MB upgraqde?

[Duke{CLR}]

I just got this Email from EVGA. It seem like a reasonable deal. Any thoughts guys?




EVGA is proud to announce the 680i Motherboard Upgrade Promotion.
EVGA is offering a special (1) one time upgrade promotional program
to all of its
(122-CK-NF68-XX)* registered customers. This program is for a limited
time and will run for 60 days. (122-CK-NF68-XX)* customers will be
able to upgrade to the 780i
(132-CK-NF78-XX) motherboard for a one time fee of $89.99 USD or €79.
99.

What do you get for the $89.99 (€79.99)?
• New EVGA 780i Motherboard (132-CK-NF78-XX)
• 3 Way SLI Bridge ($20 USD €14 Value)
• Free Ground Shipping** ($10 USD €7 Value)
• PCI-E 2.0 Slots
• 3 x16 PCI-E Slots
• ESA Certified Platform
• New Upgrade Warranty (–A1 Limited Lifetime / -T1 2 Year Limited
Warranty)

All products must be registered (http://www.evga.com/myEVGA/)
You will need to send in your EVGA 680i Motherboard once you have
been approved for this promotion.

Please visit our website at: http://www.evga.com/680iupgrade/ and
then log in to see this upgrade offer.

Thank you,
EVGA Marketing

[Dead...Again]

Sounds like a deal to me, as it should be more future-proof. Does the 780i use DDR2 or DDR3?

[juneau]

Go for it! No offence but the 650/680 boards were never that great. But the 780 seems to be getting some very very good reviews. Plus it costs an absolute fortune. :D

[Duke{CLR}]

Go for it! No offence but the 650/680 boards were never that great. But the 780 seems to be getting some very very good reviews. Plus it costs an absolute fortune. :D

Now have the reviews been about the 790 or the 780?

[random_id]

Here's a review:
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13790

[BenKenobi]

duke you know I have a 680i but I didnt get an email :(!!

[ChrisWW11]

tri sli sounds pretty sick. Alienware has already began the configuration with tri sli also.

[Duke{CLR}]

duke you know I have a 680i but I didnt get an email :(!!

It's open to everyone. Go the the EVGA page and there is a link for it. The big thing is that you must have registered your board.

[BenKenobi]

nevermind, I hadn't registered it. I dont wanna have to open it up and look take it all out just to look at the serial number yet lol what a pain

[BenKenobi]

By the way, I'm probably going to do this as I've always had problems with the board (ps2/keyboard problems) so yeah... brand spankin new board for 90 bucks im game

[darth_nevus]

go for it. i'd buy that!

[Duke{CLR}]

The review wasn't all that great it seems that it performs on par with the 680 on a lot of the tests. So it looks like I would get PCI 2.0, 45nm support and a 3rd PCI slot (which I wouldn't use.) For $90.00. I have been wanting to RMA my board for the changes that will allow me to go quad core so maybe I will just do this instead.

Here is an image of two spec sheets side by side for those who may be interested.

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/1049/680780vr6.th.jpg (http://img116.imageshack.us/my.php?image=680780vr6.jpg)

[darth_nevus]

The review wasn't all that great it seems that it performs on par with the 680 on a lot of the tests. So it looks like I would get PCI 2.0, 45nm support and a 3rd PCI slot (which I wouldn't use.) For $90.00. I have been wanting to RMA my board for the changes that will allow me to go quad core so maybe I will just do this instead.

Here is an image of two spec sheets side by side for those who may be interested.

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/1049/680780vr6.th.jpg (http://img116.imageshack.us/my.php?image=680780vr6.jpg)


actually, the native 1333MHZ fsb would be the key selling point for me. the new chips would run alot better, than having to hodge podge the bios to get them to work right. besides, its an upgrade path. but its a fair amount of work as well.

[BenKenobi]

Yeah looks to me like they just slapped on another slot and the new proccessor support methinks

[darth_nevus]

i'm pretty sure there more to it than that. firt off i believe its 65nm process, unlike tghe 680i that i swear is done on the 90nm process.

[Duke{CLR}]

I think with the improved cooling and the guaranteed 45NM support and not having to RMA my board to OC a quad core it's a no brainer. There are 59 days left in the promo so I will wait until I can read up a bit more on it but it seems like it might be a rare opportunity.

I also looks like it will be a lot of work but I can take the opportunity to reinstall XPVista on a RAID when I reinstall everything.

The 680i will support one of the 45nm chips with a BIOS (I can't remember the name of the one) so they say. In the review linked above it mentions something about there being more to it then that and some changes to the MB are needed. They also talk about the NB and the SB and some other chip for the PCI 2.0. So there is definitely a bit more to this 780. I also wonder if the benchmarks they ran could improve with new drivers/BIOS.



EDIT: I went for it. I can always cancel it if something bad happens but I think it will be OK.

[KyleRiley]

when given to upgrade to something better, don't hesitate, just do it. go with the mother board!

[Duke{CLR}]

Crap I am way back in line. I signed up that night and I am 432 in line. I wonder how long it takes to manufacture that many Mobos.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5755/quewi0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[juneau]

Not that long at all. The first batch will be mahoosive. :D

[Duke{CLR}]

I hope so. I have been reading about the problems with the early versions of the 680i so i'm anxious to see what the difference will be.

