WARNING! Important information about eVGA 680i board.

I got my eVGA 680i and 8800GTX yesterday. Some thoughts on the board and video card. I'm definately not trying to scare anyone off, just some information I would have liked to have BEFORE I ordered.

1) You cannot mount a Ninja on it without modification! Where you would normally install the steel backplate there are electronics that get crushed, killing your board. For now, you have to you the intel stock-style mounting holes or cut holes in the backplate to allow electronics to go in them. The back side of my P5W DH is completely smooth.

2) This is not a passive motherboard! The MCP gets to 93C in the BIOS with no load. It is scalding hot to the touch. You MUST install the fan or get ready to RMA for replacement boards. The fan is also very NOISY, though it drops temp to more reasonable 50Cish. After idling in Windows it was 101C. I didn't dare run any apps or anything at that point.

3) The stock MCP fan blows scalding hot air right across the CPU HSF. This raises your load and idle temps by about 12C. Be prepared for this if you have a horizontal-slat heatsink.

Other) The HSF on the 8800GTX does NOT EXHAUST ALL OF THE HOT AIR. About 80% of it is blown into the case through the top vents instead of out the back. I'm currently investigating blocking them to force it out the rear.

How this information helps. I'm returning my 680i and keeping my P5W DH as I miss how quiet it was. Also note that since this information is about the eVGA board, it's safe to say it applies to all other board makers following the reference design.

Of course I am keeping the 8800GTX. It's the same speed as the X1950XTX Crossfire I have (within a few percent), but it's a LOT quieter (the fan is a pleasant wooshing instead of the whine of the 1950's), and uses less power.

lol thats a hot board, I havnt heard any of these things about it yet, could it be yours was defective somehow? If your not going SLI the p5w dh is perfect mobo anyway.

Could be. But while it was noisy as hell, it ran great! It was fast and very stable. The fan didn't sound like it was broken either. It was just annoying as hell.

Hmm i was really debating getting this board as well.. not so much after what you have said. I have an ultra 120 i wonder if that will mount correctly.. Also doesnt your p5w run at around 50C idle? Also this board is supposed to be a passively cooled mobo.. the fan is to be used when "extreme ocing" were you just at stock or what? Also how is the airflow in your case?

Sure, and upper 50s running. It's passive too. It doesn't hit 101C like the MCP does at idle though.

Great board otherwise. If you don't mind the noise and have a cooler that works, it's awesome.

The airflow in my case is good (120MM Nexus exhaust on P180, no filters or screen up front, so straight shot in for the intake). I didn't dare try to overclock.

I've been seeing too many bad reviews from this board and chipset.

I guess I'll be delaying my C2D build for the ATi RD600 NB, R(S?)600 SB, and C2Q afterall.

I'm not in the mood to go and buy anything that does not have a memory controller that can't match up with AMD's on-dye controller which comes in handy for the tasks I perform.

I guess I'll be sticking with my greatly sufficient(unless i'm rendering) rig for the time being.

I just upgraded from near-exactly your specs. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't get to hand my parts down to my wife who needed an upgrade. Definitely hold off on your rig unless it's not meeting your needs.

so elude your going to go back to the p5w

so elude your going to go back to the p5w? I was really hoping on picking up these evga.. maybe ill just wait til the other manufacturers get their boards out. Ive heard mixed things on this board. they say the fan is really quiet but you say its loud . So any heatsink with a backplate isnt going to work on this board or what? Have you tried to take off the sinks and put some as5 on there?

trendx said:

so elude your going to go back to the p5w? I was really hoping on picking up these evga.. maybe ill just wait til the other manufacturers get their boards out. Ive heard mixed things on this board. they say the fan is really quiet but you say its loud . So any heatsink with a backplate isnt going to work on this board or what? Have you tried to take off the sinks and put some as5 on there?

Click to expand...

Ya, I've still got it. I WAS replacing it with the eVGA, but I'm going to hold off. I say it's loud, but that's relative. The rest of my case is 7V Nexus 120MMs, so take that as you will. It's a high pitched noise that bothers me.

The backplate won't work without cutting it with a dremel, nope.

I didn't bother removing the heatsinks because they were already scalding to the touch, AS5, if it helped, would conduct MORE heat to them, something I felt was happening already .

I love this bored aside from these small issues .

