790i...when?

[Sunday Ironfoot]

Anyone know any dates on the nVidia nForce 790i motherboards?

I'm all set to get a new Core2 Duo E8X00 system, and I've heard the 780i are just tweaked 680i's designed to take the new 45nm Core 2 CPUs, so I'm waiting on the 790i. Cheers!

 

[theYipster]

790i boards should be appearing by the end of the month, but note that they will require needlessly expensive DDR3 RAM. If you want an SLI rig, the best consideration from a price / performance standpoint is a 780i board. Of these boards, the best two options are the MSI P7N Diamond and the referenced-based EVGA 780i A1.

Note that if you aren't gaming at a resolution of at least 1920x1200 and/or aren't planning to get two cards now, then there is no reason to consider SLI or an SLI-based motherboard.

 

[renethx]

It looks like 790i and 9800 GX2 are released on March 18.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: renethx
It looks like 790i and 9800 GX2 are released on March 18.

EDIT: My bad. It is the 18th. They're out right now @ the egg.

 

[krnmastersgt]

790i = 780i + ddr3 - Stupid PCI-E 2.0 chip + different cooling, the basic difference

The 790i still has PCI-E 2.0 but they removed the excess chip they were using on the 780i's, also the cooling is changed in that the 780i has heatpipes and the 790i will have 2 fans blowing straight down on the nb/sb chips. (These are talking about reference designs btw, manufacturers are free to change the cooling how they want, I like Asus' 780i heatpipe design. Also the XFX and EVGA 780is are the exact same atm, both pure reference designs.)

 

[theYipster]

Also note that the 790i reference designs still use cheap electrolytic capacitors.

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

I heard from one review (need to dig it out) that the 790i is more energy efficient than the 780i (less heat, cooling, noise etc.) which is one of the main things that attracted me to it. Also I heard it could use 1600MHz FSB for up and coming CPUs, any truth in that? Kinda sucks it's DDR3 only, thought it could take both DDR2 and DDR3 like the Intel boards.

BTW 'theYipster' I already have 2x 8800GTS 512MB SLI setup, but my current X2 3800 is really holding it back, max 8500 3D Marks (2006).

 

[krnmastersgt]

You sure about the capacitors? I heard they moved up to solid states for the 790i, in any case most people say there isn't much of a difference. Also whats the point of 1600 FSB support? When Nehalem family cpu's come out they will be using a new socket, so 1333 fsb support is as far as you need to go. As for less heat, aside from the removal of the PCI-E 2.0 chip, which was a dumb move in the first place, I don't see any reason why there would be less heat, only dispersed differently since the 790i is all actively cooled. I'm not sure whether or not it can use DDR2, though most likely not, ask a focus group member like nRollo or keys, or just google the answer.

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

Here's a review from LegionHardware http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=728&p=9 showing power consumption on 780i vs 790i

 

[theYipster]

Take a look at any of the recent evga 790i pictures, which I believe are of the finalized board. Plenty of electrolytics there. I don't know any details about the PWM though, but I expect it's the same mediocre 6 phase design.

Actually, many who have suffered through multiple reference board RMAs point to the cheap capacitors and inferior PWM design as a top concern. To date, the best explanation for why the reference boards suffer from severe reliability issues, while the non reference boards don't (despite other problems they may have,) is because the reference boards use these cheap electrolytic capacitors and an inferior 6-phase PWM design which ultimately fail when stressed with high OCs. The type of capacitor used doesn't just have an outcome on board longevity. It has a very real effect on the cleanliness of the power delivery to the CPU, especially when components are running at high frequency. In any case, forums are consistently filled with people complaining about fried NBs and RAM with the evga and xfx boards. This has never been an issue with the ASUS or other non-reference boards, despite their other problems.

 

[Cookie Monster]

These are released at march 18th along with the GX2. 25th march is when the GTX is released. Have no idea when the 780a/750a is released but sometime this month.

