# POS 780i... 5th one sucks too.... help!



## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

this is my 5th evga 780i board now. it is doing the same CRAP all the others have done.  
shadedshu:shadedshu

here's the deal...

5 BRAND NEW, SEALED BOX, Evga 780i boards now have run fine for about 24hours at bios defaults. the minute i go back and set something different it wont boot and corrupts data on the hard drive to where i cant boot into windows without reinstalling. you may think, "he set something wrong or overclocked to far". NO! 
EXAMPLE: i have a set of OCZ 1066mhz 2x1gigs... they have ran fine for MONTHS at 1066mhz at the 2.3v stock settings WITH EPP on in the bios of my 680i. my 780i will boot and run fine with the OCZ's set to 667mhz @ 1.8v BUT... i set them to run 1066mhz, voltage is auto set to 2.3v and timings are set correctly from SPD settings.... reboot, beeeeeeeeep! nothing. then... i turn the machine off, boot it up again, it shows 1066mhz, right voltage and timings. tries to boot into windows and BAM! dead. BSOD! i have had countless DIFFERENT error codes that point to EVERY piece of hardware in the whole damn machine being problematic. 

you may be thinking, "dude, it's your ram!" NO!!
EXAMPLE: lets say i leave the ram alone.... and now im gonna set the proper multi and FSB settings along with the CPU:mem divider. dont touch voltage at all, everything still running at stock speeds. reboot....... BAM! dead. reboot again.... boots fine with all setting(set by me) in tact, (fresh load of windows now) BSOD! not even system restore or vistas boot fix will work.

now your thinking "have you tried XP?" YES, i have. same CRAP!

other things i've tried.....

different ram
different video cards
different dvd drive
different PSU
different hard drives
different CPU's
even different motherboards

same damn problem!!!! 

here's the kicker.....
i go back to the 680i and everything works FLAWLESS. even overclocked!

so now your thinking, " dont use a 780i man. sell it." i have 2 currently that really dont qualify for RMA because they work fine at bios defaults. does anyone want to buy a registered POS 780i? NO! im stuck with $500+ in motherboards that are complete crap.

EVGA, i want my damn money back.... NOW!

if you have ANY suggestions... PLEASE let me know.


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## OrbitzXT (Feb 4, 2008)

Just get a different board, it clearly doesn't like something of yours in it. If they won't refund you, get a new sealed one from them again and sell that on eBay.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

OrbitzXT said:


> Just get a different board, it clearly doesn't like something of yours in it. If they won't refund you, get a new sealed one from them again and sell that on eBay.



thats what i plan on doing. i've gotta wait for the RMA's. my 680i has been a real killer board for about a year now. i guess it likes me.... and my stuff. i guess i'll take the money from the 780i's  and get a 790i and UBER-expensive ddr3.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

one thing i for got to mention....

i had my 3rd 780i running for about 7 hours and it did pretty good. but the next morning it did the same crap.

here is the SS of my bench...


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## philbrown23 (Feb 4, 2008)

dude why don't you get the asus version of the 780i they are like 250 but they are alot more reliable than evga and alot more stable also.


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## Dia01 (Feb 4, 2008)

This may prove a little pointless but, I'm just wondering whether its a heat issue as your sys spec's tell me your watercooling and air flow will be limited around your mosfet heatsinks.  Just a thought.


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## Mussels (Feb 4, 2008)

Dia01 said:


> This may prove a little pointless but, I'm just wondering whether its a heat issue as your sys spec's tell me your watercooling and air flow will be limited around your mosfet heatsinks.  Just a thought.



indeed.

Simplify things: run it out of a case with stock (air) cooling on all components. Point a desk fan at it for testing. Just rule out a hardware conflict (cooling, shorting)

Its possible something like the mosfets is overheating due to a deadspot in your system, as dia01 has said. So give it a shot and see if it helps!


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

philbrown23 said:


> dude why don't you get the asus version of the 780i they are like 250 but they are alot more reliable than evga and alot more stable also.



really? i've heard that the asus 780i are worse than the reference boards. let me know where you heard that. im interested in seeing how they do. i would switch if it took care of my problems.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Mussels said:


> indeed.
> 
> Simplify things: run it out of a case with stock (air) cooling on all components. Point a desk fan at it for testing. Just rule out a hardware conflict (cooling, shorting)
> 
> Its possible something like the mosfets is overheating due to a deadspot in your system, as dia01 has said. So give it a shot and see if it helps!



EVERY SINGLE BOARD was run out of the case. tried intel stock cooler on cpu and used stock coolers on my gtx and GT cards. tried different ram, cpu. very good cooling setup on my bench system. even the temps measured up fine. cooler than my 680i that WORKS. the only hardware conflict is the board. it's conflicting with my ability to use my computer.


