EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 review

I've been planning to review some of the products we used for the Monster PC Build we did for hubby's boss, but I haven't had a chance to get around to it yet because of all the problems we've had. I finally decided it was time to give my thoughts on the EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 T1 Version. We originally decided to go with this board because the ASUS board we were looking at had tons of issues. After reading a few reviews and listening to recommendations from other PC gurus, we settled on the EVGA motherboard.

We ordered the first board in March from Tiger Direct. I've done a lot of shopping with them, and normally I don't have problems with any of their products. I wasn't too worried about it because they have a 30 day Iron Clad guarantee on their products. We installed the motherboard and had no problems for the first few weeks. about mid-April the second video card, used to power the 2 extra monitors, starting giving problems. Hubby's boss called to tell me the video card had died, and he was ordering a bigger card. I told him I didn't feel like it was the video card, but he swore it was and ordered it anyway. We replaced the video card with no problem, but within 2 weeks he called back to tell me the new card had died. He brought the system to me for a repair. It didn't take but a few minutes for me to determine that the lower pci express x16 slot was dead. I tried 3 video cards, all of which worked in the top x16 slot, but none would work in the bottom slot. I called hubby's boss, explained the situation, and although I offered to fill out the RMA report for a replacement, he decided to order a second board from Tiger Direct.

The second board arrived today. Hubby came in from work carrying it under his arm, and went right to work installing it. It only took 30 minutes to get the system put back together, but when we turned it on, we got the dreaded error code for a memory issue. We removed all the ram, tried each stick one at a time, and finally decided to call EVGA tech support. We spent 15 minutes on the phone with tech support, just long enough to diagnose the motherboard as DOA. I also took the time to ask about the first board, and technical support agreed it was a manufacturer defect that took some time to show it's ugly face.

So, here we are with two identical EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 boards, both of which are dead. I've never had a problem with EVGA products before. I've ordered many video cards from them and have been quite pleased with the performance, but I just can't offer a good review for the motherboard. Reading the EVGA forums just confirms how horrible these boards are. There are 100's of pages filled with discussions on dead boards and ram issues. I'm definitely not impressed. I expected so much more from EVGA and Nvidia.

We have RMA'd the first board, and the second is on it's way back to Tiger Direct for a full refund thanks to their 30 day iron clad guarantee. I'm crossing my fingers and sending up many prayers that the 3rd board received directly from EVGA will be a winner. 2 out of 3 is still a very bad sign, but I have also heard many many good things about this motherboard, so I'm hoping it won't be 3 out of 3. If it is, EVGA can keep the replacement board and I'll convince the guy to go with something else for his system.

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