EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 nForce 780i SLI 3xPCI-Express x16 PCI-Express 2.0 Socket 775 A1 Version Motherboard Reviews

• Should have been called 690i

  
  By A3UCBB31CHUYJY on 2008-03-28
  
  nVidia in their current marketing scheme can't name anything correctly, but that's another story. Their really is alot of good with this board, more than bad. NOTE: This is a Foxconn board. It is made for XFX/Evga, and Foxconn is a middle to cheap mobo manufacturer. Not exactly ASUS here, but a good board and not as bad as some other Mfg's or even other Foxconn products.
  
  If you are new to overclocking or never had the proper tools to do so, this board is for you. Simply put, it is the most user friendly board I have seen in awhile. Very easy to assemble, good manual. The front case header wires are in the middle of the board (?) as opposed to bottom right as is custumary. Everything you need is in the BIOS. Simply press the "Delete" or "Del" key on powerup to go into the BIOS and explore. Yes you can get into some trouble, but usually the settings are green colored meaning "safe" or red colored when you exceed them. I owned the 680i too, and this is similiar with less bugs in it.
  
  They added a chip for the PCI-E 2.0, and 3 Way SLI. Only the 1rst and 3rd slots are PCI-E 2.0, the middle is x16. But really the bandwidth of 2.0 is barely touched even with the newer 2.0 video cards. Only GTX and Ultra cards can run 3 Way SLI too. The 9800GTX was just released, you can use these too.
  
  The memory standard is DDR2-1200. I will caution everyone going out and getting memory beyond 800 that the BIOS defaults to 800 for ALL MEMORY. You need to change that in the BIOS. Its fairly simple to change the timings and voltage, and as usual, follow the specs of your memory. There is some confusion about what qualifies as SLI memory. Anything that says SLI or EPP (Extended Performance Profile) qualifies. I am currently using Transcend DDR2-1200, you can get on the Egg when in stock. It's cheap, has huge heatsinks, is rated as 1200 MHz with 5-5-5-15 2T timing @2.2Volts. Think 2 gigs is like $100. It's not even rated as SLI Memory but BIOS sees it as such with 2 sticks. For some reason with 4 sticks the "SLI enabled" memory option in the BIOS disappears . Nice micron chips to boot! But this is just my opinion, use your own discretion. Running 4 banks of memory will also slow you down some too, if OC'ing is your main goal. My suggestion if you want to play with your memory, download Memtest 86 to a floppy and boot to that and see if your settings are stable. The test will take about 45 min to run full 9 cycles. I was able to get stable 1330 MHz on a relaxed 6-7-7-20 @2.30 Volts. Some people have screenshots of 1400 MHz too! So overall DDR3 has little to offer especially at some of the timings it has. Plus you save some money, although the cost of DDR3 keeps coming down every day, still doesn't justify the current pricing.
  
  CPU support for 45nm chips is nice when they materialize. The voltage increments in the BIOS allow for very fine adjustments. Think it's 0.005 Volts. I bought a factory sealed Q6700 on E-auction for $300 around Christmas and got it to 3.8 GHz on this board, not much higher for reasons I will state later. In the BIOS you have the option of "Linked" CPU to memory or "Unlinked" to set your own CPU FSB to memory MHz. I don't recommend going over 1.5:1 CPU FSB:Memory. But that depends on the chip you are using. I know the Q6600 can OC to 4.0GHz with a 9x multiplies and pushing the bus up alot.
  
  The problem with OC'ing this board, simply put, is overheating. This is something nVidia has been doing awhile, and is a trend they must stop. There are other boards that will OC better, just not with nVidia chipsets. nVidia make chips using older dies instead of newer shrinks to save money. The Northbridge or "SPP" has this huge razor sharp finned heatsink with a cheap little clip on fan that blows hot air onto your video card. You can adjust the Fan speed in the BIOS, I run at 100% but it is very noisy. Then again, I don't really care about the noise so much. The smaller Southbridge or "MCP" gets way too hot. I can't get stable 4 GHz OC because the BIOS temps on this thing get close to 80 C and shuts down. The chip will reside underneath you video card if you are using long cards (8800GT, GTS, GTX, etc) For these reasons, if you want maximum OCability, don't buy this board without liquid cooling. I'm using a Koolance Exos 2 system for the CPU and GPU. I don't want to buy the water blocks for the chipsets because I am upgrading to the 790i. Thanks eVGA ;). The 90 day step up works for this board, and if you purchase from Amazon, it is on the eVGA list of recommended e-tailers.
  
