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Updated: 02.15.11

eVGA 780i - Worth Slightly More than the Box it Came in

05.29.08
Recently, I upgraded my main rig to a new quad core system. Some pieces were carry-overs from my previous build while others parts are brand spank-me new. The system parts list is as follow:
- Lian Li PC-A08 Case
- Coolermaster Real Power Pro 850w
- eVGA 780i SLI
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
- Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
- 4 GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 [5-5-5-15]
- 2x 8800GTX's in SLI
- X-Fi Fatal1ty PCI
- 2x 150GB RaptorX's in RAID 0
- 750GB WD Data Drive
- Sony DRU-820A DVD+/-RW

All in all, a fairly hefty upgrade from my previous PC. Hardware wise, the pieces all fit together nicely: There is plenty of room and airflow in the case. Vista Ultimate 64bit installed fine and most driver installs were problem free. Over the last 2 months I've battled with the following issues:
- SLI "stuttering" in some games
- Display driver crashing to the desktop: The infamous "nvidia display driver nvlddmkm.sys has stopped working" issue. *UPDATE* Solved by a combination of driver updates (175.16 and above) and a DDR swap.
- Random crashes in Windows Media Player no matter which display driver used *UPDATE* This issue was finally handled in a BIOS update on 5/28. Bios P05.
- Overclocking FSB holes and instability. Some FSB speeds work better than others regardless of final clock speed / voltage. For eg: 1750FSB (~437MHz x 4) is much more stable than 1725FSB (~431MHz x 4) even though it results in a higher CPU clock.

Even though I've resolved some of these issues over the time that I've used the board, this chipset is not a good upgrade from the 680i board for SLI. The performance is good, but the issues are a bother. Here's a good rule of thumb if you need / want SLI with an Intel CPU:
- Use a 680i board for Dual Core CPU's
- Use a 790i board for Quad Core CPU's
Even though DDR3 on the 790i is still a considerable amount more than DDR2, its worth it to spend the extra cash so as not to deal with the issues associated with a 780i board.

Asus P5N32-SLI SE Overclocking "Woes"

08.22.06
Picked up a new E6600 Core 2 Duo to replace an Athlon X2 4400+ over the middle of last week. As hard as I've tried, I've "only" been able to get 300fsb out of this board / chip combination. I know the chip has some more headroom as it is running 2.7 at stock voltage but this nforce 4 SLIX16 chipset seems to crap out around the 300~302 FSB mark; even with 1.6v on the northbridge! Don't get me wrong, this is a fast, stable board... just a little lacking in the OC department. More to come as I tweak further...