eVGA 680i motherboard

[Coors]

I could only manage 3.6ghz.

 

How much more do do want? I mean 3.6 is pretty damn good especially if your on air.

[Angry_Games]

I tested the Ecs PN2 with a E6600 a while back and I could only manage 3.6ghz. I was and still am hoping for a 680i based DFI board - in the hopes it will be better than most - like my old LP NF4. I havent heard about the problems Angry mentions, but I shall google it as suggested.

 

biker

3600Mhz is just about where everyone is going to hit on a Core2, regardless of cpu, motherboard, and possibly RAM

 

 

what the limiting factor is is the cpu's heat. This is the wall that all of us have hit over the last few months.

 

I've said it before (and it basically got me fired from DFI), and I will say it again:

 

for 99% of you, you will never get much if ever past 3600Mhz on current Core2 cpu's, regardless of motherboard (assuming it overclocks), without high-end TEC or phase-change (subzero) cooling.

 

That's just the reality. I'm quite sure all of my DFI boards as well as all the other good overclocking boards out there will take a cpu higher than 3600Mhz, if it wasn't for the enourmous heat that the core2 generates at these speeds (and the voltages required to get them up there).

 

 

 

Motherboards can be a limiting factor (ie not enough fsb, not enough overclocking options, not enough or steady enough voltages for cpu, DDR2, NB, etc).

 

CPU's themselves can be limiting (we all know how certain steppings of certain cpu's are fantastical and others are butt)

 

DDR2 can be a limiting factor. It might not go high enough, it might not like the platform, it might just not like you lol.

 

 

 

But what I've found for the most part in all my testing (and looking to be the same limit on this Gigabyte board I'm fooling with right now) is that heat is the #1 factor limiting overclocks.

 

Aircooling will get you around 3200Mhz (depending on the quality of your air cooling!!!) with a good heatsink. Some might get lower, some might get higher.

 

Watercooling will net you around 3500-3700Mhz, depending on your watercooling and depending on how much voltage you putting to that cpu (and of course a little about your mobo and DDR2, but mostly the heat/voltage of the cpu).

 

 

 

With the high-end 250w+ TEC units or $800+ Vapochill phase/refrigeration units, you will probably net 4Ghz+.

 

But you are talking a hell of a lot more money, and a hell of a lot more hassle (as well as instantly voiding your mobo's warranty by spreading dialectric grease on it to stop condensation death), not to mention probably another psu (and the noise that some of them make dissipating the heat or running the compressor etc).

 

 

 

This is just the reality. I say buy any other good overclocking board and i can almost guarantee that you will hit the same limit you did on your current Core2 board.

 

Buy any other cpu also, and I bet you get stuck at 3600-ish Mhz. I have two excellent Core2 cpu's (E6400/E6600), and both of them top out around 3600Mhz, and thats because at 3600Mhz, my temps are 75C+ and thats simply too high under full load for me (and should be for you too, the rule is still 60C or lower for full load).

 

anyway, thats my rant

[Magel]

I googled a lot of issues with data corruption on the 680i.

 

Yea there have been alot of issues with this but apparently the new BIOS fixes all the issues they have been having with this issue, and from what ive read in EVGA forums every one thats flashed to it think the issue has been resolved.

 

Ime in the process of building a CD2 system, still waiting on some parts but have the latest BIOS ready to flash when the board arives....And if I still have issues ill RMA it and consider an Asus Striker Extreem...

[Angry_Games]

Is there a good guide to oc'ing the C2D processors somewhere that I could read while waiting for my guidas to get here so I can place my order?

 

Overclocking Database entries for LGA775 is the place to start

 

and the AMD OC Guide will learn you the basics and some advances on the overclocking side.

 

Then in the old DFI section I think there's Raju's Intel OC Guide (we are working on a new one for Intel stuff as we speak).

[-CsA-TAZ]

I was looking at the review of the gigabyte 965 boards and it said that the memory had to be cas 5 or 6. Does this mean it won't work with cas 4 ram?

 

No such worries here M8, where did you hear that?

[Guest ElAguila]

Look on the specifications and at the very bottom under features.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813128017

[Splave]

I dont know, I like the 680i board alot. There are some quirks, only big one is ps2 problems but other than that 3.6ghz stable at 450x8 with 1.36v.

 

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=157630 With a chilly window wasnt OCDB stable and I wouldnt recommend running it like that but it was able to pull off 3dmark06. Link meant to show what the mobo can take, not the cpu by the way

[gdogg]

I agree with angry there, don't go 680i.

 

My board worked great for 6 days, then nothing but BSOD's randomly from every part of the system.

 

I am not alone with these issues.

I then I ram'd it, going with a dfi rd600 board for my sli setup now. No point in an endless rma loop, until the next revision of the chipset comes out.

 

hope the board works good with hacked sli drivers, and the expert sli bridge fits.

[Ashura]

The 680i seems to be a matter of luck, although mine hasn't been bad as some others. My first board, everything worked great except that the bottom PCI slot was defective. I didn't have any problems with data corruption, SATA/RAID issues, etc. RMAd it because I need that bottom PCI slot and the second board has been working perfect, no issues whatsoever.

 

On a sidenote, just wanted to give a plug for evga's great customer service. They cross ship their RMAs and don't require you to ship the defective board back until you receive the replacement. Thanks to that, I had 0 downtime other than when I swapped the mobos. If I were going to get another 680i board, it would definitely be evga again.

 

And, if you're getting a new LGA775 cooler and need vertical airflow, I highly recommend the Tuniq Tower 120 which has that orientation and is a great cooler. Also, I can guarantee from personal use that the HR05 will work with the 680i if you choose to get that board. In fact, I was able to squeeze in two HR05s along with my 8800GTX on the 680i.

[danzgpgt97]

I should have listened to technodan when he told me to get the infinity. I went with the 680i and there are no benefits and I dont have a computer yet. I had to RMA because the board stopped posting and got the -- error which means its dead and none of the usb ports ever worked. I started the RMA process last thursday and there going to cross ship but they have done nothing yet but give me an RMA number. I called them yesterday and they said it should ship soon but nothing yet. So Im looking at two weeks untill a new board which Im thinking about just selling and buying an infinity. Angrys statment was 100% correct. Dont buy it. Its got way to many problems and who wants to wait two weeks to try a new board for a none existant preformance gain? Its expensive and garbage. Only edge its got is quad core support which no one even needs yet when they do dfi will have something out.

[fmc_boss]

...Only edge its got is quad core support which no one even needs yet when they do dfi will have something out.

 

 

I believe the Infinity supports Quad-core CPU's. ..there goes that edge

[Guest ElAguila]

Okay I went ahead and made my order today. I went with the MSI P965 Platinum, C2D E6400(I hope it is a B stepping), scythe ninja cooler and 2x1gb Supertalent ddr2 800 memory. I aill try using my hr-05 sli for the NB cooling and the evercool vc-re for the SB cooling. I will have it in on Friday so I will spend the weekend getting it together and I will post results next week. I have to back up my raids because I am pretty sure going from an nforce raid controller to an intel raid controller it isn't going to see my existing raid 0 drives.