EVGA nForce 650i Ultra: Performance on a Budget
by Gary Key on April 10, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Thoughts
This is our first look at a true NVIDIA budget solution for the Intel platform. NVIDIA has done a terrific job combining the 650i SLI SPP and nf430 MCP into a board design that offers extremely competitive performance at a compelling price point. This is the same design philosophy that NVIDIA is using with the 680i LT SLI chipset but we felt like that EVGA board lacked a finishing coat of polish. In some ways we feel the same way about the EVGA 650i Ultra board as well.
Don't get us wrong: we think the performance of the board and the basic features are terrific for an estimated selling price around $95 to $99, especially when looking at other Intel solutions in this price range. However, we firmly believe that a few additions such as memory voltages to 2.2V, CPU VTT / GTL Ref voltage control, Firewire, and maybe a six-layer board design would have placed this board in the exceptional category for those enthusiasts on a budget.
What those extras would have meant in additional cost is something we will never know, but if it only meant a few extra dollars then we firmly believe they would have been well worth it. As it is, we have to judge the board on its own merits against other offerings in the same price range and with that we present it a Silver Editors' Choice Award.
The EVGA 650i Ultra stands out from other boards in this price category by offering top tier performance in several areas and a feature list that cannot be beat at very reasonable pricing. When comparing features to Intel P965 chipsets found in this price sector we see our EVGA 650i Ultra offering onboard RAID, asynchronous memory capability, and best-in-class overclocking for the same or less money. The addition of GPU optimizations that offer a free 2% to 4% improvement with certain GPUs in our gaming scores is an added bonus.
We did not experience any major problems with the board during an intense week long test schedule utilizing Windows XP. We did find a few minor issues with nTune, a fan header that is thermally preset to 60C before the fan will operate, and a few overclocking nuances with our quad core CPU due to crosstalk problems on the board. We just started Vista testing on this board and will provide an update in our upcoming roundup article. We have not experienced issues in Vista yet other than immature driver release problems. It appears from our forums and others that NVIDIA's current driver offerings are not as mature as they need to be for most users, and that problem has also cropped up with other drivers for other users.
We are concerned about the lack of a 2.2V memory setting as we would have liked some additional headroom with our mid to upper range memory modules. As it stands, we are still able to utilize CAS3 and 1T command rates with the SPP voltage increased to 1.30V with our premium memory selection. In all honesty, the application performance differences between our budget memory modules and the higher performing modules were usually less than 5% in extended testing that showed our Transcend JetRam DDR2-800 or Wintec AMPX DDR2-800 being a perfect budget match for this board with a price around $125 for 2GB.
The overclocking aspects of the board are terrific considering the price point and with the asynchronous memory capability you can really push the FSB while retaining budget priced DDR2-800 memory in the system. This is one area where NVIDIA has an advantage over Intel in this price sector as the P965 boards are generally limited to 400FSB and less than stellar memory performance. We typically found that 4-4-4-12 1T or 4-4-3-10 2T timings at DDR2-800 offered a nice balance between memory price considerations and performance on this board.
We feel like the EVGA 650i Ultra offers a high degree of quality, performance, and support in a package that costs a little under $100. This board is certainly not perfect nor is it designed for everyone but it offers almost the perfect package in an Intel market sector that has not had anything real interesting to talk about for a long time. We are left wondering why NVIDIA chose the silent path to introduce this chipset when it's obvious they really have something interesting to discuss this time around.
This is our first look at a true NVIDIA budget solution for the Intel platform. NVIDIA has done a terrific job combining the 650i SLI SPP and nf430 MCP into a board design that offers extremely competitive performance at a compelling price point. This is the same design philosophy that NVIDIA is using with the 680i LT SLI chipset but we felt like that EVGA board lacked a finishing coat of polish. In some ways we feel the same way about the EVGA 650i Ultra board as well.
Don't get us wrong: we think the performance of the board and the basic features are terrific for an estimated selling price around $95 to $99, especially when looking at other Intel solutions in this price range. However, we firmly believe that a few additions such as memory voltages to 2.2V, CPU VTT / GTL Ref voltage control, Firewire, and maybe a six-layer board design would have placed this board in the exceptional category for those enthusiasts on a budget.
What those extras would have meant in additional cost is something we will never know, but if it only meant a few extra dollars then we firmly believe they would have been well worth it. As it is, we have to judge the board on its own merits against other offerings in the same price range and with that we present it a Silver Editors' Choice Award.
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We did not experience any major problems with the board during an intense week long test schedule utilizing Windows XP. We did find a few minor issues with nTune, a fan header that is thermally preset to 60C before the fan will operate, and a few overclocking nuances with our quad core CPU due to crosstalk problems on the board. We just started Vista testing on this board and will provide an update in our upcoming roundup article. We have not experienced issues in Vista yet other than immature driver release problems. It appears from our forums and others that NVIDIA's current driver offerings are not as mature as they need to be for most users, and that problem has also cropped up with other drivers for other users.
