eVGA nForce 680i SLI Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Chipset - Socket T LGA-775

eVGA 680i mobo

Strengths: Easy overclocking, lots of tweaking options. Many, many features. Excellent support from eVGA.

Weakness: Onboard sound so-so. Only 1 IDE port. Not for the beginner home builder. Get the newer model if you have a Quad-core.

This mobo is freakin' sweet. It's has just about all the features an enthusiast needs. Combined with the newest hardware, it is the fastest system you can currently get, in terms of a gaming computer. Overclocking is very easy....you can adjust all voltages and bus speeds, and overclock whatever you want, and however you want. You can unlock the components so that you can just overclock the RAM...
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This mobo is freakin' sweet. It's has just about all the features an enthusiast needs. Combined with the newest hardware, it is the fastest system you can currently get, in terms of a gaming computer. Overclocking is very easy....you can adjust all voltages and bus speeds, and overclock whatever you want, and however you want. You can unlock the components so that you can just overclock the RAM without changing the front bus, etc. I'm no overclocking expert, but I got my Intel E6600 to go from 2.4 to 2.9 GHz with no hardware modification and 100% stability. Many users report going well over 3 GHz with patience and better cooling.


I have a few suggestions when building your system. First, download and flash the newest BIOS from the eVGA website. This will eliminate most problems people have had with this mobo. Second, get some high quality RAM, from the approved vendor list, and set it to the manufacturer's recommended voltage. This mobo defaults to a lower voltage that may cause the system to crash or not POST. Finally, go to the message boards at eVGA. There are lots of tips on overclocking, plus fixes for issues people have had.


Also, if you plan to use or upgrade to a Quad-core, be advised that there are problems with this mobo when overclocked, and eVGA has released a new version of this mobo, the 122-CK-NF68-A1 which fixes this. I would get that version, and if you already bought this board, eVGA will exchange it for free.


eVGA is a top-notch outfit with great support. If there is a problem with their product, they will do what it takes to fix it.


The one thing I don't like about this mobo is the onboard sound. The Realtek audio is just ok. The drivers and interface are very generic and don't have many features. The optical output works but only puts out Dolby Digital in limited circumstances, otherwise it is just digital stereo. My 4 year old ASUS A7N8X mobo with its Coax digital output was Dolby Digital 100% of the time and sounded better.

By gman757 - Mar 17, 2007

So far, so good!

Strengths: Six SATA connectors, design, SLI ready, Quad-Core ready, overclocking, and lifetime warranty.

Weakness: Layout, buggy Bios for now, and lots of known issues which I haven't experience yet.

Great board if you're looking to overclock your Core 2 Duo and EVGA offers both excellent customer service/technical support. RMA is easy and one of those companies who actually treat their customer right! Remember to register your board within thirty days to take advantage of crossshipping warranty.

By ItsOnlyAComp - Feb 10, 2007

EVGA 680i Motherboard

Strengths: Overclocks great. I am running E6600 at 3.0Ghz without breaking a sweat.

Weakness: None so far. Product perfoming well

This is a great motherboard. I have been holding out on picking up a 680i motherboard, waiting on ASUS. I finally decided that the EVGA had enough good reviews to use it. It installed without problems and POSTed on first attempt, using Corsair PC6400-C4 SLI memory and E6600 processor. I am looking forward to pushing this up to 3.6Ghz.

By HEB1022 - Dec 15, 2006

Mixed bag of ergonomics, but lots of capability.

Strengths: The 680i chipset, SLI slots spaced far enough for double-width cards to breathe, ready to OC out-of-the-box.

Weakness: Some TERRIBLE design decisions (including power and especially fan connectors and CMOS clear jumper); NB cooling inadequate even with optional fan, known problems with quad-core chips on board.

