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Picking a 680i board

A

aces155

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
208
I have looked at all the new i680 boards coming out, and I am unsure as to which has the best reputation. The reviews for all of them are very good, but I have not found any websites showing side by side comparisons of the boards from EVGA, MSI, etc.

Has anyone seen a comparison piece like this, or does anyone know which i680 mobo takes the cake right now?
 
680i A1 is a good board. that being said, my current one is good, and the first one blew a cap (leaked) and took my Firestix PC2-8000 kit with it. replacement via RMA was fast, awaiting Firestix return, then they go up for sale! The others, I don't know.
 
its all a feature war, and 680i comes loaded with em stock, so there really isnt much differance between the boards.

EVGAs, Biostars, and BFGs boards are all referance, so they are the EXACT same board. Giga-byte, Asus, DFI, MSI, and Foxconn all have custom boards, usually with their most defining feature being their unique heat pipe disign (read: not much differance).

I vote the DFI or the ASUS striker extreme. Both have bios options up the wazoo, allowing you total control over every possible feature that could limit your overclock.
 
EVGA will be the easiest to setup, Striker and co are harder as the biosse ahave some quirks, but an experienced user will overcome that... I mentioned it before in another thread , choose ya ram wisely and don't hesitate to ask questions to 680i users !!

And main thing is to keep that hothead cool , the current heatpipe extravaganza we see is not enough to keep these boards rockstable, added cooling is a must if you want to have high FSB overclocks...

If you are going quadcore I can only point you in the direction of the latest rev EVGA board , Striker Biosses are maturing radpidly we are have 2 beta biosses a month now. Quadcore overclocks are improving fast too but the EVGA has implemented hardware changes too wich I think in the long run will be better...

But I'm keeping my Striker as it's not let me down yet !!!
 
Okie dokie, I was looking at the EVGA board. As far as ram goes, I want to get 4x1gb sticks. What would your recommend pairing with a 680i board - say the EVGA?
 
EVGA has the best 680i board, as it has the best warranty and customer support, plus the largest install base. These are the items that count, as (nearly) all 680i boards are physically the same. (They're all built by the same OEM manufacturer, with the exception of the Striker, which is an overpriced and tempermental show-off board.)

Of all EVGA 680i boards (there are five, with three currently on the market,) look at the NF-68-A1 or NF-68-T1. The A1 and T1 are the same board (same revision,) but the A1 is the retail box with a full lifetime warranty and all cables and accessories included, whereas the T1 is a stripped-down OEM box with less cables and two year warranty. The cheaper NF63 board is an early revision 680i board which can't overclock quad core processors.

Some people have experienced a tougher time overclocking their memory with four sticks of RAM installed (especially with T1/T2 timings,) leaving many to advise going 2x2gig instead of 4x1 for 4 gigs of RAM in 680i boards. Ultimately it's luck of the draw as to whether or not you'll have a successful experience with 4x1 gigs of RAM. I have 4x1 gigs of G.Skill 5-5-5-15 RAM PC-6400 RAM installed, with timings tightened to 4-4-4-12 T2 w/o issue.

Good luck,

Mark.
 
Cheapest PC-6400 RAM you can find from a reputable vendor. Usually G.Skill or GEIL these days instead of Corsair.

Mark.
 
I would pick one of the manufacturers with custom boards, like ASUS would be my first choice.
 
The ASUS Striker Extreme is known to be a problematic. It's far more picky with RAM than other 680i boards, and many claim it to be harder to overclock. It's also priced far more than it's worth (mainly because its a shiny, custom revision of the 680i board.)

The reference 680i design has proven itself to be an excellent, feature-filled, high quality product. There is absolutely no reason to choose a custom design over a reference board, such as the EVGA A1/T1. Again, choose EVGA for their best-in-class customer support and warrany, plus their huge install base.

Mark.
 
Markyip1 said:
The ASUS Striker Extreme is known to be a problematic. It's far more picky with RAM than other 680i boards, and many claim it to be harder to overclock. It's also priced far more than it's worth (mainly because its a shiny, custom revision of the 680i board.)

The reference 680i design has proven itself to be an excellent, feature-filled, high quality product. There is absolutely no reason to choose a custom design over a reference board, such as the EVGA A1/T1. Again, choose EVGA for their best-in-class customer support and warrany, plus their huge install base.

Mark.
Click to expand...

This is true. The striker OC's worse then the competition, is more finicky about memory, has more problems, and requires more work.

As for price, yeah that's bad as well. However it's down to 300 (just like DFI, ABIT, and Gigabyte).

Go with the stock evga board. If you really want a custom board I'd pick the Abit.
 
sd11 said:
This is true. The striker OC's worse then the competition, is more finicky about memory, has more problems, and requires more work.

As for price, yeah that's bad as well. However it's down to 300 (just like DFI, ABIT, and Gigabyte).

Go with the stock evga board. If you really want a custom board I'd pick the Abit.
Click to expand...

??? on the OC, 2nd is true, and requires indeed more skill to setup but a good baord if you pick the right hardware combo...
 
leeghoofd said:
??? on the OC, 2nd is true, and requires indeed more skill to setup but a good baord if you pick the right hardware combo...
Click to expand...

I'd rather have a board that you don't need to find a good hardware combo. So far, the EVGA board has performed great. Even under phase it hasn't even faced some of then normal cold bugs nForce boards deal with.
 
Can you post some piccies of your phase setup , kinda interested in that as I can buy a 2nd hand one...
 
I have an EVGA 680i MoBo. It works fine and with the recent addition of liquid cooling on everything, I got the heat issue under control. The first three 680i MoBos were factory defecting, EVGA's Tech Support were very helpful, never really gave alot of trouble about RMA'n the boards. After they recieved each board, they even called me to let me know it was a factory defect and not me doin something wrong.

Statistically, no matter who you go through to get a 680i, you have a fairly high chance of problems even if you are an expert at MoBo installations. This is also a tempermantal board, each with its own personality and quirks.
 
680i is like a cranky cat. When it works it rocks, when not... well.

I will post pictures soon as possible, but I just took my system apart to redo the phase system and make it more steamlined. Not a lot of room, even in a U2-UFO case.
 
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