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## Tatty_One (Feb 4, 2008)

From many reviews I have read that included Asus and EVGA (I was seriously thinking of getting a 780i for my two Palit 8800GT's), the XFX 780i seems to be the best one from what I can see.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Tatty_One said:


> From many reviews I have read that included Asus and EVGA (I was seriously thinking of getting a 780i for my two Palit 8800GT's), the XFX 780i seems to be the best one from what I can see.



it's the same as the evga one. even the bios's are same. im might give the asus a try before i scrape the whole idea. my 680i is looking golden right now. im glad i didn't sell it yet.


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## Mussels (Feb 4, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> EVERY SINGLE BOARD was run out of the case. tried intel stock cooler on cpu and used stock coolers on my gtx and GT cards. tried different ram, cpu. very good cooling setup on my bench system. even the temps measured up fine. cooler than my 680i that WORKS. the only hardware conflict is the board. it's conflicting with my ability to use my computer.



ok, so you did all those.

I'm trying to look for that stupid niggling flaw, or overlooked thing that can cause really random screwups on some hardware.

They were all ran out of a case - are they earthing properly? maybe it needs to be IN a case?

You;ve tried other hardware, so its jsut trying different variations with the same hardware.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Mussels said:


> ok, so you did all those.
> 
> I'm trying to look for that stupid niggling flaw, or overlooked thing that can cause really random screwups on some hardware.
> 
> ...



yeah. im about to install my knee to the backside of this POS! 

i thought it was my ram but i tried ram that is completely different and it causes something else to happen. like right now.. i just got a 0x00000018 REFERENCE_BY_POINTER error. the error codes are very random. never the same one twice.

i have tried them in cases as well. same things happen. it all started when i got the first 780i board. this hardware has run on my 680i's for about a year SOLID without error.


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## Mussels (Feb 4, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> yeah. im about to install my knee to the backside of this POS!
> 
> i thought it was my ram but i tried ram that is completely different and it causes something else to happen. like right now.. i just got a 0x00000018 REFERENCE_BY_POINTER error. the error codes are very random. never the same one twice.



i'm seriously out of ideas here. you seem to have a bitch of a problem.
Is there any available bios updates?


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Mussels said:


> i'm seriously out of ideas here. you seem to have a bitch of a problem.
> Is there any available bios updates?



OH, DONT EVEN GO THERE! the p03 bios is worse than the p02 that comes on the board. my second 780i i updated the bios to the p03 and it boot fine at bios defaults. if you change anything.... it's done. it gives POST codes like crazy. i got A0(not found anywhere) 11, 1d, 25, 2d. they all stop and hang on random codes. sometimes the board would jump straight to FF without posting at all.


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## Mussels (Feb 4, 2008)

i've gone and looked up pics of the board, and apart from making sure all the chipset/mosfet coolers are properly greased i cant think of anything.

Everything else is negated by you trying various hardware combos, as commonly this would be bad ram, overheating, or power related


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 4, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> this is my 5th evga 780i board now. it is doing the same CRAP all the others have done.
> shadedshu:shadedshu
> 
> here's the deal...
> ...




WHAT ERROR IS POSTING ON THE MB LCD SCREEN? 
i had a same problem it was my video card though using a 8800GT in a EVGA 680i AI then goin to a EVGA 780i didnt like it, wouldn't post screen in windows would black out some time's, i got a 8800GTS EVGA no problem at all


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 4, 2008)

And for OCZ ram i hate that stuf, i had so many problems with it when i was using my 680i, i had 4GB OCZ REAPER 1066MHZ, i've only had one problem with my board and i fixed it im using a p03 bios no problems, and i tested the 8800GT worked fine in PCI-e 1.1 boards,think its some thing to do with the 8800's,they didn't like the swap, i had a 8400GS that worked fine i keeped try the GT but no hope did the same thing ova and ova work for a day then dead,then i would use the GS for a day or two then try the GT, wouldn't post just beep, and when i did get it to post would BSOD or just go black.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> And for OCZ ram i hate that stuf, i had so many problems with it when i was using my 680i, i had 4GB OCZ REAPER 1066MHZ, i've only had one problem with my board and i fixed it im using a p03 bios no problems



the code that it give me are in post 15 on this page. the one that stumps me is the A0 code. i have yet to find what it means. as for the ram.... my corsair's and my gskill's do the same crap on all the 780i's ive had.

