When will the Asus 650i ULTRA be available ?

[Adon]

I'm a little frustrated as I have not been able to find ANY information on when the 650i ULTRA will be available. I already know that the 650i SLI are out and I could buy one here --> Asus 650i SLI if I want to, but I'm not a believer in paying full price for another graphics card for an SLI setup to only see an average of a 50% performance increase. So I await the single lane x16 PCI-Express 650i ULTRA which from what I know will be a better performer than the 650i SLI although a little more expensive which I dont mind.. One thing that bugs me horribly is how are all these facts even confirmed and how are the consumers supposed to know about these releases when the official company websites have no information in their news or product section that such items even exist. Take the 650i ULTRA or any 650i series for example, go to this link --> Intel Socket 775 Motherboard List and see that not even a 650i section exists.. all this just leads to frustration.. So I'm asking is any of you got some solid information on when the nForce 6 chipset 650i ULTRA will be released, so I could get out there and finally put my PC together.. I saw another post on this forum about the 650i ULTRA and questions on where they were. but I could not find any solid information there so I'm asking again.. thanks for the replies.

 

[Newf]

I have yet to see any info on this release yet. However, the 650i Ultra SHOULD be somewhat cheaper than the SLI board, not more expensive. OEMs often release boards before they get their website updated. Usually you hear first about chipset releases thru nVidia/Intel/etc from trade show coverage and interviews. Actual product releases usually are tipped off when reviewers test engineering samples and you will see their results online. The products then soon follow. Sorry that it's not so simple...

 

[Adon]

Well thanks Newf for telling me how it really is and givin me the inside infoooo.. yea the whole process is annoying, but hey thanks for the good news.. that the ULTRA should cost less than the SLI.. thats good for me wallet...

 

[CripLord]

The chipset has long since been announced by Nvidia. As the Ultra is the cheapest model, manufacturers naturally released the more costly 680i and 650i SLI first to attempt to garner cash from those who are less patient. It is widely accepted that the first 650i Ultra boards will start filtering down the pipe some time in February. I'm holding out as well. Fact of the matter is, if you're planning on upgrading to a single, costly, DirectX 10 graphics card at some point in the future, that single card will spank any two DirectX 9 cards in SLI.

 

[Adon]

Ay Crip... when in February do ya think?
and wil the desing of the motherboard itself be a little different? because I read on some reviews that the 650i SLI has had some problems with the Northbridge our Southbridge (not too sure wit the tech lingo) has problems overheating and that a heatsink doesnt come attached.. and also the other Silver heatsink is too close to the CPU socket some are complaining. I'm planning on stickin my E6600 and Noctua UF-12 cooler on there but I might have some problem....
since there will be more room on the 650i ULTRA because it will have one less PCI-X socket.... will they fix up the design a little bit perhaps ??
and what kind of heatsink do you suggest I purchase for that North/South bridge chipset heat problem ??

Ay yo by the way.. haha I went to the Ice Cube/Snoop Dogg/Dogg Pound/WC concert over the weekend.. up here in Vancouver Canada..
Snoop had this huuuuuge poster and it said "Tales from the Crip"
damn they all put on a good 4 hour show, it was dope.... Ice Cube took it back to NWA and bumped some of that old school Str8 Outta Compton, and F-ck Tha Police.... the Dogg Pound mashed some G-Funk shiznit.. and Snoop did a real touching 2Pac dedication which was nice.... then WC proceeded to C-Walk all over the damn stage on numerous occasions.. crazy show!! the whole arena was like one huge hotbox.. everybody got hiiiigh

 

[CripLord]

The first whispers about the 650i Ultra were suggesting the end of January, so I'm fairly certain we're looking at early to mid-February for at least one or two boards to be released. Keep an eye on Asus, as they may very well release the first model.

The 650i Ultra should be less constricting for placing heatsinks and such, but will likely retain the "vanilla" aspect of the 650i SLI, so you're definitely going to want some Northbridge cooling even for a modest overclock with the e6600. Being one that likes to save money, I would suggest Zalman northbridge cooler, which doesn't have a fan. You will want to have a case fan blowing over it.

That concert sounds like it was badass; been a long time since I heard NWA live. Gotta love old-school Cube too. If you're into good Hip-Hop, check out Eyedea & Abilities, 2Mex(SunGodSons), BusDriver, and of course the Living Legends. Those groups alone make all commercialized hip-hop sound ridiculous. Pz.

 

[gscrugg2]

I have a Asus P5N-E SLI. I've had 0 problems with it. I had a E6300 overclocked to 3.4ghz orthos stable on air last night but it was to hot for my liking which means that the nb/sb temps were stable so I think that the heatsinks arent the issue. Also I have a scythe ninja(it's huge) installed and it easily clears the nb heatsink. Also, I am pretty sure that the board will run one video card at x16 and 2 at x8 each. So why would you wait for the ultra and maybe a year down the road you might want SLI setup.

 

[Fulmar]

I have a Asus P5N-E SLI. I've had 0 problems with it. I had a E6300 overclocked to 3.4ghz orthos stable on air last night but it was to hot for my liking which means that the nb/sb temps were stable so I think that the heatsinks arent the issue. Also I have a scythe ninja(it's huge) installed and it easily clears the nb heatsink. Also, I am pretty sure that the board will run one video card at x16 and 2 at x8 each. So why would you wait for the ultra and maybe a year down the road you might want SLI setup.

Thats what I did. I originally planned SLI, but my budget wouldn't allow it. I liked the specs and price of the P5N-E SLI even though i had no intentions on running SLI.

The motherboard is great and I highly recommend it. The NB does run hot. 48-50C idle - which is 10C hotter than my E6400 idle. Needs a fan on top of it, but I love this board and have never had a bad Asus product.