Where Are The Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Motherboards?

[TheBeagle]

Thanks Gary for the reference link to that interesting initial review at HardWareZone. I will be very interested to see how their findings and evaluations stack up against Gary's ongoing work. Hope Gary can meet that self-imposed Monday timeline for his report (maybe sooner). We all know that Gary will only release a quality review, so we'll just have to wait on that.

The next critical question is: Where can we actually buy one of these boards? ZipZoomFly shows a SKU for them, but lists them as "out of stock." That's kinda strange, since it's very likely that they never were "in stock" in the first place. However, NewEgg and some of the other usual sources have yet to even acknowledge the availability of this board. Maybe they're afraid of the price or something.

I sure hope that Gary has some inside information on whether or not Gigabyte is going to unlock the memory timings in a future BIOS release, since that aspect of the F2c BIOS appears to be holding back some of the performance potentials on the HardWareZone report.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Im not gary. Dont mistake me with him because we use the same user icon!

Maybe ill ask the mods to give me a special icon. A cookie icon.

 

[TheBeagle]

I stand corrected Monster Man. You can likewise delete the PM I sent you. Thanks for the correction. TheBeagle

 

[Cookie Monster]

No problem. Its strikes me that there arent many 680i based motherboards out there. Now with gigabyte and others starting to release theres, we have the rumours of the nforce 7 series coming to us in the coming months.

Im more interested in the 650i ultra chipset but there doesnt seem to be have progress made to release these lower/mid end motherboards. Wonder what gigabyte has to offer with the 650i ultra.

 

[Gary Key]

E6600 9x440

This is not a very good E6600, was able to hit 440x9 on this board, memory at 1:1 880 3-4-4 1T timings, 1.5V. Striker and EVGA boards did not go above 430x9 with this same setup. However, max FSB with this BIOS has been around 510~515, still a lot of tuning left to do on it.

 

[TheBeagle]

That's a very interesting assertion Cookie Man. However, I'll ask Gary if he's heard of any such new series 7 nVidia chipset. Obviously if that is in the works, the guys at AnandTech are likely to know about it. If it does exist (planning or beta stage) and they know about it, they are probably under some sort of NDA and can't tell us anything. Maybe they will just tell us that they can't confirm or deny that rumor, and we can gather our own conclusions from that point. Anyway, we seem to have our hands full sorting out the best settings, etc for the 680i chipset at the moment, and I'll likely keep myself busy doing that for the immediate future. Thanks anyway for the gossip on the series 7 chipset. TheBeagle

 

[Batfink]

Gary, do you know if a Thermalright HR-01-775 Heatsink will fit on this board...I'm just a bit worried about the rather large looking Heat Sync (Northbridge?) situated close to the Blue PCI-E slot.
It looks pretty high and could potentially be in the way of many third party coolers

 

[Sithtiger]

Nice find Cookie Monster...now, here's some nice chocolate chip cookies for ya!

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: Sithtiger
Nice find Cookie Monster...now, here's some nice chocolate chip cookies for ya!

me love cookie~

 

[Bipidri]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
E6600 9x440

This is not a very good E6600, was able to hit 440x9 on this board, memory at 1:1 880 3-4-4 1T timings, 1.5V. Striker and EVGA boards did not go above 430x9 with this same setup. However, max FSB with this BIOS has been around 510~515, still a lot of tuning left to do on it.

Thanks alot for that screen Gary! I zealously await that review on Monday. I've cancelled my P5N32-E SLI order in hope of this one topping the rest. I just hope that the combination of the 12 phases with the back plate HS will make this 680i mobo moderatly cooler than its predecessors.

That screen contains exactly the kind of info that I personnally try to aim.
Do you think using an E6600 with th GA-N680SLI-DQ6, running at (9x400) on air feasible for every day use? (P180 case with 4 to 5 Scythes S-Flex SSF21E 120mm fans)
What memory sticks did you use? Because that's exactly what I'm gonna try to achieve with two AData Vitesta Extreme Edition DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 2.0v-2.1v sticks. (they have either D9GCT or D9GMH chips). I don't plan on overclocking them, just working on those timings, trying to reach CL 3 and 1T command rate, making 1:1 synch with my intended 400 MHz FSB.

So basically, is this the one ? ^_^

Hello to you all !

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Im not gary. Dont mistake me with him because we use the same user icon!

Maybe ill ask the mods to give me a special icon. A cookie icon.

There is no need in you getting a bad rap so I changed my avatar.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Bipidri

Originally posted by: Gary Key
E6600 9x440

This is not a very good E6600, was able to hit 440x9 on this board, memory at 1:1 880 3-4-4 1T timings, 1.5V. Striker and EVGA boards did not go above 430x9 with this same setup. However, max FSB with this BIOS has been around 510~515, still a lot of tuning left to do on it.

Thanks alot for that screen Gary! I zealously await that review on Monday. I've cancelled my P5N32-E SLI order in hope of this one topping the rest. I just hope that the combination of the 12 phases with the back plate HS will make this 680i mobo moderatly cooler than its predecessors.

That screen contains exactly the kind of info that I personnally try to aim.
Do you think using an E6600 with th GA-N680SLI-DQ6, running at (9x400) on air feasible for every day use? (P180 case with 4 to 5 Scythes S-Flex SSF21E 120mm fans)
What memory sticks did you use? Because that's exactly what I'm gonna try to achieve with two AData Vitesta Extreme Edition DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 2.0v-2.1v sticks. (they have either D9GCT or D9GMH chips). I don't plan on overclocking them, just working on those timings, trying to reach CL 3 and 1T command rate, making 1:1 synch with my intended 400 MHz FSB.