  I haven't tried 3 Way yet, can't afford 3. But I have a 9800GX2 coming. The scaling improvement of 3 cards over 2 is less than going 2 from 1. Although some of the benchmarks have some good scaling performance. So if you demand the best Video with mediocre OCing, this board is for you.
  
  One last thing about Amazon customer service. I read that rant that guy went on, and was not my experience at all. The price is cheaper than the Egg or alot of other places. Free shipping, no tax. Love it. I actually have 2 boards. This first was reported by UPS as damaged in transit. Called amazon (you really need to dig the help section for the phone call back option) and next day they sent me another. The other I threw in the garbage ;. The phone reps are foreigners contracted out, but are very knowlegeable and have been empowered to do more that alot of other companies would have. For these reasons, I really will check Amazon first when looking for my next and future builds. And like I said, eVGA will allow you to step up to new board like the 790i simply pay the price diffrence from what you paid for this ($239) minus the cost of the new part ($329) = $80. Great Mfg, great retailer.
  
  
  
  

• You might want to wait....

  
  By A20BF8O0IHTYXY on 2008-01-29
  If you wonder what the difference between 680i and 780i is, the answer is they are identical except nVidia added two more upgrades....
  
  1. nForce 200 chip and
  2. of course, 3-way SLI
  
  The nForce 200 chip is essentially an additional chip to handle PCI Express 2.0. It doesn't really help the 3-way SLI function but does boost performance in SLI configuration.
  
  In terms of 3-way SLI, to be honest, you really don't need three graphic cards. An OC 8800GTS 520mb can easily bring you over 10k 3DMark. And guess what? Even the record breaking group did not use 3-way SLI to pass 30k. Point is, don't get attempted to buy this card because of this feature. (P.S. They do use 780i as their MB.)
  
  One last thing, 790i may realize in February. It is worth to wait the new technology instead of paying over $250 for minor refresh.
  
  
  
  

• More than just a Chipset update

  
  By A266Z0989UFKAC on 2008-03-05
  The 780i has updated support for higher clocked RAM. The 680i supports 800MHz ram but has minimal compatibility with RAM that has a base speed above that. It does not support the newer PC9200 (1150MHz) RAM like the 780i. Although the PCIex 2.0 and the nForce 200 upgrades may seem minimal, the added support of higher speed RAM can be the factor that would sway someone to purchase a 780i as opposed to the 680i. I have included a list of known supported memory for this board below (exluding memory below 667MHz):
  
  -----SLI READY MEMORY-----
  
  *Above 1066 MHz(Above PC2 8500)*
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-9136C5DF
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
  
  *1066 MHz(PC2 8500)*
  OCZ OCZ2N10662GK
  OCZ OCZ2N10661G
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5
  Kingston KHX8500D2K2/1G
  OCZ OCZ2N1066SR2GK
  OCZ OCZ2N1066SR1G
  PNY D22GX85GMR
  
  *900 MHz(PC2 7200)*
  OCZ OCZ2N900SR2GK
  OCZ OCZ2N900SR1G
  OCZ OCZ2N9002GK
  OCZ OCZ2N9001G
  
  *800 MHz(PC2 6400)*
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C3DF
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4D
  Crucial BL2KIT12864AL804
  Crucial BL12864AL804
  Crucial BL2KIT12864AA804
  Crucial BL2KIT6464AA804
  Crucial BL12864AA804
  Crucial BL6464AA804
  Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2/2GN
  Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2/1GN
  Patriot PDC22G6400LLK
  PNY D22GX64GMR-4
  
