790i Ultra SLI Motherboards Compared

Features
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

Overclocking

Nvidia Reference motherboards such as the tested XFX model are reputed to have the highest FSB support among 790i designs, and the minor X48 Express win barely dampened Nvidia’s victory over the “500 MHz barrier”. The 790i mystery motherboard is designed for below-ambient cooling, with unspectacular air cooling results.

Of course, a high achievable bus speed means little if the motherboard can’t keep the processor stable. The big surprise comes from Asus, which tied the X48 comparison motherboard for ultimate CPU speed. This same Striker II Extreme sample had given us disappointing overclocking results in our recent System Builder Marathon, but a BIOS update appears to have produced an almost magical improvement.

Asus has been doing wonderful things for memory overclocking, and again takes the lead with Nvidia’s 790i Ultra SLI. The Striker II Extreme has, in fact, set the record for overclocking these particular modules, beating Asus’ own P5E3-Premium. This win, along with the 790i chipset lead in Sandra Memory Bandwidth, establishes Nvidia’s dominance in the DDR3 controller market — at least until the next new Intel socket makes chipset memory controllers obsolete.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
59 Comments Comment from the forums
  • trainreks
    FINNALY !!!! A Review on the 790i
    Reply
  • doxicity
    Mystery Motherboard = GA-N780Ultra-DQ6?
    Reply
  • Crashman
    This was ALL OF THE AVAILABLE 790i Ultra SLI MOTHERBOARDS: Other graphics brands with NVIDIA reference boards INCLUDING EVGA are selling the same unit as XFX, even with the same BIOS (except for the boot logo). XFX was the only one who cared to send one.
    Reply
  • giovanni86
    Thats what i was going to say!!! Thank god. Well i guess i made the right choice. XFX 790i, exactly what i am going to buy in the coming month. Just need to save for it XD.
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    Who would pay four hundred dollars,when you can just buy a P45 for 100-150 dollars which has roughly the same real world experience as an X48 or 790I?
    Nah,I'd rather buy better and more reliable parts-such as power supply,processor,GRAPHICS CARD,and maybe go buy a rifle :P
    Reply
  • kitsilencer
    $400 for a motherboard? What the hell is wrong with the X48 Express that people would rather consider buying a 790i? And it can't be because of SLI. Makes more sense to buy the X48 and Crossfire.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    jaragon13Who would pay four hundred dollars,when you can just buy a P45 for 100-150 dollars which has roughly the same real world experience as an X48 or 790I?Nah,I'd rather buy better and more reliable parts-such as power supply,processor,GRAPHICS CARD,and maybe go buy a rifle
    If you want SLI you're going to need an SLI motherboard. The article specifically stated that the reference design motherboard was almost as good in many ways as the winning board, but far cheaper.

    The site only has two awards, one is for top value and the other is for "best of the best". It's hard to award a $350 motherboard for top value, but it's not so difficult awarding the "best of the best" even if the price is outrageous
    Reply
  • Crashman
    kitsilencer$400 for a motherboard? What the hell is wrong with the X48 Express that people would rather consider buying a 790i? And it can't be because of SLI. Makes more sense to buy the X48 and Crossfire.
    It does! Well, sorta. If you want the absolute fastest rig on the planet, you're going to need at least two, possibly three, GTX280's. But if you can wait a few days or maybe a couple weeks, you might be surprised at how well a Crossfire set of HD4870X2's can perform using an X48 motherboard.
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    My point is that,even though you could theoritically have 3/4 GPU's all at once,you won't get nearly as much performance as you'd want.A simple 750I or P45 chipset will do nearly the same job.
    Reply
  • zer00000
    It is a foxconn board i bet.I just read a review elsewhere with same stuff except it had an x48 chipset."All manner of goodies are bundled with the Black Ops: a 120MM fan, a plastic dry ice cooling pot for the Northbridge, and a Plexiglas "benching table" for open-air use."
    Reply