I've just put a system together with this board and am not sure if I'm thrilled or unhappy with it. The design allows for ton of overhead (I haven't maxed out my OC yet, but I doubt it will be board-limited in any way unless I don't upgrade the NB chipset cooler), but some of the decisions as to where to put components are BAD. (Edit: so I thought. Board #1 would't go about 290 FSB, an d after...
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I've just put a system together with this board and am not sure if I'm thrilled or unhappy with it. The design allows for ton of overhead (I haven't maxed out my OC yet, but I doubt it will be board-limited in any way unless I don't upgrade the NB chipset cooler), but some of the decisions as to where to put components are BAD. (Edit: so I thought. Board #1 would't go about 290 FSB, an d after RMA board #2 wouldnt' even stay stable at full stok 266)

Many people who will look at this card might want to run dual 8800-series video cards in SLI mode, either right away or down the road (I have 2 EVGA 8800GTS's in it). The Pro: EVGA spaced the slots so that the cards can both breathe... Very nice. The cons: your CMOS reset jumper and your "system" fan connector will be BELOW your lower video card -- meaning don't plan on using the system fan connector at all, and bring your screwdriver to remove your lower card if you need to clear CMOS (which is recommended after any BIOS upgrade, by the way). This is with EVGA video cards, and makes you wonder exactly how much thought the folks designing this board gave towards the enthusiast market. Ditto the Molex MB power connector right on top of the IDE connector -- the location is awkward, and frankly most people who will buy this mobo will be getting newer PSU's (such as the OCZ GameXtream series) that don't leave many molex connectors after attaching a couple of optical drives and a fan or two).

And the NB passive cooler is subpar, even with the optional fan. At stock settings, the NB chipset reads 46C in BIOS with the fan running. (To be fair, that's with my CPU reading 27C with H2O cooling). I'm sure that will be the first (and likely only) aftermarket component I get for this board.

But other than those gripes, the BIOS options are plentiful (if not always intuitive), the EVGA message boards are a great community for Q&A (almost reminding me a bit of DFI-street's in its heyday). I know a lot of people love their ASUS LGA775 boards, but this is a good alternative at a slightly lower price point that might end up producing as impressive performance, even with some head-scratching design decisions and strangely known bug with the quad-core chips. I'll be able to recommedn it more highly if my tired board (RMA #2) can do a better job -- at lleast get to the promised 333MHZ with stability!)

By geo442 - Jan 14, 2007

Good Board, Excellent Support, but not Perfect

Strengths: Cheapest 680i board around, Excellent Overclocking Options and Bios. Well thought out.

Weakness: A few quirks. Overclocking capability depends from board to board.

I'm definitely not knew to overclocking, and after reading Anandtech's review for the board, I knew they got me hooked. I was hoping for at least 400 FSB stable but unfortunately I was not able to get that. I've spent over a week looking for the ultimate limit of my board but I'm not entirely sure I've found out it yet. I do know that it is currently stable 375 FSB, as 400 is still not stable (I...
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I'm definitely not knew to overclocking, and after reading Anandtech's review for the board, I knew they got me hooked. I was hoping for at least 400 FSB stable but unfortunately I was not able to get that. I've spent over a week looking for the ultimate limit of my board but I'm not entirely sure I've found out it yet. I do know that it is currently stable 375 FSB, as 400 is still not stable (I tried it on a C2D E6600 @ 6x multiplaier with 400 FSB, and it was not stable.) I've also read Nvidia's overclocking guide found here, www.nvidia.com/docs/CP...
But was still unable get 1600 FSB stable. I've also tried 1700 FSB but it wouldn't even boot into windows with that and the board would give me a error about the speed forcing me into a SAFE cpu speed.

Although that may seem lackluster, it is still a great board in the sense that its BIOS was excellently designed as it automatically does the math for your CPU and Mem speeds. Also it fully supports the new nvidia control panel with nTune which is really nice.

There was one instance however that cause me much grief as my system suddenly powered down all of a sudden and I was unable to get it to boot. After testing every component (CPU/PSU/GPU/RAM) that could've possibly cause the system to be unable to boot I found it to be the motherboard. After almost RMAing the board I found the the fix to be discharging the board by unplugging it and holding on to the power button. That and the overclocking has been my only issues with the board so far.

Even with my lackluster overclock, I'd definitely get this board again from what is currently out there. Either this or a Asus Striker Extreme/P5B Deluxe.

System Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 @ 3.375 GHz (9*375) (1.45v) - L632A659
Sunbeam Tuniq Tower 120
eVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR nForce 680i @ 1500 FSB
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-8000 BL2KIT12864AL1005 @ 800 MHz 4-4-4-12
eVGA Geforce 7950 GX2 (590 Core/700 Ram)
Western Digital Raptor 160 GB

By Jedi2155 - Dec 21, 2006