What's the deal with eVGA motherboards?

[Lagatta]

This is the first time that I've had the money to put together my own computer, so I'm not exceptionally well versed in all of the intricacies of each company's products. I'm looking to throw a nForce 680i board in, but most responses to eVGA motherboards have been pretty luke warm. What are the fundamental differences in a board made by eVGA as opposed to a board made by DFI or Asus?

 

[Captante]

Pretty shaky from the reviews I've read... I suggest going with Asus or MSI instead, especially for your first build. DFI makes very good boards for extreme overclocking although I wouldn't suggest them for a first build in most case either.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

EVGA is a video card maker, they don't make motherboards. EVGA's motherboards are made by FOXCONN which is a major maker of low end boards, they make them for EVGA,BFG,ECS and a few others.

They are generally stable no frills boards but don't normally have a good reputation for overclocking, and are not known for great bios support. They first broke into the enthusiast market with an nforce4 SLI board that was a decent but not top tier overclocker. It remains to be seen how well their 680i board will do, they are using the standard nvidia reference board design which many reviewers have had great overclocking sucess with. My guess is they will be good overclockers because of the 680i chipset, but will probably not compete well against the top tier 680i boards that will utilize better quality components and have superior bios development geared toward enthusiasts like the upcoming Asus and DFI boards

 

[Centurin]

Simple terms.

eVGA motherboards = GEO Metro

Asus, DFI = Ferrari

 

[imported_RedStar]

how is it mediocre? Just look at the |H| review they are drooling all over it.

Nvidia designed it and had foxconn build it ...So it is definately a top tier board.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIwOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

now the mediocre part may come from the amount of overclocking reported.

Well, nvidia says that certain processors (not the motherboard) just can't got to same level of fsb overclock as others of same type. I can't remember which tech site agreed with that ...but they are trying to find out why.

for |H| to dro0l over it..you know that it is one darn fine enthusiast board

BAM!

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Check out the VR-Zone review. I think the motherboard gave him a hard-on. Review

It is a seriously top-performing motherboard.

488FSB for a C2D
458FSB for a C2Q

Not bad for a board that just went on sale 2 days ago.

 

[virtualrain]

Originally posted by: RedStar
how is it mediocre? Just look at the |H| review they are drooling all over it.

Nvidia designed it and had foxconn build it ...So it is definately a top tier board.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIwOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

now the mediocre part may come from the amount of overclocking reported.

Well, nvidia says that certain processors (not the motherboard) just can't got to same level of fsb overclock as others of same type. I can't remember which tech site agreed with that ...but they are trying to find out why.

for |H| to dro0l over it..you know that it is one darn fine enthusiast board

BAM!

QFT!

The simple fact is that the 680i boards have really eliminated the motherboard/NB as the overclocking bottleneck and now it's the luck of the draw as to how much you can overclock your CPU.

The eVGA boards are indeed designed by nVidia which is the key... who actually manufactures them is almost irrelevant as the parts will be specified in a BOM by nVidia and the manufacturing process for motherboards is hardly anything new.

As for BIOS, I expect that nVidia either specs the BIOS or actually develops it themselves as part of the board design... eVGA does not write motherboard BIOS. Thus the BIOS will come from nVidia even if it is rebranded by eVGA just like Forceware drivers are often rebranded by the manufacturer.

Thus, the question is not whether eVGA or even FOXCONN makes good motherboards, it's a question of how good is nVidia at motherboard design and BIOS support. I expect they will be very good, but time will tell for sure.

 

[imported_RedStar]

In fact, i just clicked on those images from the review i linked to discover that ...Nvidia will update the bios on the evga board FIRST!

---
edit: oh i forgot to mention the backplate issue...some coolers won't work on this board.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1118293&page=3&pp=20

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: virtualrain
As for BIOS, I expect that nVidia either specs the BIOS or actually develops it themselves as part of the board design... eVGA does not write motherboard BIOS. Thus the BIOS will come from nVidia even if it is rebranded by eVGA just like Forceware drivers are often rebranded by the manufacturer.

nVidia typically supplies a basic BIOS to the board manufacturers who then customise/tweak it.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: Lagatta
This is the first time that I've had the money to put together my own computer, so I'm not exceptionally well versed in all of the intricacies of each company's products. I'm looking to throw a nForce 680i board in, but most responses to eVGA motherboards have been pretty luke warm. What are the fundamental differences in a board made by eVGA as opposed to a board made by DFI or Asus?

Let's see... you may get better control over voltages/FSB/LDT/etc on a DFI board as opposed to an eVGA board and so may be able to OC a few % higher. But that bit of extra control will probably make the motherboard 2x as expensive, which is not cost-effective.

 

[Conky]

The EVGA 680i SLI mobo looks sweet as candy but I'm gonna wait it out a few more weeks and see where the chips land when all the mobo makers have a chance to bring a 680i SLI to market.

This will not only save me cash but will save me the time and aggravation of beta-testing new hardware like dudes with the 965/975 Intel chipset series have been doing.

I was all set to throw down on a Gigabyte DS3 until this 680i chipset came out. Sometimes it's good to be patient.

 

[CrazyHelloDeli]

Ive got a cool 4k ready and waiting for this chipset, but as beachboy said im gonna wait for Either Asus or Gigabyte to make the board.

 

[clevere1]

Originally posted by: CrazyHelloDeli
Ive got a cool 4k ready and waiting for this chipset, but as beachboy said im gonna wait for Either Asus or Gigabyte to make the board.

See, I felt the same way with the P5B, and I'll tell you what, I am more than disappointed in it myself.

