EVGA NForce 680i SLI Motherboard

[Roger_D25]

Hey guys, I've been offline for a few days finishing up a new build, I recenlty got my 2nd replacment eVGA 680i A1 motherboard. Although I had already bench tested it I hadn't installed it into my case yet. Well in the process of building up my case I had pulled the stock heatpipe cooling heatsinks off the board to install my 680i chipset waterblock and my Evercool southbridge cooler on. Well imagine my suprise when I realized the southbridge on my new 680i A1 version was using a Nvidia 570 chip, not the Nvidia 590 chip that has been on all my other 680i boards?

Am I the only one who has noticed this so far? At first I was a bit taken back because this is obviusly a lesser southbridge (at least many people think that when compared to the regular 590 chip used on most 680i boards. With that said this is by far my best overclocking and stable 680i board yet! At the moment I havn't really looked into this, infact I just barely got my rig finished and the watercooling loop bled about 10 minutes ago but I wanted to let people know, to see if I was the only one? Thanks for any info you guys can post on this!

[dinos22]

Well imagine my suprise when I realized the southbridge on my new 680i A1 version was using a Nvidia 570 chip, not the Nvidia 590 chip that has been on all my other 680i boards?
!

WOW that is very interesting

looks like evga has been solving some problems by replacing chipsets BUT i don't think it's to do with FSB clocking. I think they are trying to fix a different problem with this..........maybe Jacob can clarify

[Roger_D25]

Yeah I think your very right Dinows22! Probably more to do with fixing the SATA HDD issue you think? I guess I'm just suprised because I hadn't heard anything about this from anyone? Infact my last replacment board was delivered only a couple weeks before this one and it used the 590? Besides the southbridge the boards are identical, I'm about 99% sure it's not just a 680i LT painted black, lol! I'm gonna look into it and I'll post back if I figure anything out, thanks for the help!

[pumbertot]

anyone find A1 pencil vdroop mod yet? standard AR one doesnt work.

[Roger_D25]

pumbertot,
I have not found one yet specifically for the A1 revision, I thought that the AR version would work on the A1 so it's good to know it doesn't. On my A1 I havn't had much of a problem with actual vdroop but my board does undervolt on the VCORE pretty bad (usually .05v-.07). Although I'm not 100% sure, I think I found a decent place to measure VCORE with DMM on the A1 board. That has helped to figure out what exaclty is going on with VCORE when under load. Since I'm only running on watercooling and not phase I'm not very worried about the undervolting because I rarely use more than 1.5v. The undervolting becomes an issue when your running much higher VCORE values because even though BIOS is set to 1.7v, the CPU is only seeing 1.65v (example only).

On a separate note I've been doing some serious testing on my new board, especially FSB speeds. Although I havn't updated to BIOS P27 there seems to be many people having great luck with it! Many people are getting FSB speeds upwards of 500Mhz and some even more! My prior 3x 680i boards were not capable of anything more than 450Mhz-460Mhz while still being stable (despite what settings were used or what voltages).

Well my new board is completely different, so far its' been very capable in the FSB department. I've been pushing the FSB using Linked/Synced mode and the 7x multi. I just finished stability testing at 500Mhz on the FSB and it's been very stable. I started by only getting a quick screenshot with CPU-Z validation,



After that I decided to try running SuperPI but wasn't very optimistic since none of my other boards could even boot into Windows at these settings. Fortuenlty though I went through SuperPI's 32M test with no problems,



Then yesterday afternoon I wanted to see just how stable this board really was at 500FSB so I fired up Orthos's Blend Test. I wasn't sure what test would be harder for testing FSB stability so I just tried the Blend Test. Please let me know if Small-FFT's would be better for FSB Stability?

Right before I hit the stop button:


And right after hitting the stop button, just to show this is real:

[martindh2005]

kinda noobish and off-topic but does anyone know the difference between the 122-CK-NF63-TR and the 122-CK-NF63-T1? Is this a hardware revision or just the BIOS updated? Thanks in advance

[OldGuy]

kinda noobish and off-topic but does anyone know the difference between the 122-CK-NF63-TR and the 122-CK-NF63-T1? Is this a hardware revision or just the BIOS updated? Thanks in advance

It's a hardware revision. AR/TR's are the older and the new ones are A1/T1...

[Kin Hell]

pumbertot,
I have not found one yet specifically for the A1 revision, I thought that the AR version would work on the A1 so it's good to know it doesn't. On my A1 I havn't had much of a problem with actual vdroop but my board does undervolt on the VCORE pretty bad (usually .05v-.07). Although I'm not 100% sure, I think I found a decent place to measure VCORE with DMM on the A1 board. That has helped to figure out what exaclty is going on with VCORE when under load. Since I'm only running on watercooling and not phase I'm not very worried about the undervolting because I rarely use more than 1.5v. The undervolting becomes an issue when your running much higher VCORE values because even though BIOS is set to 1.7v, the CPU is only seeing 1.65v (example only).

