Where Are The Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Motherboards?

[eklock2000]

Off topic...but still interesting

Originally posted by: AstroDogg
Mega

Have you read this review? Stating that the Barcelona has no real chance of out performing the Core2.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2939
Altough the ATI R600 is expect to better the 8800. I do not know if this applies to the whole gpu family having the strength to knock down the 8950 as well.

I've also read that the 12.5" beast will require 300W of power (that's 600W for crossfire) making 680i/SLI the dealmaker for me.

IMO the R600/2800 series has problems attributing to/causing the delay.

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello Everyone. This is just a mini-update. The new Gigabyte video board arrived today in fine style from Newegg. It's a rather impressive item, with lots of interesting aspects, and quite colorful to boot. We'll see how it performs in the near future, when we get it fitted into the case, along with the other components. Upon a closer review of the relative positioning of some components, I have discovered that six (6) hard drives are indeed capable of being implemented in this case, with the array of components that I previously mentioned, so we're back to the original design. I'll keep you posted on the results. This thing sure has a bunch of stuff stuck in that mid-sized case. The array of colors, etc is enough to blind you! Have a great evening and stay warm (it's colder outside than a well-digger's butt in the great northeast this evening!). TheBeagle

 

[eklock2000]

...to ask the question yet again from the original post, where are they? All online retailers are showing out of stock. The egg had it estimated to come in on 3/5/07 and now they just list it as out of stock. Any insider info?

Sidenote - the eVGA 680i was looking attractive until I found out that it acts like a toaster for high volt ram, even newer revisions? I like toast, but not at $125 per slice?

Peace,

EK2K

 

[AstroDogg]

Zipzoomfly had them up until sometime today. You must of delayed your clicking of the confirm purchase button to long. Obviously they are on back-order. "early bird gets the worm" "you snooze you lose" I assume your mearly posting this as an insight and had no intention of making the purchase anyway at least not at those prices. Although I don't think your going to see it down to $310 again for awhile.

 

[Murderlove]

Indeed, I haven't seen a single store that sells them in the Netherlands. But I bet that board won't be under 310 Euro. The Asus Striker does look good now, since it's has become cheaper, but I'll wait a bit longer. Awaiting DFI and MSI for their boards. The biggest thing though that attracts me the most about the Asus Striker is that it has the LCD panel on which one could see the problems that could occur. I still can't make up my mind.

EDIT:
I'm not quite sure if i'm allowed to post news, but here goes. If it's not allowed do remove it admin.

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/11993

According to this, we can expect DFI's board at the end of the month? I seriously hope that the board has something on which i can see errors, for example something like on the Abit IN9 32-MAX.

 

[cdfire]

This is a totally noob question but, I got this board about 2 weeks ago along with Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 ram. Upon bootup the ram timing was 5-5-5-18. I changed it to 4-4-4-12 as per specs for this ram and it boots up fine, but I dont think the volts are 2.1, instead I believe there stock 1.8. The noob question is, since this board dont offer a simple volt adjustment that says 2.1 volts of which this ram says to use for 4-4-4-12. can anyone tell me what the right setting is to get it set at 2.1 volts. My math, which is not the best, says to chose the setting +0.300, but in the BIOS that setting is in the warning. Using the F3 BIOS Gary posted. Any help would be much apprecaited. I would test it out, but I dont have the cash to replace any parts if I fry them which means I would be out a pc for a very long time. The reason I ask also is, I think due to the low volts 1.8, things seem to open up slow such as office docs. Is there anyway to tell what the volts are at? Does it auto adjust when you change the timings? Thanks in advance.

 

[justinburton]

cdfire, I will tell you right now that I have that exact memory and yes you can easily overvolt it to 2.1V. The memory is tested at 2.1V with the 4-4-4-12 setting so you will be able to run it. It is true that +.3voltes is in the warning section, so if you are really scared, I would only overclock it to +.275, which is where I set my memory. You do have to change the timing yourself though to 4-4-4-12.

In general, it is very hard to fry your gear on newer motherboards. If you overclock anything on the motherboard too much, it simply won't boot correctly or windows won't be stable. So all you would have to do is reset the CMOS or take the battery out of the MB to reset it.

