Gamer's best cheap friend (XFX nForce 680i LT SLI)

Member Name: CampGareth

Product:	XFX nForce 680i LT SLI
Date:	05/10/08 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sli, plenty of USB sockets, overclocks nicely, gigabit ethernet

Disadvantages: Some features are lacking, plugs are sometimes poorly placed

This board is a relatively cheap gamer's board, it has sli, it has support for 8GB of RAM, plenty of USB sockets, gigabit ethernet and a fast maximum FSB for overclocking. There are however some problems with this board, for example, in a mid size ATX case the plugs on the board for SATA and 40 pin IDE are (when viewed from the component side) below the HDD slots, which makes access rather a problem. There are also only 2 SATA plugs on the board, placed at the bottom, which means SATA optical drives have to have a cable trailing across the board, making airflow worse and adding to clutter. Another problem is lack of fan plugs, there are 3 of them which may not be enough in bigger cases with many fans. If you have audio sockets on the front of your case, you probably wont be able to use them, I have searched and not found the plugs on the board yet. The place on the board for IDE cables, power lines and button connections is also badly placed, if you have any 5.25 inch drive that is deep, then when placed in the lower slots the drive will not fit as it hits the cables. I have however only tested this board in a cheapo Casecom mid ATX case, and am in a week's time going to test it in an Antec 1200, which should change things a bit.

Summary: A cheap gamer's delight so long as you have enough space in the case

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