EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW

Item: EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW
Author: Richard Swinburne

Written by Richard Swinburne

July 22, 2008 | 08:28

Tags: #benchmark #cake #cheesecake #nforce #performance #results #sli #testing

Companies: #evga #intel #nvidia

Stability

With the BIOS reset to its default values we threw in the usual Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 and ran it firstly with Prime95 torture test on all cores, then adding 3DMark06 looping a short while later. We came back to it a day later to find everything working just as expected - both 3DMark06 and Prime95 were responsive and still running and the system was still usable.

In the absence of a case airflow we did opt to put the additional fan on the northbridge heatsink and given how hot the heatpipes/heatsink usually run, we'd recommend it if the case really lacks airflow or if you've increased the voltages for better performance.

Overclocking

After all this - we've just worked out what "FTW" stands for: overclocking. EVGA may not have the features or stock performance to keep up with other boards but it seems to love overclocking. We threw our favourite Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 into the board and upped the voltages all round just a little, everything remained in the green, and then cranked the front side bus straight up to 1,750MHz QDR (437.5MHz FSB).

On its stock 9.5x multiplier this put the CPU up at 4.15GHz - which it not only booted at but was also happy churning away a Prime95 torture test on both cores. So in literally two minutes we had a stable >4GHz overclock - that's impressive to say the least. No coaxing, no easing in or fiddling about - just give it a few extra beans and send it on its way. 4.2GHz was also happy, but 4.3GHz was just a nose too far for it.

In terms of hitting purely high front side bus speeds, the EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW is certainly very capable! We managed to hit 525MHz FSB with a 6x multiplier and 1.2V FSB (VTT) voltage and 1.45V SPP with the same E8500 CPU. While it would boot into Windows fine, it was not stable unfortunately. We tentatively dropped it down until we found a sweet spot at 519MHz FSB with just a touch more SPP voltage. Given the core performance of this board at stock speeds, we'd highly recommend cranking up the FSB to generate some extra umpf.

Using an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 quad core, we found the vDrop was about the same - setting the voltage to 1.4V we found software in Windows reporting 1.384V, however (understandably) and when loaded and including vDroop this fell to 1.368V.

Overclocking the quad core was a little more effort than the dual core, as we found it needed some coaxing rather than just throwing a high FSB at it. We originally set it to 450MHz FSB but it threw a fit and wouldn't boot, so we dropped it down to 435MHz then increased it from there. Several restarts and testing later it was still going at 475MHz which is certainly an admirable result! It would even POST at 480MHz but then continually reset before it finished detecting SATA devices.

Attempting to see what the upper limit of this CPU was in the EVGA board we found a FSB hole at 1,600MHz FSB (400x10), however the board would easily boot at 425x9.5 (4037.5MHz) instead. We eventually continued to increase the FSB a little and got 4,150MHz from this CPU but no combination of 9.5x or 10x multiplier and FSB value would get the CPU to load Windows at 4.2GHz and above.

While the hole will throw some people out, we have to remember that this chipset (and motherboard) is not validated for 1,600MHz FSB Intel CPUs, and we certainly wouldn't expect a $1000+ QX9770 to be paired with an nForce 750i SLI.

Value and Conclusions

EVGA's nForce 750i SLI may think it's for the win, but for the price you'd buy far cheaper elsewhere. The Asus P5N-D, for example, features the same chipset, but also the Asus power saving EPU and all solid aluminium capacitors as well for only £70. However this EVGA is better kitted with improved heatsinks, better general power regulation, and a better audio chipset - but is that really worth an extra £60?

The MSI P7N SLI is again a shade over £90 and even the special edition P7N Zilent which includes a Zalman CNPS9500 CPU cooler is cheaper than the EVGA. It also includes eSATA and all solid aluminium capacitors as well as a groovy heatpipe array too, in addition to the same sound codec - so again, is the EVGA worth £40 more?

In fact, we can stretch to nForce 780i SLI - like the XFX nForce 780i SLI that is only £10 or so more expensive if you're really after an "official" board. If not, what about the Asus P5N-T Deluxe then? We found that for £123 - again cheaper than the EVGA, but it has a better chipset and overall better features.

We can't find any reason why the EVGA should be this expensive, we hope it's just due to the very limited availability and not because EVGA thinks that for nearly £130 it provides good value.

With the wealth of talent EVGA should now have at its disposal, it has no excuse to throw out a board that's barely any different than its Nvidia reference design. You can't just throw on a couple of lighty buttons, screw the heatsinks down and call it "FTW". The overclocking is excellent, true, but there's no customisation by EVGA that makes you think it has spent time working on it, rather than letting Nvidia do it for them. And if that's the case - the BIOS will be the same as any other reference-like nForce 750i SLI board.

When we compare it to a world where the big boys with serious features play like Asus EPUs, Gigabyte DESs, MSI DrMOSs and DFI ABS systems, the EVGA still comes up very short in the innovation stakes.

Warranty

This is actually something worth covering for once because while EVGA might not be able to make much of an effort on the design and feature front, it has rolled over its legendary (90-day) Step-Up Program from its graphic division to its motherboards and includes this nForce 750i SLI FTW in it too. So if you decide you need a full fat nForce 780i SLI or if something new comes out within the time period, you can exchange the board and upgrade for just the extra cost. It's a fantastic initiative that we wish was repeated elsewhere in the industry.

For our American readers EVGA also offers 24/7 tech support, but for the worldwide audience there's the EVGA community forums to post questions instead. We also like the fact that the customer service team has a face (or, a few) so you'll actually talk to someone.

The motherboard, like all EVGA products, is covered by a limited lifetime warranty. That's 10 years in the EU and you must register it within 30 days for it to apply, however this is another unparalleled option that no one else offers.

Final Thoughts

EVGA offers a truly excellent overclocker with an unrivaled warranty and support, and in some ways it does offer things outside of the standard "feature-rich motherboards" that compete everywhere else. Not everyone needs six SATA, or cares about hippy power saving hoo-har. But given the lack of performance we can't get to "GRRRR brute force no BS mobo!!" because it's actually rather flaccid until you beat it with a stick.

Essentially EVGA has neither the features or core performance to get what it's asking for this product. If it were to drop about £20 to £30 from its price, only then would it make a very competitive product of worthy consideration.

The bottom line is that unless you particularly care for the warranty and support, you'd be mad to pay (almost) nForce 780i SLI money for this. Unfortunately for EVGA it also seems like SLI is going out of favour too - with ATI's new Radeon beasties out the bag and the P45 chipset offering CrossFire and performance that eclipses the nForce 750 SLI at a fraction of the price, there's simply no contest.