EVGA NForce 680i SLI Motherboard

[zakelwe]

That's interesting. I don't run 3DMark anymore. I mainly test with Pi and occasionally run Orthos, just to satisfy the stability freaks.

I just tried 400X9 linked & unlinked with memory at 533. They were virtually even again in 8M.

I tried booting in linked mode with memory at DDR2-1200. Got the infamous long beep. I switched to unlinked mode and booted at DDR2-1280 with no problems.

I'm testing with Corsair 6400C3 at the moment.

I think your 400x9 testing is similar is because you are not in SYNC so that in effect you are running a 3:2 FSB:RAM divider which impacts performance. If you ran at 400x9 linked and in Sync although your memory would only be running at 400 the superpi time would not be too badly affected. Can you test that and see what you get ?

Regards

Andy

[maxxxxel]

How are you cooling the southbridge?

[rjw]

with a pair of 8800gtx's on the evga mb, does it matter where you put the sli connector?

the cards have 2 connector places, one near the monitor cable and the other beside it and closer to the back of the card.

I'v seen pictures of people using either and both?

I am designing water blocks (full card) and I may need the space above the rear connector.

Anyone?

btw mcw30's fit on north and southbridges, but one screw for the sb will have to be either cut down (i'e. can't use spring and thumbknob), or in my case, I will mount the head of the screw up and relieve the case behind the mb for the spring and nut assembly (still have to cut screw a bit)

[CoNMaN]

tRRD
tRC
tWr
tWTR
tREF
setings for 500+ ram speed???

[sierra_bound]

I think your 400x9 testing is similar is because you are not in SYNC so that in effect you are running a 3:2 FSB:RAM divider which impacts performance. If you ran at 400x9 linked and in Sync although your memory would only be running at 400 the superpi time would not be too badly affected. Can you test that and see what you get ?

Regards

Andy

Actually I was running linked and in sync mode.

I will post more results later. I ran 400X9 at various memory speeds and timings.

[sierra_bound]

So here is a summary of my results so far, running 400X9. I won't bore you with numerous screenshots. Using Corsair 6400C3 and untweaked XP SP2.

SuperPi 8M

linked, sync mode, DDR2-800, 3-3-3-9
3m 11.797s

unlinked, DDR2-800, 3-3-3-9
3m 12.610s

linked, DDR2-1066, 4-4-4-9
3m 7.657s

unlinked, DDR2-1066, 4-4-4-9
3m 6.906s

unlinked, DDR2-1163, 4-4-4-9
3m 4.766s

unlinked, DDR2-1200, 4-4-4-9
3m 3.531s

unlinked, DDR-1280, 5-5-5-9
3m 5.734s

[CoNMaN]

sierra_bound: What tRRD, tRC, tWr, tWTR, tREF and Vmem settings for:
unlinked, DDR2-1200, 4-4-4-9
3m 3.531s

[sierra_bound]

tRRD = Auto (4)
tRC = Auto (31)
tWR = Auto (6)
tWTR = Auto (11)
tREF = 7.8uS

All those settings are on Auto except tREF.

[JacobF]

with a pair of 8800gtx's on the evga mb, does it matter where you put the sli connector?

the cards have 2 connector places, one near the monitor cable and the other beside it and closer to the back of the card.

I'v seen pictures of people using either and both?

I am designing water blocks (full card) and I may need the space above the rear connector.

Anyone?

btw mcw30's fit on north and southbridges, but one screw for the sb will have to be either cut down (i'e. can't use spring and thumbknob), or in my case, I will mount the head of the screw up and relieve the case behind the mb for the spring and nut assembly (still have to cut screw a bit)

You can use either position for the SLI connector.

Also, for the southbridge I am using a Vantec Iceberq.

[fhpchris]

So here is a summary of my results so far, running 400X9. I won't bore you with numerous screenshots. Using Corsair 6400C3 and untweaked XP SP2.

SuperPi 8M

linked, sync mode, DDR2-800, 3-3-3-9
3m 11.797s

unlinked, DDR2-800, 3-3-3-9
3m 12.610s

linked, DDR2-1066, 4-4-4-9
3m 7.657s

unlinked, DDR2-1066, 4-4-4-9
3m 6.906s

unlinked, DDR2-1163, 4-4-4-9
3m 4.766s

unlinked, DDR2-1200, 4-4-4-9
3m 3.531s

unlinked, DDR-1280, 5-5-5-9
3m 5.734s

AW9D MAX



Ill try 1066 and 1200, and I will throw my fatbodies in and try some 400 3-2-2

[sierra_bound]

There is no question that 975X is faster in Pi. But your board will not hit the kind of memory speeds that a 680i will. Also, I highly doubt your board/RAM combo will do DDR2-1200 at 4-4-4. But you can always prove me wrong.

I don't run 3DMark anymore. But I think a few people have found that 680i gets better scores than 975X in SLi mode.

Also, your Fat Bodies don't count. They are 2X512 modules. I was using 2X1024. You need to compare apples to apples.

