Is the 680i worthy?

Hello everyone,

I'm looking at board to put an E6600 in. Searching for a board that oc's well and one I won't have to jump through hoops for to get running.

Is this my best solution? SLI or Crossfire won't be used, but, if it has it that's fine too.

I've spent 6 years away from Intel, so I feel like a rookie all over again.All I want is a reliable board that can oc well.

Maybe a 680i --BadAxe2--Abit QuadGT?

Any help appreciated.

Thank you,

Flinch

Asus P5B Deluxe is highly reccomended here. I'm also getting ready to hop into the Intel Camp, i've been looking at the Bad Axe 2 aswell, but i'm not sure if its worth a whole $70 over the P5B Deluxe.

Thanks Nathan, but doesn't this board have issues with VDroop?

I'm using a 650i board and alot of it is the same as the 680i. On the 600i series i'd say

Here are some of the benifits

1.can do up to 500FSB on some setups without alot of tweaking
2.the SLI option
3.the option to unlink the memory speed from the FSB and run it at whatever speed you want.

Obviously there are other boards that you can get higher FSB. If you choose to go with 680i, stay away from the striker extreme. Alot of people are going with the EVGA. I am using the P5N-E SLI with a E6300 and the board will boot up at 496FSB but is not stable; however, I think its the binned E6300 CPU can't handle the high FSB.

The board I got is priced extremely well for what it offers, can definitely OC well, it runs solid at 485 X 7 for E6300. I cannot say that its the best possible buy for everyone but for me I think it fits well.

I think most motherboards have VDroop at least slightly Flinch.

Thanks guys, just trying to *measure twice and cut once* before I buy the board.

Flinch

Board, depends on the CPU you get...

E6600 -> Recommend the Asus P5W-Deluxe
E6300/E6400 -> Recommend the Asus P5B-Deluxe

Why the choices....

Alot recommend the P5W-Deluxe for the E6600 due to the slightly higher preformance as well it won't limit the normal clock of the E6600. If you really want ot push the E6600 you might consider the P5B-Deluxe then.

For the P5B-Deluxe, well I recommened it because I have it and has been a great mobo. Not limiting my OC to any mentionable means.

If you go SLI yes consider the 680i, if you go crossfire, well thats another story theres work arounds with some boards with that if you don't want the RD600.

brakezone said:

stay away from the striker extreme.

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Stay Away from the Striker Extreme

Thanks guys, 680i it is.........Striker=nightmare!

680i only if you have defanite plans to go SLI.

greenmaji said:

680i only if you have defanite plans to go SLI.

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A lot of members think one GFX card is plenty and SLI is a pain to deal with.

dudleycpa said:

A lot of members think one GFX card is plenty and SLI is a pain to deal with.

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Or just a waste of money unless you have a 24-30" LCD monitor.

No plans to go SLI, I like the fact that it's a consistent high clocker.

If you what a higher clocker the P5B-Deluxe is the spot. You save a bit but you won't get SLI unless its a hacked driver.

But also take into account that your are getting an E6600. That doesn't need "high" memory clocks to preform very well because of the multi. The P5W-DH in that case is what you should be looking at.

Flinch said:

No plans to go SLI, I like the fact that it's a consistent high clocker.

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Then take deathman's advice

The 680i is not a motherboard worth looking into to run a single GFX IMHO.

The 680i a consistent high FSB overclocker? Better do some research because from what I've seen and heard that's not always true. Lots of people have problems with the 680i at high FSB. I agree with Green and Flinch, if you have no plans to SLI, then look elsewhere.

Flinch said:

Thanks guys, 680i it is.........Striker=nightmare!

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Flinch, 680i is a very reasonable board (thus far). Just made the jump from AMD after years in that camp. The initial overclocking steps on Intel are easier, just a matter of finding where in the BIOS you do what. My sig shows the current state after a day of playing. No doubt a final overclock will take awhile but that's part of the fun, at least for me.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the advice guys, I went ahead with the 680i. If it turns out to not be what I was expecting, then I'll consider the Asus.

deeppow, I'll be watching your sig

Oh... Well the DFI RD600 LanParty is pretty much the ticket. Newest BIOS has people verified to run 550 FSB. It's Async memory ratio's actually work geart for everyone. So 400+FSB doesn't mean you run 1:1 and spend a ton on very expensive ram. It's SATA RAID works great. Has 2 RAID controllers including the Promise controller which has definitly proven it's self in reliability. Most of the 680i boards are having one issue or another with RAID corruption.

And the BIOS has a great range of voltages and settings for just about anything to get the highest clock possible with a LOT of trial and error. It also has vertually no vdroop. Think it's like .01v which is the best I've seen for a Conroe/Kentfield board. Being that you are running a E6600 I would have recomended the RD600 first as it's the best running out of the box board out their and the Bad Axe 2 second. The BA2 is just plain solid. Not the best for FSB 500+ but it's great for high multi CPU's like E6600 and up that are not going to run on a 500+ FSB.

So if you get all the problems a lot of others are having with the 680i I would look into one of those 2 boards.

Edit: I did forgot to mention the only flaw I see in the RD600 currently is it's vCore only goes to 1.6v which is probably more than enough for about 95% of the people on OCF but those extreme OCers out their that want to push their CPU's want more so a vCore mod would be needed. The vDIMM goes to like 3.0v I believe.

I definitely will, thanks.