Important Message Regarding Memory and the EVGA 680i Motherboard

[sladesurfer]

NVIDIA has investigated end user reports of high performance DIMM failures on the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI-based platforms. During this process we have been in close contact with DIMM manufacturers and the DRAM manufacturers they rely on to understand the failure scenario. By working with our community, we believe that the observed failure is a breakdown of the silicon in the DRAM caused by the prolonged application of 2.4V on the voltage rails of the DIMMs. NVIDIA's own internal testing has observed this failure on multiple motherboards using different chipsets (both NVIDIA and non-NVIDIA chipsets). This issue is not directly related to motherboards using the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP or other chipsets. If you are using this type of memory and are experiencing this issue, NVIDIA recommends contacting your memory manufacturer or system manufacturer for additional information and warranty information.

http://www.evga.com/articles/350.asp

[K404]

VERY old, but at least eVGA are taking it seriously

[Aerou]

doesnt matter which platform, it isnt safe, or to be exact, it is a suicide for the ddr2 dram to run more than 2.3V 24/7 , otherwise errors will start to occur in time

and sorry for OT, but K404, your quote in sig made me laugh cry-hard ...

[mr_knowitall15]

hmm. that explains why the 4-4-4-12, 1000MHz Geil i started with dies within a month for no reason. 2.4V was the manufacturer stated voltage...

[theteamaqua]

well after my EVGA 680i died and took OCZ RAM with it to hell ... i wasted about $260 on that ... that was a $260 well spent .. and that i will never buy anything other than GPU from it again

and yeah , most people say what u set in bios aint correct .. 2.2v = 2.5v maybe we dunno

[-Acid-]

so what about ram modules rated to 2.4 stock ???

[tommyshango]

Ive been ing about this problem since I first got my motherboard. After two months the sli went out(evga said the 2nd slot failed) I was issued an rma and a new board. Since then (4 boards later) I have had the same exact issue over and over and over. The first and 2nd slots work fine with a 2gb set for a certain period of time (random) then utter failure. I was told by evga to rma the ram which I did. It worked fine for a week. Then I was told my psu might be failing. Which I rmad (sorry ocz I bet it worked fine). I even updated to the 850 watt ocz (you still got my money). Blah blah blah 1354326 tech support calls including the two heads of the rma department and no one can seem to solve my issue. Now the rma heads wont even return my phone calls. After ocz was nice enough to rma my ram for a 2nd time I received the ocz 8500 sli set. Which worked for 3 weeks I was very excited because it was finally solved... or I thought. Then it failed AGAIN. I am currently rmaing my board for either the 5th or 6th time I lost count. Every single board has had the same issue slots 1 and 2 DO NOT WORK while slots 3 and 4 work fine. This means 1 gb of ram and suck it up or RMA the board. Then im told its quarterly inventory time in the rma department at evga and it might take them the rest of the week before they can even ship out a replacement board. So I took apart the whole computer and its layin in pieces now. I bought this board when it first came out and have yet to either have sli working or 2 gb of ram working at the same time. I told them there was something wrong with the ram but they dont care. They would rather just rma the board over and over rather than dealing with you or finding an actual solution. Now they finally officially admit there is a problem and the tech people who work there arent even aware of the official admission!! I just talked to two of them who had no clue what I even meant. I realize this is a nvidia design flaw, but if this next replacement board doesnt work then I want my money back and an apology. They knew something was wrong a long long time ago. Its been posted on the evga forums for months with issues relating to high voltage ram. Its not ocz's fault their ram is rated to run at high voltage on a board that is supposed to be able to handle up to 2.5 (?)v. So sorry I ran my voltage up to 2.4 which its rated to be able to do. I guess its my fault for buying this board. I have yet to see anyone with ram that seems perfectly compatible with it and these flaws seem to go to the striker as well. If I do have to get my money back I guess thats the only alternative to me or else dont use sli. Sorry for the rant but I just wanted to share my experience with this board and with the company. For the most part evga has been cool and promptly rmad the faulty equipment, but their have been many many errors and far too many phone calls on my end. For just starting in the motherboard business they need to get their together and take customers seriously. Its 250 bucks for the board. I just dropped that on wiring for the inside of my pc. I can spend my money elsewhere with other companies. Dont make us!

