Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6: Quad to the Extreme
by Gary Key on February 24, 2007 1:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
First Impressions
There you have it: a first glimpse at a very interesting board that tries to be everything to everyone with just about every possible option you could logically fit on a board. We were impressed that all of the options worked as advertised and we actually have the board running Vista Ultimate x64 without an issue at this time. Whether there is a user base that needs a board with Quad Gigabit LAN and ten SATA ports is open for debate but our hats are off to Gigabyte for getting all of the various options to work together.
The performance of the board is very solid but considering the time it took to get to market we did expect slightly better performance and a more polished BIOS. After several weeks of stability and compatibility testing with a wide range of components we did not find too many issues with our early release board. The majority of the problems we did find were immediately fixed by Gigabyte. Hopefully, Gigabyte will provide us with a released F3 BIOS shortly that addresses a few remaining issues.
You might ask what those issues are since we did not provide a full in-depth review of each option on this board in our preview. Our first issue deals with memory performance. This board does not like 1T Command Rates at DDR2-800; we have not had this issue on the ASUS boards and luckily our EVGA reference board seems to like 1T operation also. We had numerous issues when 1T was working correctly at DDR2-800 that ranged from data corruption to random shutdowns. This has been fixed since the F3A BIOS but now we have to overclock the memory past DDR2-811 to get 1T operation - this is more like an annoyance than a real problem, but it still needs to be addressed. At least on the F3A BIOS we found 1T operation was very stable from DDR2-811 to DDR2-880 with our high end memory from OCZ and Corsair. This is not the case with the F3B BIOS or the shipping F2 BIOS when utilizing 1GB modules. While performance might only vary up to 3% with 1T enabled, it is still a choice we would like to have after shelling out over $279 for the board.
Our next issue is the lack of viable overclocking with our quad core processors. While most people would not be too worried about this or might simply raise the multiplier to reach high CPU speeds with the QX6700, we consider it to be a problem when the boards will not reach at least 333FSB. The reason for this is that the upcoming 1333FSB (Quad Pumped) quad core processors will require the 333FSB base. When these hit the market we have to wonder if these boards will perform as advertised. The E6850 (1333FSB Dual Core) works without an issue on this board and we understand the new quad cores will also, but it has been almost four months since the release of the 680i chipset and we are still seeing this problem.
Fortunately, some of the early issues that plagued the reference boards are not present on this particular board and beta BIOS. We had no issues enabling RAID, SLI, and using the on-board Realtek ALC-888DD codec together. We are still not fond of the EAX compatibility and audio quality of the Realtek HD codecs as the ADI chipsets simply sound better. More importantly, they correctly generate EAX 2.0 audio streams and overall have slightly better audio quality. However, if you are a serious gamer or audiophile you will likely already have a discrete sound card, making audio concerns something of a moot point.
We still have significant testing left to complete on our new retail kit but at this time we like the progress the 680i chipset has made as well as Gigabyte's implementation. The performance of this early production board has been very good and stability has not been a real issue until the board was at or near its limits - limits that probably will not satisfy the extreme computer enthusiast but should be enough for the majority of potential owners.
We can say the additional features such as Quad Gigabit Ethernet, SLI combined with our AGEIA physics card, RAID capability on the additional four SATA 3Gb/s ports via the two JMicron JMB363 chipsets, and enhancements like LinkBoost, SLI Ready Memory, and IEEE-1394 all work as advertised. We found memory compatibility was greatly improved from previous Gigabyte releases as our ProMOS and Elpida modules worked fine. We would like to see some additional memory and overclocking performance tuning completed by Gigabyte but overall the BIOS releases are very solid if not spectacular.
We think the Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 has a bright future in the enthusiast performance market based upon solid performance, an incredible amount of features, and more importantly the support we expect Gigabyte to provide to the owners of this board. It might not ever be the best performing 680i board but no one can question it beats all other boards when it comes time to roll out the bling-bling.
