EVGA nForce 650i Ultra: Performance on a Budget
by Gary Key on April 10, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Overclocking - E6600
After trying a variety of memory timings and system voltages we discovered our 9x430 FSB setting was the limit for both our board and CPU. This resulted in a final clock speed of 3869MHz at 1.4750V which is the limit for our Tuniq 120 air cooler. We did find the typical FSB hole around 416~422 FSB but did not notice the same issues we had with the 680i LT SLI having several FSB ranges that were unusable. Vdroop was acceptable but not great during overclocking with an average drop of .04V during load testing with our E6600.
We dropped the multiplier on our E6600 to seven and were able to reach the same 509 FSB level as with the E6300. We were able to enter XP at 7x512 but the board was not stable. We were able to pass all benchmarks at the 7x509 setting but feel like the board is most comfortable around 485FSB. We have been testing the board for only a week so extensive 24/7 testing at 7x509 has not been completed at this time. However, we have not had a failure at this setting in the last 72 hours.
We noticed in overclock testing that we were able to extract an 1133 memory speed at 5-5-5-18 2T timings at 2.10V with our OCZ Flex PC2-6400. This matches the 680i LT SLI speeds at slightly worse timings although performance differences were minimal. Memory performance and stability was excellent once the board was dialed in.
Overclocking - QX6700
We were extremely pleased with quad core overclocking on this board as its performance was significantly better than some of the more expensive 680i boards in our results. Our board reached a final 360FSB at the stock multiplier. We were able to POST and enter XP at 368FSB but could not complete our benchmark testing.
Our processor voltage was set to 1.450V in order to maintain system stability at 360 FSB. Our processor will normally run in the 3600MHz range at 1.4125V on the 975X and P965 boards. Vdroop was acceptable on this board with the quad core processor. We would see drops as high as .04V under load testing with the average drop being around .03V during extended game testing.
We really had to loosen up the memory timings when compared to the dual core results as there was some significant crosstalk on the board with the quad core at extended FSB settings. In fact, we could not run CAS3 and 1T command rate stable together at stock settings. Our choice was to run 4-4-3-9 1T settings at stock as performance was better than running 3-4-4-10 2T. Since our quad core results with the ASUS and MSI 650i/430 boards are very similar, we believe the 650i SPP is the limiting factor in overclocking this processor.
This was probably the biggest surprise in our testing as the board had no issues reaching a stable 450FSB, although for 24/7 operation we felt like 8x440 would probably be safer based upon the memory timings being utilized. We were able to POST and enter XP at 474FSB but could not complete any benchmark testing. Until we complete long term 24/7 testing on this board with a quad core CPU, our suggestion is to stay below 430FSB level and run slightly tighter memory timings.
| EVGA nForce 650i Ultra E6600 Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core, 2.4GHz, 4MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 9x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.4750V / 1.4500 (default 1.3250V) |
| SPP Voltage: | 1.50V |
| FSB Voltage: | 1.40V |
| Cooling: | Tuniq 120 Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ ProXStream 1000W |
| Memory: | OCZ Flex XLC PC2-6400 (2x1GB) |
| Video Cards: | 1 x MSI 8800GTX |
| Hard Drive: | Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Buffer |
| Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
| Maximum CPU OC: | 430x9 (3-4-4-10 1T, 798MHz) 3869MHz (+61% CPU) |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 509x7 (3-4-4-10 2T, 793MHz) 3569MHz (+91% FSB) |
| . | |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
After trying a variety of memory timings and system voltages we discovered our 9x430 FSB setting was the limit for both our board and CPU. This resulted in a final clock speed of 3869MHz at 1.4750V which is the limit for our Tuniq 120 air cooler. We did find the typical FSB hole around 416~422 FSB but did not notice the same issues we had with the 680i LT SLI having several FSB ranges that were unusable. Vdroop was acceptable but not great during overclocking with an average drop of .04V during load testing with our E6600.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We dropped the multiplier on our E6600 to seven and were able to reach the same 509 FSB level as with the E6300. We were able to enter XP at 7x512 but the board was not stable. We were able to pass all benchmarks at the 7x509 setting but feel like the board is most comfortable around 485FSB. We have been testing the board for only a week so extensive 24/7 testing at 7x509 has not been completed at this time. However, we have not had a failure at this setting in the last 72 hours.
We noticed in overclock testing that we were able to extract an 1133 memory speed at 5-5-5-18 2T timings at 2.10V with our OCZ Flex PC2-6400. This matches the 680i LT SLI speeds at slightly worse timings although performance differences were minimal. Memory performance and stability was excellent once the board was dialed in.