  
  -----STANDARD MEMORY-----
  
  *Above 800 MHz(Above PC2 6400)*
  Kingston KHX9600D2D/2G
  Kingston KHX9200D2/512
  Kingston KHX8000D2K/2G
  Kingston KHX7200D2K2/2G
  Patriot PDC21G8000+XBLK
  Patriot PDC21G8500 ELK
  Crucial BL2KIT12864AL1005
  G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ
  Mushkin XP2-1066
  
  *800 MHz(PC2 6400)*
  Mushkin XP-6400
  Mushkin XP2-6400
  OCZ OCZ2G8002GK
  OCZ OCZ2P800R21G
  OCZ OCZ2T8002GK
  Corsair XMS6405v4.1
  Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400
  G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ
  G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR
  G.SKILL F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK
  G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
  Team Xtreem PC2-6400 800MHz 3-3-3-8
  Team Xtreem PC2-6400 800MHz 4-4-4-10
  Patriot PDC22G6400ELK
  Geil Ultra GX22GB6400UDC
  Super Talent T800UX2GC4
  
  *667 MHz(PC2 5400)*
  Corsair VS512MB667D2
  Buffalo D2V667C-1G/BJ
  Patriot PDC21G5300LLK
  PQI 5400 Turbo
  Kingston KHZ5400D2K2/1G
  Geil GX21GB5300SX
  Muskin xp2 5300 2x1gb
  Mushkin HP2-5300
  
  

• Good, but could be better.

  
  By A2YDK50S4K2JCX on 2008-05-15
  This review will be divided in three parts dealing with the chipset choice, the 780 itself and specifically with the EVGA mobo.
  
  When choosing a chipset for your new mobo, you are confronted with basically two choices: Intel and nVidia.
  Intel chipsets are very stable and highly overclockable. If you buy an Intel mobo, you will be pleased to find out that on top of their stability they have no chipset fans, what contributes to the overall low level of noise of your system.
  The downside of the choice is that they do not support SLI, but Cross Fire instead. If you are a gamer, this is an issue because nVidia video cards are far ahead ATI's in terms of performance and power consumption.
  nVidia mobos obviously support SLI, but have a serious thermal issue. Their chipsets get extremely hot and, perhaps because of that, are generally more limited when it comes to overclocking. My own personal claim about it: nVidia, PLEASE, INVEST IN NEWER DIES TO SOLVE IT!
  This thermal issue, in turn, contributes to overall noise level, for you are forced to place a 60mm fan over your chipset. Summing up: if you run CPU intensive applications, like simulations, go for an Intel chipset/mobo. If you are a gamer, you probably have to choose NVIDIA.
  Of course, all this discussion assumes you have chosen an Intel processor.
  
  If you have chosen an nVidia chipset, the choices today are 780 and 790. Ruling out the 790 for its price and DDR3 issues, you're locked with 780.
  As you probably read elsewhere, the 780 is just a 680 with 3 PCIE slots (2 of them are 2.0), ESA support and, most important of all, support to new 45nm Intel processors. Nothing else changed dramatically.
  Sometimes, 1333Mhz FSB support is advertised as something new, but it's not. Remember that xx50 processors were already supported by 680 mobos. The real issue is the 45nm Penryn technology.
  nVidia could release 680 mobos with Penryn support if minor fixes were made. Quite understandably, however, they have opted to fix it and add some gimmicks to throw in a new product and basket the marketing gains.
  
  So far, then, two conclusions: the first one is that 680 mobos no longer make sense. The second is that you should buy a 780 mobo if, and only if, you are buying a new system today. If you are satisfied with your non-Penryn system, just up grading your mobo makes no sense.
  
  But suppose you're buying a new rig today and decided for the 780. What are the choices?
  
  As most people know, nVidia authorized partners do not produce their mobos. Instead, nVidia centralizes the process and allows them just to print their names (EVGA, XFX etc.) on the board. Therefore, the choice between these manufacturers is very subjective and done by details like warranty, RMA policies etc. Because my previous experience with EVGA was very good in terms of bios up-dates, I stick to them.
  What most people don't know, however, is that nVidia itself does not produce mobos as well. They buy them from Foxconn, medium-medium quality producer from Taiwan.
  In other words, be advised that you are not buying an nVidia/EVGA/BFG/XFX mobo; you're buying a Foxconn mobo.
  That said, what follows applies almost 100% to all these other manufacturers.
  