and you said the screen would blank out... yes mine did that when it was working. the nvlddmkm would crash and not recover causing a BSOD and reboot. i couldn't stay in windows long enough to attempt to fix the problem. i uninstalled ALL the nvidia drivers in safe mode and used driver cleaner. it did the same thing over and over no matter what driver i installed. i reinstalled windows 12 times since then.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 4, 2008)

have you tried a low end card or a card that hasn't been used? i believe A0 just mean's no post if i can rember what evga told me


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

guys, im not trying to be a pain in the ass here. these problems are just eating away at my sanity. forgive me if i sound annoyed. you ARE helping and that's what matters. thanks.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> have you tried a low end card or a card that hasn't been used?



pulled a brand new 8800gt out of the box and same thing happens. also tried a 7600gt card that i keep around for testing boards. same problems


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 4, 2008)

umm still think it a problem with some thing not being recognized properly, see i oc'ed my cpu and GT my never left my cpu oc'ed only my GT so i thought it was some sort of problem with it running at higher clocks.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

i've tried the following...

different cpus... e6300, e8400, q6600
video cards... GTX, GT, 7600GT
bios... p02, p03
ram... ocz, gskill, corsair
cpu cooler... intel stock, zalman 9700, d-tec fusion
OSes...vista32/64, xp
dvd drives... samsung, sony
PSU...enermax galaxy 1kw, infinity 720watt, thermaltake 1000watt
hard drives... seagate 250gig, raptors raid and non raid
replaced TIM on NB/SB/NF200
tried different monitors

the power is being filtered by a power conditioner. i have tried running without the conditioner and same problems occur.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 4, 2008)

well if you had the same problem with 5 evga 780i boards then is some thing your missing or you got a bad bach of board's made with the same problem,like i said i've had my ova 2 months now and had no problems, i would contact evga and ask if any one else has had this problem.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 4, 2008)

this what cpuz says about mine, i got my shipped from the US before they got to AUS so would think this would be one of the 1st baches


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> this what cpuz says about mine, i got my shipped from the US before they got to AUS so would think this would be one of the 1st baches



same here. talking to evga right now.


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## HeavyH20 (Feb 4, 2008)

I have used a couple with no issues. One note, make sure that Vista power saving does NOT occur unless you have completely removed all NVIDIA drivers and re-installed with the lastest. Then, if your system suspends, and you power it up, you get a no post. You have to reset the BIOS to post and it will happen again.


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## pepsi71ocean (Feb 4, 2008)

i have a 680i, and i have a few overclocking issues until i switch to the p30 bios. did you try a non 780i bios?

I am waiting until they get a stable 780i board out before i switch.


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## strick94u (Feb 4, 2008)

The 780i is an enthusiast board Evga should warranty it for no OC as well as any other problems. Period


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

i got yet another one approved for rma. this time im selling it.
i have ALL the above hardware working 100% on my 680i. looks like im going back to the 680i now. im gonna rma this last board as well and sell both brand new sealed in the box.

should i try an asus 780i? someone said they worked better? that's hard to believe after the whole striker not working. yeah.... it's funny... i had 3 p5n32-sli's and 2 striker extremes and had nothing but problems. i got the evga 680i and everything worked great. now it seams to be the other way around.


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## pepsi71ocean (Feb 4, 2008)

i would wait if i were you. time will make it better because evga does fix and revamp their boards.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

well, i tried REflashing the p03 bios and overclocked. it seams to be working so far. im gonna give it a day or so to see how she fares.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 4, 2008)

I'm going to guess that the 3-Video card setup is killing the board.  Have you tried just running a single card in the board.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

this whole time has been all single card. i only got tri sli working on my 680i


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## newtekie1 (Feb 4, 2008)

Ah, well there goes my idea of tri-SLI somehow overloading the board.  Maybe just a bad batch of eVGA boards?

Funny how you had problems with the ASUS boards, but the eVGA 680i board worked for you.  My experience was the exact opposite.  I had to RMA my eVGA 680i board 3 times because of problems.  I switched to ASUS boards(first the P5N-E then the P5N32-E), and haven't had a problem yet.

It seems like buying motherboards is coming down to a luck of the draw type of deal.


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## bud951 (Feb 4, 2008)

Tatty_One said:


> From many reviews I have read that included Asus and EVGA (I was seriously thinking of getting a 780i for my two Palit 8800GT's), the XFX 780i seems to be the best one from what I can see.



