NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI Reference Platform Motherboard Pictured

btarunr · Mar 27, 2009

Pursuing legal action against Intel for bringing its Intel-compatible platform development to a grinding halt due to legal complications, NVIDIA has kept its platform development for AMD on track. The company has made the nForce 980a SLI platform official, that supports the latest Phenom II series processors from AMD. The company published the product page on its website, and has pictured its reference design motherboard based on the chipset. The motherboard carries the "designed by NVIDIA" marking, which makes it a design that several of its AIC partners such as EVGA, XFX, Zotac, etc., can use simultaneously.

The motherboard sports the nForce 980a SLI chipset, paired with the nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip. The motherboard features a GeForce 8300-class IGP, with DVI-D and D-Sub outputs. It supports NVIDIA 3-way SLI and Quad-SLI. As an AMD platform, the chipset supports AM2, AM2+ and AM3 socket processors, with DDR3 and DDR2 memory support (depending on the processor). A 5-phase digital PWM circuit powers the processor. The nForce 980a SLI and nForce 200 chips are located adjacent to each other, and are cooled actively by a fan-heatsink. The product design looks production-grade and may attract partners to sell it.

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cdawall · Mar 27, 2009

woot my new mobo

btarunr · Mar 27, 2009

Many Thanks to Castiel for sending this in.

Darknova · Mar 27, 2009

Digital PWMs instead of MOSFETs? Now that is interesting, better have good cooling on those.

cdawall · Mar 27, 2009

that chipset cooler is in a PITA spot if you wand to do any upgrading

KBD · Mar 27, 2009

yay! finally some AM3 competition for the ATI chipsets. Though 980a sounds weird should've been 790a or something. I wonder whats gonna happen when they make the 900 series chipsets and 980a name is already taken up?

Castiel · Mar 27, 2009

I can't wait for this. Finally a Nvidia board!

Thanks Btarunr

BackSlash · Mar 27, 2009

Interesting, I just want to see how this perform agains 790FX/750

and what about temps

LittleLizard · Mar 27, 2009

wonder why they dont use all solid cap design as most manufacturers. also the chipset cooling sucks so hard :shadedshu

CDdude55 · Mar 27, 2009

Should rock for those AMD people, looks like a 780i board.

btarunr · Mar 27, 2009

CDdude55 said:
Should rock for those AMD people, looks like a 780i board.

It is essentially identical to 780a SLI, except for that it is qualified to support AM3, DDR3.

mlee49 · Mar 27, 2009

Holy crap thats a hell of a board! :eek:

Castiel said:
I can't wait for this. Finally a Nvidia board!

Thanks Btarunr

Thanks for submitting this!

cdawall · Mar 27, 2009

LittleLizard said:
wonder why they dont use all solid cap design as most manufacturers. also the chipset cooling sucks so hard :shadedshu

it looks like a cheapy XFX tbh bet thats why its not so fancy looking the EVGA and Asus version will be much better and i want to see a crosshair III :eek:

btarunr · Mar 27, 2009

cdawall said:
it looks like a cheapy XFX tbh bet thats why its not so fancy looking the EVGA and Asus version will be much better and i want to see a crosshair III

Logical naming (for the 980a AM3 board) would be Crosshair II Extreme, but you never know.

cdawall · Mar 27, 2009

btarunr said:
Logical naming (for the 980a AM3 board) would be Crosshair II Extreme, but you never know.

nah i want it to say crosshair III

Baam · Mar 27, 2009

Nice to see more options for Phenom II.

ShadowFold · Mar 27, 2009

I actually might want one if they make a Crosshair III. I don't need crossfire or anything

Blacksniper87 · Mar 27, 2009

looks pretty sweet though don't nvidia chipsets have some issues??

kyle2020 · Mar 27, 2009

Lack of SSC's? Made up for in looks mind - damn sexy board.

ShadowFold · Mar 27, 2009

Blacksniper87 said:
looks pretty sweet though don't nvidia chipsets have some issues??

No, cdawall had his 945 at 3.9ghz on a 780a, I don't think these are gonna be bad at all

cdawall · Mar 28, 2009

ShadowFold said:
No, cdawall had his 945 at 3.9ghz on a 780a, I don't think these are gonna be bad at all

*cough*4.9ghz*cough*

Blacksniper87 said:
looks pretty sweet though don't nvidia chipsets have some issues??

never once had an issue with mine

denice25 · Mar 28, 2009

sounds very interesting.. thanks for this post!