  It's a great product with two serious issues.
  The first one is its original incompatibility with SATA optical drives. The problem was fixed via bios update and there is a chance that if you buy a brand new mobo today you won't experience it. I had to go through it and it was a hard time: blue screen when trying to install anything, than finding an old IDE optical drive, updates...
  
  The second one is the position of the chipset fan (remember what I said before about heating?). The way it's placed, it blows hot air directly on your video card. Not the smartest thing to do considering that my 8800 Ultra already runs at 72C.
  Some have fixed it using a regular 60mm fan placed over the chipset radiator and inverting the airflow.
  I find this solution cumbersome for you won't be able to use the fittings to securely place the fan on the mobo.
  My suggestion is to cut the red and black wires of the fan about half their length and invert them, connecting the first half of the black wire to the second half of the red wire and vice-versa. You get the inverted airflow in a more elegant way.
  
  Others complain about minor issues such as non-solid capacitors outside the voltage regulation circuit, could-be-better codec etc, but these are minor.
  
  Over all, a good product.
  
  
  
  

• Buy from Someone Besides Amazon

  
  By A1V14LGW5ZWQH on 2008-03-22
  BUY THIS BOARD DIRECTLY FROM AN EVGA VENDOR or DIRECT FROM TIGERDIRECT. DONOT BUY FROM AMAZON UNLESS YOU WANT HEADACHES and DELAYS. Let their be no doubt, this is an excellant board with superb features. You are set to grow with this board, but with the 680i you are limited right from the start (although the 680i is a great board from those with limited funds). Additionally, I agree completely with the reviewer who states EVGA customer service is the best!!! It truly is. Conversely, Amazon and their customer service has a lot to learn about living up to their assurances and not allowing their customer service reps to blatantly lie to their customers. Bottom line, if they tell you something, you'd better get a name and check it out as I can assure you their word and image mean nothing to them. Additionally, if you need something in a hurry, you'd better go someplace else as Amazon has completely lost control of its shipping system and has no way, zero, of telling you if something has shipped or not. Don't believe the statements they make. i.e. "if you buy this today, you can have it delievered tomorrow". If you happen to get it, it's a complete fluke and they can't explain to you how it did, or didn't happened. Trying to communcate to someone in a position of responsibility is even more difficult to accomplish, if not impossible. Customer Service will not allow you to respond to their messages and the management team hides behind their chairs and refuses to talk to anyone, except maybe to instruct the Customer Service Reps to lie to the customers. BOTTOMLINE, their are many reputable places to purchase this board, Amazon is just not one of them. The customer service staff is a disgrace and the management (if they even exist) is even worse.
  BUY THE BOARD, its 6 STARS, but buy it direct from TIGER,EVGA, or a vendor who values their customer. Amazon is not one of them. If you'd like more details on this issue and the overall customer service problems at Amazon, stay tuned to your favorite pc magazine and the top blogs. It will be highlighted in the upcoming takes.
  
  Good Luck, and Best Wishes in your pursuit of "Blazin'Speed"
  
  JohnBoy
  
  
• Beware of the Video Corruption Bug
  By AKHC6P8J6O75Z on 2008-05-17
  Do not buy this board until the "rainbow artifact bug" has been fixed. When watching a video (e.g. avi, youtube, dvd, etc) rainbow artifacts are created making the video unwatchable and eventually crashes the system. This bug is being seen on all nVidia 7xx series motherboards. Go to the EVGA forums and the nVidia forums and this issue is discussed at length. Some users even posted a youtube video of what it looks like and I would recommend you watch it before you decide on a purchase. Both companies know about the problem but no fix is in sight. At first they wouldn't even acknowledge there is a problem. I was lured into SLi but should have researched more. Many users have been waiting months for a fix. I would recommend going with and Intel x38/x48 & crossfire solution because it is more stable. Benchmark scores don't mean anything when the board doesn't work and you spend more time rebooting the system than using it.
  
