Palit 9600GT Sonic

Nvidia 680i boards don't support Penryn?

Author: Richard Swinburne
Published: 28th November 2007
Comments (39) Stumble
Nvidia's nForce 680i SLI motherboards may not support Intel's 45nm processors.

Nvidia's nForce 680i SLI motherboards may not support Intel's 45nm processors.

Rumours have been popping up and dying again for the last few weeks--or at least, ever since the launch of Intel's 45nm 'Penryn' processor family--which suggest that all current Nvidia nForce 680i SLI boards will not support the new processors.

The latest BIOS we can find for the "made by Nvidia" boards is P31, which has no mention of the QX9650, yet, it boasts better Kentsfield (65nm quad core) overclocking. When bit-tech asked Nvidia about support for future Intel 45nm processors on nForce 680i SLI boards, we were initially told that the company had been trying to QA these issues with a BIOS fix, and at the time it downplayed the rumoured issues.

However, the BIOS fix hasn't materialised and it looks like an actual hardware change has been required - this problem is fixed on Nvidia's next-generation motherboards. This is undoubtedly going to upset those who've already invested in Nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboards, as in order to upgrade to lower power and faster CPUs, consumers will have to upgrade their motherboards as well.

HardOCP got official word from Nvidia last night, confirming the rumours that were going around. The Nvidia spokesperson said that "the 680i MCP fully supports both dual core Wolfdale and quad core Yorkfield, but at the board level, a motherboard circuit change is required for quad core YF."

So while it seems that nForce 680i SLI chipset supports the new 45nm processors, the motherboards don't have the required circuitry to support them. Is this Nvidia incompetence? I very much doubt it; instead, a more likely scenario is that as Intel has held its cards close to its chest until the very last minute, and whether intentionally or not, it has delivered a blow to the jugular.

In some respects, the situation might work out better for Nvidia. If (for the sake of hypothetical arguments) Nvidia's next-generation motherboards aren't significantly faster than the nForce 680i SLI boards out there, then people might have turned their noses up and opted for cheaper nForce 680i SLI mobos instead. Even worse those consumers could buy one second hand. Intel provides a nice get out clause for that one and, as a result, it might make the next generation nForce boards a more enticing upgrade.

I can already see the conspiracy theorists going nuts over this one, so if you've got your own theories, why not let us know in the forums?
Apple Gear Now at Misco!
Quote fathazza 28th November 2007, 18:53
:(

what about us cheapskates with 650i boards then?
Quote Daza 28th November 2007, 18:59
Its as simple as nvidia didn't give Intel the sli license or whatever you call it so Intel changed something on the yorkfield quad core so it wouldn't work, the ES of the yorkfield work fine with a beta bios for the 680i but the retail samples don't wonder why.

This has been documented over on the EVGA forums which are getting an ear full from customers as well.
Quote Major 28th November 2007, 19:10
Hehehe, 1 - 1.
Quote samkiller42 28th November 2007, 19:55
Yet, my motherboad does, can take a picture to prove it.
And yes, it is 680i. Maybe the box isn't telling the truth

Sam
Quote MathiasLM 28th November 2007, 20:13
This is Bulls***!!!

I've had 3 NForce6 boards now, and it clearly said "45nm support" on the boxes.

Not to mention the article-image is an image of my current board :@
Quote Zurechial 28th November 2007, 20:29
It's been known for a while now on the EVGA forums.

Shame.

Just another reason to dislike the 680i, on top of all of the problems, failures and poorly-manufactured boards.

I'm currently waiting on my RMA with EVGA, after the board fried its own memory controller.
You might accept the odd catastrophic failure if I had been trying to break some world benchmarking record with it... but I had mine running at stock clocks and voltages.
What's worse is that this issue is far from rare ( Googled ) and tends to not show up until a few months into the board's lifetime, meaning it was never an issue for the countless reviewers who sang the 680i's praises when it was released.

EVGA appear to be handling matters well, but the whole situation leaves a bitter taste in one's mouth because of nVidia and Foxconn - I can't see myself buying another nForce board for a long time after this one.
Quote Redbeaver 28th November 2007, 20:40
so when is the next nforce board will be out? im curious to to see... ive read rumours on Nforce790i families...
Quote DougEdey 28th November 2007, 21:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by samkiller42
Yet, my motherboad does, can take a picture to prove it.
And yes, it is 680i. Maybe the box isn't telling the truth

Sam

Pics
Quote atanum141 28th November 2007, 21:14
Are the 45nm chips even out yet?

