Please Recommend me a MB - 650i or 680i

mystify_YOU · 12 Apr 2007 at 23:22

Hi all,

I realise there are a few threads on this, however I wanted an answer specific with the system I am getting.

I am purchasing a pre-made system, and have most of it sorted apart from the motherboard. I will not be overclocking at all, however I will probably be upgrading in the future, adding another 8800GTX, and upgrading to 4gb memory. (talking years down the line, this has to last me a long long time)

I have two choices to go with the system:

ASUS P5N-E SLI nForce 650i SLI(C55) Mainboard
EVGA nForce 680i SLI(C55XE) Mainboard

They are to go on the following system:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Digital & Analogue TV Tuner PCI Card
Coolermaster Mystique Case
HEC 550W PSU
768MB nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
2048MB DDR2 533MHz Memory
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card
Sony 16x Dual Layer DVD Writer
16x DVD-ROM Drive

Please let me know what you guys would advise me to go with here. Your help would be much appreciated.

Simon

easyrider · 12 Apr 2007 at 23:29

well it looks like money is no issue so get the 680i

mystify_YOU · 12 Apr 2007 at 23:35

lol, money is an issue, in that I want to be careful (my current PC has lasted over 6 years). If I will benefit from the 680i over the 650i, then I will get it, but not if I personally will not notice any difference, especially since I aren't overclocking.

If I go for the 680i, what better features will I be getting over the 650i?

easyrider · 12 Apr 2007 at 23:38

dual 16x pcie lanes for future sli

lay-z-boy · 12 Apr 2007 at 23:51

go for the evga 680i, dual 16x goodness that the top 8 series cards need.

mystify_YOU · 13 Apr 2007 at 00:25

Many thanks for both your replies.

Looks like I'll probably go for the 680i.

However, is there a difference in noise between the 650i and 680i?

I notice ay-z-boy that you have the 680i. How do you find the noise on this? (I say this as I just did a quick search on google and noticed some found the fans very noisy).

Thanks again.

easyrider · 13 Apr 2007 at 00:34

mystify_YOU said:
Many thanks for both your replies.

Looks like I'll probably go for the 680i.

However, is there a difference in noise between the 650i and 680i?

I notice ay-z-boy that you have the 680i. How do you find the noise on this? (I say this as I just did a quick search on google and noticed some found the fans very noisy).

Thanks again.

I had the 680i,

You can turn the fans near silent in the bios

lay-z-boy · 13 Apr 2007 at 01:46

mystify_YOU said:
Many thanks for both your replies.

Looks like I'll probably go for the 680i.

However, is there a difference in noise between the 650i and 680i?

I notice ay-z-boy that you have the 680i. How do you find the noise on this? (I say this as I just did a quick search on google and noticed some found the fans very noisy).

Thanks again.

I never used it with the stock fan, fired mine up with watercooling on both chips.

mystify_YOU · 13 Apr 2007 at 22:47

easyrider said:
I had the 680i,

You can turn the fans near silent in the bios

How easy is that to do? Would I be able to do it immediately quite easily?

I'm a bit worried now about the noise on this fan. How bad is it do you think? E.g would I hear it above the Tv? Having not heard how loud current systems are, I'm beginning to worry. It can't be that loud can it?

Simon

V|per · 13 Apr 2007 at 22:56

It's pretty loud being a small fan, but it is easy enough to turn down in the bios, or connect to a fan controller as i have, very quiet then...

BigRon · 14 Apr 2007 at 07:58

Do not go for the evga,read all the bad posts on net.
I have gone over to the Abit iv9 32x-very nice.

lay-z-boy · 14 Apr 2007 at 12:11

BigRon said:
Do not go for the evga,read all the bad posts on net.
I have gone over to the Abit iv9 32x-very nice.

Many of those people just sign up to as many forums as possible to moan and many of them have set up the board incorrectly. If you get bad after support then its easy to get in contact with with someone higher up.

evga is a great board and is currently the only 680 board to support quad cores properly.

I can assure you the user base of working evga's is massive compared to the ones with problems.

mystify_YOU · 14 Apr 2007 at 15:14

lay-z-boy said:
evga is a great board and is currently the only 680 board to support quad cores properly.

When you say that, what do you mean? For instance, if I ran the 650i, then switched to the 680i, are you saying the 680i would run faster with the Quad?

Again thanks for your replies.

lay-z-boy · 14 Apr 2007 at 15:43

If you request it, you can send the board to them and they will apply a 'gtl mod' and a few other tweaks, this allows the board to supply the 4 cores with the correct voltage and allow the quad core to scale properly as the speed increases. (i.e. overclocking or revised fsb models)

I don't know whether this is something you would make use of however, I would just stick with the 680i evga as it is a reference board (least amount of problems) and they have from my experience many times over, good after-care support for both rma's and bios revisions added to the fact its the 680i chipset which has many more features over/faster than the 650i

bonsc · 14 Apr 2007 at 16:00

Whats the cheapest but still good 680 mobo

BUFF · 15 Apr 2007 at 00:29

lay-z-boy said:
evga is a great board and is currently the only 680 board to support quad cores properly.

No, it's not (especially as the BFG, Inno3D, XFX etc. are the same reference board).
However, the modified version is the best 680i for overclocking a quad at this time.

easyrider · 15 Apr 2007 at 00:34

BUFF said:
No, it's not (especially as the BFG, Inno3D, XFX etc. are the same reference board).
However, the modified version is the best 680i for overclocking a quad at this time.

crap

lay-z-boy · 15 Apr 2007 at 00:52

BUFF said:
No, it's not (especially as the BFG, Inno3D, XFX etc. are the same reference board).
However, the modified version is the best 680i for overclocking a quad at this time.

I'm confused, you tell me i am wrong then agree with the fact the evga is the only 680i board that can support quads properly? :confused:

Jay123 · 15 Apr 2007 at 00:58

mystify_YOU said:
Hi all,

I realise there are a few threads on this, however I wanted an answer specific with the system I am getting.

I am purchasing a pre-made system, and have most of it sorted apart from the motherboard. I will not be overclocking at all, however I will probably be upgrading in the future, adding another 8800GTX, and upgrading to 4gb memory. (talking years down the line, this has to last me a long long time)

I have two choices to go with the system:

ASUS P5N-E SLI nForce 650i SLI(C55) Mainboard
EVGA nForce 680i SLI(C55XE) Mainboard

They are to go on the following system:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Digital & Analogue TV Tuner PCI Card
Coolermaster Mystique Case
HEC 550W PSU
768MB nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
2048MB DDR2 533MHz Memory
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card
Sony 16x Dual Layer DVD Writer
16x DVD-ROM Drive

Please let me know what you guys would advise me to go with here. Your help would be much appreciated.

Simon

Your Buying 533Mhz Ram??

stinka · 15 Apr 2007 at 08:33

ive got the evga, and its the best 680i, evga support is the best in the world

all reports of problems have now been resolved

i have no issues with mine

its got my E6300 at 3.15, im dual booting on raid 0 using the on board controllers and its soooo stable

if its a 680i you want then this is imo the only choice

stinka