I can second that. I have a first run XFX board and its great! Had the usual issues with X-Fi but it seems to be worked out for the most part. OC's pretty nice too.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

my evga 680i seams to be a golden board of some kind. i cant find anything that it wont do. it doesn't have the normal FSB wall that a lot of boards have. i have booted at 550mhz FSB on a ton of different chips. now if i could only get a decent chip! my e8400 maxes at 4.32 and my q6600's max aournd 3.9


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## HeavyH20 (Feb 4, 2008)

The XFX and EVGA boards are one and the same other than a sticker and a box. I installed the 780i board in my system, but, before I did, I removed all NVIDIA drivers. Did you do the same? It is hard to believe you would need to RMA a board 5 times. There has to be something specific to the system.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

HeavyH20 said:


> The XFX and EVGA boards are one and the same other than a sticker and a box. I installed the 780i board in my system, but, before I did, I removed all NVIDIA drivers. Did you do the same? It is hard to believe you would need to RMA a board 5 times. There has to be something specific to the system.



i've reinstalled windows every time i got a new board. the first 2 boars were DOA. these last 3 have had problems. 

1. DOA
2. DOA
3. wouldn't boot with e8400, flashed bios, worked for a few days, wouldn't post again
4. boot up fine but after setting the bios CORRECTLY, no post. flashed to p03 bios and got worse
5. didn't work at first but seams to be "broken in" now. updated to p03 bios and runs OK. every 2-3 days it shuts off and gives random POST codes A0, C1, 25, 2d, 11, 00.


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## pepsi71ocean (Feb 4, 2008)

evga boards are made by foxconn if i remember correctly. XFX boards im not sure of.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 4, 2008)

there are only a few board companies. most boards are foxconn made but companies like asus, and gigabyte make their own. ECS gets boards from foxconn and board partner who makes MSI and most AMD boards.


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## Dia01 (Feb 4, 2008)

I'm sure you have, but have you only tried 1 stick of RAM?  Does the system boot up in safe mode and is it stable?


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 5, 2008)

Dia01 said:


> I'm sure you have, but have you only tried 1 stick of RAM?  Does the system boot up in safe mode and is it stable?



actually, after running the board at bios defaults for today.... i overclocked it a bit and it seams to be running good so far. i didn't do anything different this time so i guess it's "broke in " now?


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## Dia01 (Feb 5, 2008)

Let us know how ya go, I have decided to go with the ASUS Striker 780i myself since my 
680i BFG mobo had a slight water cooling mishap and it'll be interesting to see how it performs.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 5, 2008)

i plan on testing a asus 780i soon. maybe this week. i wish they would let me do reviews here. i  get more of the new stuff faster than most people on here.


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## Mussels (Feb 5, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> i plan on testing a asus 780i soon. maybe this week. i wish they would let me do reviews here. i  get more of the new stuff faster than most people on here.



write one up in the forums, thats how you get the attention  Once its done in there PM wizz and you have a shot of getting in.


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## tkpenalty (Feb 5, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> i plan on testing a asus 780i soon. maybe this week. i wish they would let me do reviews here. i  get more of the new stuff faster than most people on here.



ever tried replacing the battery?


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## erocker (Feb 5, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> i plan on testing a asus 780i soon. maybe this week. i wish they would let me do reviews here. i  get more of the new stuff faster than most people on here.



Just follow the format of the other reviews here!  Be sure to take some awesome pics too, that just makes a good review... well that plus good writing.  With all the stuff you get, you would be a good reviewer!


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 5, 2008)

tkpenalty said:


> ever tried replacing the battery?



yes.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 5, 2008)

erocker said:


> Just follow the format of the other reviews here!  Be sure to take some awesome pics too, that just makes a good review... well that plus good writing.  With all the stuff you get, you would be a good reviewer!



will do when i get the asus board.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 5, 2008)

Dia01 said:


> Let us know how ya go, I have decided to go with the ASUS Striker 780i myself since my
> 680i BFG mobo had a slight water cooling mishap and it'll be interesting to see how it performs.



Asus nvidia 680i,780i board has a lot of problems with what type of memroy your using, i had a striker extreme for 6 month i  hated it problem after problem,the board would just lock up for know resion, the i got a evga 680i no problems at all, it liked any type of ram i try.


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## Dia01 (Feb 5, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> Asus nvidia 680i,780i board has a lot of problems with what type of memroy your using, i had a striker extreme for 6 month i  hated it problem after problem,the board would just lock up for know resion, the i got a evga 680i no problems at all, it liked any type of ram i try.



I've read as many reviews on the 780i Striker as I could find before purchasing and there are mixed feelings about it but couldn't be too much worse than my previous BFG 680i.  I hope I'll have some luck though


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 5, 2008)

Dia01 said:


> I've read as many reviews on the 780i Striker as I could find before purchasing and there are mixed feelings about it but couldn't be too much worse than my previous BFG 680i.  I hope I'll have some luck though



Good luck but the cooling on both asus 680i and 780i are stupid and they get way to hot, the evga boards have the same chipset and run alot cooler,why so much cooling on the asus's board over heating problems.