Weer · Mar 28, 2009

Why is everyone worked up about a motherboard that doesn't support Core i7?

cdawall · Mar 28, 2009

why be excited about i7 boards they are all the same board with the pci-e slots moved around

p_o_s_pc · Mar 28, 2009

looks sweet. can't wait for it to come out

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 16GB DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 4070 Ti EX
Storage	Samsung 990 1TB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	Moving into the mobile space
Processor	7940HS
Motherboard	HP trash
Cooling	HP trash
Memory	2x8GB
Video Card(s)	4070 mobile
Storage	512GB+2TB NVME
Display(s)	some 165hz thing that isn't as nice as it sounded

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 16GB DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 4070 Ti EX
Storage	Samsung 990 1TB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

Processor	AMD 5800X3D
Motherboard	Asus Strix B550-F Gaming
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	2 x 32GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse 6800XT
Storage	1 x 1TB 980 PRO, 1 x 1TB Corsair MP510 Force
Display(s)	1 x Dell 27" 165hz
Case	Lian-Li O11D Evo
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA 1000W P2
Mouse	Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard	Logitech G915
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64

System Name	Moving into the mobile space
Processor	7940HS
Motherboard	HP trash
Cooling	HP trash
Memory	2x8GB
Video Card(s)	4070 mobile
Storage	512GB+2TB NVME
Display(s)	some 165hz thing that isn't as nice as it sounded

Processor	Intel e8600 @ 4.9 Ghz
Motherboard	DFI Lanparty DK X48-T2RSB Plus
Cooling	Water
Memory	2GB (2 x 1GB) of Buffalo Firestix DDR2-1066
Video Card(s)	MSI Radeon HD 4870 1GB OC (820/950) & tweaking
Storage	2x 74GB Velociraptors in RAID 0; 320 GB Barracuda 7200.10
Display(s)	22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB
Case	Silverstone TJ09-BW
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Profesional
Power Supply	Ultra X3 800W
Software	Windows XP Pro w/ SP3

Processor	Intel i5-3570K @ 3.4Ghz
Motherboard	Asrock LGA1155 Z77 Extreme 4
Cooling	Cooler Master Evo 212
Memory	16GB (4X4) G.Skill Ripjaw 2 DDR3-1600
Video Card(s)	Nvidia gForce GTX 660ti
Storage	1x Samsung 840 EVO 256GB 6Gb/s, 1x WD 500GB 6Gb/s, 1x WD 80GB 3Gb/s
Display(s)	ASUS VH242H Black + 2 HP 2311x 23" LED
Case	Fractal Design R4
Audio Device(s)	Realtek OnBoard Both
Power Supply	Cooler Master 850w
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

System Name	RyZen 7
Processor	AMD RyZen 7 9800x3D
Motherboard	AsRock x870e Taichi
Cooling	BykSki CPU-WB / Corsair Res-Pump / EKWB + Alphacool Rad
Memory	TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32gb
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte RX 6900XT Watercooled
Storage	TeamGroup 4GB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe / Corsair 4GB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe
Display(s)	Acer Predator 4K, 28" 144hz / Samsung 28" 4K
Case	Thermaltake Core P5
Audio Device(s)	Logitec z906
Power Supply	Seasonic 1000w
Mouse	Xtrfy
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan Pro
Software	Win 11 x64
Benchmark Scores	...soon

System Name	The Lizard v2.4
Processor	Intel Celeron G1840 (for the time being
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-H81-S2PH
Cooling	Intel Stock Fan
Memory	16GB Kingston HyperX 1600
Video Card(s)	MSI Gaming GTX 750Ti (For the time being)
Storage	500GB Samsung F1, 160GB Maxtor "Older than god"
Display(s)	AOC 28' LCD
Case	Coolermaster N200
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Antec VP500P
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Benchmark Scores	No crashes in the last 24 minutes.

System Name	CDdude's Rig!
Processor	AMD Athlon II X4 620
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
Cooling	Corsair H70
Memory	8GB Corsair Vengence @1600mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX HD 6970 2GB
Storage	OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD/WD Velociraptor 300GB
Display(s)	ASUS VH232H 23" 1920x1080
Case	Cooler Master CM690 (w/ side window)
Audio Device(s)	Onboard (It sounds fine)
Power Supply	Corsair 850TX
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1

System Name	The Dove Box Rev 5.0
Processor	9800x3D
Motherboard	Asus 870E STRIX
Cooling	Custom Water
Memory	32 GB 6400 MTs
Video Card(s)	Asus 3080 TUF
Storage	2TB Crucial T705
Display(s)	32" LG 1440p 180hz
Case	Lian Li O11 Dynamic
Audio Device(s)	ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply	Corsair 1000W
Mouse	Corsair something
Keyboard	Steelseries
Software	Win 10 64x

