Evga 680i MOSFET cooling/C1 and 1D motherboard LED error Codes Advice needed

[Slyven]

I have just RMAed my 680i A1 for the second time. The problem occurred about a month after I got the last RMA. C1 and 1D error codes are related to the RAM and the memory controller. I have extensively tested the memory individually for hours with memtestx86 no errors! I have the following specifications on my computer:

U2-UFO Black Powder Coat - Original Top
QX6700
evga 8800GTX in SLI
evga 680i A1 Motherboard
creative x-fi
4x1GB dominator 8500CD RAM
1KW PC power and cooling
PA120.3
fuzion on the CPU
MCW60 on the GPUs
Micro res
Laing DDC w/ Petra'sTech DDCT-01s Top Combo
1/2inch Tygon tubing

The conclusion I have to from extensively reading the evga forums is the MOSFETs are to blame. I replaced the ceramic on the Northbridge and southbridge and I have the Northbridge's fan maxed out. From my understanding of this post, http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=78381, the MOSFETS just lack the proper cooling and degrade overtime until the memory controller dies.

I saw a watercooling part for the striker extreme to cover the MOSFETs, however none I could find for the evga one.

What are my options for cooling the MOSFETs besides just replacing the thermal compound on them (with Arctic ceramic)? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Additionally, do I need to water cool the northbridge or the southbridge?

Thanks in advance!

[Friedchicken]

There is no solution at this time. The problem is the mating surface on the 2 mosfet banks around the cpu socket don't match up in some cases. This is compounded by the fact that many who watercool don't use a backing plate support to their CPU block and the motherboard warps- and the mosfets lose contact.

Normally, an air cooler like a ZALMAN 9700NT will blow adequate air around the socket and the NB area.

What you can do in the meantime is to attach a chipset fan directly to the heatsinks.

As for SB/NB cooling? On this board with some overclocking, I have done the NB on water and SB on air with a chipset fan.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=159196

[ranker]

I have just RMAed my 680i A1 for the second time. The problem occurred about a month after I got the last RMA. C1 and 1D error codes are related to the RAM and the memory controller. I have extensively tested the memory individually for hours with memtestx86 no errors! I have the following specifications on my computer:

U2-UFO Black Powder Coat - Original Top
QX6700
evga 8800GTX in SLI
evga 680i A1 Motherboard
creative x-fi
4x1GB dominator 8500CD RAM
1KW PC power and cooling
PA120.3
fuzion on the CPU
MCW60 on the GPUs
Micro res
Laing DDC w/ Petra'sTech DDCT-01s Top Combo
1/2inch Tygon tubing

The conclusion I have to from extensively reading the evga forums is the MOSFETs are to blame. I replaced the ceramic on the Northbridge and southbridge and I have the Northbridge's fan maxed out. From my understanding of this post, http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=78381, the MOSFETS just lack the proper cooling and degrade overtime until the memory controller dies.

I saw a watercooling part for the striker extreme to cover the MOSFETs, however none I could find for the evga one.

What are my options for cooling the MOSFETs besides just replacing the thermal compound on them (with Arctic ceramic)? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Additionally, do I need to water cool the northbridge or the southbridge?

Thanks in advance!

Even with the mosfet blocks available on the market, they won't substantially help temps much unless you fashion some backplates like others have done. The only mosfet block that fits on the EVGA 680i is the alphacool heat trap (regular size). I tried using it on mine but with the torque introduced by the barbs, I was unable to find a way to get maximum contact on the mosfets.

I ended up just putting MX-2 on the mosfets and firmly securing the stock heatsink. For the 6 mosfets up top, I also replaced the stock TIM with MX-2. However, this time I used heatsinks purchased from PPC's to cool it as the stock heatsink was not making contact with the mosfets due to the bow on my board.

[quiet]

I think it's funny that people are still buying this board. I have two dead ones in the closet right now. They'll be RMA'd and sold on ebay. What a joke this board is..

Got a P5K now and it's solid.

[Slyven]

Even with the mosfet blocks available on the market, they won't substantially help temps much unless you fashion some backplates like others have done. The only mosfet block that fits on the EVGA 680i is the alphacool heat trap (regular size). I tried using it on mine but with the torque introduced by the barbs, I was unable to find a way to get maximum contact on the mosfets.

I ended up just putting MX-2 on the mosfets and firmly securing the stock heatsink. For the 6 mosfets up top, I also replaced the stock TIM with MX-2. However, this time I used heatsinks purchased from PPC's to cool it as the stock heatsink was not making contact with the mosfets due to the bow on my board.

Thanks for the information could you PM or post me a link to the heatsink you purchased. I really don't want to have problems with another board the labor required to drain the water and replace the motherboard is quite time consuming. Can I run at 2.2 Volts on the RAM and 1.5V on the CPU etc. with the MC-2 on the MOSFETs?

