NVIDIA's 790i Arrives: SLI Rides Again
by Kris Boughton on March 18, 2008 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
First Thoughts
Our experience with 790i thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. It's clear to us that NVIDIA's decision to take the extra time needed to fully prepare the board and BIOS for retail release will end up paying dividends in the end. Many of the problems we experienced with early 780i boards are thankfully missing. The effort placed in providing good Auto values for overclocking has also been extremely helpful. Gamers that are looking to buy a system that is capable of practically overclocking itself should seriously consider the nForce 790i.
Without a doubt, one of the best reasons for buying any NVIDIA-based motherboard is and continues to be the support for SLI graphics configurations. Today's 8800GTS 512MB (G92) prices are low enough to make SLI-enabled gaming systems appear (Ed: almost) mainstream. A quick price check at many major online retailers shows such cards for as little as $249 each - and sometimes significantly less with a mail-in rebate. It was not long ago that the very mention of the price of an SLI system would make your wallet cower in fear; G92 has definitely changed that for the better. NVIDIA tells us they are committed to providing sufficient product at launch, so expect to see 790i hit the shelves almost immediately. For those that are moving up from 680i/780i, don't forget to buy some DDR3. After that, it's an almost seamless transplant moving system components over from one board to the other.
One thing we were happy to see was the improved memory performance at higher frequencies made possible by NVIDIA's latest BIOS. We were experiencing dismal read and copy speeds when using any FSB in excess of 475 FSB. NVIDIA BIOS engineers quickly went to work following a discussion we had detailing our findings and within two days we had our response. The fix provided the performance we initial expected to come from DDR3-2000 memory speeds and the new benchmark results showed the 790i to be devilishly fast afterall. This makes the E8400 with a 9x multiplier a rather good choice when it comes to selecting a CPU. Five-hundread megaHertz and a 9x multi yields a final CPU speed of just under 4.5GHz (or you can go 500x8.5 for an easy 4.25GHz) - a great place to be when it comes to maximizing the hidden potential of any 45nm dual-core microprocessor. If anything, this should be another testament to the importance of selecting a CPU with a higher multiplier. True, while the more modestly price E8200 can certainly be tempting (assuming you can find a seller willing to give you a fair price), you will most likely end up kicking yourself for not going with the E8400 or something with a higher multiplier.
We try to keep in close contact with all of the major vendors, NVIDIA included. You can be certain we will continue to do whatever we can to help improve 790i and future platforms. The nForce 790i SPP is already light years ahead of 780i - 45nm CPU overclocking support is significantly improved and DDR3 memory speeds up around 2.0GHz are wicked fast. DDR3 memory should continue to gain in popularity as prices continue to drop and DDR2 begins to make an exit from the market. Some of the better modules are really starting to shine; the Crucial Ballistix we were offered for review were able to reach speeds in excess of 2.0GHz with no more than 1.9V on the 790i.
You may also want to keep a lookout for the introduction of a few new ESA-enabled components over the coming weeks. We have just received word that OCZ plans to offer a 1000W PSU with ESA-provided real-time current, voltage, and efficiency monitoring. Knowing your PSU is operating well within rated specifications is one less thing to worry about when pushing your system to the limits.
This is first enthusiast level chipset from NVIDIA for the Intel platform that we refuse to refer to as a duck in the labs. You see, just like a duck, the 680i/780i based motherboards seem to wake up in a different world every day. All indications at this point are that NVIDIA finally got their act completely together with the 790i. True, it might not have the same heritage as the Intel X48, but NVIDIA has finally put together a compelling platform that we would not hesitate to use as our main system without the condition of "gaming" being its primary purpose in life.
While this platform will surely satisfy most enthusiasts with its enticing performance, there is one caveat that will relegate it to a select few users. Pricing on these boards is expected to be in the $350 to $400 range. Combine that with the cost of 4GB of DDR3-1800+ memory and you can see why most people will cower at the thought of an upgrade at this time. In the end, it simply comes down to a decision as to whether you want the overall fastest platform available for Intel's latest processor series or you like to eat on a regular basis. Some of us could stand to lose a few pounds….
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jiulemoigt - Thursday, March 20, 2008 - link
I would have thought that with that much gpu power you would have tested AA, or better than medium settings? Seems like the article was slanted to favor the new quad sli which should be giving you all max settings yet looks like 6 fps is what you get...FITCamaro - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
It's pretty sad how motherboard prices have ballooned in the past 2 years. You used to pay $200 tops for a motherboard. Now we're getting models routinely at $250, $350, and now even $350.Now days your motherboard can cost more than both your CPU and memory combined.
halcyon - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
nVidia is of course trying to milk the heat seekers and first adopters, who will pay anything for a few micro fps more.But prices like this will mean that the whole series will sell a few thousand boards worldwide. And manufacturers will be burned (those that got on board to start with, not too many btw).
I think nVidia is in the rope when it comes to the mobo business and it's starting to show.
Products are problematic, late, overpriced and offer very little benefit to the majority of users aren't going to sell very well.
If nVidia wants to stay in the mobo business, they need to make a product that:
- can compete with Intel's cheap/fast chipset (currently P35)
- uses much less energy (P35 is much more energy efficient than anything from nVidia)
- just works (more debugging/testing, not everybody wants to be a hardcore tweaker)
- is priced lower than Intel (let's face it, when did nVidia make a chipset that was more compatible/more reliable than an Intel counterpart? If they are worse, they need to cost less, not more)
I don't see this day happening anytime soon, hence I see the future of nvidia mobo chipset business as quite bleak.