Processor	AMD FX-8120@4.5Ghz
Motherboard	ASUS Sabertooth 990FX
Cooling	Thermalright Venomous X Black
Memory	G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB
Video Card(s)	ATI 5850 crossfire
Case	COOLER MASTER HAF 912
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi
Power Supply	Antec TPQ-850
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

System Name	The ShadowFold Draconis (Ordering soon)
Processor	AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz
Motherboard	ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870
Cooling	Stock
Memory	Kingston ValueRAM 4GB DDR3-1333
Video Card(s)	XFX ATi Radeon HD 5850 1gb
Storage	Western Digital 640gb
Display(s)	Acer 21.5" 5ms Full HD 1920x1080P
Case	Antec Nine-Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + Creative "Fatal1ty" Headset
Power Supply	Antec Earthwatts 650w
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Benchmark Scores	-❶-❸-❸-❼-

Processor	E8400 @ 3.00 GHZ
Motherboard	Asus P5K/EPU
Cooling	Stock Heatsink
Memory	4gb in 2x 2 GB 1066 MHZ Corsair Dominators
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 280
Storage	2 x Seagate 500 GB
Display(s)	Samsung 275t
Case	Coolermaster Stacker 830
Audio Device(s)	Razor Barracuda
Power Supply	Unknown
Software	Vista Ultimate x64

System Name	//////////////////////////////////////Crunching/Folding Builds\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Processor	Q8400@ 4.0Ghz \| Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz \| E7300 @ 3.8Ghz \| E5300 @ 4.3Ghz \| E5300 @ 3.9Ghz \| E2180 @ 2.0Ghz \|
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q-E \| Asus P5Q Pro \| Gigabyte EG45-DS2H \| Gigabyte EP35-DS3H \| Gigabyte NV73 \| E-Sonic P35-G
Cooling	TRUE [Lapped] \| TRUE \| Thermalright SI-128 \| Stock \| Stock \| Stock
Memory	G.Skill 8192MB @ 1066Mhz \| G.Skill 4096MB \| OCZ 2048MB \| G.Skill 2048MB \| PNY 2048MB \| OCZ 1024MB
Video Card(s)	GTX 280 + 8800 GTS 512 \| 9800 GX2 + 8800 GTS 512 \| 6600 GT \| 8800 GS \| 9600 GSO 512
Storage	G.Skill 64GB SSD (OS) \| Segate 750GB [Downloads] \| 5TB JBOD [Movies] \| 3TB JBOD [Else] \| 1.5TB [Ex]
Display(s)	QUAD Monitors: Dell 2007FP [20"] + Dell 3007WFP-HC [30"] + Dell 2007FP [20"] \| Dell 2407WFP-HC [24"]
Case	Antec P190 \| Antec Three-Hundred \| Antec NSK2400 \| Thermaltake Strike MX \| HEC 6T10 \| HEC 8K01
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI + [Audiophile HD600] + [Creative G500 + Logitech X-530 = 10 speakers]
Power Supply	OCZ 750w [62A] \| OCZ 750w [62A] \| Antec 380w [31A] \| Antec 650w [54A] \| OCZ 400w [33A] \| GeN [20A]
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit + Windows XP 64-bit \| Windows Vista SP2 64-bit \| Windows 7 RTM 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	////////////////////////////////66,666 [Crunching] + 45,455 [Folding]\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

System Name	el'lappy\|Cruncher \| Cruncher 2
Processor	intel C2D T6400 \| i7 3770k @4.2ghz \| AII X2 220 @3.4ghz
Motherboard	some Acer \| Asus P8Z77-V Pro \|Gigabyter GA-M61p-S3
Cooling	dual 80mm cooling fan \| WC'ing ) \|cheapo
Memory	2x2gb ddr3 \| 2x2gb Ripjaws 1600 \|4x512mb D9s
Video Card(s)	onboard \| 60 1GB(hd7770 ) \|8800GTS
Storage	Momuntus xt 320gb \|Kingston Hyper X 120gb SATA III\|500gb WD
Display(s)	17in \| 42" 1080P HD 3D TV
Case	lappy case \| CM HAF XB \|none yet
Audio Device(s)	onboard \| onboard \| onboard
Power Supply	Dell brick w/ acer end end \| Antec EW 650w \|Antec SP 350w(upg.soon)
Software	Windows 7 Ult. 64bit---->------->

NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI Reference Platform Motherboard Pictured

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