[zakelwe]

Actually I was running linked and in sync mode.

I will post more results later. I ran 400X9 at various memory speeds and timings.

The result you gave, 400x9 at 533 Ram is not a sync mode so that is why I was confused.

Your results above do seem to indicate that for SuperPi it does not matter much however when you put 3d into the equation then it does. I'd be interested to know how pifast behaves with linked or unlinked as that has always been more connected to 3d than Superpi.

Regards

Andy

[TASOS]

been reading a while and just ordered one. just want to get some confirmation is it any cpu heatsink with blackplate mounting cannot be used in this evga?

Zalman 9700 needs a little modification on the backplate.

[sierra_bound]

The result you gave, 400x9 at 533 Ram is not a sync mode so that is why I was confused.

Your results above do seem to indicate that for SuperPi it does not matter much however when you put 3d into the equation then it does. I'd be interested to know how pifast behaves with linked or unlinked as that has always been more connected to 3d than Superpi.

Regards

Andy

I never said 400X9 at 533 was in sync mode, did I? Personally I don't see much difference in Pi between linked and unlinked.

This is not a great board for running Pi. But it's a fun mobo to play with.

[zakelwe]

I never said 400X9 at 533 was in sync mode, did I? Personally I don't see much difference in Pi between linked and unlinked.

No you did not but if you are comparing linked to unlinked without sync mode ( which you were doing at that point) then you are comparing the same thing and it is no wonder that your results are similar.

Regards

Andy

[sierra_bound]

I don't think you can run unlinked with sync mode. Or can you? Once I switch to unlinked mode, the memory ratio setting becomes greyed out.

[fhpchris]

I don't think you can run unlinked with sync mode. Or can you? Once I switch to unlinked mode, the memory ratio setting becomes greyed out.

One dimm of my new fatbodies from newegg is DOA, and it borked my windows installation....



1066 and 1200 didnt really work...

[Sanko]

Zalman 9700 needs a little modification on the backplate.

thank you very much, guess 9700 will be in my shopping list near future, once i get my mobo. btw, still looking for alternative cause zero experience with zalman cpu cooler. only thermalright.

[zakelwe]

I don't think you can run unlinked with sync mode. Or can you? Once I switch to unlinked mode, the memory ratio setting becomes greyed out.

No but you can run linked with ratio's ie linked but non sync 2:3 will give same result as an unlinked result.

Your statement of

"I just tried 400X9 linked & unlinked with memory at 533.They were virtually even again in 8M."

suggests a linked non sync mode of 2:3 in actuality and not a comparison of true linked sync to unlinked.

Obviously there is more here than meets the eye, which is to be expected with new hardware, and I think your later results are pretty spot on when it comes to Superpi, but that should not be a given across the board, especailly when it comes to 3d benching. Everyone should suck it and see.

Regards

Andy

[noobzed]

So I can put the SLi Bridge in the first slots or the second slots ? but sometimes the better solution to find stability and performance is to try the both, no ?


I have a Seasonic M12 700W, can it power my too babies 8800GTX ?


I'll have a KF soon, is there issues beetween this CPU and the eVGa 680i SLi ?

Is the performance gap beetween KF@333x13 and KF@266x16 ?

My main word is : STABILTY

What is the procedure to get new eVGA bios release and flash it ?

Dont tel me eVGA website because there non section for nForce680i SLi for Bioses...

[OldGuy]

eVga is where you will find it, right where you looked...when it is released...

[noobzed]

So, don't matter and just wait ?

I hope the original bios is rock stable, i just want 266 or 333 fsb cause my KF is delocked so don't problem with OC by coeff

[Vett95wLT4]

My 680I out the box gave me a higher OC than any of my 3 975X board sw/o any mods (P5wdh, p5w64ws, or my Bad AXE Note: i have an X6800) with effortless tweaking and a 13 mutly it easily gave a a 4.5+ Ghz on a mach. Basicly out of the box slapped in the processor and mach and it posted a 11.3xx in 1m. And this is in Media Center with zero tweaks Fastest i got in 1M was a 11.485 in my 975 previous boards

[sierra_bound]

No but you can run linked with ratio's ie linked but non sync 2:3 will give same result as an unlinked result.

Your statement of

"I just tried 400X9 linked & unlinked with memory at 533.They were virtually even again in 8M."

suggests a linked non sync mode of 2:3 in actuality and not a comparison of true linked sync to unlinked.

Obviously there is more here than meets the eye, which is to be expected with new hardware, and I think your later results are pretty spot on when it comes to Superpi, but that should not be a given across the board, especailly when it comes to 3d benching. Everyone should suck it and see.

Regards

Andy

Okay, I see your point. But again, there is virtually no difference in Pi between linked and unlinked, even when linked is running in sync mode. I will do more tests. But people who say unlinked mode is slower (at least in Pi) are wrong.

[LexDiamonds]

Is anyone else encountering a hard (synced) fsb wall at 449 on this board? I am using Corsair 6400C4s.