  
• better than most but smoking hot
  By A2W4EDIG449OLA on 2008-01-29
  I would give it a 5, but I have water cooling on the cpu and gpu and the board still runs 65c. What the hell is that. Notice to manufacturers, this trend is bogus. If the product runs to hot, include the right cooling solution.
  Still buy it, the best overclock out there.
  
  q6600 450 fsb 3600mhz, before you say well I see why it runs hot, it did not seem to effect the board temps vs stock settings. Board is hot.
  
  
• DOA
  By A37EW1AB8GW335 on 2008-04-14
  After tons of research, I decided to go with this board for my new system build. Unfortunately, Amazon has failed me as the board was practically DOA. It worked fine for about a half hour, then I'm fairly sure a capacitor blew and now my whole system is dead. I think this could have been due to the AWFUL packing job on Amazon's part. Sure, there was tons of padding the shipping box... too bad the actual item was shoved against the side where it didn't even matter. For shame Amazon, for shame... returning for a new board; will update then.
  
  
• Great board
  By A15GWUMJH0EJ8R on 2008-03-05
  I really like this board. I will not go into specifics, but one thing that I would like to make certain:
  Evga has SUPERB customer service!!!
  
  I am totally tired of calling MS just to talk to someone in India that couldn't care less. Evga will help you out... trust me!! A better choice between XFX and PNY.
  
  A good buy!!
  
  
• Best Motherboard on the market today.
  By A2XRIU3SOYZ0ZC on 2008-03-16
  If you are a PC gamer then this is the motherboard for you.This board has a place for 3 PCI-E X16 Video cards,4GB of Ram and up,Floppy drive and a bunch of hard drives & Optical Drives.Other than what i have listed this board is great for another reason,you can overclock your CPU and Ram all from the Bios menu.It is very easy to Overclock with this board,all you do is punch in the speed you want for your Cpu or ram and there you go.I have a Q6600 2.4Ghz Quad core Cpu and i had no problem getting it over 3Ghz,very simple.Place 3 8800 Ultras and 4GB of Ram on this board and watch as even the most demanding game such as Crysis plays nice and smooth with everything at max settings 16Q Anti Aliasing and Max Resolution.If you want the best get this board.
  
  
• Stable Premium Board; Manual is very good
  By A25WJCAP606YMP on 2008-03-21
  I installed this board with a Q6700 cpu, 8800GT, and 2GB RAM. It has run flawlessly without any qwerks. I love the alpha-numeric LED post code display (it will come in handy if you ever have a problem before the video process). I did have some problems with the optional Nvdia Network Manager software(HP Network printer would not install & possible problems with Orb) but I just uninstalled it and problem solved. 10 USB ports, 2 fire-wire ports, and 6 SATA ports is awesome. You will need to provide your own studs and screws for mounting. Very cool - my box runs between 30 - 35 C degrees with 1 video card. The manual is very clear and well organized - unlike some other mobo brands.
  
  
• Good Motherboard for a gamer or amateur overclocker.
  By A2GMH4CBT1V4R5 on 2008-04-03
  Pros: This was my very first build, and was easy to work with. Works well with 45nm processors. Mine is has a e8400 overclocked to 4.05 Ghz, which was rather easy. My mushkin ram worked well and overclocked on it with stock voltage. Cools pretty well on air. Came with plenty of cables and a good manual (something that other brands don't always provide). Good forums and help at EVGA website.
  
  Cons: MCP fan blows directly on video card, which hurts your video card temps. Some top of the line CPU coolers will not fit. Sli seems to be a waste since they are incorporating to processors on one car now (eg. 9800 x2).
  
  Overall, I am happy with this board. It serves me well and performs like a champ. Minor cons, but still a good board.
  