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## Dia01 (Feb 5, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> Good luck but the cooling on both asus 680i and 780i are stupid and they get way to hot, the evga boards have the same chipset and run alot cooler,why so much cooling on the asus's board over heating problems.



Well if I run into too many heat problems which I suspect I might I'll just use my 680i chipset water blocks, only thing is the mosfets might be a problem.  Otherwise I'll just give the chipset fans a go.  I will be using my current 2GB OCZ PC2-8500 and see how they run.  Sorry fitseries3  for hijacking your thread for a moment!


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 5, 2008)

what problem did you get with your BFG 680i my EVGA 680i was great


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## BullGod (Feb 5, 2008)

Well I'm sorry to say this but you must be doing something very wrong if you managed to destroy 4 boards by now. I don't know, stop flashing bioses and stuff and just try to make it work without playing with it too much. Also I don't know why you would really want a 780i board if you have a nice 680i board. You do know that it's practically the same chipset right? And that PCIE 2.0 on that board is bullshit? It's actually emulating the PCIE 2.0, the chipset it's still working at PCIE 1.0 speed. So why bother?


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## Dia01 (Feb 5, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> what problem did you get with your BFG 680i my EVGA 680i was great



Constant memory problems which weren't the sticks and could not overclock quads at all.  I would still be using the same board though if it didn't shit itself.  The only reason I chose to go 780i over an intel chip is sli as I have spent too much money in cards and water blocks and I need a board now.


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## Tatty_One (Feb 5, 2008)

BullGod said:


> Well I'm sorry to say this but you must be doing something very wrong if you managed to destroy 4 boards by now. I don't know, stop flashing bioses and stuff and just try to make it work without playing with it too much. Also I don't know why you would really want a 780i board if you have a nice 680i board. You do know that it's practically the same chipset right? And that PCIE 2.0 on that board is bullshit? It's actually emulating the PCIE 2.0, the chipset it's still working at PCIE 1.0 speed. So why bother?



Native tri sli ftw!  PCI-E 2.0 is pretty irrelivant really, the bandwidth of AGP was only eventually used up by the 8800GTX so I think we have a way to go before 2.5Gbit bandwidth will get used per socket.


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## CY:G (Feb 5, 2008)

I just bought an Asus Striker 2 Formula with 780i and it worked for one day with an e8400.

Then it stopped posting, no matter what i tried, i had to RMA it... , hopefully the one i get back works better.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 5, 2008)

CY:G said:


> I just bought an Asus Striker 2 Formula with 780i and it worked for one day with an e8400.
> 
> Then it stopped posting, no matter what i tried, i had to RMA it... , hopefully the one i get back works better.



i wouldn't go asus again for nvidia chipset, i have lots of problems with my striker extreme, my mate got the model down from myn and it was work fine for a few day the tried turning it one day no post no beeps it was just dead so i told him to get a evga so he did.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 5, 2008)

boy... alot of answers here....

1. i got the 780i to run tri sli which i DID get running for 2 days.
2. 3 of the 5 were DEAD ON ARRIVAL and weren't my fault.
3. 780i was supposed to be a fixed 680i.
4. im not getting any more 780i boards....
5. tri sli is not that great as of now because of the drivers and not enough CPU bandwidth
6. i've had over 10 asus 680i boards and all sucked for my quad.
7. HEAT is NOT a problem!!! i have EVERYTHING on water. that includes the chipset. (yes, 780i has waterblocks)

any more questions or remarks? i could easily write a review on ANY Nvidia chipset board because i've had them all. even the abit, msi, ecs, foxconn, asus, xfx, evga, and etc. 
THE EVGA IS BY FAR the 680i with the least amount of problems(but that also includes the ecs, and xfx models)

i have tested the maximus formula pretty extensively, along with a lot of p35 boards. i have concluded that x38 isn't a whole lot different from the p35 at all. x48 seems to be about the same. i am getting a x38-dq6 board direct from gigabyte next week and i just need to find a affordable set of ddr3 to run on it. i have an intel brand x38 board currently that i haven't even tested because i dont have ddr3 yet. i also have a few 630i/7150 boards that are testing at the moment along with 2 g33 boards.

as you can tell im KNOW what im doing and i have an abundance of equipment.


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## Dia01 (Feb 5, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> boy... alot of answers here....
> 
> 1. i got the 780i to run tri sli which i DID get running for 2 days.
> 2. 3 of the 5 were DEAD ON ARRIVAL and weren't my fault.
> ...




