Hardware XFX nForce 780i SLI

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/01/10/xfx_nforce_780i_sli/1

We've already taken a first look at the nForce 780i SLI reference design, but how does it perform? Does PCI-Express 2.0 add much and is it an improvement over the nForce 680i SLI? We test single card and SLI to find out.

 

seems to me that in all fairnes,s unless you really want to put that 45 nm Penryn into your SLI system, its better to stick with the 680i for now. Improvements don't seem great enough to spend all this money if you already have the 680.

What baffles me, and what is kind of annoying, is that i want to build an SLI system, but i'd like to stick with AMD CPU's more than anything else so i don't have to buy another one, and that leaves me with the rather old 590SLI. When will there be a decent 680/780i rivalling chipset from nvidia for AMD CPUs?? (680a doesn't count)

for me, the horsepower of my system will not be hindered by a 12% loss to Core2Duos, i'm happy to save the £100s involved in switching platforms to intel, and get a phenom 2.4-2.6 sometime in the new year (when the TLB bug is resolved with new stepping, and hopefully better overclocking potential). for now though, 2 8800GTs or GTSs sounds pretty tempting, but 590SLI is old hat, and doesn't give me AM2+ or HTT3. I sit and wait.

 

The next AMD chipset: 780a which features this NF200 chip and HT3/AM2+ for Phenoms is due out very soon!

 

Could you please elaborate how you got your Sli working in Crysis?

 

alternate frame rendering.

tbh the only reason the 780 was concieved was because of the massive **** up concerning the 9650 support. EVGA offered me a 780 upgrade for next to pittance, i am very tempted but my major concern is the onboard cooling solution. I watercool my north and southbridge's but with my mosfet's cooliong heatpiped into the main northbridge cooler im screwed for cooling them, what alternatives are available if any that is? also i didnt see any mention of triple sli support (a 3rd GTX is pittance these days) and i think im one of the few that really likes crysis single player a lot.

 

I have tried AFR1 & 2 and AFR 3 under enhancer and I cant get SLI to function correctly, when enabling the load bars they show but when looking through something like a Tree opening the bars just drop down to 20% about, other areas it runs ok but it feels laggy compared to a single card, I would go as far as to say that Single card performs much better.

I have also installed the patch but no improvement in Sli at all. I did some benchmarks and I could not see an improvemwnt with SLi. Sli does work in other application though.

 

What drivers? I used 169.25's

Gun - EVGA does do a black pearl board for 680i using custom blocks, I don't know if the mosphet block from that would fit 780i.

 

Yes 169.25 WHQL Vista 64Bit.

 

Dunno about 64-bit mate, I ran 32.

 

I will try and run the 32Bit Bin file, and see what it does. Thx

 

Its ennoying to see that all of the 680i series waterblocks won't fit.

I also wish they'd get rid of that ennoying little Blue Power LED on the Mobo and replace it with something a little less bright (on 680i too)

 

Just tape it over with some electrical tape - that shuts it up! I like having a single LED to tell me a board is on, but I don't care for multiple LEDs telling me things because once it's in a case I never look at it again.

 

I'd quite like to see another board with the 4-LED boot sequence like on my Ultra-D. All of these Post codes just get me confunddled.

 

I think it is kind of strange that the article states that EVGA will only deliver in the USA when they have an upgrade program to the 780i for €80 in Europe. Will EVGA only upgrade and not sell new boards?

 

At the moment, that's the case yes. XFX has exclusive rights in Europe until allocation improves - the same is true for the US market, but the roles are reversed.

 

2 digit POST codes are FAR easier to understand than LED arrays because they are universal - learn them once and that's all you need to know.

 

so true

 

yep i feel for you , i am in the same boat . i just got a 6400 black edition as i think its very good for the price ..... i have stuck with asus mobo,s as i really like them and have not had any issues (all 6 of them) i talked to eddy from EK asking if he does or will do a mosfet block for the board i really want (asus crosshair) but he says the chipset is old now and wont be doing them

hope its not to long till the new chipset

 

I'm looking forward to the striker II, and hoping the heatsink doesn't change much so I won't have to make another custom-cut waterblock for it.

 

I have one, review will be soon(ish).