Nforce 680i SLI

[recon03]

Curious what GPU's folks have tried with this mobo..  with Win10.    The 680i Sli, as we speak has  win7 and 950/960 GPU.   that I let my kids use, it runs great and has for well over 15+ years. Only  GPU, and Hard drives been replaced.  but I had to go back to win 7, due to GPU due to drivers...  So, curious to see what others have had luck, running windows 10 and this mother board....   

 

I run windows 7, with this board, I ran windows 10 and it worked, with a 8800 gt, and a 400 series GPU, but I tried a 950, 960, and I was unable. So, i'm thinking of getting a  Evga 660 or so, as I heard some folks said that it ran for them with windows 10... I would like to hear from others with the same experience.  Before I shell out some $$ for a used 660 . I don't mind getting another GPU, if I have to, as this machine is just a testing machine and a machine my kids use.  I sometimes use as a server too.  This machine has been wonderful over the years, and plan to use it, until it dies .....

 

 

I know its a driver issue regarding newer GPU's, but looking to see the newest that anyone has had experience with, for this mobo, and windows 10, Thanks for any information that folks can share. 

[BondiBlue]

It's been years since I last used my 680i SLI for anything productive, but I've run cards as new as a Radeon RX 570 and a GT 710 in mine without issue. Of course, the CPU is a major bottleneck for any halfway decent GPU, so I wouldn't recommend spending much on a new card for it, even if you do plan to run the machine until it dies. 

 

The 680i SLI was a nice board for its time, but it definitely had some quirks. I would still use mine today, but it doesn't make sense to do so anymore. Even something just a couple years newer can do far more with less power. 

[ApolloX75]

I've run my 3080 on my 790i to test it out because at the time it was the only system I could fit the damn card in. 

 

Worked fine.

 

SEE!

[da na]

My HD 5870 works fine on Windows 10, so does my GTX 670 (and of course the 980) so you can use very old cards no issue. 

[ApolloX75]

1 minute ago, Mel0nMan said:

My HD 5870 works fine on Windows 10, so does my GTX 670 (and of course the 980) so you can use very old cards no issue. 

Definitely.

 

I've tested from a GTX 7900 to a 8800 GT to a 260 and up all the way to a 970, 980 Ti and 1080 and they all work flawlessly on a 790i or even a P45 based board in Windows 10. I've even run a 2080 Ti with no issues, as well as my 3080 as I mentioned above.

 

I mean, no issues other than a ridiculous boa constrictor of a bottleneck, but hey. It works.

[recon03]

18 hours ago, ApolloX75 said:

I've run my 3080 on my 790i to test it out because at the time it was the only system I could fit the damn card in. 

 

Worked fine.

 

SEE!

really?  I have a 950, 960, and 1050, tried them all, I could never get them to work with windows 10. ever, but when I had a 400 series, it worked fine and my old 8800 gt, which I no longer have either cards. I just bought a 660 TI, for 60 bucks, hoping that would resolve it, I hate that I have to run win 7 on it, I rather run 10.  So, any tips to getting it running on windows 10 the 900 or 1000 series cards?? that is crazy how you got a 3080 to run it. 

 

I wonder because you have the 790i, I know alot of folks had issues with the 680i, and GPU's.. I have for years, any tips?  Thanks!

[recon03]

18 hours ago, Mel0nMan said:

My HD 5870 works fine on Windows 10, so does my GTX 670 (and of course the 980) so you can use very old cards no issue. 

Damn, my 950, 960, 1050, I could never get it to work with windows 10.   I just bought a 660ti, and was going to try that as I heard folks having good luck with them.  The last card I could get to work with it was a 400 series, with windows 10, I had to revert to windows 7, once I hit 900 series cards..    So i'm curious of any tips, that you got the 900 series cards running with the 680i, mobo?   it has bugged me for years and its an old test machine and my oldest son uses to game on..  we have other machines we use, but I don't want to toss it as it serves a purpose and it works well for many years, I like to use it until it dies.   but I really want windows 10.  Ugh, any suggestions to get that 900 series working? if not going to run this 660 ti, I just bought for 60 bucks and try it once it comes. 

[recon03]

19 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

It's been years since I last used my 680i SLI for anything productive, but I've run cards as new as a Radeon RX 570 and a GT 710 in mine without issue. Of course, the CPU is a major bottleneck for any halfway decent GPU, so I wouldn't recommend spending much on a new card for it, even if you do plan to run the machine until it dies. 

 

The 680i SLI was a nice board for its time, but it definitely had some quirks. I would still use mine today, but it doesn't make sense to do so anymore. Even something just a couple years newer can do far more with less power. 

 

Ya I have alot of GPU's laying around due to game dev work, and I built hundreds, if not thousands of machines over the years, but I could never get anything the 400 series card to run with that mobo.  I have an old quad core CPU, so i'm good there and this machine has been amazing for Unreal, Unity and many in house engines, software I used, even to this day it runs everything fairly well. So, even though its no longer a dev machine as I built 3 newer machines since then for that , I still use it for testing games and let my kids use for gaming and such, which it runs perfectly.   the bad thing its on windows 7, I rather it be on 10.  I wish I could even run a 950, 960, I have 4 of them, not that I will use that, I just one to run one, but I always been able with window 10, only  7, so curious to what folks are doing in order to get it working with windows 10, as I tried everything over the years to try and get it working.    I would love for my son to be able to use windows 10, with his brother with his PC.  and sometimes I use that machine as a test server for games as well.  