I'll let ya'll know how the EVGA works, I've got one starring me in the face. BTW, it's 9 lbs shipped, and comes in a hell of a box.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: clevere1

Originally posted by: CrazyHelloDeli
Ive got a cool 4k ready and waiting for this chipset, but as beachboy said im gonna wait for Either Asus or Gigabyte to make the board.

See, I felt the same way with the P5B, and I'll tell you what, I am more than disappointed in it myself.

I'll let ya'll know how the EVGA works, I've got one starring me in the face. BTW, it's 9 lbs shipped, and comes in a hell of a box.

Sweet, I wish you luck. Man, I wish I had one of those right now.

 

[clevere1]

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: clevere1

Originally posted by: CrazyHelloDeli
Ive got a cool 4k ready and waiting for this chipset, but as beachboy said im gonna wait for Either Asus or Gigabyte to make the board.

See, I felt the same way with the P5B, and I'll tell you what, I am more than disappointed in it myself.

I'll let ya'll know how the EVGA works, I've got one starring me in the face. BTW, it's 9 lbs shipped, and comes in a hell of a box.

Sweet, I wish you luck. Man, I wish I had one of those right now.

I got tired of my system coming to a crawl when I put in an IDE drive, and since the EVGA has some good reviews, I ordered it. That and they have free advanced replacements available. So far EVGA has been good to me. Once my damned backup is done, the new board goes in!

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: clevere1

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: clevere1

Originally posted by: CrazyHelloDeli
Ive got a cool 4k ready and waiting for this chipset, but as beachboy said im gonna wait for Either Asus or Gigabyte to make the board.

See, I felt the same way with the P5B, and I'll tell you what, I am more than disappointed in it myself.

I'll let ya'll know how the EVGA works, I've got one starring me in the face. BTW, it's 9 lbs shipped, and comes in a hell of a box.

Sweet, I wish you luck. Man, I wish I had one of those right now.

I got tired of my system coming to a crawl when I put in an IDE drive, and since the EVGA has some good reviews, I ordered it. That and they have free advanced replacements available. So far EVGA has been good to me. Once my damned backup is done, the new board goes in!

I'm wanting the EVGA mobo in part because it has that IDE drive capability. I still have a bunch of IDE stuffs.

 

[Pugnate]

To the people who felt eVGA mobos were no good, I understand where you lot are coming from since they are very inexperienced mobo manufacturers, but the 680is by eVGA have gotten nothing but stellar reviews.

 

[Heidfirst]

the previous eVGA boards were Jetways with a different badge, this is a Foxconn built nVidia reference design.
However, the concern over BIOS support is still there ...

 

[clevere1]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst
the previous eVGA boards were Jetways with a different badge, this is a Foxconn built nVidia reference design.
However, the concern over BIOS support is still there ...

Well I've done one test run with my Evga. Besides a bug in the bios with the nvidia Northbridge cooling fan RPMS, no problems.

Upgrading to the latest nvidia forceware driver seems to have slowed the machine down just a bit... but we'll see after another reinstall (hehe, I screwed up the registry when trying to remove the Safely remove hardware icon for the SATA drive).

 

[88NovaTwincam]

Congrats on the 680i! I too dislike that icon for the sata LOL

Keep us updated! I'm interested in which chips are lucky o/c'ers
wonder what you would get if you ordered a e6300 today from 'egg..

On the fence waiting for some 650i boards to roll in
(are these gonna have 2 ide channels?)

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Captante
Pretty shaky from the reviews I've read... I suggest going with Asus or MSI instead, especially for your first build. DFI makes very good boards for extreme overclocking although I wouldn't suggest them for a first build in most case either.

I've built many A64 platforms around DFI Lanparty boards and every single one of them has posted, no compatability issues and just worked perfect out of the box.

No tweaking needed, although they add it because it's what they build their rep on.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: RedStar
how is it mediocre? Just look at the |H| review they are drooling all over it.

Nvidia designed it and had foxconn build it ...So it is definately a top tier board.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIwOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

now the mediocre part may come from the amount of overclocking reported.

Well, nvidia says that certain processors (not the motherboard) just can't got to same level of fsb overclock as others of same type. I can't remember which tech site agreed with that ...but they are trying to find out why.

for |H| to dro0l over it..you know that it is one darn fine enthusiast board

BAM!

HardOCP is the last place I'd look if I was making a purchase decision.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: ariafrost

Originally posted by: Lagatta
This is the first time that I've had the money to put together my own computer, so I'm not exceptionally well versed in all of the intricacies of each company's products. I'm looking to throw a nForce 680i board in, but most responses to eVGA motherboards have been pretty luke warm. What are the fundamental differences in a board made by eVGA as opposed to a board made by DFI or Asus?

Let's see... you may get better control over voltages/FSB/LDT/etc on a DFI board as opposed to an eVGA board and so may be able to OC a few % higher. But that bit of extra control will probably make the motherboard 2x as expensive, which is not cost-effective.

Not really...the board is already $270+

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Beachboy
The EVGA 680i SLI mobo looks sweet as candy but I'm gonna wait it out a few more weeks and see where the chips land when all the mobo makers have a chance to bring a 680i SLI to market.

This will not only save me cash but will save me the time and aggravation of beta-testing new hardware like dudes with the 965/975 Intel chipset series have been doing.

I was all set to throw down on a Gigabyte DS3 until this 680i chipset came out. Sometimes it's good to be patient.

If you don't need SLI, and you get some good memory the DS3 is perfect.

 

[Regalk]

Foxconn, ECS, jetway,Mach speed and now Evga etc will never make it in any of my rigs (my first and last experience with EC$hit I broke in half and that was that). I do not trust the build quality e.g.capacitors and longevity - $300 no way - I can wait. Even if it was $150 i still would buy something else - but to each his own