[Metroid]

Ive been ing about this problem since I first got my motherboard. After two months the sli went out(evga said the 2nd slot failed) I was issued an rma and a new board. Since then (4 boards later) I have had the same exact issue over and over and over. The first and 2nd slots work fine with a 2gb set for a certain period of time (random) then utter failure. I was told by evga to rma the ram which I did. It worked fine for a week. Then I was told my psu might be failing. Which I rmad (sorry ocz I bet it worked fine). I even updated to the 850 watt ocz (you still got my money). Blah blah blah 1354326 tech support calls including the two heads of the rma department and no one can seem to solve my issue. Now the rma heads wont even return my phone calls. After ocz was nice enough to rma my ram for a 2nd time I received the ocz 8500 sli set. Which worked for 3 weeks I was very excited because it was finally solved... or I thought. Then it failed AGAIN. I am currently rmaing my board for either the 5th or 6th time I lost count. Every single board has had the same issue slots 1 and 2 DO NOT WORK while slots 3 and 4 work fine. This means 1 gb of ram and suck it up or RMA the board. Then im told its quarterly inventory time in the rma department at evga and it might take them the rest of the week before they can even ship out a replacement board. So I took apart the whole computer and its layin in pieces now. I bought this board when it first came out and have yet to either have sli working or 2 gb of ram working at the same time. I told them there was something wrong with the ram but they dont care. They would rather just rma the board over and over rather than dealing with you or finding an actual solution. Now they finally officially admit there is a problem and the tech people who work there arent even aware of the official admission!! I just talked to two of them who had no clue what I even meant. I realize this is a nvidia design flaw, but if this next replacement board doesnt work then I want my money back and an apology. They knew something was wrong a long long time ago. Its been posted on the evga forums for months with issues relating to high voltage ram. Its not ocz's fault their ram is rated to run at high voltage on a board that is supposed to be able to handle up to 2.5 (?)v. So sorry I ran my voltage up to 2.4 which its rated to be able to do. I guess its my fault for buying this board. I have yet to see anyone with ram that seems perfectly compatible with it and these flaws seem to go to the striker as well. If I do have to get my money back I guess thats the only alternative to me or else dont use sli. Sorry for the rant but I just wanted to share my experience with this board and with the company. For the most part evga has been cool and promptly rmad the faulty equipment, but their have been many many errors and far too many phone calls on my end. For just starting in the motherboard business they need to get their together and take customers seriously. Its 250 bucks for the board. I just dropped that on wiring for the inside of my pc. I can spend my money elsewhere with other companies. Dont make us!

God that was crazy. I would send them to hell for sure after all of this and never buy something again from them.

[Aerou]

*sigh* todays hw business makes me wanna *** in some cases ...
sorry for you man ...

[Kanten]

Does this still happen with the A1 revision?

[tommyshango]

Thats what i Keep asking. EVGA does not say that it fixes ANY of the memory issues. it is only to improve quad core overclocking ability. Which worries me. I am receiving my a1 on wednesday after a week long battle with the "support" at evga. Took them 5 business days to process and finally ship a motherboard. One that I asked the head of the rma department to take care of weeks ago who said he would "personally" handle my situation. Who I "personally" havnt been able to reach since then through email or phone calls since he will answer neither. Real nice work "personally" handling things. I was sent 3 emails asking me to return one of the rmad boards I had shipped back to them months ago. It was sent to me in january and they asked me this last week to return it to them... to find out after another 1 hour phone call... "oh I guess we found it here and it had already been reported as being received. thanks"

Sorry for ranting again but as far as I can tell this is a Nvidia design flaw that would be found in every version of the board and has no known fix. This affects any memory that goes past 2.3 volts which is what they said "some jackass that works there" I should not go past when overclocking. I said I havnt even overclocked the board because I cant even get it to post !!

[nn_step]

will someone please get EVGA to finally admit that their boards automatically overvolt

[theteamaqua]

this is just fu©ked up ... i think most of us here who got the AR board paid nvidia, and EVGA to be a beta tester ... (not sure about A1 board, but chances r the problem still exist on some unlucky boards)

and when the board fu©king died, nvidia was like its got nothing to do with my chipset ... and EVGA is not taking the blame either

that is very responsible of both companies, fu©k them

i gotta say though OCZ's RMA rocks big time .. i was able get my 8500 sli replaced 2 days after it died

[tommyshango]

well if you set 2.3 in the bios what is it really volting it at ? will another program be able to tell you? I just want a computer that will work. Im using my -5wdh deluxe with other stuff in it and it works fine no problems booted first try.

[theteamaqua]

learn to read .. where did i say 2.3v ?? i said 2.2v ... and no no programs to monitor it at all ... speefan tells me 2.2v , ntune tells u nothing but exactly what u set in bios which is useless ..

i spent $260 + 8.25% cali tax and bought myself lots of frustration and a POS board

[buffbiff21]

Does this still happen with the A1 revision?

I certainly hope not.

My RAM is running 2.5vdimm (840 mhz 3-3-3-5) running my AR version, soon to be replaced by an A1 version...

I will let you know in.... Well, let's hope I don't have to let you know if the memory dies.

[tommyshango]

you got lucky biff. Thats all I can say theres a whole thread a mile long on the evga forum of people ing about memory issues. and teamaqua I was saying that the evga people said not to go over 2.3 volts on the board and im asking how do you know if youre going over 2.3 if thats all you set on the bios... is it still going over 2.3? I just dont want another fried board I dont think I could take it.