Testing and Benchmarks
For testing I compared the EVGA nf680i to my ECS nf650i motherboard to see the differences between the chipsets. I used the same CPU and Ram for all tests. There’s really no analysis needed as the scores speak for themselves, the 680i is the chipset to own…
First up would be Sandra 2007 Processor Multi-Media
Benchmark the (W)MMX, SSE/2/3/4 processor units. Shows how your processors handle multi-media instructions and data. Such operations are used by more specialized software, e.g. image manipulation, video decoders/encoders, and games. The test involves the generation of Mandelbrot Set fractals that are used to realistically describe and generate natural objects such as mountains or clouds. By using various multi-media extensions (Wireless) MMX, 3DNow!, SSE(2/3/4) better performance is achieved. (Higher is better)
Now we have Sandra 2007 Memory Bandwidth
Benchmark the memory bandwidth of your computer. Shows how your memory sub-systems compare. The benchmark is based on the well-known STREAM memory benchmark. (Higher is better)
Here we have the results for Sandra 2007 Memory Latency
Benchmark the latency (response time) of processors’ caches and memory. Shows how your processors’ caches and memory sub-systems compare. The latency of caches is measured in processor clocks (i.e. how many clocks it takes for the data to be ready) as it is dependent on the processor clock speed.
The latency of memory is measured in nanoseconds as it is typically independent on processor clock speed(lower is better)
Next up is Sandra 2007 Multi-Core Efficiency
Benchmark the multi-core efficiency of the processors. Shows how efficient the processor cores and their inter-connects are in comparison to other types to other typical processors.
The ability of the cores to process data blocks and pass them to another core for processing (producer-consumer paradigm) of different sizes and different chain sizes is measured. The efficiency of the inter-connect between cores is thus benchmarked; however, the number of cores (and processors) also counts as more data buffers can be processed simultaneously (aka “in flight”).
True multi-core processors that have shared L2/L3 caches will thus perform much better than cores that have separate caches and are connected by the traditional FSB.
Inter-Core Bandwidth :Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.
Inter-Core Latency :Results Interpretation : Lower index values are better
Now we have Sandra 2007 Power Management Efficiency
Benchmark the power management efficiency of the processors. Shows how efficient the power management of your processors is. The ability of the processors to step-down in frequency and voltage at different workloads is measured. The more a processor steps down in both frequency and voltage the better the score at the specific workload. The test stops when the workload is too great the processor even at 100% efficiency.
The ALU/FPU score is a geometric mean based on the whole range of workloads; thus the power of the
processor does matter in obtaining a higher score.
The Power Efficiency score is a geometric mean based on the supported workloads only. Thus the power of the processors does not matter. (Higher is better)
The final test is Super Pi calculated to 1 million places, of course lower score is better, meaning less time to calculate.
Surprisingly here the 680i chipset actually lost by a couple tenths of a second, the chipset didn’t have much to do with this calculation really.
Yes there aren’t any video game scores or benches here, you’ll find those when I put my review of the EVGA 8600GTS video cards up in a few days. This was just to compare the nf650i to the nf680i chipsets basically, and to see if my upgrade was worth it!
Summary and Comments
The EVGA 680i SE motherboard is a great choice for anyone, it’s rock solid stable, I have not had any problems with it since I installed it three weeks ago and my system runs about 18 hours everyday.
The problems I found could be considered personal preference problems and are really not all that serious, the pros of this board highly outweigh the cons.
Honestly I love this board, and I couldn’t be happier with it…
DragonSteelMods gives the EVGA nForce 680i SE SLI 775 TR Version Motherboard 122-CK-NF63-TR a 4.5 out of 5 score and my Editor’s Choice Award as well.
Pros:
- -Great, easy to use layout (for the most part)
- -Lots of USB connections
- -Quality sound built-in
- -Plentiful features in the BIOS
- -Lots of features
- -On-board power and reset buttons
Cons:
- -Large chipset cooler incompatible with some CPU coolers
- -Heatsinks not touching chips
- -Overload of thermal compound
- -No user manual
- -Odd placement of front panel header
review# 291