Where Are The Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Motherboards?

[eklock2000]

Here's our replacement board...

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=242129

LMFAO...no effing way!

Nice rundown Blazer. It's been all quiet on my replacement question. I'm hoping it's because everyone at Gigabyte is still hungover from the New Year.

Peas,

EK2K

 

[cdfire]

Hum, I think I would rather take my chances with a FisherPrice motherboard then own another Gigabyte product. In all honesty I have basically accepted the fact I got screwed with this 680I board, but on the bright side I learned allot and will be going with a company that supports there products when the 790I boards come out. It's understandable that mistakes happen, but the way Gigabyte has ignored there customers, there lack of support for there products, there end of life of products within months of release, there piss poor RMA process, lack of BIOS updates and so forth, is totally unacceptible and there for they will never see another dollar of mine, nor money from the many people who come to me for advice on buying a motherboard.

 

[Kaptdeath]

EateryOfPiza,

I have been having similar problems with the Jmicron disk controller. Do you get messages in the system log like:

Warning:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Date: 2/28/2008
Time: 5:29:31 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ????
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk3\D during a paging operation.

And:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: JRAID
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Date: 2/28/2008
Time: 5:29:31 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ????
Description:
The device, \Device\Scsi\JRAID1, did not respond within the timeout period.

I get these fairly often, and rebooting is the only thing that fixes em. I updated the Jmicron drivers a few weeks ago to the latest: (R1.17.31). As you can see, I just had another one this morning. I haven't found any information on this problem anywhere. If you do , please share it.

The Kapt'n

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: Blazer7

Abit - IN9 32X-MAX Wi-Fi - BIOS 14 - Update Micro CPU code to support 45nm CPU (no official support yet)

supposedly runs both Wolfies & Yorkies according to user reports.

 

[justinburton]

The new Gigabyte 790i doesn't look that bad. Minus the fact it only has 8 instead of 8 SATA ports and also sports DDR3. I really don't feel like tearing apart my tri-SLI watercooled setup only the upgrade the motherboard and CPU and not see a very big performance increase. I cannot justify this as an upgrade. If only Intel would come out with an 8-core desktop CPU...

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst

Originally posted by: Blazer7

Abit - IN9 32X-MAX Wi-Fi - BIOS 14 - Update Micro CPU code to support 45nm CPU (no official support yet)

supposedly runs both Wolfies & Yorkies according to user reports.

Thanks for the info Heidfirst,

I've heard that the board works fine with the Wolfdales but that's all I have so far.
Abit however has still to update the mobo's cpu support list so nothing is official yet.

*** list updated ***

------------------------

@justinburton

Any 3SLI scores yet ?

 

[justinburton]

Haha not yet. I have been so busy with work and school, I have only played 1 game since I installed Vista. Call of Duty 4, and it looks awesome and has no lag. I will get back to you once I get those scores. I think I tried installing 3DMark06 but it didn't work, must be the version of 3Dmark06 that I got from my friend names newzbin

 

[Blazer7]

Looking forward to those scores of yours. It would be interesting to know if this bucket can actually do something that justifies some ot the $$$ we've paid for it.

 

[justinburton]

Alright, I'm hungover but I ran a 3DMark06 test and the results were disappointing. 16540 was the score. My score has gone down since adding a third 8800GTX. I am running Vista 64bit with 4GB ram. Maybe the DirectX10 slowed it down. Also when I achieved 18,469, my CPU was at 3.6gHz instead of 3.43gHz now. I suppoes CPU speed makes more of an impact on this benchmark than a third video card. I guess Nvidia's drivers don't work very well combined with how 3Dmark06 doesn't take advantage of SLI very much. I can't wait until the new 3dMark Vantage comes out and Nvidia gets their scaling right. Maybe when that 9800X2 comes out the drivers will also improve.

 

[Blazer7]

It is true that Vista is a much heavier OS and most things run slower but I don't know about DX10 and how it may affect graphics performance. I agree that nVidia's drivers need some polishing here and there and 3DMark06 cannot take advantage of 3SLI but this is not surprising if you consider that the drivers are not mature yet and 3DMark06 was released long before 3SLI.

Anyways, I don't think that this is your problem. Benchmark scores are just for bragging around. What really matters is every day performance. That said, what you really need is a bigger monitor, something like Samsung's SM305T and maybe another 4GB of RAM. 3SLI can make a heck of a difference in extremely high resolutions with high anti-aliasing and high anisotropic filtering enabled. It's not all about frames but quality also. You don't need 200 fps to play a game but if you are able to get up to playable frames at high-res with high AA and high Aniso enabled, well, you can't beat that can you ? just my 2 cents.