I'm definately not doubting you.  I am concerned now that the Asus Striker 780i may prove troublesome, as I'm still waiting for shipment.  Why the hell is there so many problems for chipset that's basically been around long enough to iron out known issues.  The 680i had to a degree of pre-thought with the idea of 3 PCI-e slots but one being only 8X, I personally don't give a damn about tri-SLI I just want a decent performing board capable of 2 x SLI to warrant the use of my cards.  And, I know SLI scaling isn't the best, now I'm just shit off.  Sometimes high turn over of technology is a pain the a$$!  Should of went X38 when I had the chance I reckon now.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 6, 2008)

i dont blame you.

a couple of things i have come to realize....

1. nvidia chipsets overclock just as well as any other chipsets
2. intel chipsets have more tuning options but are a little more confusing unless you understand how everything works. the average joe can get a really good overclock on an intel board without understanding those features but understanding how it all works in corelation with everything else will help you get further than other people will go with the same board.
3. the 780i chipset IS different than the 680i in a few small ways. the NB chip IS actually a 780i chip.... NOT a 680i. the SB on the past 3 series of boards has been the nf570 mcp and is a solid performer. that's why it hasn't been changed yet. also the 780i can handle higher FSB at lower voltage and IS more efficient than the 680i NB chip.
4. question to intel.... if p35 and x38 are so closely related, why does p35 take less wattage and have less heat while x38 is HOT and takes 2x the wattage?
5. you can run tri sli on 680i... but the bandwidth of the 3rd card is choaked... but not like you would think. tri sli doesn't have any for of load balancing between the cards. the #1 card feeds the other 2 cards. the card 1 and 2 work hard while card 3 just makes up for the others.... hence 2x cards= 1.6x the performance of 1 card while 3x cards= ~2x performance of 1 card.
6. i get all my parts at wholesale prices. i DID NOT pay $1500 for 3 GTX's. i paid about $720 for all 3. my 780i's have all been free, 680i's were $140 each, 8800gt's were 8 for $840 total....etc.


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> i dont blame you.
> 
> a couple of things i have come to realize....
> 
> ...




some counters

1. Nv chipsets are often more unstable than other brands
2. Nv chipsets rarely work with future CPU's (680i cant OC quads, 780i cant take 1600FSB)

as for your #4, P35 does not run cold. my NB hit over 90C one time. Its just that for no reason, everyone went passive - they need a 40mm fan.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 6, 2008)

i have yet to encounter unstablities in a nvidia board that actually worked. im only speaking from my experience though. im am in no way an expert. that's not what im saying at all. 

and yes... you are 100% right. nvidia chipsets usually don't support future cpu's. that sucks.

and the 4 p35 boards i've had weren't really that hot at all. like i said, im in no way an expert.
1. abit ip25 pro
2. asus p5k deluxe
3. gigabyte p35-dq6
4. msi p35 platinum

out of the 4 the abit was the warmest.... but not over 50c max.

YES they do need a fan unless you have good flow in your case. i use a 120mm fan that blows across the ram and NB and another that exhausts out the back.


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

You're relying on mobo temp readings - they're wrong.

i have the P5K-E and while the bios/software said it was 45C, it was in fact 93C (thermometer) a finger test caused a blister, so i know which result i trust.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 6, 2008)

Mussels said:


> You're relying on mobo temp readings - they're wrong.
> 
> i have the P5K-E and while the bios/software said it was 45C, it was in fact 93C (thermometer) a finger test caused a blister, so i know which result i trust.



actually i use 2 digital thermometers. one infrared and one thermal diode.


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## ViperJohn (Feb 6, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> boy... alot of answers here....
> 
> 7. HEAT is NOT a problem!!! i have EVERYTHING on water. that includes the chipset. (yes, 780i has waterblocks)



What water block do you have on the SPP NorthBridge/PR200 chip??

What do you have for MCP SouthBridge cooling???

What are you using to cool the Vcore mosfets.

Your symptoms do point to probable heat issue somewhere.

ViperJohn


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 6, 2008)

i ordered a set of these before i ever got my 780i...


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

Mussels said:


> some counters
> 
> 1. Nv chipsets are often more unstable than other brands
> 2. Nv chipsets rarely work with future CPU's (680i cant OC quads, 780i cant take 1600FSB)
> ...


780i Boards have been tested they can run cpu's up to 1600FSB, but only if they want to make a bios for it, they left it out so it makes 790i sales go up because thats newer hardware


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

have you tried it with just stock cooling no water blocks?


