EVGA nForce 780i SLI Desktop Board-NFORCE 780I PCIE 2.0 3WAY SLI 3CTLR16X ESA CERTIFIED

...

to overall noise level, for you are forced to place a 60mm fan over your chipset. Summing up: if you run CPU intensive applications, like simulations, go for an Intel chipset/mobo. If you are a gamer, you probably have to choose NVIDIA.
Of course, all this discussion assumes you have chosen an Intel processor.

If you have chosen an nVidia chipset, the choices today are 780 and 790. Ruling out the 790 for its price and DDR3 issues, you're locked with 780.
As you probably read elsewhere, the 780 is just a 680 with 3 PCIE slots (2 of them are 2.0), ESA support and, most important of all, support to new 45nm Intel processors. Nothing else changed dramatically.
Sometimes, 1333Mhz FSB support is advertised as something new, but it's not. Remember that xx50 processors were already supported by 680 mobos. The real issue is the 45nm Penryn technology.
nVidia could release 680 mobos with Penryn support if minor fixes were made. Quite understandably, however, they have opted to fix it and add some gimmicks to throw in a new product and basket the marketing gains.

So far, then, two conclusions: the first one is that 680 mobos no longer make sense. The second is that you should buy a 780 mobo if, and only if, you are buying a new system today. If you are satisfied with your non-Penryn system, just up grading your mobo makes no sense.

But suppose you're buying a new rig today and decided for the 780. What are the choices?

As most people know, nVidia authorized partners do not produce their mobos. Instead, nVidia centralizes the process and allows them just to print their names (EVGA, XFX etc.) on the board. Therefore, the choice between these manufacturers is very subjective and done by details like warranty, RMA policies etc. Because my previous experience with EVGA was very good in terms of bios up-dates, I stick to them.
What most people don't know, however, is that nVidia itself does not produce mobos as well. They buy them from Foxconn, medium-medium quality producer from Taiwan.
In other words, be advised that you are not buying an nVidia/EVGA/BFG/XFX mobo; you're buying a Foxconn mobo.
That said, what follows applies almost 100% to all these other manufacturers.

It's a great product with two serious issues.
The first one is its original incompatibility with SATA optical drives. The problem was fixed via bios update and there is a chance that if you buy a brand new mobo today you won't experience it. I had to go through it and it was a hard time: blue screen when trying to install anything, than finding an old IDE optical drive, updates...

The second one is the position of the chipset fan (remember what I said before about heating?). The way it's placed, it blows hot air directly on your video card. Not the smartest thing to do considering that my 8800 Ultra already runs at 72C.
Some have fixed it using a regular 60mm fan placed over the chipset radiator and inverting the airflow.
I find this solution cumbersome for you won't be able to use the fittings to securely place the fan on the mobo.
My suggestion is to cut the red and black wires of the fan about half their length and invert them, connecting the first half of the black wire to the second half of the red wire and vice-versa. You get the inverted airflow in a more elegant way.

Others complain about minor issues such as non-solid capacitors outside the voltage regulation circuit, could-be-better codec etc, but these are minor.

Over all, a good product.

EVGA nForce 780i SLI Desktop Board-NFORCE 780I PCIE 2.0 3WAY SLI 3CTLR16X ESA CERTIFIED

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Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4D
Crucial BL2KIT12864AL804
Crucial BL12864AL804
Crucial BL2KIT12864AA804
Crucial BL2KIT6464AA804
Crucial BL12864AA804
Crucial BL6464AA804
Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2/2GN
Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2/1GN
Patriot PDC22G6400LLK
PNY D22GX64GMR-4


-----STANDARD MEMORY-----

*Above 800 MHz(Above PC2 6400)*
Kingston KHX9600D2D/2G
Kingston KHX9200D2/512
Kingston KHX8000D2K/2G
Kingston KHX7200D2K2/2G
Patriot PDC21G8000+XBLK
Patriot PDC21G8500 ELK
Crucial BL2KIT12864AL1005
G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ
Mushkin XP2-1066

*800 MHz(PC2 6400)*
Mushkin XP-6400
Mushkin XP2-6400
OCZ OCZ2G8002GK
OCZ OCZ2P800R21G
OCZ OCZ2T8002GK
Corsair XMS6405v4.1
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400
G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ
G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR
G.SKILL F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
Team Xtreem PC2-6400 800MHz 3-3-3-8
Team Xtreem PC2-6400 800MHz 4-4-4-10
Patriot PDC22G6400ELK
Geil Ultra GX22GB6400UDC
Super Talent T800UX2GC4

*667 MHz(PC2 5400)*
Corsair VS512MB667D2
Buffalo D2V667C-1G/BJ
Patriot PDC21G5300LLK
PQI 5400 Turbo
Kingston KHZ5400D2K2/1G
Geil GX21GB5300SX
Muskin xp2 5300 2x1gb
Mushkin HP2-5300

EVGA nForce 780i SLI Desktop Board-NFORCE 780I PCIE 2.0 3WAY SLI 3CTLR16X ESA CERTIFIED

...

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4D

Crucial BL2KIT12864AL804

Crucial BL12864AL804

Crucial BL2KIT12864AA804

Crucial BL2KIT6464AA804

Crucial BL12864AA804

Crucial BL6464AA804

Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2/2GN

Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2/1GN

Patriot PDC22G6400LLK

PNY D22GX64GMR-4





-----STANDARD MEMORY-----



*Above 800 MHz(Above PC2 6400)*

Kingston KHX9600D2D/2G

Kingston KHX9200D2/512

Kingston KHX8000D2K/2G

Kingston KHX7200D2K2/2G

Patriot PDC21G8000+XBLK

Patriot PDC21G8500 ELK

Crucial BL2KIT12864AL1005

G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ

Mushkin XP2-1066



*800 MHz(PC2 6400)*

Mushkin XP-6400

Mushkin XP2-6400

OCZ OCZ2G8002GK

OCZ OCZ2P800R21G

OCZ OCZ2T8002GK

Corsair XMS6405v4.1

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400

G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ

G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR

G.SKILL F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK

G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ

Team Xtreem PC2-6400 800MHz 3-3-3-8

Team Xtreem PC2-6400 800MHz 4-4-4-10

Patriot PDC22G6400ELK

Geil Ultra GX22GB6400UDC

Super Talent T800UX2GC4



*667 MHz(PC2 5400)*

Corsair VS512MB667D2

Buffalo D2V667C-1G/BJ

Patriot PDC21G5300LLK

PQI 5400 Turbo

Kingston KHZ5400D2K2/1G

Geil GX21GB5300SX

Muskin xp2 5300 2x1gb

Mushkin HP2-5300