3SLI review @HotHardware

 

[Blazer7]

Hi guys. I?m thinking of re-joining the SLI community. I?m about to get rid of my 8800GTX and replace it with 2 8800GTS cards. Has anyone tried SLI with 2 G92 cards on this mobo ?

 

[GriMRapeR]

Update from Gigabyte Australia Rep handling my replacement claim.

Sorry about the waiting, I do realize your case is still on pending under my case record,
Our internal road maps indicates the Nvidia 780 platform would be launch on the 2nd quarter in somewhere mid April,
Would you consider wait till then or something else you would like to do?

So they are prepared to replace my 680i with a 780i but I gotta wait at least another 6 weeks and no mention of a 790i replacement that he hinted at in earlier conversations. Also no mention of what model 780i they are going to replace it with. As far as I can tell the only Gigabyte 780i marked for release is the GA-780SLI-DS5 which is hardly a DQ6 enthusiast model board with all the bling bling.

What do you guys reckon I should do? Should I wait the 6 weeks (assuming that the board will be released when he says and then factor in 3 to 4 weeks for them to do the paperwork and shipping, so probably more like 10 weeks in reality) or should I just ask for a full refund and go buy an ASUS Striker II Formula or an EVGA 780i?

 

[Blazer7]

If you can get a refund then this is a no-brainer. On the other hand, if you feel adventurous you can take your chances with another GB mobo (and their support).

 

[jaggerwild]

Gigabyte 3 waySLIM70 board

http://www.hexus.tv/show/2008/...e_3-way_SLi_M70_board/

 

[justinburton]

Gigabyte's GA-790SLI-DQ6 pixelized

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....=view&id=6131&Itemid=1

I can't believe I might consider buying it if they don't offer the trade in program. You just don't find those extra SATA on any other 680/780/790i board.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: justinburton
Alright, I'm hungover but I ran a 3DMark06 test and the results were disappointing. 16540 was the score. My score has gone down since adding a third 8800GTX. I am running Vista 64bit with 4GB ram. Maybe the DirectX10 slowed it down. Also when I achieved 18,469, my CPU was at 3.6gHz instead of 3.43gHz now. I suppoes CPU speed makes more of an impact on this benchmark than a third video card. I guess Nvidia's drivers don't work very well combined with how 3Dmark06 doesn't take advantage of SLI very much. I can't wait until the new 3dMark Vantage comes out and Nvidia gets their scaling right. Maybe when that 9800X2 comes out the drivers will also improve.

Vista does not support SLI yet. That is the reason for your drop in performance. It isn't even using 2 cards let alone 3. Support will not be there until SP1 is released which fixes some fundamental OS graphics driver settings.

Vista has SLI issues to begin with. SP1 is "supposed" to fix many of those issues, which is one of the reasons Nvidia has delayed the 9800GX2 cards

 

[justinburton]

Vista does not support SLI yet. That is the reason for your drop in performance. It isn't even using 2 cards let alone 3.

This statement is only part true. I agree that performance went down from the XP scores, but I know my score of 16540 is much higher than a single 8800GTX would get in Vista. I would say only 2 of my 3 video cards are actually performing. Microsoft and Nvidia need to fix their shit.

Nvidia has had only 1 driver since 3-way SLI came out. Once SP1 and the 9800GX2 come out, then hopefully the drivers will be fixed.

 

[Kaptdeath]

Blazer7,

I just put 2 8800GTs on my 680. No problems so far. (I thought the GTs offered more "bang for the buck".) I'm using the XFX alpha dog cards because they are slightly OCed from the factory and ony take up one slot. I havn't started playing around with 'em yet but they seem to stay fairly cool (I have a Antec 900) in my case. Crysis WILL play ok on high with this configuration.

After installing I loaded the NVIDA n-Tune S/W (to monitor the 8800's GPU temp). It has an option to automatically tune my machine. Has anyone tried this?

It's weird, it seems like my chipset temps are more reasonable now (35C - 40C). I still have intermittant problems with the Jmicron crap and the 8800's have increased my fan noise by 500%. I just hope it will "hang together" till I can find another SLI solution.

The Kapt'n

PS I think the 8800GT is a G92 card.....

 

[Kaptdeath]

Blazer7,

3DMar06 scores 14604. Not too shabby.