 

[cdfire]

Thank You justinburton. I did just like you and set it to +275 and set the timings to 4-4-4-12. Booted up NP. I am really hoping this fixes a issue I have been having. I had the timings at 4-4-4-12 for a few days now, but really felt the volts where to low. Anyways the issue I have been having is opening officexp files. When the pc first boots up and is ready to rock, I can double click on a office file such as an excel file and it opens right away, but after the pc has been running for a while, idling or playing games, it don't matter, when I double click on such a file to open it, it sometimes takes a real long time to open. Where talking a small excel or word file. I have tryed everything I can think of, including updating to the F3 BIOS Gary posted, applying the duel core patch from microsoft of which I am not even sure if thast for the E6600 processor I have, to even swamping out the SATA hard drive and installing XP Pro SP2 all over again on a differant SATA Hard Drive.

 

[eklock2000]

To Gary/others, is the "delay to market" possibly due to Giga engineers fine tuning the Boards/Bioses so that they are trouble-free? The Egg had a few a couple of weeks ago and continue to bump their expected ship-date by weeks at a time?

Anyone?

 

[cdfire]

I for one hope there working on a new BIOS. The SATA performance is really a disapointment. I got one of the boards from NewEgg and I cant even send it back for its for replacement only and they dont have any to replace it with. A lot of money for a board that takes up to 3 minutes to open a simple Office XP file or small JPG file. I should say double clicking on the file opens the file fast when the pc is first booted up, but let the pc idle for 30 minutes or play a game and then try to open a file by double clicking on it and I might as well take the dog for a walk and hope the file opens by then. Oh and I do have all the c1e and all that stuff turned off, have tested teh ram and processor and even changed hard drives.

 

[cdfire]

Gigabyte now has the F3 BIOS on there site. Wondering if Gary or anyone can confirm that its the same as the one Gary has posted here or if they tweaked it a bit.

 

[cobrasvt]

Boards are back IN STOCK at Newegg.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: cdfire
Gigabyte now has the F3 BIOS on there site. Wondering if Gary or anyone can confirm that its the same as the one Gary has posted here or if they tweaked it a bit.

It is tweaked and a final BIOS. I am using the F4B currently.

 

[cdfire]

Thanks for the info Gary. Just updated to the Gigabyte site F3, hoping it fixes my issues. As for the F4, why you teasing me man lol. Hows that going? Anything new and improved you could share with us?

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello Gary,

How's that review update coming along? What little tidbits of info can you share to feed the hungry masses? Now that I've gotten this board up and running, but not yet humming like a finely tuned watch, I sense that there's a good bit of future improvement in this critter, but that the incremental BIOS tweaks are the key to unlocking that potential.

As can been seen from the longevity of this thread, there's a fair number of folks who are interested in this adventure with this board. What's your assessment on how soon until it's time to truly rock-n-roll with some substantial performance advances. The F4B BIOS sounds interesting. The stability seems to be there, but it's getting near the time to make this thing fly! TheBeagle

 

[Smitty1705]

I've been lurking around for months and love the reviews and posts at Anandtech.

I have been putting off buying a new board and HOPING that this new Giga 680i board would be THE ONE to own. Two things are holding me back on buying a new system. I need to know what owners of this board think so far, do you really see more potential with this board then the EVGA version or any other 680i based board? The 2nd thing is just waiting to see what ATI is going to do video wise (how the new stuff performs), but I don't want to change the topic HERE.

Like The Beagle mentioned, PLEASE GARY give us something to nibble on with the new F4B bios! The posts here will determine if i buy this board and move forward. =) I have had a few Giga boards and they have always been GREAT boards, I have no doubt this one will be also!

BEAGLE - You have had your board for a while, and I have read your posts on your review. (thank you). Are you having issues with the SATA performance also or any buyers remorse?

Thanks in advance... Can't wait to see some updates on the new bios!

Smitty

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello Mr. Smitty. The quick answers to your two questions are: No & No! The F3 BIOS seems to have taken care of the SATA problems. The stability of the board is remarkable, and it indicates a probable significant potential for outstanding OC performance.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, it is VERY important to utilize good quality memory sticks - that element almost cannot be overstated, since it gives you significant latitude while tweaking other factors and not being constantly bothered by having to return to some tiny adjustment to the memory settings that may be brought on by adjusting other things. The second important factor is good cooling, the third factor is a hefty PSU (plan on at least a 20% reserve capacity).