We are concerned about the lack of a 2.2V memory setting as we would have liked some additional headroom with our mid to upper range memory modules. As it stands, we are still able to utilize CAS3 and 1T command rates with the SPP voltage increased to 1.30V with our premium memory selection. In all honesty, the application performance differences between our budget memory modules and the higher performing modules were usually less than 5% in extended testing that showed our Transcend JetRam DDR2-800 or Wintec AMPX DDR2-800 being a perfect budget match for this board with a price around $125 for 2GB.
The overclocking aspects of the board are terrific considering the price point and with the asynchronous memory capability you can really push the FSB while retaining budget priced DDR2-800 memory in the system. This is one area where NVIDIA has an advantage over Intel in this price sector as the P965 boards are generally limited to 400FSB and less than stellar memory performance. We typically found that 4-4-4-12 1T or 4-4-3-10 2T timings at DDR2-800 offered a nice balance between memory price considerations and performance on this board.
We feel like the EVGA 650i Ultra offers a high degree of quality, performance, and support in a package that costs a little under $100. This board is certainly not perfect nor is it designed for everyone but it offers almost the perfect package in an Intel market sector that has not had anything real interesting to talk about for a long time. We are left wondering why NVIDIA chose the silent path to introduce this chipset when it's obvious they really have something interesting to discuss this time around.
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kentster2 - Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - link
This motherboard sounds perfect for me but I can't find it anywhere. In fact I can't find any boards based on the 650i Ultra chipset available anywhere. I did find the specs on an MSI board based on this chipset but again no availability. Does anyone know when the general availability will be for these boards?yyrkoon - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Still does not compare to the best AM2 'budget' board out there. Add the following, and it would do good I think:1) Heatpipe cooled chipset
2) Either one more PATA port, or 2 more SATA ports for a total of 8 drives
3) Firewire ( not supported ?! )
4) Overclocking options out the wazzu, with memeory voltages capable of 3.0v
Are the PATA ports controlled by the 430MCP ? It seems that way, going by the features list. If this is the case, WHY leave out a PATA port ? It does not make sense. These four things I've mentioned above are not too much to ask, ABIT has already proven that with the NF-M2 nView, and places like newegg, ZZF, etc can not seem to keep these boards in stock ! What gives . . .
kmmatney - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
it;s obvious that having a high priced sound card will help out with frame rates, but what about a cheaper card? Would a $27 Creative Audigy SE provide the same speed benefits by taking the load from the cpu?Gary Key - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
The SE will provide frame rates that are on average about 2~3% worse than the X-FI in my experiences.lopri - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Gary's measure is remarkably similar to my observations on EVGA 680i board. (Interesting because the chips used on the 680i SLI are different from 650i Ultra) Without active cooling, I saw SPP temp rising to 100C(!) and MCP to 80C. This will not only cause instability (especially mated with other high-end components) but likely shorten the lifespan of the board. Even more worrisome is that the ever-increasing popularity of those L-shaped HSFs. These HSFs provide practically zero air-flow on the board's hot (i mean, HOT) spots and therefore the heat keeps building up.
I think NV at this point just assume that their target audience are *enthusiasts* in that:
1. Enthusiasts today just accept that a new motherboard/chipset is basically a beta product and expect fix/patches via BIOS updates and/or hardware revision.
2. Enthusiasts tend to employ their own cooling solution anyway.
And that's exactly what I've done up to this date. Every single NV chipset board I bought the first thing I did was replacing stock chipset/VRM cooling with aftermarket stuff.
And I'M TIRED OF IT.
This board may be selling for $99, but in order for you to build your main rig with a peace of mind on it, you will need an aftermarket cooling for the missing SB HSF (how dare they leave it wide open like that is beyond me) and the paltry NB heatsink for a heavier one. There goes extra $20~30 quite easily.
To my eyes, this board cut so many corners and definitely not worth $99. $70~80 maybe. And I do think that's how much it'll sell for in less than a month.
nullpointerus - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
When it's included, active cooling's crap anyway. The little NB/SB fans last a few months at most before giving out completely. Motherboard makers should get in touch with Zalman or somebody like them and get some decent quality HSF's on these boards.jay401 - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
Totally agree! It would be stupid to buy a motherboard that requires you buy other items just to ensure stable operation and longevity.Scarceas - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Really, who needs 2.2V? If you have RAM that needs that much voltage, chances are you paid more money for it, and the board you are looking to use it with will probably not be a budget board.WT - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
I have an eVGA N41 board, so I want to like this thing, but looking at this 650 board .. blechhh .. talk about plain Jane !! It looks like a straight reference board or an Intel board ! Regardless of looks, performance is what we want, so I would refer anyone looking at this board to read Anand's earlier article on the MSI P6N Platinum and see if that isn't a better fit for your needs. The extra $40-50 is well justified (in my case at least) with the better cooling setup on the MSI board as well as Firewire (just bought a miniDV camcorder) so give that a read as well.If the MSI Plat is priced too high, then check out the FI board priced at $108 at popular vendors websites.
Pirks - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link
Gary, E6300 has TWO megabytes of cache, not FOUR