[Fr3ak] EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW review

Fr3ak · 04-07-2008, 02:52 PM

It's been a while since I have been doing a community review. This time I want to take a closer look at the EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW. The board will have a price of about $179.99, which seems to be nice in my eyes. According to the product spec sheet, it offers two PCI-Express-X16 2.0 slots, so it's fully SLI capable. You can read the features from the spec sheet and the pictures, so I won't bore you with that. I guess you are interested in performance and overclockability rather than the multimedia features. This is XtremeSystems after all.

I will test the board with a couple of CPUs hoping to find one capable of a high FSB. I will be using air and single stage first, maybe LN2 later on, depending on how much free time I have. For now I can only post a couple pictures, as I haven't set the sytem up yet, but I will do so as soon as possible. I should be done before Sunday if nothing goes wrong. Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for more to come =)

Fr3ak · 04-07-2008, 02:53 PM

I dont have a camera here, except the brilliant camera of my iPhone, so I won't post any more pics for now.

Nontheless I want to present you some interesting info from the BIOS:

- As on Nvidia boards, single cores of the CPU can be disabled right in the BIOS
- The Power button has a power LED in it (what a surprise

) and the RESET buttuon has a HDD LED built-in which is very helpful when the board is not in a case
- 3 profiles for Timings/Voltages can be stored and loaded in the BIOS
- Voltage ranges are:
Vcore: 0.50000V - 1.80000V
CPU FSB: 1.2V - 1.55V
Memory: 1.8V - 2.5V
SPP: 1.3V - 1.55V
NF200: 1.2V - 1.55V
GTLREF: +0mV - +160mV

I set some voltages to safe values and booted up at 400 MHz FSB with ease =)

Fr3ak · 04-07-2008, 02:55 PM

Reserved for OC results.

Rattle · 04-07-2008, 03:12 PM

sweet subscribed

GOZR · 04-07-2008, 03:25 PM

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post2901735

phill · 04-07-2008, 03:39 PM

Wonders if he should have bought the 780i...

op1e · 04-07-2008, 04:48 PM

About time a midrange board had dual 16x lanes. Looks like the only thing missing from the one I have is the Tri-SLI option.

mascaras · 04-07-2008, 05:20 PM

Nice fr3ak

i will also test this mobo with Q6600 & E8400 + 9800GX2 + 4Gb DDR2 !

Report results in few days !

But the mobo seems very nice , and its a very good option for SLI configs

regards

**k|ngp|n** · 04-07-2008, 06:03 PM

Hows the review coming fr3ak? Been playing with mine too and it was really smooth and trouble free to setup.

dinos22 · 04-07-2008, 06:16 PM

sweet board and photos

can this board do high FSB with dual cores?

mascaras · 04-07-2008, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinos22

sweet board and photos

can this board do high FSB with dual cores?

from EVGA forum:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...20&postcount=3

regards

dinos22 · 04-07-2008, 06:44 PM

interesting

Leeghoofd · 04-07-2008, 07:39 PM

Hows the Vcore holding up ? also a big drop like I encountered with the 780i ?

Amey · 04-07-2008, 08:42 PM

Is 750i Ultra just like 780i ? (680i + some chip to add PCIe 2.0 capability

) ?

I mean 750i Ultra = 650i Ultra + the chip ?

Whats the chip called btw ?

Asgard_thor · 04-07-2008, 09:02 PM

it seems like the northbridge heatsink is too close, you can't mount a TRUE for example vertically?

FlimFlam00 · 04-07-2008, 09:30 PM

This looks like a tight mid-ranged board. Might have to get one. How are the temps?

Fr3ak · 04-08-2008, 02:11 PM

I didn't do anything with the board today as I came come from work late. I am planning to start testing the board tomorrow. I will hopefully be able to answer all of your questions then.

GOZR · 04-08-2008, 07:01 PM

I'll get mine tomorrow Wednesday

Amey · 04-08-2008, 07:20 PM

Waiting for your testing Fr3ak.

saaya · 04-08-2008, 08:02 PM

olli, please use a different font to watermark your pics in future, the one you used really doesnt look good

Ghost742 · 04-08-2008, 10:37 PM

first thing i would do is replace the tim under the nb.... cooler, you'l be shocked to see all the gunk they put under there. this board seems to use different caps then the 780 as well, wonder if that will have a impact.

Fr3ak · 04-09-2008, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saaya

olli, please use a different font to watermark your pics in future, the one you used really doesnt look good

I use a different font very time I post pictures, so relax ^^

I usually replace the TIM before even installing a board, but this time I want to see what the board can do "Out of the box" first.

The Jedi · 04-09-2008, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr3ak

According to the product spec sheet, it offers two PCI-Express-X16 2.0 slots, so it's fully SLI capable.

According to the manual:

Quote:

PCI Express x16 Slots
These two PCI Express x16 slots are reserved for graphics or video cards. The design of this motherboard supports two PCI-Express graphics cards with x8 bandwidth using NVIDIA’s SLI technology.
...
For Single Mode, insert the VGA card into the "PCIE X16_1" VGA slot. (labeled on the board).
The “PCIE X16_2” VGA slot will become inactive.

I'm thinking EVGA has maybe not made "Dual x16" clear, although it is a 750i. CPU-Z would clear it up.

InfamousChu · 04-09-2008, 07:51 AM

I would like to know if the NB and SB have same mounting holes as 780i .. Thinkin about ordering one and throwing some EK WB on there but not sure if the NB and SB will line up..

ghost_recon88 · 04-09-2008, 08:19 AM

Why does the manual quote it as "The design of this motherboard supports two PCI-Express graphics cards with x8 bandwidth using NVIDIA’s SLI technology." Makes it sound like 8/8 instead of 16/16.