Overclocking - QX6700
| EVGA nForce 650i Ultra QX6700 Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad Core, 2.66GHz, 8MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 10x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.4500V / 1.4750V (default 1.3500V) |
| SPP Voltage: | 1.50V |
| FSB Voltage: | 1.40V |
| Cooling: | Tuniq 120 Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ ProXStream 1000W |
| Memory: | OCZ Flex XLC PC2-6400 (2x1GB) |
| Video Cards: | 1 x MSI 8800GTX |
| Hard Drive: | Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Buffer |
| Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
| Maximum OC: | 360x10 (4-4-4-10 2T, 800MHz, Linked) 3600MHz (+35%) |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 450x8 (4-4-4-12 2T, 900MHz, Sync) 3600MHz (+69% FSB) |
| . | |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We were extremely pleased with quad core overclocking on this board as its performance was significantly better than some of the more expensive 680i boards in our results. Our board reached a final 360FSB at the stock multiplier. We were able to POST and enter XP at 368FSB but could not complete our benchmark testing.
Our processor voltage was set to 1.450V in order to maintain system stability at 360 FSB. Our processor will normally run in the 3600MHz range at 1.4125V on the 975X and P965 boards. Vdroop was acceptable on this board with the quad core processor. We would see drops as high as .04V under load testing with the average drop being around .03V during extended game testing.
We really had to loosen up the memory timings when compared to the dual core results as there was some significant crosstalk on the board with the quad core at extended FSB settings. In fact, we could not run CAS3 and 1T command rate stable together at stock settings. Our choice was to run 4-4-3-9 1T settings at stock as performance was better than running 3-4-4-10 2T. Since our quad core results with the ASUS and MSI 650i/430 boards are very similar, we believe the 650i SPP is the limiting factor in overclocking this processor.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
This was probably the biggest surprise in our testing as the board had no issues reaching a stable 450FSB, although for 24/7 operation we felt like 8x440 would probably be safer based upon the memory timings being utilized. We were able to POST and enter XP at 474FSB but could not complete any benchmark testing. Until we complete long term 24/7 testing on this board with a quad core CPU, our suggestion is to stay below 430FSB level and run slightly tighter memory timings.
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Zak - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Is there a SPDIF out bracket included? I'd find that a show stopper if it wasn't. Also, regarding the layout: with more and more video cards being quite large these days why they don't allow some extra space between the PCIx graphics slot and the next slot? This is a huge problem with mobos IMHO. Just because I want non-SLI, midrange motherboard doesn't mean I won't have a high end video card in it. Zak.saratoga - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
I noticed the onboard sound benchmarks, but theres nothing about the onboard sound quality. Rightmark has a benchmark for this that take 2 minutes to run and spits out very useful information. Why not include those results like some other sites do?While knowing how it performs is great, knowing if the results are worth listening to is also important. I don't care if its the fastest onboard sound in the world, if its got poor SNR figures, I'm probably going to buy a PCI card :)
yacoub - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Added two items to your list of desired additions. If a 650i Ultra board came out with the above features, it'd be worth an additional 25% in price to me. (i.e. $125)
It's still practically amazing how well the C2D chips OC even on this board with its somewhat limited overclocking features. =)
Thanks again for a great review Gary.
yacoub - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Thanks for including the benchmarks with a real-world system. It's neat to see how incredibly different most of the test results are compared to your monster rig with XLC Flex RAM and an 8800GTX. ;)yacoub - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
So don't buy this board if your DDR2 sticks want to run at 2.2v or 2.3v.
yacoub - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Ah yes, there you go:So time to wait and see if any other folks (Asus, Abit, MSi, etc) come out with a 650i board that offers better adjustment options in the BIOS.
Also would like to see a fully solid-capacitor design as well. Wouldn't mind paying $120-$125 for one of these 650i Ultras with those features added.
yacoub - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
I'm really glad you posted that nice feature chart on page 2 because I didn't know that only 680i boards got the EPP compatibility. Boy it sure would suck to spend extra money on nice high-performance DDR2 RAM that advertises really nice timings when EPP is enabled, only to find out your nice new 650i SLI or Ultra board doesn't support EPP.nullpointerus - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
I'll probably be getting one of these when I upgrade to C2Q late this year. From my browsing experiences, the current crop of Core-compatible boards are much too expensive or lack the new features I would like to gain by upgrading to the new platform. Kudos to EVGA for bringing a solid mid-range board to market!I'm glad to hear nTune (almost) works properly with this board. On my NF4 Ultra board, nTune crashes everytime I try to bring up the system status/overclocking stuff, and BTW the software is a pain to get working in Vista--something like six error messages come up when started without administrator permissions. Hopefully, the Vista issues will be resolved in a few months.