Welcome to the Forums, eluderm3! Thanks for the info on the 680i. I've been gathering info for a CD2 upgrade this winter, and will take this into consideration.

Just find hard non-conductive washers the same size as the hole's built in washer[about 1/8" thick] and super glue them on.The AI7 I have has stuff I didnt want touching bare steel either. Im using a Hyper48 and its not the lightest HS out there either lol. Its been on without issue for 2 years now.

aw crap!

hi eluderm,
That fan sounds really bad! I have a couple questions: Is your case open? If you closed it, do you think that would tone down tha fan? What kind of fan is it, and do you think it could be replaced by a quieter fan? Can you think of any other ways to make it quiet?

You see, I just ordered this motherboard this morning, but I am really having second thoughts about it after having read your post. I have a few other questions though.

You say your motherboard ran really hot, and that you wouldn't dare overclock it, but how do you account for the discrepancies between your hot motherboard and other review sites which say they had massive overclocking with this board? I hate to sound like an interrogation, but all of the reviews I have read about this board said nothing about heat problems like you described.

I just bought the eVGA board on Friday and I must say it is equally as quiet as my old ASUS P5WD2-E Premium, which along with a Big Typhoon was/is dead quiet. Right now my case is open and I can hear it, but it's by no means loud. However, there do seem to be some BIOS issues so it might be a good idea to see how the new P20 BIOS that should be here this week addresses the issues.

shadyJ said:

hi eluderm,
That fan sounds really bad! I have a couple questions: Is your case open? If you closed it, do you think that would tone down tha fan? What kind of fan is it, and do you think it could be replaced by a quieter fan? Can you think of any other ways to make it quiet?

You see, I just ordered this motherboard this morning, but I am really having second thoughts about it after having read your post. I have a few other questions though.

You say your motherboard ran really hot, and that you wouldn't dare overclock it, but how do you account for the discrepancies between your hot motherboard and other review sites which say they had massive overclocking with this board? I hate to sound like an interrogation, but all of the reviews I have read about this board said nothing about heat problems like you described.

Click to expand...

All good questions. Here goes:

Antec P180, open and closed. Closed it's obviously quieter, but it's still obnoxious. Ambient noise is pretty low though here.

I'll look at the brand again, I can't recall. I don't know how a fan like this could be quiet except at a very low voltage.

Regarding the overclocking. Maybe it's supposed to be hot? I'm not sure, just seemed that 101C (reported) was extreme.

I'm going to play with it again tomorrow after work, dremel my Ninja backplate so it can mount, and see if the Ninja fan can spill some air onto it a bit.

tycanadian said:

I just bought the eVGA board on Friday and I must say it is equally as quiet as my old ASUS P5WD2-E Premium, which along with a Big Typhoon was/is dead quiet. Right now my case is open and I can hear it, but it's by no means loud. However, there do seem to be some BIOS issues so it might be a good idea to see how the new P20 BIOS that should be here this week addresses the issues.

Click to expand...

Where did you get this new BIOS?

Mine seems to run fine. The fan isn't too loud to me? But I have my two 120mm fans blowing into teh front of my case as well as 3 x 80mm on the side. Last time I looked it was running inthe high 40'sC. I'll check later after a gaming session. Also, it's not overclocked yet.

You should read this thread.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1119603
It seems to have some info that might help you.

A solution to for the noisy fan?

Here's something that might work: the Thermalright HR-05 chipset fan

I think I might try this. Hopefully it will work for the MCP. The only thing is, the SPP has to be cooled as well, what will work for that?

I'll email Thermalright now to ask about compatibility.

I would think some plastic spacers between the motherboard and backplate would fix the HS mounting problem.

MCP temps are higher then reviewed, and your fan is louder then reviewed.

The direction the MCP is ventilated is a poor choice regardless if your MCP is running hot, it could use come ducting (tword the back of the case might make sence) as it is.

@Burnout01.. thats the OP's duplicate thread at [H]

@Owenator any MCP temperature reading updates?

Burnout01 said:

You should read this thread.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1119603
It seems to have some info that might help you.

Click to expand...

That was his article on hardforums

I was planning on ordering this board today,now I am not sure if I should hold off for DFI or something else.

Board is fine...Cpu@ stock and 2.4Vdimm (probly 2.3V is ok.too)....