Several things to note on the new 790i OCing according to k1ngp1n (if you dont know who he is, he is one of the most recognized OCers in the industry)
-790i is MUCH cooler than the 780i.
-Quad OCes up to ~460FSB, and Dual OCes up to ~600FSB
note this is the ultra variant. Not sure about the 790i vanilla.
-No other issues compared with thte 780i cept BIOs limitations which are expected.

Link
Link

 

[theYipster]

600mhz on a dual is very impressive indeed, but 460mhz on the quad isn't really pushing any envelopes. My 780i does 450mhz with my quad (at x9 multiplier.) Also, 460mhz isn't going to get the Q9450 over 4ghz, which I'm sure many are hoping for.

Still, the fact that it runs cooler than the 680i/780i will be very appealing to many.

 

[lopri]

That Legion Hardware chart is kinda strange. Are they saying that 780i consumes 50W more than 790i under load? What is the TDP of 780i and 790i, respectively?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
These are released at march 18th along with the GX2. 25th march is when the GTX is released. Have no idea when the 780a/750a is released but sometime this month.

March 18th: nForce 790i SLI & GeForce 9800 GX2
March 25th: nForce 750a/780a SLI & GeForce 9800 GTX
April 3rd: GeForce 9800 GT (= 8800 GT + 3-way SLI + HybridPower)

The release could be delayed (and delayed by a week repeatedly).

Edited

GeForce 9800 GTX will be delayed by a week (April 1st).

 

[Heidfirst]

well, at least here in the UK nF790i Ultra SLI mobos & the 9800GX2 went on sale today.
Don't know how many are going to pay the price for the 790i Ultras though, they sure aren't cheap (& then there is the DDR3 to use them).

 

[surfsatwerk]

I'm going through the step-up process now on EVGA's website.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Also whats the point of 1600 FSB support? When Nehalem family cpu's come out they will be using a new socket, so 1333 fsb support is as far as you need to go. \ I'm not sure whether or not it can use DDR2, though most likely not, ask a focus group member like nRollo or keys, or just google the answer.

1600FSB -> The QX9770 is Socket 775, 1600FSB. (The QX9775 is S771).

No DDR2. It is exclusively DDR3.

EDIT: The 790i is now at the egg. So when is it going to be release? 10 1/2 hours ago.
Still has electrolytic caps, same board design as 680i/780i, except adding eSATA.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Seems that they changed the reference design since I last saw it, cooling looks a lot better. Seems like nVidia is finally getting mobo chipsets down, I look forward to my upgrade in ~12 months, see what Intel and nV can offer then.

Add-on: Most people probably won't step-up from their EVGA 780i since they don't wanna buy DDR3 memory.

 

[bka4u2c]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
1600FSB -> The QX9770 is Socket 775, 1600FSB. (The QX9775 is S771).

No DDR2. It is exclusively DDR3.

EDIT: The 790i is now at the egg. So when is it going to be release? 10 1/2 hours ago.
Still has electrolytic caps, same board design as 680i/780i, except adding eSATA.

Only XFX and EVGA so far. I want to wait and see what other designs come from other motherboard makers that are non-reference.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: bka4u2c

Originally posted by: PCTC2
1600FSB -> The QX9770 is Socket 775, 1600FSB. (The QX9775 is S771).

No DDR2. It is exclusively DDR3.

EDIT: The 790i is now at the egg. So when is it going to be release? 10 1/2 hours ago.
Still has electrolytic caps, same board design as 680i/780i, except adding eSATA.

Only XFX and EVGA so far. I want to wait and see what other designs come from other motherboard makers that are non-reference.

The Asus Striker II Extreme and Pinot Noir designs have been seen on the internet for months now. Just check Google.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Pinot Noir is for the X48.

However the other 3rd party 790i boards seem to use all solid caps, better power circuitry and better cooling although the 790i isnt a toaster oven like the 780i.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Pinot Noir is for the X48.

My bad. I just remember wondering why Asus had two high-end boards for one chipset