XFX nForce 780i SLI

[owen]

New 780 chipset reviewed here : http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/01/10/xfx_nforce_780i_sli/1

Has anyone heard of ESA ( Enthusiast Systems Architecture)? Apparantly it enables you to monitor the components of your system that you would previously not be able to. However, in order to be able to use 'ESA' you would be required to buy ESA compliant components! This would include nvidia graphics and EPP memory. was intersted in getting this board but now with the restricitions on getting ESA compliant hardware im not too keen on been restricted for the whole time i own the board.

[AlphaChicken]

Pfft. Not to be hard, but it sounds like a load of crap. all of those, "within operating system" hardware monitors that come with motherboards suck. And whats with the marketing crap. Making you buy certain hardware to take advantage of it....

[Avid6eek]

It is marketing crap. The 780i is a shined turd anyway. Just the 680i with an additional bridge chip for more PCIe lanes. Not very innovative. The next good chipset from nvidia will be the 790i which supports the ever expensive DDR3. With the prices of DDRII vs DDR3, I can't see DDR3 becoming mainstream anytime soon.

[AlphaChicken]

Hopefully by the time 790i comes out, the DDR3 prices will have come down and its use become more mainstream. Otherwise in order to use multi-gfx Nvidia with the new intels, you will have to spend loads on DDR3.

[Skorp]

It is marketing crap. The 780i is a shined turd anyway. Just the 680i with an additional bridge chip for more PCIe lanes. Not very innovative. The next good chipset from nvidia will be the 790i which supports the ever expensive DDR3. With the prices of DDRII vs DDR3, I can't see DDR3 becoming mainstream anytime soon.

Wouldn't say that. Instead of using two chips to power all the PCI-e lanes, it uses one - and with SLI optimizations thrown in to boot. That should cut latency down for Tri-SLI and dual GX2s. A 680i at heart, yes; the nForce 200 chip might make the difference for SLI though. But since most people (even on these boards) won't go SLI, it's all a bit moot. I'll stick with the P35, thanks.

If they really are sticking with (and polishing) the 680i, maybe they've took those nGremlins out of it?

...

Naaaaaah. :D

[Skorp]

Trusted Reviews couldn't get dual channel RAM to work. nGremlins are present and correct. :(

[AlphaChicken]

Wow. how you have a mobo without dual channel ram. LMAO.

[Assimilator87]

Mine's got single channel RAM lol :devil:

[AlphaChicken]

Are you serious. wow that sucks man. you should get dual its nice.

[Avid6eek]

Mine's got single channel RAM lol :devil:... Old Skool :D

[AlphaChicken]

For sure. I thought my mobo was pretty old.

[owen]

... Old Skool :D

Hardcore:p ........

[owen]

well ESA architecture actually looks promising http://techreport.com/articles.x/13938/2. If they can make all components to be compliant with ESA then i would almost certanly use it.

[AlphaChicken]

we will see. I hope 790i sorts out all the crap of 680i and 780i....i want to try an SLi build...if the mobos are crap then scrap that idea... lol

[owen]

yea me too. sli would be cool

[AlphaChicken]

the thing that is nice about nvidia cards is that there is a software bios editor. so, you can find the mx clocks for your cards, then make a BIOS for those clocks and flash it to the cards. permanent clock increase. no need for using progs anymore to set it when windows starts. also the control panel for setting game profiles is a huge plus to me. :D

[owen]

i never use those game profiles much. Never seem to work for me :(

[Zefram]

i never use those game profiles much. Never seem to work for me :(

If you noticed, nVidia had set most of the setting........... so you dont have to :p

Anyway i've played with the setting, and 90% of the time the game crashes. Such as setting X16 AA for HL2:EP1 & EP2...... the game refuse to start!
Only HL2: Portal allows X16 AA through the in-game menus :p

[owen]

well the first components to be ESA compliant are tagan power supplies. I have never used one but ive heard they are preety good psu's

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=10534

[AlphaChicken]

If you noticed, nVidia had set most of the setting........... so you dont have to :p

Anyway i've played with the setting, and 90% of the time the game crashes. Such as setting X16 AA for HL2:EP1 & EP2...... the game refuse to start!
Only HL2: Portal allows X16 AA through the in-game menus :p

No joke most games crash lmao. That would require an INSANE amount of video memory. The game wont let you set it because it can tell whether you have enough v-mem available and will make the option available if you do. If you force it to set that level of AA through nv-cp then i have no doubt it will crash.

[owen]

it wont be too long beofre we can all enjoy those kind of settings on crysis......

[AlphaChicken]

yes it will. people are struggling with 4x AA/16x AF. WEll at least with DX10 they are.

[owen]

yes it will. people are struggling with 4x AA/16x AF. WEll at least with DX10 they are.

i'm being sarcastic. :p Just wishful thinking....