging and 11 being seen far too often, but a simple reboot followed by save and exit and you are usually good to go. That is the other major plus this board has that seems small, but when clocking and benching, is soooo huge. The BIOS recovery on this thing from a failed POST is perfect. Hit the reset button and bam, back to safe boot settings. No power down, no clear CMOS, nothing, just reset and your back up. Even if you get a partial POST that hangs, hit reset then reset again while at C3 and you will get the safe settings. Can't say as I have had a more enjoyable overclocking experience than with this board.
Overall, the board is solid and really nice to work with. Oh, and BTW, SPi performance is nearly as good as the Intel chipsets thus far. Dinos said it first, I am just confirming. I really like this board and won't hesitate to fan the flames of the haters any chance I get :D