There you have it: a first glimpse at a very interesting board that tries to be everything to everyone with just about every possible option you could logically fit on a board. We were impressed that all of the options worked as advertised and we actually have the board running Vista Ultimate x64 without an issue at this time. Whether there is a user base that needs a board with Quad Gigabit LAN and ten SATA ports is open for debate but our hats are off to Gigabyte for getting all of the various options to work together.
The performance of the board is very solid but considering the time it took to get to market we did expect slightly better performance and a more polished BIOS. After several weeks of stability and compatibility testing with a wide range of components we did not find too many issues with our early release board. The majority of the problems we did find were immediately fixed by Gigabyte. Hopefully, Gigabyte will provide us with a released F3 BIOS shortly that addresses a few remaining issues.
You might ask what those issues are since we did not provide a full in-depth review of each option on this board in our preview. Our first issue deals with memory performance. This board does not like 1T Command Rates at DDR2-800; we have not had this issue on the ASUS boards and luckily our EVGA reference board seems to like 1T operation also. We had numerous issues when 1T was working correctly at DDR2-800 that ranged from data corruption to random shutdowns. This has been fixed since the F3A BIOS but now we have to overclock the memory past DDR2-811 to get 1T operation - this is more like an annoyance than a real problem, but it still needs to be addressed. At least on the F3A BIOS we found 1T operation was very stable from DDR2-811 to DDR2-880 with our high end memory from OCZ and Corsair. This is not the case with the F3B BIOS or the shipping F2 BIOS when utilizing 1GB modules. While performance might only vary up to 3% with 1T enabled, it is still a choice we would like to have after shelling out over $279 for the board.
Our next issue is the lack of viable overclocking with our quad core processors. While most people would not be too worried about this or might simply raise the multiplier to reach high CPU speeds with the QX6700, we consider it to be a problem when the boards will not reach at least 333FSB. The reason for this is that the upcoming 1333FSB (Quad Pumped) quad core processors will require the 333FSB base. When these hit the market we have to wonder if these boards will perform as advertised. The E6850 (1333FSB Dual Core) works without an issue on this board and we understand the new quad cores will also, but it has been almost four months since the release of the 680i chipset and we are still seeing this problem.
Fortunately, some of the early issues that plagued the reference boards are not present on this particular board and beta BIOS. We had no issues enabling RAID, SLI, and using the on-board Realtek ALC-888DD codec together. We are still not fond of the EAX compatibility and audio quality of the Realtek HD codecs as the ADI chipsets simply sound better. More importantly, they correctly generate EAX 2.0 audio streams and overall have slightly better audio quality. However, if you are a serious gamer or audiophile you will likely already have a discrete sound card, making audio concerns something of a moot point.
We still have significant testing left to complete on our new retail kit but at this time we like the progress the 680i chipset has made as well as Gigabyte's implementation. The performance of this early production board has been very good and stability has not been a real issue until the board was at or near its limits - limits that probably will not satisfy the extreme computer enthusiast but should be enough for the majority of potential owners.
We can say the additional features such as Quad Gigabit Ethernet, SLI combined with our AGEIA physics card, RAID capability on the additional four SATA 3Gb/s ports via the two JMicron JMB363 chipsets, and enhancements like LinkBoost, SLI Ready Memory, and IEEE-1394 all work as advertised. We found memory compatibility was greatly improved from previous Gigabyte releases as our ProMOS and Elpida modules worked fine. We would like to see some additional memory and overclocking performance tuning completed by Gigabyte but overall the BIOS releases are very solid if not spectacular.
We think the Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 has a bright future in the enthusiast performance market based upon solid performance, an incredible amount of features, and more importantly the support we expect Gigabyte to provide to the owners of this board. It might not ever be the best performing 680i board but no one can question it beats all other boards when it comes time to roll out the bling-bling.