 

Thanks for all the replies, you guys been great.

[recon03]

On 4/29/2022 at 7:16 PM, Mel0nMan said:

My HD 5870 works fine on Windows 10, so does my GTX 670 (and of course the 980) so you can use very old cards no issue. 

Hi I never heard back from you, I was curious how you got the 980 to work? with that 680i, Mobo, I was unable and been fighting it for years, so wondering if there was a setting or something driver I missed some where on the net. . Any suggestions, Thanks!

[da na]

7 minutes ago, recon03 said:

Hi I never heard back from you, I was curious how you got the 980 to work? with that 680i, Mobo, I was unable and been fighting it for years, so wondering if there was a setting or something driver I missed some where on the net. . Any suggestions, Thanks!

Well... just downloading the driver from the Nvidia website for it worked fine for me. It's still supported by Nvidia's latest drivers, despite being 8 yr old. 

There's my motherboard, CPU, and GeForce card. The board is a server chipset, being workstation hardware, and still has recent OS support. 

force-enable-gen3.exe

This file isn't a virus, it can be found on nvidia's website, it just takes more time to track down that page again than give you the file from my hard drive.

Also you may want this. This enables PCIe Gen 3 on not officially supported by Nvidia boards (like my Sandy Bridge Xeon, which technically supports it but Nvidia didn't enable it for whatever reason by default.) Run as admin, restart and you're good to go. 

[recon03]

3 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

Well... just downloading the driver from the Nvidia website for it worked fine for me. It's still supported by Nvidia's latest drivers, despite being 8 yr old. 

There's my motherboard, CPU, and GeForce card. The board is a server chipset, being workstation hardware, and still has recent OS support. 

force-enable-gen3.exe 380 kB · 0 downloads

This file isn't a virus, it can be found on nvidia's website, it just takes more time to track down that page again than give you the file from my hard drive.

Also you may want this. This enables PCIe Gen 3 on not officially supported by Nvidia boards (like my Sandy Bridge Xeon, which technically supports it but Nvidia didn't enable it for whatever reason by default.) Run as admin, restart and you're good to go. 

Oh by the looks of it, you don't have that board....Mother board ..... Which is the issue, the drivers for it don't exist, for a 680i, Mobo...  For newer GPU's.. 

 

The 680i, SLI, is the mother board NOT the GPU... The mother board is an NFORCE, made by EVGA. 

 

 

No one else here does either they all have the 790i, SLI, which, I have a friend who had one to, and Evga said that was a none issue.. the 680i, has been the issue for most users, once we hit the 900 series GPU's drivers for that motherboard, didn't exist.

 

[da na]

Just now, recon03 said:

Oh by the looks of it, you don't have that board....Mother board ..... Which is the issue, the drivers for it don't exist, for a 680i, Mobo...  For newer GPU's.. 

 

The 680i, SLI, is the mother board NOT the GPU... The mother board is an NFORCE, made by EVGA. 

You don't need drivers for the motherboard for the GPU to work. PCIe is universal. 

[recon03]

1 minute ago, Mel0nMan said:

You don't need drivers for the motherboard for the GPU to work. PCIe is universal. 

Those don't work my friend, and  this has been the issue for most users for this mother board for most users, older GPU's work just fine, soon as we hit 900 series, game over. Black screen, no rendering.  This happen to 4 other co-workers as well, so we been looking for years, to find a fix, EVGA, said the same thing that it won't work, so  I assume maybe someone was doing something different or we missed a setting....   I popped in a 660i with windows 10,  2 days ago, it works great..  Soon as I add the 950, 960, 980, game over...... Windows 10, wont work, only win 7. 

 

 

[da na]

Just now, recon03 said:

Those don't work my friend, and  this has been the issue for most users for this mother board for most users, older GPU's work just fine, soon as we hit 900 series, game over. Black screen, no rendering.  This happen to 4 other co-workers as well, so we been looking for years, to find a fix, EVGA, said the same thing that it won't work, so  I assume maybe someone was doing something different or we missed a setting....   I popped in a 660i with windows 10,  2 days ago, it works great..  Soon as I add the 950, 960, 980, game over...... Windows 10, wont work, only win 7. 

 

 

Well if EVGA said it won't work... 

Means their BIOS doesn't support these newer GPUs and they won't be updating it to support the VBIOSes on newer OS. 

[Guest]

The P33 bios may get the GTX980 working in that board. 

 

But the CPU bottleneck would be so bad, it wouldn't be worth it. (IMO)

[BondiBlue]

1 hour ago, recon03 said:

Those don't work my friend, and  this has been the issue for most users for this mother board for most users, older GPU's work just fine, soon as we hit 900 series, game over. Black screen, no rendering.  This happen to 4 other co-workers as well, so we been looking for years, to find a fix, EVGA, said the same thing that it won't work, so  I assume maybe someone was doing something different or we missed a setting....   I popped in a 660i with windows 10,  2 days ago, it works great..  Soon as I add the 950, 960, 980, game over...... Windows 10, wont work, only win 7. 

I just pulled my 680i SE SLI out of storage and booted it up with a Core 2 Duo E7200 and a GTX 1660 Ti, and it worked fine. I don't have time to install the drivers, but Windows itself worked fine. 

[ApolloX75]

I am now on the hunt for a 680i just to prove my 3080 will work fine with it.

 

I'll find one soon.