On a separate note I've been doing some serious testing on my new board, especially FSB speeds. Although I havn't updated to BIOS P27 there seems to be many people having great luck with it! Many people are getting FSB speeds upwards of 500Mhz and some even more! My prior 3x 680i boards were not capable of anything more than 450Mhz-460Mhz while still being stable (despite what settings were used or what voltages).

Well my new board is completely different, so far its' been very capable in the FSB department. I've been pushing the FSB using Linked/Synced mode and the 7x multi. I just finished stability testing at 500Mhz on the FSB and it's been very stable. I started by only getting a quick screenshot with CPU-Z validation,



After that I decided to try running SuperPI but wasn't very optimistic since none of my other boards could even boot into Windows at these settings. Fortuenlty though I went through SuperPI's 32M test with no problems,



Then yesterday afternoon I wanted to see just how stable this board really was at 500FSB so I fired up Orthos's Blend Test. I wasn't sure what test would be harder for testing FSB stability so I just tried the Blend Test. Please let me know if Small-FFT's would be better for FSB Stability?

Right before I hit the stop button:


And right after hitting the stop button, just to show this is real:

Do you mind sharing your Voltage settings? I'm particulary interested seeing you manage 500fsb with the ram @ 1:1.
Don't suppose you know how much Memory Bandwidth you have at this speed & what is the Bandwidwith Efficiency showing? (SiSoft)

I can't share any experiences with different revs of this board, as this one is my first after a bad experience with 3 borked RD600 boards. Mine shows as a Model 2 Rev 2 as yours but I flashed mine to P27. I have seen Orthos Stable at 3.7Ghz from my 2.4ES & thats on NB Air cooling with 1.65v on the P26 Bios. I have water but still waiting for a NB Block to arrive so wont push for more until then.

I just aint sure an increase in Efficiency will make up for the drop on the CPU multiplier even at these fsb speeds on 1:1.

[Roger_D25]

Kin Hell,
I could be wrong (and I probably am) but isn't the RAM running 1:1 at my current settings? The FSB is 2000Mhz and my RAM is running at 1000Mhz, plus CPU-Z shows 1:1? With that said I think I read something somewhere that when running in Synced mode on the 680i boards even though it seems to be 1:1 and CPU-Z shows 1:1 it's actually not running 1:1? If you could help me understand this Kin Hell it would be greatly apprecaited! Also if I'm not running 1:1 right now tell me how I can try it out? Thanks!

As far as the memory bandwidth and bandwidth efficiency goes I'm not sure since I don't have SiSoft installed. With that said it is probably a great benchmark to have so I'll download it soon and run those numbers to see what I get. Should I get Sisoft SANDRA or use Everest, is one better than the other (free versions as I have no money to purchase upgrade versions of the software), lol!

I just aint sure an increase in Efficiency will make up for the drop on the CPU multiplier even at these fsb speeds on 1:1.

Would you mind also explaining to me the connection between RAM efficiency and CPU multiplier? As I get more and more serious about overclocking I become more interested in this stuff, these little connections between different bits of hardware! Thanks for your help and time!

[Kin Hell]

Kin Hell,
I could be wrong (and I probably am) but isn't the RAM running 1:1 at my current settings? The FSB is 2000Mhz and my RAM is running at 1000Mhz, plus CPU-Z shows 1:1? With that said I think I read something somewhere that when running in Synced mode on the 680i boards even though it seems to be 1:1 and CPU-Z shows 1:1 it's actually not running 1:1? If you could help me understand this Kin Hell it would be greatly apprecaited! Also if I'm not running 1:1 right now tell me how I can try it out? Thanks!

As far as the memory bandwidth and bandwidth efficiency goes I'm not sure since I don't have SiSoft installed. With that said it is probably a great benchmark to have so I'll download it soon and run those numbers to see what I get. Should I get Sisoft SANDRA or use Everest, is one better than the other (free versions as I have no money to purchase upgrade versions of the software), lol!



Would you mind also explaining to me the connection between RAM efficiency and CPU multiplier? As I get more and more serious about overclocking I become more interested in this stuff, these little connections between different bits of hardware! Thanks for your help and time!

Tbqh dude..I aint really sure what is what exactly. I got messed up real bad with 3 bad RD600 boards & felt I was doing something wrong, even tho I wasn't. I still don't have the best from my board yet but from what I've seen so far from a 9X multi, I aint that impressed at the Bandwidth nor the efficiency.
Would there be more Bandwidth & greater efficiency with a bigger Multi?
I don't know....9 is the biggest I can go & most folk don't even post bandwidth results anymore. Overclocking is ALL about Maximising Bandwidth & Efficiency, & that isn't always at the Fastest FSB possible.

Right now, It's nice to have a working Pee Cee. Iv'e been happy for the last 2 weeks now & it's taken since October last year to acheive!

*edit Check ur PM's for a Linky!

[OldGuy]

Good to see you at least got a working rig finally Kin...I only spent around a month with the RD and it was just plain slow all the way around IMO and not worth the effort. This Evga has been a lot of fun thus far...it should do your E6600 justice. The memory you are running (if that's what it is in your sig) is going to hamstring you trying to get the most out of this board I think. Some PC2-6400 capable of hitting 900+ with tight timings (CAS4 anyways) will open things up a bit for you...