It has been said that "you cannot hit a home run while standing in the dugout!" If your research and your gut tells you it's time to take the plunge - GO FOR IT! Best regards. TheBeagle

 

[Smitty1705]

How are the Quad cores working on this one so far? My plan is to buy an E6600/E6700 NOW and plop a Quad in later when I need more power and apps better support the multiple cores.

As far as memory, I'm really torn on 6400 or 8500 memory from Corsair. I saw a good post earlier that the 8500 isn't really needed with the better boards and faster procs now since you have so many options as far as multipliers. I don't plan on OCing really, but I may take the proc to 3.0 and that's about it. I want a simple air cooling solution. Will the Quads on this board work better with say 8500 vs the 6400? Trying to future proof a BIT if that's possible! hahaha

Thanks again for your repsonses..

Smitty

 

[cdfire]

I have only had my board a couple of weeks, but can say the F3 BIOS has helped out in the SATA department as far as data loss goes. I still see delays now and then after the system has been running for a while as far as opening office files or picture files, but I can not say for sure that this issue is related to the board or some other piece of hardware I have, Sorry I should have made that clear in my first post about the slow SATA, it seemed a SATA issue, but now I am not to sure. As for OC-ing, I can not comment for I have been working on getting the file issue worked out and to be honest I am totally new to the idea of OC-ing so basically I want to get everything running up to par before trying my hand at that. Over all I must say I really do like this board and I am glad I bought it and avoided most of the issues I read about with other 680I boards. I to have been using Gigabyte boards forever and as such I am confident that this will be the 680I board to have. Keep in mind all the other boards went threw many BIOS updates that improved a lot and as such I am sure the Gigabyte boards with go threw a few updates also, only it seems the major issues where fixed from the start with this board and the F3 BIOS slapped the data corruption issue right away.

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello Again Mr. Smitty.

I don't have a Quad-Core proc (yet), but I certainly plan on obtaining one as soon as the 1333 FSB versions become available and somewhat reasonable in price (HA!). I believe that going from the E6600 (with its 4 Mg cache) to a Quad w/1333 FSB is the right migration path for me, and I can certainly use the E6600 in another PC, etc. The arrival of the 1333 FSB CPUs will likely open up a whole new realm with this board (although Gary already has one of the prototypes - E6850 - and has had the pleasure of playing with that little gem).

The additional benefit of this board is that it was originally designed to operate at 1333 FSB, as opposed to being "upgraded" to that level by a BIOS upgrade. I'm certainly not suggesting that an upgraded board won't perform well at 1333 FSB, but when the design engineers are developing a board's basic elements, it's a bit more comforting to me to know that they were starting at 1333 FSB. It also means that Gigabyte would naturally have had some actual 1333 FSB CPUs to work with in that development process.

As far as the choice of memory is concerned, the imperative word is STABILITY! I personally selected the next higher grade of Crucial Ballistic Performance memory than what is spec'd for this board (BL2KIT12864AA1005). This memory is PC2-8000, 5-5-5-15, and rated as DDR2-1000 speed. I certainly am aware that there are a number of other manufacturers that produce higher speed memory, etc, but I have always had very good luck with Crucial memory (even though it appears that their parent company, Micron, was involved in the latest round of price-fixing, along with the other big players), and they have a rock-solid guarantee on that particular memory being utilized IN THIS PARTICULAR BOARD! I have four sticks of that stuff, and it doesn't even seem to break a sweat when you OC it.

I hope the foregoing is of some help in your decisional processes. Enjoy. TheBeagle

 

[Smitty1705]

It sounds like we have the same upgrade ideas for the future. I was actually looking at CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-8500C5 - Retail for memory, but I actually just added the Crucial Ballistic ones you mentioned to my Wish List also. I have not heard anyone comment about using the Corsair ones in this board and I'd rather go with KNOWN ones. Thanks for the advice! The Crucial are actually about $50.00 cheaper then the Corsair ones also!

Good point on the 1333 FSB and it being built for the future. I think I'm going with this one for sure! Just need to settle on a video card now!