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> 780i Boards have been tested they can run cpu's up to 1600FSB, but only if they want to make a bios for it, they left it out so it makes 790i sales go up because thats newer hardware



its not the FSB, its the voltage support. they cant do it, and they cant support half multis.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

Mussels said:


> its not the FSB, its the voltage support. they cant do it, and they cant support half multis.



it has been tested with a QX9770 its the 680i that didnt have the voltage support


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

Live OR Die said:


> it has been tested with a QX9770 its the 680i that didnt have the voltage support



well thats fairly suprising. I've used a few 680i (most of them striker extreme) and none of them worked with any form of quad at all beyond 300 FSB.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

READ THIS AND SEE FOR YOUR SELF


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

no need for caps, i'm not disbeleiving you. just saying i thought otherwise.

also thats a link to 780i, not 680i?


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

Mussels said:


> no need for caps, i'm not disbeleiving you. just saying i thought otherwise.
> 
> also thats a link to 780i, not 680i?


i said in my post before that 680i couldn't only 780i with a bios update


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

i just keep getting disapointed if i buy hardware and i have to keep replacing it. the P5B-E i have is ooooooold, yet it can still take a 45nm 

damned 650i i had, and 680i my brother had, hated quads and wouldnt OC past 300FSB at best


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

yer 680i sucked for ocing quad thats were the voltage come to play again:shadedshu


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## Dia01 (Feb 6, 2008)

I could not reach past 300FSB on my BFG 680i using a Q6600 G0 no matter what I did.  Lost about a week solid from my life though trying.


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2008)

this is what my post was about - Nv chipsets dont work well ahead. Yes 780i is out now, but so is 1333 FSB 45nm, and up next is 1600FSB.

Whats the odds they cant OC a 1600 for some stupid reason again


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

you can't oc a 1600FSB  cpu's because of the high voltage from using 1600fsb


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## Dia01 (Feb 6, 2008)

At this point I'm a little dissapointed with nvidia as I believe the 3rd parties aren't entirely to blame for the heat issues and overclockability.  They've had a chance to fix some of the issues with the 780i but looking through the net and forums there still seems to be alot of problems throughout each brand.  If I was to build a completely new rig at this point I'd be going an intel chip.  I might be happy with the Striker II though, bloody well hope so!


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 6, 2008)

780i DOES have .5x multi support
yes i have tried all my 780i's with stock cooling. the water was tried to eliminate the possibility of heat being the problem.
there are A LOT of people using the q9770 on the 780i.


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## LiveOrDie (Feb 6, 2008)

the q9770 is not out yet only sample's of the chip are, they may work or not work depends on the microcode and if they have put it in the 780i's bios


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## Mussels (Feb 7, 2008)

well at least i learned 780 isnt as future fail as 680i 
Except that guy who claims 5 have failed on him so far...


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 7, 2008)

hey... i take it back.... only 4. this last one got broke in and works fine. im just tired of Nvidia now. switching to my maximus and getting 2 3870 x2's now. everything is up for sale guys. link in my sig.


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## Dia01 (Feb 14, 2008)

fitseries3, I've just bought and installed an Asus Striker II and last night turn it off, went to bed, woke up in the morning, turned it on and received 'PCI Init' via the external LCD poster.  Have you ever come across this?  I have swapped ram, swapped GPU's, reset CMOS and still nothing, won't even boot.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 14, 2008)

Dia01 said:


> fitseries3, I've just bought and installed an Asus Striker II and last night turn it off, went to bed, woke up in the morning, turned it on and received 'PCI Init' via the external LCD poster.  Have you ever come across this?  I have swapped ram, swapped GPU's, reset CMOS and still nothing, won't even boot.



LOL!!! my point exactly. the cpu init(tiation) error is very common with asus boards. it does happen in other boards often as well. my 1st and 2nd 780i's did exactly that. my 3rd board worked for a day, like yours, and decided never to boot again. it gave random post codes like 01, 11, 25, 2d, and several other non normal codes. the 780i's seam to be a "luck of the draw" kind of deal. either you get a good one or you end up with a POS!

i have switched to a x38 and 3870x2 setup. runs nice and no problems.


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## Dia01 (Feb 14, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> LOL!!! my point exactly. the cpu init(tiation) error is very common with asus boards. it does happen in other boards often as well. my 1st and 2nd 780i's did exactly that. my 3rd board worked for a day, like yours, and decided never to boot again. it gave random post codes like 01, 11, 25, 2d, and several other non normal codes. the 780i's seam to be a "luck of the draw" kind of deal. either you get a good one or you end up with a POS!
> 
> i have switched to a x38 and 3870x2 setup. runs nice and no problems.