Restroom - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - link
Okay, perhaps I'm just far enough out of the loop now to have missed out on the part where anyone bothers benching anything at medium quality when the products being compared don't differ on supported capabilities (a new pixel shader implementation, for example) which would be evident only when the game's cranked up all the way.Maybe for the sake of this particularly evil app it makes sense to even out test methodology by paring things out to Medium so bigger charts can be compiled in future without totally excluding less-capable hardware. Maybe.
What I really don't understand is why we have independent resolution setups; testing for scaling (which in Crysis' case seems to be, obtusely, limited by the software much more than the hardware) rather than testing a more meaningful component-integration/observed-capability hypothesis. This is a motherboard we're testing (at least that's what EVGA would say if you asked) and it really hoses things up when you have to look at not only so many combinations of vastly different components and setups, but try also to divine meaning from this wild-hair test of resolution scaling thrown in the mix.
I realize I'm not being real coherent, so I'll wrap it with a simpler question: We don't buy these sorts of components so we can willingly make a compromise between pretty and fast, so why bother telling us how much of a compromise we'd be making and totally neglect to tell us what it'll be like when we inevitably crank the quality all the way up and see if we can still play it?
quanta - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - link
Too bad it doesn't include performance results of the I/O component, particularly Networking. It seems people are avoiding it like plague even since the nForce4 ActiveArmor bug.poohbear - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - link
$350-$400 just for a mobo!?!?!? are they on crack?!!?!? this is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard since 1000wt psus. c'mon for the love of god, i bought my top of the line DFI expert for $180 a few months after release, what could possible justify $350-$400 for a mobo?Tell me they're gonna make a non sli version for the rest of us?
lopri - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - link
I do understand that folks who will purchase a board based on 790i has SLI as a priority, but AT as of late tends to get marveled at advancing technology at the cost of basic functionality of such. How come all the relevant features are not tested for normal usage?Disk controller test? RAID test? Do SATA device and PATA device get along? How about the new eSATA? Is it functional and performing as expected? (It's a new revision MCP55 according to the review)
How about Blu-Ray playback, whether the ROM is SATA or PATA? Is there any issue?
The review mentions that when 3-way SLI is employed the other PCIe slots render useless. That's fine but how about when one or two video cards are used? In that case all PCIe slots function normally?
Memory overclocking is nice and all that, but is the board handling DIMMs of various flavors without a trouble? Do the board handle 4 sticks of DIMM as well as it does 2? How about 2GB sticks? Well, one could argue that this is a moot point since DDR3 is expensive but then the whole thing is. I think it is appropriate since the review went on in length to detail the technical aspects of DIMM slots as well as the new memory controller.
And there is the issue of power regulation. Better power delivery for overclocking is nice, but only if the board has mastered the basics. Are the fan headers working as they should, be it from a normal boot or wake-up from sleep? All the power-related features (S1/S3/EIST, etc.) that have been problematic on NV chipsets, especially under SLI - are they fixed?
Talking about the fan, there is no mention of thermal characteristics of the chipset and also lacking is how loud/efficient the default fan is. (as well as RPM control) NV chipsets are infamous and I don't think the reviewer isn't aware of this. So it only leaves readers an impression that the review chose not to mention it.
Also missing is the chipset's power consumption figure, network performance, compatibility with various add-in cards.. The list goes on and on and on. The chipset having the same south bridge from 680i/780i can't be an excuse. That south bridge lived through even more chipsets as we understand.
Then there are the charts. Different GPUs, different NUMBER of GPUs, different chipsets, and CPU frequencies all over (overclocked, of course, and I don't see the point of it) - mix them up and we are presented with un-readable mess. It's no wonder that there looks to be erroneous data. (On page 12, X48/8800GTX is consistently slower than 790i/8800GTX by 30~40% with the same CPUs. Does that make sense? If so, should't there be some kind of explanation?)
From this review, users can hardly draw a conclusion on the performance of the chipset, let alone everything else. It'd make a interesting introduction on a new tech, but at the same time a misleading introduction on an upcoming product to actual users. (I thought this was a 'Review', not a 'Study'. If I'm mistaken please let me know.) This has been a trend in AT motherboard review as of late and I for one am somewhat disappointed because I cannot seem to obtain the information that's meaningful for actual usage. Working together with hardware manufacturer is important, but end-user perspective should be the priority No. 1, IMHO.
saivarnos - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
I to agree with the points made above. I am a technically savy person but finding articles of worth on AT has become increasingly difficult - for the layperson and the technically adept. What happened to the good old days of articles titled and delivered like "Price And Performance, 10 motherboards that are fighting for your money!" and then proceeded to deliver on that title. It used to be in the not so distant past that when I came to this site and just a couple others I would have a chipset and motherboard purchase decision made within about an hour of scanning articles, if I wanted the extra technical specifications and the like I could read them, if not I could leave them, now they appear integral to the articles posted here an actually detract from instead of adding value to the article. AT I love you guys, but GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS!skinflickBOB - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - link
I guess you deserve your money back Lopri, anyone would think it costs you money to click the mouse button and come over to read somebodies review. NOT!It's essentially a free site for us readers.. Oh yeah, I know it pays the site for us to click, but you just sound like someone who is eternally ungrateful for anything other than what you do yourself.
laters
Bob
seamusmc - Thursday, March 20, 2008 - link
I'm another that agrees with Lopri.Please review more of the features the board provides. I'm particularly interested in disk and RAID performance, areas the NVidia chipsets have always been lackluster in.