What's the deal with 680i motherboards?

BigToe · 12 Nov 2006 at 15:26

Hi guys,

Just wondered what was special about these new 680i boards in comparison to the Intel chipsets? Do they warrant the high price? I don't think I've ever seen a motherboard so expensive.

I'm thinking of going the Conroe route after Christmas as my trusty system is finally getting a bit long in the tooth now (2500+ Barton Mobile @ 2.3GHz, Abit NF7-S v2.0 & 6800GT @ Ultra - old skool power!!!) It still handles games reasonably well, but understandably it's starting to feel the strain a little.

Chris

BUFF · 12 Nov 2006 at 15:35

The Intel 975 is supposed to be the high end Intel chipset but "only" overclocks typically to ~400fsb.
The 680i is a similarly high end chipset but that seems to be hitting over 500fsb plus it's new so there's an initial premium for the early adopters.

BigToe · 12 Nov 2006 at 15:40

I see, so it's got better overclocking potential. Hopefully the prices will have gotten more reasonable by the time I start making my purchases.

I'm a bit out of the loop, but NForce audio used to be awesome - is this still the case today? I know the DAC is never going to be amazing quality due to being onboard, but for people with external DACs or speakers with digital input that was never a problem.

Nelly · 12 Nov 2006 at 18:33

Am I right in saying, their isnt much point if just overclocking on Air? unless of course you want to run sli. . . . ?

MoRT489 · 12 Nov 2006 at 20:41

No people are getting insanely good clocks with conroe on air cooling some e6300 are hitting 3.6GHz!!

gadget^ · 13 Nov 2006 at 15:23

creed said:
No people are getting insanely good clocks with conroe on air cooling some e6300 are hitting 3.6GHz!!

3.6Ghz what week are the chips any ideas ?

Jay_t · 13 Nov 2006 at 16:42

Users of SLI beware of the 680 EVGA motherboard. People are finding that the sound is so bad that the speakers must be turned off when SLI is setup. This is NOT a creative X-fi only problem, as it even happens with onboard sound too.

To be fair to EVGA, they are actively looking to fix the problem and not blaming anyone. Although you would think someone had tested the sound in SLI mode.

BUFF · 13 Nov 2006 at 17:00

Another site has the abit 680i priced for pre-order & it's noticeably cheaper than the current eVGA or Asus pricicng - of course it also won't be available for a month.

MoRT489 · 13 Nov 2006 at 18:54

gadget^ said:
3.6Ghz what week are the chips any ideas ?

not quite 3.6 but close:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17611316&highlight=overclocking+thread

I dont know how the week thing works, can u choose which it is when u buy or is it just luck?

SpudMaster · 13 Nov 2006 at 20:32

BUFF said:
The Intel 975 is supposed to be the high end Intel chipset but "only" overclocks typically to ~400fsb.
The 680i is a similarly high end chipset but that seems to be hitting over 500fsb plus it's new so there's an initial premium for the early adopters.

Anyone care to show me these boards doing 500fsb and more?? one review i was reading they could only get the board to do 380fsb then nvidia sent them another that happend did 489fsb, a bit suspicous and maybe come cherry picking occurred.