And Sam....pics please.
Quote DarkLord7854 28th November 2007, 21:21
RMA time >.>
Quote Angleus 28th November 2007, 21:23
Thank god I decided not to buy the Striker extreme in the end then....is it me or does everything seem to have a shorter and shorter life span at the minute? (/over the last 2 years?)
Quote chrisb2e9 28th November 2007, 21:40
Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade to me. except that i have a p35.
Quote Nikumba 28th November 2007, 22:31
Thats why I still prefer to buy a mobo with a chipset from the same company as the CPU

Kimbie
Quote Daza 28th November 2007, 22:51
The funny part is they state that 45nm cpus's work with the 680i when they should have said its the dual core series not the quads (yorkfield) which are already out and shipping and causing alot of headaches for retailers as the customers are coming back and saying the cpu doesn't work.
Quote DXR_13KE 29th November 2007, 00:29
Intel chipsets for me.... they just work.
Quote salesman 29th November 2007, 01:01
i just keep waiting for a reason to have a fast computer you know the gotta have fast computer but it never really comes around for me its kinda an inexpensive habit :p
Quote Gunsmith 29th November 2007, 05:54
AW NO NO NO NO NO! ive an evga 680i and i just bought a 9650 as well.

(evga can go **** themselves as the worst firm to get an RMA from)
Quote -EVRE- 29th November 2007, 05:58
Sounds like Intel withheld info from Nvidia to sell more of its own chipset.

Are chipset makers still having to reverse engineer their chipsets to work with intel processors?

whatever the reason.. it sure sounds like a good reason to continue to buy AMD.. even if they are a bit slower.
Quote DarkLord7854 29th November 2007, 06:58
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunsmith
AW NO NO NO NO NO! ive an evga 680i and i just bought a 9650 as well.

(evga can go **** themselves as the worst firm to get an RMA from)

They are? I fried my motherboard 5 times within a year and got an RMA within days without hassle from them, overnight shipping too.
Quote Gunsmith 29th November 2007, 07:51
i still have the AR board, mailed them about replacing it when the ps2 keyboard problem cropped up. they acknowledged the problem and and they said to contact someone in germany as i live in the uk, i was told by the tech there to use a usb mouse instead. i mailed back evga us and got no response, emailed again and was told to call a number here in hte uk, got an answerphone, emailed them back and have never heard a word since. still to this day ive not heard anything and i've kinda given up. im calling ocuk in a bit to cancel my 9650

god i feel sick :/
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 29th November 2007, 09:52
Its all nVidia's fault. If they had given a licence for the SLI then we would see a lot more SLI motherboards out there. In the end its the consumer who pays the price for this. :(

Do not forget that 680i chipset is from 2006. The last released motherboard with the 680i is from march this year. Thats ages ago compared to the thousants of intel/amd chipset mobos that are comming out almost every month and non of them are SLI.

This means you cant combine the best performing cpu's with the best performing GPU's.

It is a shame really.
Quote Gunsmith 29th November 2007, 10:02
actually they ar eboth to blame, nvidia for not selling they're multi gpu technology to intel and intel for changing some of the code in the cpu between the ES and retails chips.

apparantly the issue with be fixed in the 780i but i dont want to pay for a new board whilst this one is still in warrenty :/
Quote Zurechial 29th November 2007, 10:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunsmith
AW NO NO NO NO NO! ive an evga 680i and i just bought a 9650 as well.

(evga can go **** themselves as the worst firm to get an RMA from)

They are?

They're replacing my faulty AR board (fried memory controller) and replacing it with a new A1 board for free and they processed the RMA in less than 2 days after receiving my faulty board, so they don't seem too bad to me.

On top of that, for months now they've been replacing functional AR boards with A1 revisions for free for anyone who emails them and says: "I'm upgrading to a quad-core and I have an AR".

And you just bought a 9650? The rumours of incompatibility have been going around for months now.
Sure, they intimated a long time ago that the 680i would support the 45nm CPUs, but I don't have much pity for people who wouldn't double-check compatibility before splashing out on the new CPU, given the large gap between the release of the 680i and the release of 45nm chips.
A few months is a long time in the tech industry and a lot of things can change in that amount of time, compatibility included.

I'm not defending nVidia nor Intel here, I'd love if my 680i supported 45nm CPUs so I'd have an upgrade option down the line and I feel as cheated as anyone else, but I didn't go spending my money on a 45nm chip without checking compatibility first.

This is enthusiast-grade hardware we're talking about, not iPods and Toasters - If you intend to use gear like this then you need to get informed and stay on top of the situation before spending huge sums of money on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunsmith
i still have the AR board, mailed them about replacing it when the ps2 keyboard problem cropped up. they acknowledged the problem and and they said to contact someone in germany as i live in the uk, i was told by the tech there to use a usb mouse instead. i mailed back evga us and got no response, emailed again and was told to call a number here in hte uk, got an answerphone, emailed them back and have never heard a word since. still to this day ive not heard anything and i've kinda given up. im calling ocuk in a bit to cancel my 9650

god i feel sick :/

Contact the RMA department of EVGA germany ( www.evga.de ) and tell them you have a faulty AR board and that you're trying to use it with a quad-core CPU.
They'll RMA the board for a brand new A1-revision board free of charge, no questions asked. You'll only have to pay for shipping to EVGA, they'll pay the return shipping.
Quote Bindibadgi 29th November 2007, 10:42
Well it doesn't work in our "made by nvidia" 680i sli board with P30 BIOS (not P31 though I hasten to add). Neither EVGA 680i LT or Inno3D 680i SLI state "45nm" support on them, but the ones we have were both made quite a while ago.

