Do not install NV IDE drivers.
I will say that again.
DO NOT INSTALL NV IDE DRIVERS AND DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY KIND OF RAID ARRAY.
It is hard to diagnose whether the chipset is responsible or the board (or BIOS) is responsible. And honestly, I can't believe anyone regarding this matter, at this point. My guess is that it will remain as mystery until NV come out clean and confess, or there is someone with a gut strong enough to disclose the real truth. I am inclined to believe it's partially the chipset and partially the reference design board's power/signal regulation as well as ASUS' employ which must have been based on NV's reference design. (No one believes that ASUS built their boards from the ground up on their own, right?)
It's gotta be combination of many things. Because I somehow noticed the memory controller affecting disk controller, and vice versa. And we know the memory controller is in NB and the disk controller is in SB. Another thing, although very minor and maybe even un-noticeable, the disk controller doesn't like virtual drives, either. (Like Nero/Alcohol 120%'s virtual drives) And of course the more physical disks you hook up to the board, the bigger the chance you'll run a risk. A simple 2 SATA drives with 1 IDE optical drive is the way to go. Maybe up to 3 SATA disks and 2 optical (be it PATA or SATA). Anything more than that will stress the disk controller (especially if your memory configuration is tight) and could cause a problem.
On the other hand, the looser your memory configuration (low frequencies, loose timings), the more comfortable the disk controller will become and therefore can handle things better. So if your memory setup is looser than DDR2-800/4-4-4-2T, then you might not run into a problem at all. But if you're like me and the type who want to squeeze performance out of memory, then be prepared for many trial-and-errors. And let's be real. Who buys this board to run memory @700MHz/4-4-4? It doesn't matter whether the CPU-memory is Orthos stable. I had a configuration that was 8 hour Orthos stable, but it still ruined my RAID arrays. Multiple times. I eventually figured out the best combination for my components (see sig. 3 x Raptors and 1 x SATA DVD-ROM, NO RAID), but I'm still not sure if the time and energy wasted was really worthwhile. Well, to be honest I do think it was worthwhile personally (since it performs better than my previous 975X - like 1~2%, big f*cking deal, I know), but it's not something I would recommend for others.
Another thing to note: I'm hearing the short supply of ASUS 680i boards is due to the short supply of chipsets. Isn't that a bit strange? There seem to be abundant 680i reference boards on the market. What chipset shortage? It makes me wonder what exactly is in short supply, besides the rumoured cherry-picking.