Smitty

 

[TheBeagle]

I can certainly recommend the Gigabyte GV-NX88S320H-B-RH video card. It has native DirectX 10 support and works like a charm in my system. It also will synchronize with the Gigabyte motherboard and the Crucial memory. I was always an ATI fan previously, but this nVidia 8800 based card is really a winner, and the price won't break the bank. I bought it at Newegg also. TheBeagle

 

[Smitty1705]

I have to see what the R600 does before I make a decision, especially since it's so close to release (supposedly).

 

[dlbetz]

I need help on the voltage setting on this board. Whats everyone running there volts at and what kind of overclock are you getting. Thanks

 

[AstroDogg]

Ok I could be wrong but I hope for my sake I'm not, but I don't think this board is going to be the performance champ like Gigabyte hoped. I'm 100% sure this board will have bios updates that make it preform extremely good I just don't think it's going to be an ultimate overclocker and with the going price of the board it certainly isn't the best bang-for-the-buck. The bug got me and I just couldn't take it anymore I had to get a competitive gamebox up and running. I thought since I waited so long for the outcome of the GA-680SLI-DQ6 that I could wait a couple more weeks for the P6N Diamond. I feel let down by the wait for a better board from Gigabyte and MSI. With no word from MSI or anyone. I think I'll assume the board has been set-back yet again. I'm not willing to wait two more weeks to see if MSI launches it then or if DFI makes thier proposed launch date. So about two hours ago my order went thru at ExcaliberPC.com. I couldn't resist the $319 for the Asus Striker and waived shipping from a computer error earlier this month on this Gigabyte board. Steven W. as I've come to know him over the last few weeks is an outstanding sales repesenitive and he further hightens my respect for ExcaliberPC. His technical knowledge of such high-end parts impressed me as with all relations I've had with the people of this company a guideline not enforced in sales departments to often. My order was further iced with adding a Zalman CNPS9700 matching the price for me of Newegg and eWiz(just for note they don't guarantee price matching). Actually with the waived shipping I came out $5 ahead.(sales promotion by Zalman has ended leaving a few dealers with the lower priced CNPS9700's(if this is the case order before prices go back-up). I guess It sounds more like I'm promoting excaliberpc than I'm on topic. Nah I'm just sharing that this was totally awesome with my B-day this last Sunday I feel the wait was greatly awarded and my Guardian has offered me a terribly awesome gift of a very lengthy path laid before me with blocks hurdles and totams. Thankyou all in this forum for your understanding as I needed a place to vent from the frustration. Gary provided as much heads-up on the situation as possible and I'm sure will continue to do so. TheBeagle has been most informative and abit overly-kind if you ask me(haha) but has earned a great deal of respect from me(thankyou for every word and your time). I still hope to see your pics soon. My install will not be so trying as some time ago I bought a cheap $50 aluminum case I wanted thin walled aluminum for this project with drivebays to the floor and fan options everywhere I want and front-ports, all the goodies I'm very happy with it. Although for a seriously pushed to the limit gamebox this may be to small inside for my liking(ambient temps). If that is the case I'll move it into my XaserIII fulltower. The smaller midtower would be nice at the lanparties though. It's not as impressive, but I can carry somethingelse besides just the tower stretching my neck like the Skipper was loading me up with firewood or coconuts. At 6'2" that should say something about the inconvience of a fulltower at a lanparty. Even know it is aluminum and lightwieght, God I just couldn't imagine a steel case that size. If higher temps come from a more restrictive enclosure then I won't allow my overclocking advantage to become hindered, and back to the fullcase I go I'm just to competitive.

Let's see what else can I say good about excaliberpc. LOL just kidding..

I just want to add that I have nothing against the N680SLI it seems it is going to be a fine innovative board and performance will boast from this board. And the key for me is innovative it has so much on it and I know from experiance I'll never use 90% of the extra's this board offers if you want sure-footed features that allows extreem use in no matter what the application is then this may be the board for you. I need a product I belive is king for the kinda money were spending here. For me king means super over clockability with real life performance that kills you before you kill me in my favorite massive online multi-player game. I have other computers for compiling/editing, running windows based apps and surfing and none of them demand the real power of a "GAME BOX"