So basically, is this the one ? ^_^

Hello to you all !

There will not be an issue with running 9x400 with your cooling setup. Our preview article will go up sometime on Tuesday now, have to get some questions answered by Gigabyte about my Quad core results first. I hate to delay but we have to be fair to Gigabyte in providing a response before publication. The good news is we did not have any RAID issues with the latest BIOS release.

 

[eklock2000]

Thanks for the update Gary. Did you try messing with the stock heatpipes...i.e. removing them. Looks difficult with the backplate. What I'm gettin' at is if aftermarket chip coolers would make more stable overclocks...above what you got.

Thanks,

Peace

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: eklock2000
Thanks for the update Gary. Did you try messing with the stock heatpipes...i.e. removing them. Looks difficult with the backplate. What I'm gettin' at is if aftermarket chip coolers would make more stable overclocks...above what you got.

Thanks,

Peace

But he already said that they fit:

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Origionally posted by: Fallen Kell
Hey Gary, can you let us know if a Tuniq Tower will fit on this board?

No issues so far with the Tuniq. I received a significant BIOS upgrade last night so the preview will go up on Monday. The majority of my initial testing has revolved around 8800SLI and RAID operations. I will provide a couple of overclocking screenshots later today.

Or did you mean chipset coollers, not CPU?

 

[hardwareking]

Seems good but not spectacular OCIng.Needs some bios updates.
Now the only question that remains is the retail price.

 

[TheBeagle]

ZipZoomFly is showing this board at $249.00 - But not in stock. I haven't found it anywhere else as of yet, but I keep looking every day for new listings. TheBeagle

 

[Fallen Kell]

If it is indeed $250, then I am all over this board.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: eklock2000
Thanks for the update Gary. Did you try messing with the stock heatpipes...i.e. removing them. Looks difficult with the backplate. What I'm gettin' at is if aftermarket chip coolers would make more stable overclocks...above what you got.

Thanks,

Peace

I have not taken them off yet. I will do that once testing is complete or the retail kit arrives. The backplate is an annoyance for the larger air coolers that require a backplate or for water cooling. I have the board in a CoolerMaster 830 Stacker case with 7 120mm fans running in it (four on the side door blowing on the board) so I do not think aftermarket heatsinks would help in my case.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
If it is indeed $250, then I am all over this board.

MSRP is $249, hopefully it will hold or come in under it at launch.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: hardwareking
Seems good but not spectacular OCIng.Needs some bios updates.
Now the only question that remains is the retail price.

I have a new BIOS spin coming in a few hours to address some Quad Core and data transfer issues. I have probably spent too long on the preview but felt it was extremely important to go over every option on the board with a variety of components. Of course, I will probably miss something major as I can no longer see the forest for the trees. :laugh:

 

[TheBeagle]

Gary, you always do a first-class job on your reviews (we've grown to expect that from you), but you're wise to take a little extra time on this one due to the complexity of this board. I'm sure that this initial review will need a supplemental revisit or two in the months ahead. Obviously, Gigabyte has thrown the "kitchen sink" into this board with all its bells and whistles. Also, given the fact that this has a stated selling price point of $250.00, it will likely be a VERY hot item for quite a while, even though the price is a bit high, but not unreasonable, especially since they have used premium parts on this board. Once the computer enthusiasts get some time with this board and overclock the hell out of it with some exotic cooling rigs, and the few BIOS revisions to tweak the last bit of speed and stability from it, we are going to have lots of reviews to read and compare. Thanks again for all you initial work on this board, since it will likely be the gold standard on this item for the immediate future! BTW, do you have a reasonably firm actual production and availability date on this board? TheBeagle

 

[tuteja1986]

What RAM did you use for overclocking this mobo and please don't say latest dominator because i can't afford thoes ram... well in australia they go for $1100AUD which is even more expensive then 2x 8800GTS 320mb .

 

[Quad Core]

I'm having a Crysis wherein I will need to build a new system soon. I was looking at a GA-N680SLI-DQ6/Quad Core Q6600 system, maybe oc'd to a conservative extent. I think I'll watch this thread for a prevailing opinion of the board.

I've only built one system previously on a GA-8KNXP REV 2.0, which is a little long in the tooth now. Probably plan to stay with Gigabyte. I was happy with the last one and managed to use most of the features over time.

Last, I'd like to convey my thanks to Gary (my name as well) for the very thorough, well done reviews that are terrific tools in sorting hardware options.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: Quad Core
I'm having a Crysis wherein I will need to build a new system soon. I was looking at a GA-N680SLI-DQ6/Quad Core Q6600 system, maybe oc'd to a conservative extent. I think I'll watch this thread for a prevailing opinion of the board.

I've only built one system previously on a GA-8KNXP REV 2.0, which is a little long in the tooth now. Probably plan to stay with Gigabyte. I was happy with the last one and managed to use most of the features over time.

Last, I'd like to convey my thanks to Gary (my name as well) for the very thorough, well done reviews that are terrific tools in sorting hardware options.

I've been trying to build a new system for the last 5 months now. Been waiting on a motherboard for forever. Heck, I bought ram for this system on Black Friday and it is still sitting in a box waiting on a motherboard to put it into. I am really hoping that this is the board to get. I think it is from what Gary is hinting/leaking so far. Sounds like the BIOS still needs some tweaking, but the board isn't even retail yet, so that is to be expected at this point. As long as the SATA issues do not crop up, I think I am sold on this board.

 

[Wino]

Gary, any update on when the preview is coming for this board?