We just tested the QX9650 in the Striker - ours is an ES chipset but the core power regulation stuff is identical to a retail board. It boots, however it doesn't recognise the multiplier and defaults it to 6x all the time. Great for overclocking, I suppose, but it constantly complains it needs a new BIOS - of which the last one was out in August, far before any 45nm release.

That and Asus still states "LGA775 Intel® 45nm Processor Ready
This motherboard supports the latest Intel 45nm CPU which introduces new micro-architecture features for greater performance at a given frequency, up to 50% larger L2 caches, and expanded power management capabilities for new levels of energy efficiency." on its website.
Quote Zurechial 29th November 2007, 10:47
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
Well it doesn't work in our "made by nvidia" 680i sli board with P30 BIOS (not P31 though I hasten to add). Neither EVGA 680i LT or Inno3D 680i SLI state "45nm" support on them, but the ones we have were both made quite a while ago.

I've no first-hand experience on the matter, but from what I've read on EVGA forums the P31 BIOS won't help anyway.
Most of the hardcore overclockers there claim that P30 is more stable, too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

That and Asus still states "LGA775 Intel® 45nm Processor Ready
This motherboard supports the latest Intel 45nm CPU which introduces new micro-architecture features for greater performance at a given frequency, up to 50% larger L2 caches, and expanded power management capabilities for new levels of energy efficiency." on its website.

Somebody will have a field day with that one, ASUS might want to revise that claim soon..
Quote Gunsmith 29th November 2007, 10:50
ive only been trying to get an A1 off them for the past ****ing 6 months! i knew the 680i had problems but not that bad. as for comparing me to an ipod user, calling my mother a whore would be less insulting. allow me to retort with a simplistic "die in a hole" instead.
Quote Zurechial 29th November 2007, 11:00
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunsmith
ive only been trying to get an A1 off them for the past ****ing 6 months! i knew the 680i had problems but not that bad. as for comparing me to an ipod user, calling my mother a whore would be less insulting. allow me to retort with a simplistic "die in a hole" instead.

Chill out, there's no need to get abusive like that.

Sending EVGA another email simply requesting an RMA for an AR board would be much more productive than bitching on this forum about what is undeniably an unfortunate situation that a lot of us are in, but which you made worse for yourself by not getting informed before splashing out on an expensive new CPU.

I'm leaving it at that, I have no desire to get into a protracted argument over it and I'd rather not see this thread ruined or locked.
If you really feel the need to respond, then PM me about it but don't get abusive.
Quote Bindibadgi 29th November 2007, 11:02
Take it easy, Tigers.

Claws away.
Quote Zurechial 29th November 2007, 11:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
Take it easy, Tigers.

Claws away.

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/faroshuz-tiggerrrr_resized.jpg

http://www.all4humor.com/images/files/Tiger%20Hug.jpg

Tiger Cheezcake

Sorry for spam, someone else bring this back on-topic please. :p
Quote Gunsmith 29th November 2007, 12:22
sorry my bad, the cpu wasnt delivered so i just cancelled it, I did investigate it and was under the same understanding that a bios update was needed, after all the ES chips were running on 680's but ah **** it, ive mailed evga again but i dont think they're going to respond
Quote mutznutz 29th November 2007, 12:35
Quote:
Originally Posted by fathazza
:(

what about us cheapskates with 650i boards then?

Does anyone know the answer to this cheapskate question? :D
Quote Pie_uk 29th November 2007, 12:50
wow im so glad I never bought a 680i chipset now :) !

thats a liger isn't it in the second pic ! ^^
Quote Juppun 29th November 2007, 12:51
Damn... I don't feel like getting rid of my board though cos I'm too lazy. Guess I'll just suck it up and pay for a new compatible one next time I upgrade. I'm not happy about it, but argh what can you do >.<;;
Quote samkiller42 29th November 2007, 13:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by mutznutz
Does anyone know the answer to this cheapskate question? :D

I wouldn't be too optimistic imho.
Sam
Quote Paradigm Shifter 29th November 2007, 13:39
Hm. That makes my holiday season upgrade a little tougher than it was going to be... :(
Quote mutznutz 29th November 2007, 13:46
Ahh well ... not like I spent a lot on my board like others so thats a plus for me I suppose
Quote Bindibadgi 29th November 2007, 14:16
Quote:
Originally Posted by mutznutz
Does anyone know the answer to this cheapskate question? :D

I will find out later.
Quote mutznutz 29th November 2007, 14:29
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
I will find out later.

You're a gentleman
Quote The_Beast 29th November 2007, 22:13
that sucks
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