Nvidia 680i Motherboard Comparison Part 2

Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6: A Smorgasbord Of Features

Nvidia really wanted to get its partners behind its reference design, but several decided to strike out on their own. The result has usually been delayed products, but Gigabyte is finally ready to pop the cork on its GA-N680SLI-DQ6.

Feature Overview

"Only" around six to eight weeks behind its expected release schedule, the GA-N680SLI-DQ6 brings to the table a great number of tasteful features that may make it worth the wait, such as quad gigabit networking and direct support for 10 Serial ATA devices.

Slot layout is nearly identical to the reference design, departing only in the placement of a traditional PCI slot where the second PCI-Express x1 slot was found in the reference design. This layout is loosely governed by chipset positioning, where Gigabyte's GA-N680SLI-DQ6 is again followed Nvidia's lead. Most similarities, however, end here.

Gigabyte left its 24-pin ATX power header located at the upper front edge, but moved the eight-pin ATX 12V connector to the rear, facing its latch away from the chipset sink to increase thumb room for cable removal. The rarely needed PCI-Express supplemental slot power connector is moved a greater distance from the slots it supports, to the top edge above memory slots one and two. Gigabyte's changes result in easier cable reach, but builders will need to route the ATX12V lead around their CPU coolers.

Both the floppy and Ultra ATA ports are up high and close to typical external drives, and all 10 Serial ATA ports are down low near the hard drive bays of typical enclosures. Four Serial ATA ports are rotated parallel to the board's surface to eliminate any graphics card clearance issues, a design that may cause them to be blocked by the lower bays of some cases. The two upward-facing yellow ports are far enough down and forward to avoid any clearance issues with most "large" graphics cards such as typical 8800GTX designs, and the four purple ports located along the bottom edge are out of the way of nearly everything, though they may be hard to reach in a fully configured system.

Front Panel audio ports are centrally located just a bit too close to the back of rear audio connectors, but an easy reach for the cables of most cases, and front panel USB ports are super-easy to access near the front edge of the board. IEEE-1394 FireWire ports take the opposite approach to convenience with a lower-rear corner placement, which is difficult to reach for many front panel ports but ideal for use with slot-bracket adapters.

The presence of so many controllers left no room for a Port 80 diagnostics display, and the board supports only three fans via direct connection.

Quad gigabit networking augments the typical Nvidia dual-gigabit arrangement with two additional gigabit controllers, while a triple Serial ATA controller configuration adds two Gigabyte SATA controllers (by JMicron) to that of the chipset. Gigabyte also supports three IEEE-1394 FireWire ports rather than the typical two.

A time warp must have returned the Serial Communications Port to the back panel, or perhaps it is Gigabyte's concession to those few remaining legacy devices (such as many a Palm Pilot). PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports finish Gigabyte's tribute to the past, while four USB 2.0 ports and a mini FireWire port keep a focus on the present.

Flexibility is key in high-end motherboards; four network ports enhance GA-N680SLI-DQ6 game-server credentials, while six analog audio ports support 7.1 channel analog gaming speaker systems without sacrificing inputs. A Digital Optical audio output extends its appeal to home theater and other high-end multimedia uses.