  
• JimmyHat
  By A22F0GCDDORHEU on 2008-04-15
  Well i usualy build AMD But i was talked into intel. (so i could tweak it) whatever! Its ok nothing special. I"m running 4 gig dominator (1066) sli 8800gts superclocked duel core wolfdale processor 3.0 ghz. 950watt Power. My asus
  A8N sli deluxe with 2.4 ghz proceser runs windows xp pro faster and BF2. "Intel" all about the numbers and benchmarks. Oh ya does'nt run sata cd/dvd drives yet. But they workin on it.
  
  
• Great mobo, Amazon Rocks
  By A3HDMIDIHX81YG on 2008-04-21
  I am happy to have this chance to buy this mobo for $240 only (cheaper than newegg) and free super saver delivery, it's awesome mobo and looks really good, very high performance and only misses solid capasitors, but really great Mobo. I ordered it from Egypt and used third party to ship.
  
  
  
• The 780i Wonder Board
  By A96OZ5X5TIVT6 on 2008-04-29
  This board is unbelevably great. I just upgraded from a 650i and am in complete amazement. The best overclcock I could get was 2.97 GHz on a q6600 now I can easily bump it to 3.8 and I am sure there is still roomto go. The 9800 GX2 I have runs like butter nowthat it doesn't have the processor weighing it down.
  
  On another note, the shipping withamazon was free (2 day shipping) Ordered on friday came monday morning :) been a while since I had such good service from Amazon. Good Job!
  
  
• Great Board
  By A1ZASIA6VGI80V on 2008-05-04
  Pos) Great Board Works very well with the SLI feature of Ram and Cards alike! Alot better than the lower 750i board. The SLI-EPP features are a great benifet over the 750i board. When buying Ram make sure you get SLI approved Ram for the extra speed. Or EPP approved Ram. EPP and SLI are the same.
  
  Neg) None so far really. Ive only had the board for a week or 2. MCP runs alittle hot. Keep an eye out on it. Called EVGA support and they told me the normal operating temps of the MPC is 50oC - 85oC mine runs 65oC idol w/Fan. I recommend u put on extra fan on it. I made a Homemade one.
  
  P.S)Make sure you have an 8 Pin power supply plug and not the 4 Pin. Do not use only the 4 pin you will overheat the board. U need a 500watt power supply min with this board (trust me)
  
  
• Solid Penryn Ready Mobo
  By A8HISD4SNS087 on 2008-05-12
  Good solid 3x SLI, 8GB DDR2, Penryn ready Mobo. What more do you need to know?
  
  
• yum
  By AFNJWCIYJWFPE on 2008-05-31
  This is great board.
  The price is a little up there, and the overclocking options as good as they are just are not that user friendly.
  other than that this is the best board i have ever had.
  
  
• Very Pleased
  By A3IBERN30JLQO6 on 2008-06-01
  This replaced an Asus M2N32-SLI 680i that croaked after I added a 2nd EVGA 8800GT. I haven't noticed the heatsink fan blowing on the graphics cards being a problem, but I have a Thermaltake CL-G0102 VGA Cooler on each one. I have 5 drives and 2 opticals running off this board & no problems whatsoever (so far; it's about 2 months old). It handles my Q6600 just fine, and the 4 gigs of Corsair Dominator ram. CPU & board temps idle at around 37C & <48C on Crysis at full resolution & options @1067 FSB. I took off a star only because the floppy port's dead; I don't even get a post when it's connected (3 floppy/cable combos tried) but I rarely use a floppy anyway. I haven't OC'd it yet but the BIOS has all the capability if I tried it. Good board!
  
  
• A Short Summary
  By A3BZ5R4NCZMMO on 2008-06-03
  [...] This board is one of the best due to memory options for DDR2. Overclocking is extremely simple to set up. Memory changes are pretty stable. The board has Tri-Sli capability but there doesnt seem to be much need for it. If you want a high end system, this board is essential. It is one of the few boards able to run ddr2 at its highest settings while running the latest processors.
  
