680i Chipset horrible situation on the market now!

[JargonGR]

Hello All,

As you may have read by now the new Nvidia 680i is not the most stable trouble free chipset at the moment. After many years of being a computer hobbist I am finally able to buy what I want (I mean I can afford really high-end), so I proceeded and bought some nice parts for my PC.

E6600 @ 3.6ghz (on Air - high end Watercooling set-up coming will move to change too in the future)

2x1GB OCZ Titanium Alpha at 800Mhz 3-3-3-9
2x 74GB Raptors in Raid 0 (I had those)
Asus PWS64 Pro 975 Chipset
2x EVGA 8800GTX
Mountain Mods U2-UFO case (that cost me freaking $972 to ship to my country Greece +$240 tax)
22" Diamontron CRT
etc etc...

First of all the reason I ended up with 2 8800 GTX is because I want to move to a 30" LCD Monitor after Christmas when reviews of both the new Dell 30" and the HP arrive.
or I will go for a 37" option such us the Westinghouse.

But here is the catch; after doing extensive research on many forums about all the truly expensive 680i motherboards I can't help but say that there are so many bugs and problems reported that I am really confused and don't know what to do. Sata problems, bad FSB, BSODs, bad 3D performance, sound issues.

For god's sake Nvidia what is this crap? How can they release a platform so buggy and not even test it with their own target products such as 8800GTX SLI that gives the infamous sound crackling.

Nevertheless for all those looking to go for a 8800GTX SLI and have a nice overclocked i975 platform BEWARE! At the moment its a lotery whether you will get a bug free 680i motherboard so the best is to wait for a month or two till they work out all the bugs and/or come out with a new revision if it is a h/w issue.

 

[fkloster]

lol your hilarious! your overclocking your poor E6600 on air to 3.6 ghz and pushing your memory to 3-3-3-9 and you think your (potential??) motherboard is/will be the problem? LMAOROFL!!!!

 

[JargonGR]

LOL!!

Ok ok, I know I am pushing my processor (watercooling on the way next week) but it is working with my i975 Asus board and I can't believe how stable it is - not a single crash!

What I am trying to say is that the 680i boards have problems even not overclocked just check HardOCP Article and the forums there and on EVGA and you will see what I mean. Its common knowledge now that Nvidia released a product that is not ready.

And yes why not expect a motherboard that costs 329 EUROS (Asus Striker) with a chipset that is geared towards overclockers to be on par with 975? Who is going to buy it and pay that much if not the ones who want to overclock to death?

Yet my memory the Titanium Alpha is also a piece of hardware made for overclocking and paid as such.

 

[fkloster]

I am becoming more and more comfortable w/my 680i and to date, it is rock stable and well supported imho.... so far it is fetching 15k 3dmarks06 and still wants more w/stock cooling. Not one blue screen and install was super easy. Not 1 crash.

 

[UMfanatic]

I am going with a rig similar to Fkloster although I am using gts's and not gtx's I wish I have the cash flow for that

 

[Aikouka]

Not even the 8800's are bug free, so I don't see why you're complaining. In fact, they're so buggy, I can't even play a game and a video at the same time (the video card's output ends up locking up and hangs the system. Usually it comes out after 10-15 seconds).

Why do you think I refused to wait for the 680i . I went with a DQ6 and realized how much I still hate Gigabyte's products.

EDIT: Going on about the lock-up issue, it will only stop once the video is closed. I may do some more investigating to see what I can change (settings-wise) in MPC to avoid this problem.

 

[JargonGR]

Excuse me Aikouka,

if you think I am complaining you should see what others say about this that have actually bought the 680i boards.

But honestly bleeding edge is bleeding a bit right now hehe.

BTW: what is this bug with the 8800? Never came across; you mean playing video on a second monitor while playing a game on your main?


fkloster

Its nice tio hear your motherboard is free of bugs, however in your system you are not overclocking and you are not using a Creative Xi-fi that has the sound issues with SLI.


Please read Article on the link I give above and you will see that its not me that complains but a lot of people indeed.


I just wanted to share some thoughts here that's all. Yet, I will wait till January when Abit and other manufacturers will release their 680i boards and see whether the bugs are gone. I bet new revisions of the existing ones will be out soon.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: JargonGR
BTW: what is this bug with the 8800? Never came across; you mean playing video on a second monitor while playing a game on your main?

Yes, and it also occurs when the video isn't even being shown on the screen (i.e. MPC is minimized but I can still hear it). Also, ever so often, the card will "reset" while running as in it goes to black and then comes back to normal while I'm just sitting at the desktop.

Quite annoying and nVidia is wasting time making a ****** new control panel that's worse and harder to find settings in than in their original control panel. God, I hate the new control panel and if that's any evidence in the direction that nVidia is going, I don't want the newer one that should be out soon.

 

[punjabiplaya]

My 680i runs perfectly stable. The only issue is the vdroop under load, which is nothing that can't be compensated for.

 

[JargonGR]

I have to agree on the new Nvidia control panel - its dreadful!

 

[Coolone]

My 680i is rock solid, nothing has gone wrong yet (knock on wood)

 

[mc866]

Originally posted by: Coolone
My 680i is rock solid, nothing has gone wrong yet (knock on wood)

Same here! I had it up to 3.4 with no issues what so ever, I backed it down to 3.2 because my temps were in the high 60's under load. The temps don't have as much to do with the chipset; I think it?s more the poor circulation of air in my P180 and the location of the case in my desk.

Anyway I just don't understand why people who don't own this board are having such issues with it. Honestly if you don't own one and haven?t had any problems personally why the need to slam it? Just because there are a large number of posts about the problems on a few sites, how is this any different than the life cycle of other chipsets? Name one chipset that was released without any bugs at all............

 

[Matt2]

It cant be any harder to get up and running than my old DFI NF4 SLI board.

 

[Yreka]

You have to remember to take what you read on internet forums with a grain of salt(this included ). There are alot of Drama Queens *for lack of a better term* out there. Forums attract them, as it gives them a soapbox so to speak.

EVERY new chipset release is like this. They were even bitching about the intel chipsets when the conroe came out.

Remember the complaints about the MSI NEO2 Plat NF3 when it was the thing to have ? That turned out to be a great board.
Remember the complaints about the DFI Lanparty NF4 killing memory ? * Turned out to be a handful of noobs with PEBKAC issues), and this was arguably one of the best boards of all time. It would definitely make the hall of fame.


I have the EVGA 680i board. Am using a single raptor as my boot drive, and now have 2 WD 250gb mirrored for storage. So far, so good. I have had 1 issue with the board. The PS2 ports don't work worth a chit when the CPU is loaded. You have to use a USB mouse and KB. And 1 minor bitch.. The front panel header connector location sucks. ( Right behind the IDE1)


Other than that, it has been a great board. It has one of the most stable, and well laid out BIOS I have seen in recent memory. Plus, because of its limited lifetime warranty this one will likely get passed down rather than re-sold.

Pic installed