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sirius4k - Thursday, May 17, 2007 - link
Overview in Gigabyte' website said there will be some eSATA (Quad eSATA or something) ports. On this preview... read panel indicates no eSATA ports :S---
No eSATA means going back to Striker Extreme... of course.
yacoub - Friday, March 30, 2007 - link
The reviews at NewEgg are tearing this board a gaping butthole. I'm staying away. :[Gary Key - Monday, April 2, 2007 - link
Every review at NewEgg was either a four or five star rating for this board. Where are the bad ones?Binkt - Monday, March 19, 2007 - link
Can someone over there put in a few PCI-E RAID cards in those extra PCI-E slots and see if they function? The Areca SATA RAID cards (ARC-12x0ML) are what I'm looking at right now. Pretty please?!There is a rather cryptic FAQ entry on using PCI-E for "graphics" slots on Areca's website in regards to this subject. I'd just like some more physical validation before plunking down the green.
erwos - Monday, February 26, 2007 - link
Am I the only one who's totally and utterly confused as to why this board has four ethernet interfaces? I can see using two interfaces. I could even contemplate three for really weird setups. But what networking setup requires four gigabit interfaces? Are they supposed to be bonded, or used for fail-over?Speaking purely as a gamer, the MSI P6N Diamond looks like a better deal. It may be shorter on the ports, but that built-in X-Fi seems a lot more handy than a couple more SATA and ethernet ports.
Gary Key - Monday, February 26, 2007 - link
1. XP Professional will show 3.25GB of RAM when 4GB is installed. The board will show 4GB at POST.2. The RAM timings will drop with 4 x1GB when overclocking, at stock speeds with the F3 BIOS they require an additional .0125V to operate at the same timings.
3. The timings matter when using 2x2GB compared to 2x1GB,512MB, however at same timings we found 2X2GB was generally more stable and performance did not vary more than a percent or two.
4. If you use a 32-bit OS such as XP you are limited to 3.25GB of usable memory space.
5. This board did not have an issue with Vista-64 and recognizing 4GB or 8GB of memory, as stated in the article we are still conducting memory compatibility testing as certain modules perform better than others (stability, voltages, timings), even though they are based on the same IC. Gigabyte still has some tuning work to do in this area.
Thanks, more information will be in the roundup.
anandtech02148 - Saturday, February 24, 2007 - link
per example dfi infity 975g requireds 300watts just to post.also what is the idle /load for this? more electricity mo heat.
cornfedone - Saturday, February 24, 2007 - link
...or don't. As long as gullible, foolish fanboys buy these defective products, there is no FINANCIAL incentive for these unscrupulous companies to change their ways and deliver quality products.Obviously if every hardware review site on the planet can duplicate the unending operational (and often design/engineering) defects in these mobos, then certainly the mobo and chip makers could detect these defects BEFORE they ship this crap if they weren't intentionally pumping garbage out the door to suckers willing to pay $200 plus for a mobo that is a total POS.
There is absolutely NO reason to release a defective hardware product today other than financial greed and/or technical incompetence. Hell most of the Asian mobo companies can't even make a friggin quality copy of a reference mobo from AMD or ATI so why would you expect them to deliver a properly functioning "performance mobo" priced at hundred of dollars more when they can't buy a clue?
With any luck all of the slimy mobo makers will go tits-up soon and the real mobo companies will see an opportunity to provide quality mobos to the marketplace. At $200 a copy there is one Helleva incentive for honest, competent mobo companies to step forward and waste the Asian scum who are dumping crap into the marketplace. When a $200 plus mobo causes data corruption it's time for a massive class action lawsuit to end this consumer fraud and exploitation.
Now is the time.
sdsdv10 - Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - link
Cornfedone, what major motherboard manufacturer isn't in Asia? It appears you are painting all the current companies with the same bruch, Asus, Gigabyte, abit... Who would be left to be the "honest, competent mobo companies"?
tuteja1986 - Sunday, February 25, 2007 - link
Well Gigabyte GA-N680SL-DQ6 isn't even selling it. It will sale next month. They still have time to fix the bugs. Anyways i say buying the striker at launch for $400 was a foolish thing to do since it was buggy as hell. It took for them months to fix the problem.