Which SLI 775 mobo to buy ?

[Cornholio]

In a dilema, i already have a gigabyte ds3 but i'm building another system for my mate and want an sli mobo, theres the following :

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR NF680i-------------- LN16492
XFX MB-N680-ILT NF680i------------------ LN17905
Asus Striker Extreme NF680i ------------- LN16810
BFG Technology BFGRNFI680iS NF680i------------ LN17410
Gigabyte GA N680SLI-DQ6, NF680i SLi, -------------LN18034

Budget of around £200 so the striker is within price range, which of these is better ? was going to opt for the EVGA, then i saw the gigabyte and know that my ds3 mobo is the mutts nuts so kinda leant towards gigabyte, then saw XFX/BFG and the Asus striker and got me all confused !

Will most likely be used with a c2d e6600 unless he comes into more money and buys a quad core.

[staffsMike]

get the EVGA but the A1 revision mentioned in an earlier thread

[Cornholio]

any reason why to get the A1 as its out of stock, is there something wrong with the AR ? would prefer to get the A1 as its cheaper tbh but its stock overdue, anybody from scan shed some light onto when it will b in stock ?

Also, any chance you can link me to previous thread on A1 evga mobo ?

[BUFF]

the BFG & eVGA are the same reference board built by Foxconn differing only in badging/bundles/support.
The XFX is using the cutdown 680 LT chipset & again is a reference mobo.
Abit IN9 32X-MAX WiFi is also within your range.

Question is does he really need a 680i?
Would a 650i suffice or perhaps the P5N32-E SLI & it's hybrid chipset?

[Cornholio]

he wants to try and make it as high spec as possible, thats why hes after the 680i as its " new " i suppose. No need for wireless as hes on a wired lan. That asus striker looks tasty though...

Edit : Is that the asus your on about Asus P5N32-E SLI NF680i SLI



It's annoying that he can afford any of these even the £305 XFX, but not a clue which one to get, the only skt 775 mobo i had was an asus nf4 chipset and it sucked.

[StaffsKieran]

Go For the evga A1 revision if he does diecide to go quad-core if not go with the AR. their great boards. The A1 revision only gets rid of the two capacitors on the back of the board and makes a couple of changes to make the board 100% quad-core. Most of the AR's are fine but sometimes they dont work. Just a heads up.

EVGA all the way!

[Cornholio]

any chance anybody from scan can tell me when the EVGA A1 is in stock then as it says overdue since 12-03-07 LN number is 17830

Just checked the EVGA website and it says that evga were doing a silent recall for quad core owners who bought the AR version and replacing it with the A1 version, surely the AR shouldnt be sold quoting that it runs quad core cpu's if there are numerous issue both the retailer/manufacturer are aware of.

[BUFF]

Edit : Is that the asus your on about Asus P5N32-E SLI NF680i SLI

actually I meant the Plus http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=531222

[Cornholio]

surely that can't be better than the EVGA etc ? its nearly £50 cheaper

[BUFF]

from the forums it seems to be as good as.
It uses the Striker PCB but instead uses 2 cheaper chipsets as a combo to provide the same functionality as the dearer 680i.

[Cornholio]

just read a review on bit-tech about it and it seems excellent, my mate is now insisting on the striker extreme as he has money to burn lol, cheers for clearing me up on the EVGA situation tho buff, i was looking into getting one myself ! not anymore though might get the asus plus as its cheap

[StaffsKieran]

If your mate has money to burn go for the Abit IN9 32X-MAX its got far better cooling than the striker extreme and the bios and tuning software is far better than the asus. plus you get a pcie wifi card with it.