I think it's funny that people are still buying this board. I have two dead ones in the closet right now. They'll be RMA'd and sold on ebay. What a joke this board is..

Got a P5K now and it's solid.

I would go with a different chipset, however I have 2 8800GTXs in SLI, and however terrible the drivers are for them right now, I plan to use them in SLI in the future. From my current understanding the x38 chipset isn't going to be SLI compatible(it keeps flip flopping) and I don't know when the next nvidia chipset is coming out, and if it remedies this situation.

Friedchicken: thanks for the info I'm gonna look into maybe a fan over the MOSFETs or try to pull something off.

Thanks for all the very informative responses.

[disruptfam]

i put swiftech ramsinks on mine....

[ranker]

I think it's funny that people are still buying this board. I have two dead ones in the closet right now. They'll be RMA'd and sold on ebay. What a joke this board is..

Got a P5K now and it's solid.

1) I won't be buying an Asus board anytime soon. I used to support them completely but their dismal support and their non existent RMA policies turned me off.

2) The one problem with the EVGA board and with all boards manufactured by Foxconn (who basically make 80% of all 680i boards on the market) is that they use shoddy TIM and mounting for their NB/SB/mosfets. This results in some boards killing themselves due to prolonged heat exposure. It's definitely a problem and I often recommend my friends to redo the TIM at least, if not replace the heatsinks altogether with aftermarket.

3) Goodluck getting SLI on Intel boards like some recommend. I game on 24" and 30" monitors. 1 GTX isn't going to cut it.

[alphakry]

I'm with Ranker on this one. For an SLI setup, the 680i is still the best offering...

Slyven - i guess you gotta just cross your fingers like the rest of us that EK comes out with something for us 680i owners.

[IanY]

SLI is a necessary evil for me and therefore I will eternally be limited to Nvidia chipsets and motherboards.

No comments about the battle between the EVGA mobo and the Asus mobo, except that I have found that everything manufactured by Foxconn has been uniformly crappy, and this includes some Creative soundcards and selectr other PCI cards, in addition to cables and connectors. Before any Asus owners get all haughty, many of their mobos are also made by Foxconn lol and the Chinese version of teh Striker Extreme (which is what I have and which is not sold in the US) are manufactured by Foxconn in Fujian Province.. while the US market received mobos manufactured by Asus in Taiwan.

After the incessant battles with mosfet blocks (I use the Alphacool Heat Traps on the Asus Striker Extreme), I find that water cooling the mosfets alone is a futile exercise. First, there are no assurances that the mosfet blocks will make perfect contact with every single mosfet chip, and even if they do, that the mosfet chips are all that need to be cooled.

I found that the best method of cooling is actually to strap a fan around the area of the cpu water block. It sounds silly that a water cooling block needs a fan blowing on it, but there are a bunch of electrical components around the cpu, and these include a lot more than just the mosfet chips. I discovered that the heat buildup around my cpu was unacceptable, and that certain issues are not and cannot be solved through water cooling. A simple 92 mm or 120 mm fan (or even 80mm fan) works wonders. Certainly lowered my mobo temps by 12 degrees.

[Jedda]

Yep, have a 120mm blowing behind the cpu area.

[Slyven]

All of the information you guys have given me has been excellent. I am determined to do a better job replacing the thermal paste on the MOSFETs this time and I am looking a purchasing something like this spotcool fan, http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75018, hopefully that will do the trick I will also be much more careful to monitor the temperature of the MOSFETs. I sincerely hope something is coming out from EK to cool those darn voltage regulators.

[quiet]

Who cares about SLI?? Only a fool would spend an extra $500+ for a 15-20% increase in performance. I would rather sit with a single 8800GTX then upgrade to a 9 series later for the same price and better performance than two 8 series cards in SLI.

If you want to spend 250$ on an SLI board plus an extra $500+ on an extra card for a minimal performance increase, be my guest. You can eat my dust when I upgrade my single card And if this is you, keep an eye on ebay, i'll be selling some CHEAP 680i boards.

[ranker]

Who cares about SLI?? Only a fool would spend an extra $500+ for a 15-20% increase in performance. I would rather sit with a single 8800GTX then upgrade to a 9 series later for the same price and better performance than two 8 series cards in SLI.

If you want to spend 250$ on an SLI board plus an extra $500+ on an extra card for a minimal performance increase, be my guest. You can eat my dust when I upgrade my single card And if this is you, keep an eye on ebay, i'll be selling some CHEAP 680i boards.

Thank you for imposing your values upon us. Money isn't really a concern for me. I usually just want what's the fastest available for gaming. I haven't missed a generation yet, nor having SLI in any of my builds.

