teggy

Hello,

Budget motherboard for the cheap enthusiast is the topic.

If you had the choice between Asus Striker Extreme 680i or Evga 680i SLI
(Both are SLI). Which would you choose and why?

What is expected of the motherboard?

Moderate to demanding use, will be using the following hardware on it:

4-6gig HyperX ram
2 XFX 8600GT 512MB running on SLI setup
Core 2 Duo E6600
Windows 7 64-Bit, and Vista 32-Bit (each on separate HDD)
Ultra 800W PSU

What i hope to extract?

I won't be doing Overclocking (anytime soon), for now it'll be defaults on factory settings. Looking to get a reliable board that can support Quad Core (for near future). Something that will pump out and support my graphics, and remain stable and be Ram-Friendly. Asus is known to be picky on ram though, so i have a hard time deciding. Having said that, i'm looking to get a mobo that will support atleast Quad Core, so if i decide to up the processor, i won't have to go replacing the motherboard again. I may do some overclocking later, but it's not an immediate concern as of now.

Thanks.

teggy

A third option maybe:

XFX nForce 750i SLI


XFX nForce 750i SLI Extreme Motherboard - NVIDIA nForce 750i, 45nm Support, Socket 775, ATX, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, Gigabit LAN, SPDIF, USB 2.0, Firewire, Serial ATA, RAID MB750I72P9 at TigerDirect.com

teggy

Just went with the EVGA 680i SLI. It was a bargain. I read mixed reviews on it though, some can't stop praising the motherboard, while others have complained of complications getting the desired results.

Will set it up during the week, and repost my take on it.

teggy

With much anticipation, i swapped out the motherboards. Evga 680i SLI is in. All plugged up, OS installed.

Have started to experience one prominent issue:

The computer shuts off randomly. So, i checked to make sure the CPU was seated correctly and fan was fastened. Did the same check with ram and the cables. Everything seems in order.

Possible symptom:
It seems to shut down when i'm multitasking and running a few things at once. I'm not sure if it's an overheating issue that CPU is unable to cope with, damaged mobo, or improper ventilation. Last but not least, could also be PSU?

Specs:
E6600 Core2Duo (Standard, no OC done)
Evga 680i SLI (AR series, default everything, no tweaks/OC)
6GB Kingston HyperX ram (2 sticks of 2gb, 2 sticks of 1gb each filling all 4 slots, running dual-channel on identical slots)
500GB WD HDD SATA
XFX 8600GT 512MB (2 cards running SLI)
Ultra 650W PSU with Sata support

Any suggestions/tips as to what might be causing the random shut offs?

teggy

correction, 650Watt PSU.

Gizzy

^-- that should be enough power

check CPU temperature. Mobo must have some tools on Installation CD? otherwise get some from the web.
Could even be the SLI setup? check that

Memory also seems odd. why not 4 identical in all 4 slots? take out the 1GB ones. then see how its goes?




You did it all on your own :biggthumb


good work

teggy

Okay, can do. Will take out 2gig ram, leaving the others in. Will look at SLI as well, and maybe run one GPU for the meantime and see if it helps.

Also from reading about similar problems with others pcs, it seems like it could be a CPU overheating problem. Will have to clean it up, re-apply thermal paste, and reseat the heatsink again.

Thinking of getting a better heatsink+fan. The one im using now is stock.

Update: Tried to do a stress test for PC (using Everest Ultimate), all components checked out, when it started on the CPU, the system shut down. So as of right now CPU overheating is the main suspect as far as i can tell..

New update: I might have found the culprit. It's most def. got to do with CPU overheating. Ran SpeedFan, and looked into Bios system monitor as well, and temps are off the chart. Will have to re-apply thermal paste, and reseat the heatsink. Will do that tomorrow (inshaAllah), and then report back.

Gizzy

yeah most likely was CPU overheat.

try to see if there is a thermal power control in the BIOS setup? set that up. It controls the fan speed, etc

And its best to invest a little into a better CPU fan, which cools better and makes almost no noise.

Maybe one from Zalman or Thermaltake

I have used both, both are

like this one:
::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::

or this:
Thermaltakeusa»Cooler»CPU Cooler»Intel Socket LGA 775»V1 : V1 CL-P0401

I'd recommend Zalman above Thermaltake.

teggy

That was the problem. Just re-applied thermal paste (cleaned it all off first ofcourse), reseat the Heatsink and viola...i'm stable at 35C-40C.

Yeah, i was still thinking of getting Zalman too. Thanks for the suggestions, br. Gizzy!

teggy

Now the next component that needs cooling is GPUs. They too are on the hot side. What's recommended? Aftermarket heatsink and cooler, or cleaning up the one that's already on it?

It's 2 8800GT cards.