The 680i got its biggest performance boost in games, lending some evidence to support Nvidia's suggestion that the new chipset works best with its recent graphics products. But given the small performance differences, SLI capability and extended controller features are the best reasons to choose a 680i chipset motherboard over competing Intel chipset products.

An easy reference chart graphically illustrates the total number of winning benchmark scores for each motherboard. "Totals wins" includes applications games, and synthetics.

The Asus Striker Extreme demolishes the competition, but this race is far from over. Several boards are scheduled for release during the next three weeks, and "word on the street" tells us a couple of these are being held back while engineers seek every last performance gain. We're also certain that some companies will be concerned about our overclocking results and will make BIOS settings suggestions specific to our hardware. Readers can look forward to these updates in our upcoming Part 2.

Handing out an award while half the field works to perfect its products seems premature, but those looking for the "best" board before then will want to give the Asus Striker Extreme a try.

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