eVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA 790i Chipset - Socket T LGA-775

Don't Buy If Ever Want to Populate all Dimm Sockets w/ 1600mhz RAM

Strengths: For EVGA's sake I hope their updated revisions of this motherboard now on sale don't have this problem.

Weakness: I only bought it since memory performance matters greatly to me. It's advertised as capable of running dimms at not only 1600mhz but 2000mhz. Disappointment.

I’m a 3 yr tech support mgr & tried everything one can try to get these to run at advertised specs. The mobo won’t POST when running the dimms at advertised specs & all 4 dimm sockets are populated. I have 2 identical PCs. Same w/ both despite dimm swapping. I called EVGA & immediately they directed me to Corsair’s FAQ page stating the following:“Question: I have 2 Corsair dimms that work...
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I’m a 3 yr tech support mgr & tried everything one can try to get these to run at advertised specs. The mobo won’t POST when running the dimms at advertised specs & all 4 dimm sockets are populated. I have 2 identical PCs. Same w/ both despite dimm swapping. I called EVGA & immediately they directed me to Corsair’s FAQ page stating the following:“Question: I have 2 Corsair dimms that work fine together. When I add 2 more dimms of the matching part #, they won’t work. ANSWER:We test these dimms as they’re sold. In other words, a 2GB kit is tested only as a pair, not w/ 2 other dimms. We’re not certain how 2 kits when put together will perform. While it is possible to get 2 kits working together, it will most likely require adjustments to be made in your BIOS to get the modules up & running. If possible, we suggest lowering your dimm frequency & slightly increasing northbridge voltage] I wish that worked. I tweaked the dimm & NB voltages but no.

In speaking w/ Corsair they confirmed all my dimms came from the same batch. I’m slamming EVGA for the asserting the idea that there’s a new industry practice w/ the advent of DDR3. The practice being that DDR3 mobos can’t be expected to run DDR3 dimms at rated spec of the mobo/dimms (non-overclock) when all 4 dimm sockets are populated. In speaking w/ a Corsair rep, he admitted they’re getting an abundance of calls about this each day & it’s somehow my fault for not checking their support page before purchase…my fault for not buying a 2x2GB kit. When asked if I RMA some dimms if it can work, he responded NO. What has the industry come to when it’s practice that 4 socket mobos are only designed to function 2 dimms at spec? Overpromise/disappoint. The idea of populating all 4 sockets with their 1600mhz 2GB dimms? Even bigger pipedream. I’m going back to Asus and never buying EVGA again.

By dellguy77 - Oct 10, 2008

Great motherboard that will do anything!

Strengths: Top of the line - easy overclocking, plenty of features, handles the fastest processors, the latest and greatest.

Weakness: It ONLY supports DDR3 ram

Great board. I was looking for a "future proof" motherboard that will last year. This is the one! I found it from a website that review motherboards and this one was ranked #1. Great board - I'll do anything you want!

By infamous_pb - Apr 27, 2008

Triple SLI Wolfdale High Speed Rig

Strengths: SPEED.

Weakness: Read below...

I read a lot before my recent build and actually used EVGA Stepup to get here. But my main reason was SLI. I planned on gaming and read the merits of SLI. this board support triple. While I may never fully utilize that, its nice to know I can! Its also nice knowing that future compatibility is near with FSB speeds and 45nm product support. This board will recognize the E8400 Wolfdale and of...
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I read a lot before my recent build and actually used EVGA Stepup to get here. But my main reason was SLI. I planned on gaming and read the merits of SLI. this board support triple. While I may never fully utilize that, its nice to know I can!
Its also nice knowing that future compatibility is near with FSB speeds and 45nm product support. This board will recognize the E8400 Wolfdale and of course support DDR3. The BIOS is user friendly but many setting can lose the average user. Some of the default/autos should actually be disabled (ie. Speedstep).
Lastly, Evga support is second to none.
CONS:
Why this board has 2 PCI-E X16 2.0 slots and 1 standard PCI-E x16 slot I fail to comprehend. It is supposed to support 3-way SLI yet only two of the slots are 2.0 leaving one of the cards gimped.
The heat pipes/fins are always hot to the touch, not burning hot but hot enough, and I haven’t even OC. Worse, the fan they give you to cool them, blows the 90 degree heat right onto the backside of your video card causing it to run hotter. Thank god for WC!

The memory controller does not set the correct voltage to your memory and should be set manually. This is self evident in a high end user system.
DDR3 price is the last but prices are falling. 4GB (2x2GB)is still out of league and there is still a debate as to the performance hindrance of (4x1GB).
My Lian-Li case front panel audio, Fire and USB headers cannot and would not function in either the 780i or the 790i. I get continual “unrecognized device.” I am confident it’s not the head itself as it worked fine in the AMD 939.
The SLI Bridge that ships with this board is rigid (as opposed to flexible) and requires the video cards to be about 3 inches apart from each other. This eliminated the remaining PCIe slots. Not a major issue if you don’t need them, but something to note if you do.

Otherwise, I am quite happy with my build.

By glanglitz - May 12, 2008

Would be great if it was stable

Strengths: Very fast, plenty of options

Weakness: Random crashes on games, all sorts of problems with users on the forums for EVGA, tech support lacking from EVGA....hmm what else.

This board has been said to have many many problems. Lots of instability and general shoddy production values from what I have seen.

Good luck if you buy it.

By JTWrenn; - Jun 1, 2008

EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI

The eVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI is a high-end motherboard based on NVIDIAs nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset. The eVGA 790i board provides socket LGA 775 support for Intel CPUs including Intel Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium EE, and Pentium processors. The eVGA 790i board features a native FSB (Front Side Bus) of 800, 1066, 1333, and 1600 MHz (Most similiar boards only allow 1600MHz...
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By productwiki.com - Mar 25, 2011