If you prefer to be cost oriented, then there's really no point to even get a GTX in the first place when the GTS performs almost as well.

On that note, welcome to the world of electronics.

[Eddie3dfx]

woah lets not kid ourselves.
Sli does make a huge difference in many games. Gtx is also much faster than the gts..
http://techreport.com/articles.x/11686/6

[alejo]

Watercool, the German shop, appears to be making a block for the EVGA board. It's listed in their compatibility PDF, but not shown on their web site yet.

http://www.watercool.de/cms/MB_COOLE..._NSB_Liste.pdf

[Martinm210]

I think I'm going to mill some out for myself, if I do it right the pressure drop should be really low.

[IanY]

SLI becomes a necessity and is no longer optional when you step up the size of the LCD. A single card wouldn't cut the mustard.

[Seolfor]

@Iany & Eddie3dfx: agreed

@quiet: If you put a second graphics card in your system for SLI and only obtain a 15-20% performance increase, then you've most likely ran into a cpu bottleneck. For example, if you're running Counter Strike on an 8800 GTX, then SLI would be a TOTAL waste since the lone 8800 GTX would never max out. But if you're running a game like Oblivion with HDR, 16xAA/AF, and at 1920x1200 resolution with settings at max, then even two 8800 GTXs in SLI would have a hard time. Long story short, don't SLI with a weak cpu.

[tet5uo]

This chipset seems to like to kill memory controllers and memory with high speeds and voltages over 2.2v it seems.

[Slyven]

This chipset seems to like to kill memory controllers and memory with high speeds and voltages over 2.2v it seems.

I have found this out the hard way as I am sure a lot of other people have. This is my first time overclocking a board as much as I am trying to, however corsair lists the RAM as being 5-5-5-15 @ 2.2Vs, I just never realized the MOSFETs were overheating, learn something new everyday. I am still trying to figure out if my RAM sticks were damaged by this lots of memtesting to do...

Who cares about SLI?? Only a fool would spend an extra $500+ for a 15-20% increase in performance. I would rather sit with a single 8800GTX then upgrade to a 9 series later for the same price and better performance than two 8 series cards in SLI.

If you want to spend 250$ on an SLI board plus an extra $500+ on an extra card for a minimal performance increase, be my guest. You can eat my dust when I upgrade my single card And if this is you, keep an eye on ebay, i'll be selling some CHEAP 680i boards.

At higher resolutions I have found the performance difference becomes much better than 20%. I read somewhere in a tech article (I can't remember the reference) nvidia gave a 20% rule for each additional card ie. a second card theoretically could give you a 80% max performance increase a third would be 60% on top of that etc.

Thanks for the heads up on the german website's new evga MOSFET block, too bad I don't know German . It will definately be something I look into, however I think I am going with the replacing of the thermal paste and spotcool route for now until something else becomes available.

My thanks to everyone for all the valuable information I have received.

[NaeKuh]

Who cares about SLI?? Only a fool would spend an extra $500+ for a 15-20% increase in performance. I would rather sit with a single 8800GTX then upgrade to a 9 series later for the same price and better performance than two 8 series cards in SLI.

If you want to spend 250$ on an SLI board plus an extra $500+ on an extra card for a minimal performance increase, be my guest. You can eat my dust when I upgrade my single card And if this is you, keep an eye on ebay, i'll be selling some CHEAP 680i boards.

u obviously dont know ranker or iany.

They DONT SLI a 8800GTS. they SLI 8800GTX.

So no your arguement doesnt hold valid to them.

Also, these guys are obviously older and RICHER then you by far. IANY has a porshe. So leave your flames at the front door please unless you have a valid one. They will most likely SLI G90's when there out. So they'll leave you in the dust in both the computer and real world.



Ranker Iany, you want SLI on a intel chipset? Go server platform. Dual harpertown's on dual quatros. :X it will be HECKA expensive, but you get the goods of both worlds.

[ranker]

I'm hoping Intel's new X38 chipset will support SLI. If not, I'll just wait until the new G90's come out and make my upgrade all at once. I'm just wondering if the Barcelona's will be any good by that time.

[IanY]

dittos ranker

And Naekuh, don't waste your fingers and time trying to reason..... What you talking about.. the Kia is really good lol I have been thinking about the Penryn/Yorkfield server platform, but as usual, its tough getting past the FBDIMMs and the non-configurability (is that a word?) of those platforms. And they don't support SLI, which is my biggest red flag.

[alphakry]

so who's gunna put the pressure on Eddie over at EK to come up with a solution for us 680i guys?

[ranker]

so who's gunna put the pressure on Eddie over at EK to come up with a solution for us 680i guys?

He originally stated that he'd create a block if 10 guys would pre-order. However, he seemed to have backed down on that promise at the last minute.