Yeah but what the hell does 'PCI Init' mean?  The bloody manual doesn't even explain.  Quite honestly I'm getting friggin sick of hearing and paying top dollar for supposed top products and they are as buggy as hell.  If I can't get it working I'll be definately going the X38 also.  Not happy!!!!!!  
This is for you Nvidia -->


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 14, 2008)

the x38 out of the box feels faster than my 780i did FOR SURE. i don't know why.
PCI INIT? remove everything but your video card, CPU and RAM. then power it up. reset the BIOS first. try 1 stick of ram in all of the slots.


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## erocker (Feb 14, 2008)

fitseries I love your rig man, I'll be getting just one x2 soon!  I find that Asus is the only manufacturer I like with Nvidia chipsets.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 14, 2008)

im not gonna post my benchies until the official crossfire-x drivers are released. all i can say is.....

it's funny though... if you remember my threads from last week... this one(POS 780i boards) and my switching GPU's thread, i said that by this time next week i would have everything and my new rig would be complete. well.... SHE LIVES!!!!


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## Mussels (Feb 14, 2008)

it seems like all Asus+Nvidia boards are fail.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 14, 2008)

Mussels said:


> it seems like all Asus+Nvidia boards are fail.



that's so true.


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## CY:G (Feb 14, 2008)

oh god damn, im getting a replacement for my Asus Striker 2 soon and now im worried that this one will break down too


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## DaMulta (Feb 14, 2008)

HeavyH20 said:


> The XFX and EVGA boards are one and the same other than a sticker and a box. I installed the 780i board in my system, but, before I did, I removed all NVIDIA drivers. Did you do the same? It is hard to believe you would need to RMA a board 5 times. There has to be something specific to the system.



SWound like somthing is killing it, maybe a bad PSU perhaps.


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## Dia01 (Feb 14, 2008)

DaMulta said:


> SWound like somthing is killing it, maybe a bad PSU perhaps.



Funny you say that cause I had a perfectly good 1000W E-Power PSU, shutdown computer, removed temp MOBO, replaced with Striker II and KABOOM!  WTF is goin on here!  20amp power circuit breaker tripped from overload, call an electrician!  Wait I am one, reset, re-fired, trip!  Reset, disconnected everything, dead!  Removed, grabbed ATX cord, swung around head several times, through into bin.  Cursed Nvidia, Asus and the power company, placed in replacement PSU, fine.  Ran for 3 days, turned off, woke up, turned on, 'PCI Init' indication, WTF is 'PCI Init', read manual, search internet at work, nothing!  Removed SLI GPU's, placed 1 in, nothing, placed other, nothing, removed Striker II mobo, replaced with temp mobo, nothing.  Removed GPU, replaced with backup GPU, only boots vista in safe mode.  WTF, WTF, WTF!!! WHY!!!  Removed all graphics and mobo drivers, rebooted, still nothing.  Running in safe mode still (with networking).  Wondering now if Striker II ok, but killed my 2 X 8800GT's somehow, driver conflicts aslo?  Proceded to spend more money, ordered 36GB Raptor to seperate OS, will try later to see if Striker II is ok with backup GPU and hopefully resurect the 8800GT's.  If not, send Nvidia and Microsoft (for the hell of it) a nasty letter, get no response, 3 months later get response to the tune of "WTF do we care, you'll be back" order X38 and a 3875 X2 and live happily ever after like fitseries3 hopefully.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 15, 2008)

i think it may have something to do with shitty chipset drivers. they seem to corrupt the os. maybe not so much corruption, but more of a false sense of corruption. it seems to get worse the longer you try to milk it. 

i had everything from crashing drivers to non-bootable OS. i simply cant understand how some people can get it to work.

i will say.... my new setup is GREAT!!! 

this single hd3870x2 is producing numbers my 3 8800gtx's had trouble making.


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## Dia01 (Feb 15, 2008)

Had another go at putting the Stiker II mobo in last night with the same OS as before and she seems to be running fine at the moment.  So, I can definately say the mobo's not dead.  Although the Raptor 36GB I recieved yesterday is, damaged in transit by the looks.  Still very wary with these boards though!


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Apr 1, 2008)

Mussels said:


> well thats fairly suprising. I've used a few 680i (most of them striker extreme) and none of them worked with any form of quad at all beyond 300 FSB.









ORB:http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=5421673 On air.

skillz.. not everyone weilds it. You need to feel the board. make it a part of your body. This is from my friend. I used a Striker X once also.. had no problems with my dual core too.

Everytime I visit forums thrashtalking Striker, I just smirk the day away.


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Apr 2, 2008)

Also, for mems getting fried on the board, if your running 2 stix, install it to DIMM 2 and 4... since the heatpipe near the mem sockets emit heat.. leaving the ram heatspreaders near the pipes to absorb that intense heat.


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