EVGA nForce 780i SLI FTW Mobo

[Pudgie]

Tildeath,

I am considering this mobo to get.
 
Want to stay w/ DDR2 mem (have OCZ Reaper HTPC 2 x 2Gb mem kit) & this mobo has a floppy connector (yeah still old school)

Will probably go w/ an Intel E8500 or E8600 C2D CPU (to get 45nm goodness). Will be hanging a Xigmatek SD-1283 HPDT HSF w/ backplate attachment kit (already have). Any issue w/ this mobo?

Will I need to update BIOS right off or is all good to go right out of the box?

I like this board & I especially like EVGA (own 2 of their vid cards, a 7900 GTX & a 9800 GTX+, very stellar performing VC's) so I'm assuming that the mobo will perform along the same lines.

Will be running MS Vista Home Premeium 64x as the OS.
 
All other parts will be reused. PSU will be a PC P&C Silencer 750W PSU (already have).

What do you think? I'm not a hardcore gamer/overclocker but I do want a capable, stable & expandable platform.

This will most likely be my X-mas gift to myself!
 

[TilDeath]

Is this the board?

General Information
Manufacturer:  EVGA Corporation
Manufacturer Part Number:  132-YW-E178-A1
Manufacturer Website Address:  www.evga.com
Brand Name:  EVGA
Product Model:  nForce 780i SLI FTW A1
Product Name:  nForce 780i SLI FTW A1 Desktop Board
Product Type:  Desktop Board
Processor & Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer:  nVIDIA
Chipset Model:  780i SLI
Total Processor Support:  1
Processor Socket:  Socket T
Processor Support:  Core 2 ExtremePentiumPentium (Extreme Edition)Core 2 QuadCore 2 Duo
Front Side Bus:  533MHz800MHz1066MHz1333MHz
64-bit Processing:  Yes
Multi GPU Support:  SLI
Memory
Number of Memory Slots:  4
Maximum Memory:  8GB
Memory Standard:  DDR2-1066/PC2-8500DDR2-800/PC2-6400DDR2-533/PC2-4200DDR2-667/PC2-5300
Memory Technology:  DDR2 SDRAM
I/O Controller
IDE Controller:  Yes
IDE Standard:  Ultra ATA/133 (ATA-7)
Floppy Controller:  Yes
SATA Controller:  Yes
SATA Standard:  Serial ATA/300
RAID Controller:  Yes
RAID Levels:  00+1JBOD51
Audio
Audio Channels:  7.1
Network & Communication
Gigabit Ethernet:  Yes
I/O Expansions
Expansion Slots:  3 x PCI Express x162 x PCI1 x PCI Express x1
Interfaces/Ports
Back Panel Interfaces:  1 x S/PDIF Out1 x IEEE 1394a FireWire4 x Type A USB 2.0 USB2 x mini-DIN2 x RJ-45 Network1 x Mini-phone Audio Line In4 x Mini-phone Audio Line Out1 x Mini-phone Microphone
Front Panel Interfaces:  1 x FireWire Header1 x On/Off Switch1 x HDD LED1 x COM11 x Power LED1 x Reset Switch3 x USB Header
Number of IDE Interfaces:  1
Number of SATA Interfaces:  6
Physical Characteristics
Form Factor:  ATX
Dimensions:  9.6" Width x 12" Depth
Miscellaneous
Additional Information:

Features:
# NVIDIA RAID
# NVIDIA StreamThru Data Transport System
# Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
# NVIDIA nTune Performance Application
# NVIDIA Firewall Technology
# NVIDIA nForce Networking
# NVIDIA ForceWare Unified Software Environment (USE)

I can sell this board for 209.29 plus shipping

I would not use that fan and heatsink combo.. Check the OCZ Vendetta 2 (about 36.99 for this item) (not the vendetta)  should bring the thermals down 5 to 7c over your choice.  Make sure during the install you only use one stick of the ram... Vista gets funky with two sticks on an install.

[Pudgie]

Yep, that's the 1.

PM me here: delockett@msn.com

Thanks for the reply.

[Cobra516]

I'm running this board with the BIOS it came with, overclocked to 3.83 ghz (1800mhz FSB) linked/synch'd on a Q9550 with some OCZ Platinum 1066 DDR2 ram (running at 900) and an Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro (lol what a name).

Seems like a very stable board so far. 

Make sure you register it with EVGA within 30 days to get the lifetime warranty, they'll cover it even if it's been fried from o/c'ing.  I got their GTX 280 SSC vid card as well - haven't had any problems. 

[TilDeath]

Tildeath,

I am considering this mobo to get.
 
Want to stay w/ DDR2 mem (have OCZ Reaper HTPC 2 x 2Gb mem kit) & this mobo has a floppy connector (yeah still old school)

Will probably go w/ an Intel E8500 or E8600 C2D CPU (to get 45nm goodness). Will be hanging a Xigmatek SD-1283 HPDT HSF w/ backplate attachment kit (already have). Any issue w/ this mobo?

Will I need to update BIOS right off or is all good to go right out of the box?

I like this board & I especially like EVGA (own 2 of their vid cards, a 7900 GTX & a 9800 GTX+, very stellar performing VC's) so I'm assuming that the mobo will perform along the same lines.

Will be running MS Vista Home Premeium 64x as the OS.
 
All other parts will be reused. PSU will be a PC P&C Silencer 750W PSU (already have).

What do you think? I'm not a hardcore gamer/overclocker but I do want a capable, stable & expandable platform.

This will most likely be my X-mas gift to myself!
 

I think the Mushkin has better timings then the OCZ and price but need to know all parts your gonna use to make a good selection for you.

[BaldEagl]

I'm running the 780i.  I'm not sure which BIOS it will ship with but if it's anything under P05 you'll need to flash it as there was a video corruption bug in all of the 700 series boards.  It seemed to only affect certain people but I'd update it just to be sure.

The bug didn't affect video games, just movies, youtube and that type of stuff.  Symptoms varied from artifacts attached you your mouse cursor to scrambled pictures to full lock-ups.  P05 resolved all of those issues.

Other than that it's a great board and overclocking's a breeze if that's what you want to do.