Are All 680i board the same....?

[coolmac11]

I was just wondering whether EVGA's (or any regular Nvidia graphics board maker like XFX) 680i boards would be better than Asus' the mainstream makers. When I look for reviews I only see EVGA's reviews... does this mean EVGA is better? Also, can it unlock multipliers on the non Extreme CD2?

Thanks

 

[BUFF]

No, they aren't all the same.
Foxconn are making reference boards for eVGA, BFG, XFX & presumably themselves.
However, other mfrs like abit, Asus etc. will change the designs as they want e.g. if you look at the abit IN9 32X-MAX they have gone to a digital PWM solution, have different chipset cooling, moved the SATA ports, floppy connector ...

 

[Doughbuy]

It's kinda like asking if all 965 and 975X boards are the same, and as you take a look, they are more or less... similar...

Yeah, each mobo company changes some things from the reference design so you get different OC'ing ability, and they might change the connectors around, add some additional SATA or IDE ports with additional controllers, but the most important thing, the southbridge and northbridge, are the same.

 

[Guest]

All the 'graphic card' maker should have the exact same board. It's the reference design.
You don't see maybe review of the other board because they make their own layout and it takes more time then just use the reference(which BTW they don't even manufacturer themself, just distribute).

You can look at the P5N32-E SLI, that board is different.

The Xtreme CPU from intel all have unlocked multiplier, not a board feature(I would be surprised if a 680 board didn't allow you to move it with these CPU).

If anything those eVga are more mainstream then anything Asus will throw at us. And the 680 is not mainstream by definition!