  Now for the bad. The board does have a few flaws. From what I understand, Foxconn makes all of the boards. The first board I received had a problem with the SM Bus Controller. once the drivers were installed it would blue screen upon reboot. It had also experienced the 'Rainbow Artifact' problem some people have experienced. All 3D applications and videos would scramble making running them impossible. Within a few minutes, the system would blue screen. I spoke with EVGA and had a new board RMA'd within 2 weeks with normal shipping both ways. EVGA has great customer service, but lack on the technical expertise. The new board has been running smooth for a few weeks now. No Artifacts have come up on the new board. The MCP runs extremely hot and blows directly towards the Pci/PciE slots. It is forcing my 9800GTX to run very hot (around 60c). It would run the system fine with a lower card, but if you have a high end card it will heat up very fast.
  
  
• Wow... Hope you get lucky if you buy this board
  By A2TDFJ2F30GKGX on 2008-06-20
  Well let me start by saying you really need to be lucky to get this board stable. I RMA'd 3 times before I got one that even booted up past the FF error. After that, I can only overclock my Q6600 to 2.7ghz. And that's with an OCZ Vendetta 2 heatsink. Be smart people, if you're looking to overclock, do your research. DFI is the next board company I'll be purchasing from. Seems they're the board of choice.
  
  
• Highly rec.
  By AZK3DCNYE8HZK on 2008-06-30
  This is the best product out there far way better than asus card for a lower price, tech support is great, strongly rec. to everyone.
  
  
• EVGA 780i SLI motherboard
  By A97P8D0V0K0BY on 2008-07-07
  This is my first Intel build in many years. For the past few, I was an AMD fan, living on ASUS mobo's. I am impressed with EVGA, i'll be shopping for their videocards next. The mobo was packaged nice and neat. It came with every accessory and cable I could want or need. The round IDE cables were a nice touch, not to mention LOCKING SATA cables. I had purchased my own round IDE on my last build and spend probably $50 in addition to a $250 ASUS mobo, which had only plain non-locking SATA. Now for less than $250, I get a much nicer mobo, with a cleaner, more sensible layout, and incredibly nice cables to go with it. Vista64 home premium SP1 install to RAID O+1 array with 4 80GB SATA2 drives was flawless and without any incident. I had run RAID 0+1 on my two previous ASUS boards and they gave me nothing but grief and dropped drives every day. The EVGA might have dropped a drive 2x in last 2 months, which auto rebuilt within minutes anyway. This was my first serious overclock machine too, and I (read NOOB) was able to easily hit 3.0GHZ on an aircooled Q6600 that runs 2.4GHz stock. It's fast, clean and quiet, i can't wait to get my hands on some other EVGA products. I highly recommend this motherboard.
  
  
• My Opinion: Best Mobo for the money
  By A297XQVYK3VC1B on 2008-07-18
  
  Out of all my hardware this is what I wasted no expense getting what I wanted.
  
  Perfect for 9xxx series cards etc and tri SLI is just the open invitation for improvement.
  
  A mother board that will last through the rest of your hardware in performance.
  
  
• Frustrated
  By A2QPVMLYGGEZ95 on 2008-07-21
  I am building my first gaming PC and thought this would be a good starting point. So after days of reading reviews and deals I chose the 780 SLI. So far, it has been nothing but problems. Installation was very easy!! Along with a dual core quad processor 2.8, 4GB RAM, 8800GT VID Card and 500GIG HD. Went to install windows (three hours format-something's wrong) and received damaged HD or bad connection with media player meassage. Nothing wrong with HD or DVD player. So it's either motherboard, processor or memory. All three came from Amazon. I hope they don't give me any S$%^ making the returns. Western Digital is helpful as well as EVGA. I thought this would be a simple process, but I discovered different. If returning all three does not work, I will just give up and keep my AMD 64 workhorse.
  
  

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition FULL VERSION with SP2
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Nero Liquid TV
• Norton Internet Security 2009
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core Processor, 2.40 GHz, 8M L2 Cache, LGA 775
• Zalman CNPS9700LED Ultra Quiet Cpu Cooler
• Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Ultimate Gamer PC Case (Black)
• OCZ OCZN800SR4GK 4 GB Kit 800MHZ DDR2 PC2-6400
• Lite-On SATA 20x Super All Write LightScribe Internal DVD/Dual Layer RW Drive (LH20A1L06)