The Kapt'n

 

[Simes]

Hello again, it's been a while!

I now have my rev 2.0 PC built and it's whizzing along very nicely - temps are very satisfactory. CPU is 29C Idle No overclocking as yet as I'm reading through the nVidia guide first

The only bugbear now is getting the disks configured...

I have a healthy Mirror array on NvSATA ports 1.0 and 1.1 (2x150Gb) hosting Vista 64, a paging disk on NvSATA port 2.0 (1x74Gb) - appears as JBOD probably as it's a single disk? I'm now having trouble getting a 500Gb data disk to be recognised. It's on NvSATA port 2.1 but appears in Vista 64 as Floppy Drive A:!

I'm pretty sure it's my BIOS settings!

The current settings are...

NV Serial-ATA Controller -> [Enabled]

Serial-ATA RAID Config [Press Enter]
-> NV SATA RAID Function [Enabled]
-> All channels set to [Enabled]

Onboard SATA-II Ctrl-1 -> [Enabled]
Onboard SATA-II Ctrl-1 Mode -> [IDE]
Onboard SATA-II Ctrl-2 -> [Enabled]
Onboard SATA-II Ctrl-2 Mode -> [IDE]

Any advice on how to get the disks working as 1 Mirror RAID (Done), single Paging Disk (Done even though it's appearing as JBOD) and single Data Disk?

TIA

Si

 

[Blazer7]

Hello Kapt'n,

The 8800GT is indeed a G92 chip. I've just installed 2 brand-new 8800GTS cards myself but so far the scores I'm getting are not what I expected. The cards I got are also factory oced (ASUS EN8800GTS TOP) but the performance is not that great. I've just run 3DMark06 and it gave me just 14.391 3DMarks. That's only a 28% increase over my old GTX.

I'm not surprised that your alfa dogs run cool. One of the things that made me go for 2 G92 cards instead of adding another GTX was power consumption. I was a bit worried that my 850W Galaxy would be on its limits with 2 GTX cards, 8 HDs and the rest of my stuff. In case that my PSU would prove unsuitable for the task I would have had to replace it along my UPS too (APC Smart-UPS 1000VA). I do not know what I will be able to do with my scores but I know that I won't have to worry about power consumption any more. The 2 GTS cards only need just a bit more power than my old GTX.

The addition of a 2nd card did not affected my noise levels thanks to the bigger fans. It was quite hard to install the 2nd card though as it would interfere with the SATA cables at the bottom of the board, not to mention the USB cables, or the firewire cable, or that cable with the switch I'm using to clear CMOS, or that other one.......

Bottom line. Hard to install, poor scores so far, low power consumption, good temperatures, low noise.

 

[Blazer7]

Hello Mr Simes,

Enter BIOS -> Integrated Peripherals -> Serial ATA RAID Config and disable all channels but the two you are using for your mirror array. By doing so you'll be telling the controller to use only those 2 for RAID arrays. The rest will still function as std IDE channels. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

PS
If you're using that 74GB disk of yours for the OS's page file it would be a good idea to move the page file to your RAID drive(s) before tampering with the BIOS.

 

[Blazer7]

New nVidia Forceware beta drivers ver 169.44 (March 6) for Windows XP, Vista32 & Vista 64.

New Audio drivers ver R1.87 (March 7).

 

[Simes]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Hello Mr Simes,

Enter BIOS -> Integrated Peripherals -> Serial ATA RAID Config and disable all channels but the two you are using for your mirror array. By doing so you'll be telling the controller to use only those 2 for RAID arrays. The rest will still function as std IDE channels. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

PS
If you're using that 74GB disk of yours for the OS's page file it would be a good idea to move the page file to your RAID drive(s) before tampering with the BIOS.

Thanks for the super quick response

I'll give that a whirl. This RAID lark is all greek to me atm but it's great to tweak and learn

 

[Simes]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Hello Mr Simes,

Enter BIOS -> Integrated Peripherals -> Serial ATA RAID Config and disable all channels but the two you are using for your mirror array. By doing so you'll be telling the controller to use only those 2 for RAID arrays. The rest will still function as std IDE channels. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

PS
If you're using that 74GB disk of yours for the OS's page file it would be a good idea to move the page file to your RAID drive(s) before tampering with the BIOS.

Thanks Blazer! Looks as if that's done the trick. The new disk kept on coming up as a Floppy Drive. Had me rather perplexed! Formatting it as I type.

The icing on the cake will be if they all work once I install them in the Icy Box caddies!