I haven't bothered with sandra as I paid for Everest so that's what I use to monitor temps and memory performance...

Tbqh dude..I aint really sure what is what exactly. I got messed up real bad with 3 bad RD600 boards & felt I was doing something wrong, even tho I wasn't. I still don't have the best from my board yet but from what I've seen so far from a 9X multi, I aint that impressed at the Bandwidth nor the efficiency.
Would there be more Bandwidth & greater efficiency with a bigger Multi?
I don't know....9 is the biggest I can go & most folk don't even post bandwidth results anymore. Overclocking is ALL about Maximising Bandwidth & Efficiency, & that isn't always at the Fastest FSB possible.

Right now, It's nice to have a working Pee Cee. Iv'e been happy for the last 2 weeks now & it's taken since October last year to acheive!

*edit Check ur PM's for a Linky!

[Kin Hell]

Good to see you at least got a working rig finally Kin...I only spent around a month with the RD and it was just plain slow all the way around IMO and not worth the effort. This Evga has been a lot of fun thus far...it should do your E6600 justice. The memory you are running (if that's what it is in your sig) is going to hamstring you trying to get the most out of this board I think. Some PC2-6400 capable of hitting 900+ with tight timings (CAS4 anyways) will open things up a bit for you...

I haven't bothered with sandra as I paid for Everest so that's what I use to monitor temps and memory performance...

Gee!....Thanks OldGuy........T'was a bit of a sh1t time tbh, but there ya go.
I agree whole heartedly with your comments. Moving on......
Yeah...I need to change my Sig...Now using 2GB of that OCZ SLI 8500 stuff & still deciding if CAS4 at a slower Mhz is better than CAS5 faster. Load times seem faster at CAS4, even if bandwidth & efficiency is a little less for doing it.

Hmm, maybe I need to try Everest sometime......

Just Lovin' this board right now. I really gotta say, "Fair Play nVidia"...it Rocks!

[Achill3uS]

Hi all
I'm testing now a Galaxy 680i SLI mobo with my Q6400 ES, and the results are su*ks.. I cant get 400 fsb 8*350 is stable, 8*375 or more dont boot..
I set all in bios good, give more voltage for everything but dont helped..
this cpu do in Commando 450fsb on air 3d stable.. so could be that 680i dont like Kentsfield or what? I'm trying some other bios at first..

[Roger_D25]

I didn't even know there was a Galexy 680i board out now, any chance you could post a linky? With that said I'm not sure if Galaxy has made some of the same changes that companies like eVGA has made regarding FSB speeds and the Kentsfield processors? As you probably know eVGA recenlty released a new revision with some hardware based changes that make the boards more capable in the FSB department with the Kentsfields installed (for the most part these changes have really made a difference to)!

Over at the VR-Zone they have an article spelling out the proceedure for modifying your own 680i (think it needs to be of reference design though) for higher FSB speeds with the Kentsfields installed. I'm pretty sure that it's the same changes that companies like eVGA made in their new revision?

[Solarfall]

after a little bit of tweaking i was able to hit 4ghz yapee !!! and before any one says any thing, yes those are idle temps. at 100% load the temp goes to 60-64c
got to say this is one kick ass board...

[phelan1777]

What version of the board?

[Roger_D25]

Solarfall,
What kind of VCORE were you running for those screenies? Also how stable is it at 4Ghz (have you had a chance to do any stability testing yet)?

[Solarfall]

What version of the board?

the OLD one AR

Solarfall,
What kind of VCORE were you running for those screenies? Also how stable is it at 4Ghz (have you had a chance to do any stability testing yet)?

1.5v. its orthos 3 h+ stable..sorry no screenies i wanted to make it to the conroe OC:ing data base and as you may know it's required that cpu will pass 8 h stress test. to for gaming i'ts really stable, and thats what i really care about.. for orthos ..well you can figure it out.

BTW i took a couple suicide runs yesterday with 1.63v @4.1ghz, i tried to beat my previous super pi scores just for fun..man i wish i had a phase change gear that chip would get raped..

[Isaac MM]

I have read everywhere that people are getting a lot of problems from this board, is it that bad?

[Roger_D25]

I don't think so Isaac, especially now that most of the major issues have been worked out. Plus the more recent BIOS release for the board has been very solid so far! I think the eVGA is up there with one of the better 680i based motherboards, at least in the top three in my opinion!

[JacobF]

Hey guys, P28 BIOS is now released

Check it out here:
http://www.evga.com/community/messag...TOPIC_ID=33856

[Solarfall]

Overclocking and memory improvements

really .... this is great. got to test this new bios out when i get the time.

[Kanten]

I have read everywhere that people are getting a lot of problems from this board, is it that bad?

It still hates high-speed RAM, I can vouch for that. I'm gonna need to check to see if the P28 helps.

[DFI pit bull]

Anybody running this board with sli+physics? have seen no evidence of anyone doing this yet.

[Roger_D25]

Great question DFI pit bull! I'd also be interested in this. Although there have been many reviews of the board I've yet to see a single review that used both SLI and Physics card? Is it even possible at the moment given the available BIOS versions?