[WalkinTarget]

Sheesh, be glad thats not a lunch line you're waiting in !!!

eVGA is always worth the few extra $$$, but it certainly looks like the mainboard is not much of a benefit for the existing hardware out there, so this won't be flexing its computing muscle until newer items such as the 45nm Intel chips and next generation of video cards come out (mid-January ?).

[Duke{CLR}]

I read something about issues with it's network abilities and that the older boards never performed well. This is supposed to be fixed with this board so I am hopping to see some sort of immediate benefit but who knows. I do get some lag like symptoms on this machine where I don't get them on the other computers that use this network maybe this will fix those.

[darth_nevus]

good news at 432 your not in the first batch. the first batch is always full of worms. You'll do just fine.

On a side note, i am VERY proud of you. coming from buying prebuilt pc's to making decisions like this and dropping it on a whim to completely reassemble the system a second time in 2 years!

We taught you well young padawan. its great to see yet another preson removed from the wretched grip of Dell and prebuilt "gaming" pc's in general. you leanred well and fast. :2thumbs:

[Duke{CLR}]

Thanks I can't believe that it was only a year ago and I was just thinking about building. I owe it all to you guys for helping me get going. I also have a lot of spare time on my job to read up on this stuff so thrown some RSS feeds and I can actually start to understand some of this stuff.

My next goals are to understand memory OCing and RAID.

Of course the real test will be disabling and reassembling without cooking anything I hope to be able to do it in a single day. :D

[Rand{CLR}]

Bump for a silly(?) question:

Will the 680i Mobos support 45mm at all? With a BIOS upgrade? Or are most of us up the creek if/when we wish to move to a Penryn Chip?

-Rand

[Ghost_Rain]

I have 650I mobo and I never had any problems with it :D

[Duke{CLR}]

Bump for a silly(?) question:

Will the 680i Mobos support 45mm at all? With a BIOS upgrade? Or are most of us up the creek if/when we wish to move to a Penryn Chip?

-Rand

I found this on the EVGA site.

The EVGA 680i SLI, 680i LT SLI, and 650i Ultra motherboards will support 45nm Wolfsdale (dual core) CPU's with an upcoming BIOS update. 45nm Yorkfield (quad core) CPU's will be supported on nForce 700-series SLI motherboards.

[Dead_And_Gone]

Good deal :2thumbs:

home guilt computers, you'll never go back to retail ever again :2thumbs:

[Ghost_Rain]

Bump for a silly(?) question:

Will the 680i Mobos support 45mm at all? With a BIOS upgrade? Or are most of us up the creek if/when we wish to move to a Penryn Chip?

-Rand

From what I have been read ob Various web site the answer is no :cry: this is why they are bring the 750i and the 780i mobo

[BenKenobi]

Duke did you end up getting your 780 yet?

Theres still 23 days left in the promotion, still unsure if I should take advantage of it

[Duke{CLR}]

I am #26 in line this time last week I was #432. So in a week or so I should be sending mine in. I will keep you updated.

It can't hurt to sign up because they wont charge you until they recieve your MB.

[Duke{CLR}]

I just got my email to send in my MB. Unfortunately I am on day one of a six day trip. Fortunately I was able to set up my PC for remote access so I can transfer the files I need while I am away.

[Duke{CLR}]

It's off! I have FedExed my MB to EVGA. Whats cool is that I was able to ship it overnight and using their pacakaging and $250.00 coverage I only had to pay around $25.00 thanks to my %75 discount. :2thumbs:

It should tak aobut three days to process and 2 to ship back. Hopefuly I will have me system back together next week.

[GoatX12]

Bump for a silly(?) question:

Will the 680i Mobos support 45mm at all? With a BIOS upgrade? Or are most of us up the creek if/when we wish to move to a Penryn Chip?

-Rand

Yes, my XFX 680i Mobo just had a bios update come out that adds support for the 45nm processors.

[Duke{CLR}]

Bump for a silly(?) question:

Will the 680i Mobos support 45mm at all? With a BIOS upgrade? Or are most of us up the creek if/when we wish to move to a Penryn Chip?

-Rand

Yes, my XFX 680i Mobo just had a bios update come out that adds support for the 45nm processors.

Rand for your board the only 45mn that will be supported will be the Wolfdale(dual cores). That's for an EVGA board at least. i can't speak for other MB manufactures.

[WalkinTarget]

Depends on the board ... most will easily support it, and even many 650is will support all but the Yorkfield. My MSI 650i board will support the 84/8500 and even the 9550 quad ! They are testing the 9450 right now which is what I want to upgrade to, so I pat myself on the back for buying the board that I did and finding it is already certified for the new 45nm chips.

eVGA isn't known for their rigorous testing and CPU support updates (I own one, I know) so good luck with your 680, as I am sure it will support most, if not all, of the quads.

OOPS, spoke too soon:
EVGAs reply to the question:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=167016&mpage=1&key=𨳤

BOOO, Hissss !!! :(

[Dead...Again]

Bump for a silly(?) question:

Will the 680i Mobos support 45mm at all? With a BIOS upgrade? Or are most of us up the creek if/when we wish to move to a Penryn Chip?

-Rand

Yes, my XFX 680i Mobo just had a bios update come out that adds support for the 45nm processors.
Hmm I wonder if my Asus 680 board will support the 45nm cpus...