Need 2nd Opinion B4 RMA on 680i

[aigomorla]

I think i narrowed it down to my board. But i want a second opinion b4 i active my EAR on my 680i

So, my board froze on me in bios. It also freezes and artifacts once in a while.

I know it cant be temp related because my entire board + cpu + GPU is watercooled.

I have reformated, and i get the same problem.


So if the board locks up in BIOS, and artifacts and then locks up in windows, what issue do you guys think it could be?

And yes ive swaped my cards incase one is bad, and i get the same artifact problem, so my guess is not the video card as well.


Hardware:
EVGA 680i
PCnC 750W
Q6600
2 x 7900GT
4 x Raptors in Raid

 

[genec57]

I would reset the bios to defaults if you haven't already done so. If it still freezes RMA it.

 

[f4phantom2500]

yeah man does it give you problems at stock?

 

[aigomorla]

Yes it was one of the first things i did on a reformat. I also reflashed to the same bios, just to make sure it wasnt a bios corruption issue.

still see issues once in a while.

And yeah, ive tried her at stock. :\


i seriously hate this board. Compared to my gigabyte P35, the 680i is a serious POS.


:\

 

[BoboKatt]

Man wish I could give you some insight. My eVGA 680i is running well and always has.. knock knock. Running it at around 3200Mhz with my e6600 and P&C 750 quad PS. Anyhow I have had hangs in windows... crashing while booting but all had to do with simply not being stable for my current OC.

Eventually I worked it out... and it runs fine at its current settings but I have never had the issues you are describing... especially in the BIOS or pixilation.

When in doubt as others have said and you might have done already, strip it down. I know our eVGA boards had issues with RAM requiring 2.3V on RAM or above? there was a whole write-up on the EVGA boards and so you could drop the speed of the RAM (set it to run async to something stupid like 700 Mhz and set your voltage to like 1.95-1.975. That could be an issue.

You could rip everything out? disable anything onbaord... go with only one video card, leave only one stick of RAM in there etc... no OC.. stock volatge yada yada, change around the power connectors from your PS, make sure everything is plugged in right, make sure nothing is shorting anything out on your board (loose screws that fall into the case)? change SATA cables, change power cable and the list goes on and on and see what gives ? I am not trying to patronize? I know you know what you are doing so I am just stating the obvious. I hate not being able to localize the problem and having to RMA.. God I hate it so I do understand you.

Is this the newer 680i? I never got a replacement but many did when they released the second revision.

 

[aigomorla]

yeah, this is my second board.

My AR was kinda borked and had a nasty fsb wall on quadcores. So EVGA was nice enough to swap it out for a A1, for the hell of it.

I tried everything you stated minus stripping the board out of the case.

The truth is, i cant, i have another quadcore as a nas that i can swap parts out on to test, but i cant strip the board out of the case.

Heres why

It took me 45 min to swap the video cards alone, and that was a pain to do. The only bad side of watercooling is when you need to debug.


Anyhow, i already got my RMA from evga, the hanging on code 26 means the board internal clock gen is borked, and evga said they would replace it for me. I just hope i dont get a crappy 680i with the 570SPP instead of the 590SPP.

 

[f4phantom2500]

are you sure it's not your ram? also, i know this sounds silly, but do you have another cpu hsf you can try? i had a laptop that, when i replaced the heatsink (with an identical one, the original was damaged), wouldn't even post.

if you can't determine it to be any of your hardware, i'd rma that sucker and pick up a different chipset.

 

[aigomorla]

its my MCP.

The internal clock gen, code 26, is the problem.

And i have 3 quadcores with 2 different platforms to test parts out on.

On the P35, she's fine, and im actually typing on her as we speak. Also checked the ram.

Im on my third pair of ram. I dont push the voltage on it any higher then 2.175 now.

The first ram i lost was because i set it at 2.3 The second pair i lost was at 2.25

I gave up on the third pair and told myself no higher then 2.175 which is below what factory recomends. And ive already passed 3 times on memtest on the P35.


:\


Im going to give the 680i one last chance, b4 the X35 chipsets come out. After that, im going to chug it out the window or have my dog play freezbee with it.

 

[lopri]

What is your FSB? 9x400?

 

[PCTC2]

haha. Aigo. That only happened to me when I tried to push my RAM too high or set my crappy ProMOS to 1T (very bad idea). wouldn't stay responsive enough to even change one setting.
also when i decided to try to use clockgen. Crashed, rebooted my E6400 at 50 MHz (6.25*8), crashed, and needed the CMOS to be cleared.

anyways, if you chuck the 680i, want to sell it to me? hahahahaha.