- Joined
- Jun 20, 2007
- Messages
- 3,942 (0.64/day)
| System Name | Widow |
|---|---|
| Processor | Ryzen 7600x |
| Motherboard | AsRock B650 HDVM.2 |
| Cooling | CPU : Corsair Hydro XC7 }{ GPU: EK FC 1080 via Magicool 360 III PRO > Photon 170 (D5) |
| Memory | 32GB Gskill Flare X5 |
| Video Card(s) | GTX 1080 TI |
| Storage | Samsung 9series NVM 2TB and Rust |
| Display(s) | Predator X34P/Tempest X270OC @ 120hz / LG W3000h |
| Case | Fractal Define S [Antec Skeleton hanging in hall of fame] |
| Audio Device(s) | Asus Xonar Xense with AKG K612 cans on Monacor SA-100 |
| Power Supply | Seasonic X-850 |
| Mouse | Razer Naga 2014 |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro |
| Benchmark Scores | FFXIV ARR Benchmark 12,883 on i7 2600k 15,098 on AM5 7600x |
Over the past several days I've decided to give this setup a bit more of a kick in the pants, but at a stable level, for "24/7" use.
Thanks to Wile, Tatty an Anandtech(for showing me exactly why not to listen to their botched reviews lol) for helping me along the way.
I'd give you guys a kiss if I could, and while society might not look down on that as it once did, our wives surely would
C2D e6600 @3.6 1.43v
2gig Bal 667 @333 3/3/3/1 -19 1T 2v
EVGA nForce 650i Ultra @1600 (400X9) 1.2v SPP 1.3v
BIOS version P02 3/7/2007 (Currently version P03 is available. Only known updates are support of Kentsfield chips)
Results:
Pi 1.4 14.563
Aquamark 144,371
Pros and Cons (General)
The board cannot be beat for the money.
The layout allows you to fit several different brands and types of air/lcs blocks to the CPU and NB without worry of clipping the RAM or the GPU card. SATA ports, IDE plug and general pin placements are flexible.
It's BIOS is entirely straightforward and is safe to work with. It's makes you aware of it's limits quite clearly, and will be very forgiving if you make a mistake.
Depending on how detailed or precise you are about your overclock, it can go a bit higher than what I've achieved, but 3.9/4ghz will be left for another CPU.
The downsides to the board are several, but not drastic given it's purpose and especially cost.
The initial NB passive heat sink is black coated aluminum, very standard, and questionable for cooling. The SB is naked, and due to the location, a large GPU card will block you from using a standard sized chip heatsink. You can however use smaller ones, but they must be low profile for head room purposes.
The BIOS lacks a few features that it's 680i brother(and possibly the 650i SLI) does. Most noteably, is the range of voltage adjustment on Memory and SPP. You're limits are 2.10 and 1.5 respectively. Hence this will not be a high frequency clocking board without some frustration. It works fine for me, as I prefer lower timings.
My other gripe was that under System Monitor, the only temperature listed was the CPU. The 680 presents you with NB chipset temperature as well. For anyone who's ever had to somehow fit a thermal sensor under their block to read the NB, a hardware monitor of the NB would be a God send. I may have the NB liquid cooled, but I'd sure like an accurate reading without having to go buy a thermal testing tool.
Afterthoughts (for now)
If you're coming into the C2D era of computing, or just looking to upgrade to a stable, mostly flexible and adaptive board, then this is a great starting point.
Soon though, the 680s will come down in price, so you can feel confident that either 650 or 680, you're only real concern is going to be budget.The unfortunate thing about moving to a 680 just for performance purposes, is that you suffer flexibility in the layout, with the top PCI E slot (for SLI) giving you little room to work with for cooling purposes, in comparison to the 650. It is possible they have released a revised 650i (non SLI), that confronts the negative issues up above.
I'm giving this board a 8.5/10 and will be using it for myself indefinatley until I move to SLI/Vista next year.
NOTE: Feel free to make performance suggestions. This rig is not used for extensive synthetic benchmark achievements; real world applications only 24/7.
Thanks to Wile, Tatty an Anandtech(for showing me exactly why not to listen to their botched reviews lol) for helping me along the way.
I'd give you guys a kiss if I could, and while society might not look down on that as it once did, our wives surely would
C2D e6600 @3.6 1.43v
2gig Bal 667 @333 3/3/3/1 -19 1T 2v
EVGA nForce 650i Ultra @1600 (400X9) 1.2v SPP 1.3v
BIOS version P02 3/7/2007 (Currently version P03 is available. Only known updates are support of Kentsfield chips)
Results:
Pi 1.4 14.563
Aquamark 144,371
Pros and Cons (General)
The board cannot be beat for the money.
The layout allows you to fit several different brands and types of air/lcs blocks to the CPU and NB without worry of clipping the RAM or the GPU card. SATA ports, IDE plug and general pin placements are flexible.
It's BIOS is entirely straightforward and is safe to work with. It's makes you aware of it's limits quite clearly, and will be very forgiving if you make a mistake.
Depending on how detailed or precise you are about your overclock, it can go a bit higher than what I've achieved, but 3.9/4ghz will be left for another CPU.
The downsides to the board are several, but not drastic given it's purpose and especially cost.
The initial NB passive heat sink is black coated aluminum, very standard, and questionable for cooling. The SB is naked, and due to the location, a large GPU card will block you from using a standard sized chip heatsink. You can however use smaller ones, but they must be low profile for head room purposes.
The BIOS lacks a few features that it's 680i brother(and possibly the 650i SLI) does. Most noteably, is the range of voltage adjustment on Memory and SPP. You're limits are 2.10 and 1.5 respectively. Hence this will not be a high frequency clocking board without some frustration. It works fine for me, as I prefer lower timings.
My other gripe was that under System Monitor, the only temperature listed was the CPU. The 680 presents you with NB chipset temperature as well. For anyone who's ever had to somehow fit a thermal sensor under their block to read the NB, a hardware monitor of the NB would be a God send. I may have the NB liquid cooled, but I'd sure like an accurate reading without having to go buy a thermal testing tool.
Afterthoughts (for now)
If you're coming into the C2D era of computing, or just looking to upgrade to a stable, mostly flexible and adaptive board, then this is a great starting point.
Soon though, the 680s will come down in price, so you can feel confident that either 650 or 680, you're only real concern is going to be budget.The unfortunate thing about moving to a 680 just for performance purposes, is that you suffer flexibility in the layout, with the top PCI E slot (for SLI) giving you little room to work with for cooling purposes, in comparison to the 650. It is possible they have released a revised 650i (non SLI), that confronts the negative issues up above.
I'm giving this board a 8.5/10 and will be using it for myself indefinatley until I move to SLI/Vista next year.
NOTE: Feel free to make performance suggestions. This rig is not used for extensive synthetic benchmark achievements; real world applications only 24/7.
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