I`m having trouble finding EVGA`s nforce 780i sli motherboard part # 132-CK-NF78-A1.                I`ve looked around and all i see are recertified boards i`d like a new board.
    Here`s my situation i`m currently using an asus P5N-D 750i SLi motherboard but                       have OCZ memory product#OCZ2N800SR4GK PC2 6400 nvidia sli ready 800Mhz                   
    i believe it doesn`t work properly with the 750i chipset and need to upgrade to
    the 780i as motherboards are cheaper than memory and i have budget restrictions.
      
    Here`s my rig

   Windows7 Pro x64 OEM/Ubuntu Gnome9.10
   Coolermaster Scout
   Asus P5N-D (soon to be EVGA 780i)
   Intel Q9550 @2.66 (multiplier set to 8 providing some stability after random hard freezes)
   EVGA 9800GTx2
   OCZ sli ready edition PC6400 800Mhz
   Corsair TX750w
   Corsair H50 Liquid CPU Cooler
   onboard sound card
   Samsung Syncmaster 2494 24in
   WD 320 and 1Tb hdd
   DVD Reader/Burner
   4 case fans (will be 5)
   soon to buy (memory fan and fan controller)

   Ok so 2 questions.

     1.  Can i buy it new ( not recertified) and if so where?
     2.  My OS is OEM will changing out the board have any effect on my reinstalling my OS?
    

     Thanx in advance for your help and pls feel free to offer any other opinions and
     advice that u may have.
 
     sry i`m not much of a letter writer so it looks a bit off but i tried lol

    something about the epp and detecting the SPD profiles

Can't you just bypass the profiles completely and just manually set up the memory timings and voltage?

I'd run the divider at 1:1. The bigger timings don't improve anything, at least not for daily use. For benching you'll probably see around 1-5% more performance.

sorry to here your problems with that asus board. what is your goal? OC'ing the CPU or do you just want the Ram to run at the rated speed? If your RAM is rated for 800MHZ then I doubt it will run much higher, but if it is say rated for 1066 then sure set at that. your divider will depend on what your fsb and RAM is set at. there are some that just don't work well while other are known to work well. Read this first for a good under standing. http://forums.evga.comarchive/tm.asp?m=736605
1:1  would be linked and synced where as the ram is actual speed is the same as the fsb ( fsb is x4 and ram is x2 so 1600 fsb is 800 ram speed with both at a base of 400mhz) and you never want to run your ram faster than your fsb.

As far as finding a new 780i good luck on that. I have seen some 790's but that would require different RAM since it's a ddr3 board.

quadlatte

sorry to here your problems with that asus board. what is your goal? OC'ing the CPU or do you just want the Ram to run at the rated speed? If your RAM is rated for 800MHZ then I doubt it will run much higher, but if it is say rated for 1066 then sure set at that. your divider will depend on what your fsb and RAM is set at. there are some that just don't work well while other are known to work well. Read this first for a good under standing. http://forums.evga.comarchive/tm.asp?m=736605
1:1  would be linked and synced where as the ram is actual speed is the same as the fsb ( fsb is x4 and ram is x2 so 1600 fsb is 800 ram speed with both at a base of 400mhz) and you never want to run your ram faster than your fsb.

As far as finding a new 780i good luck on that. I have seen some 790's but that would require different RAM since it's a ddr3 board.

No i wasn`t looking to OC i don`t know enough about it not yet anyway, although this board has an auto OC function my system isn`t even stable enough to run at default settings  (hard freezes 2 or 3 times a day). I`m really just stumped as what to try next and since my memory isn`t on this boards compatability list i`m considering replacing the board with a board that has my memory on it`s compatability list so long as the board supports at least 2 graphics card and 8 gigs of memory ( currently running 4 gigs). Here`s some numbers, Vcore 1,26v +12v 11.90v +5v 4.97v +3.3v 3.22 cpu 35c mb 30c Graphics cards are normal at default and fan a 55%  cpu volt 1.2640v. FSB 1333.20 2666.46MHz 0333.30 x 8.0 ( default is 8.5 but is unstable  hard freezes) so i have it set to 8 giving me stability but i still get an occasional hard freeze when running some programs. Is there a way to make this system freeze only the crashing  programs, instead of hard freezing the whole computer, like my old HP pc used to do while running Vista. Oh there`s something else i forgot to mention i have a 2 gig memory stick of memory that is on this boards compatability list i used it during my initial setup with 1 graphics card and the system did hard freeze within the 1st few minutes happened when i opened IE (now using FF) before upgrading any drivers. Driver verifier seems complicated and when i tried to do it the 1st time i got a boot loop and had to do a startup repair. This is a new build foe m and my 1st build. Since the initial windows7 intall i have reinstalled windows 6 times mostly to clean drivers from my system and try different drivers, have also used driver sweeper to troubleshoot if it may be a driver. I only have 2 small speakers and am using the windows drivers for that and haven`t noticed any sound issues. I have noticed that when it freezes sometimes the program freezes 1st and have a few seconds of mouse control although it seems to sort of float sometimes (I am using the ps2 keyboard and mouse from my old HP PC) before completely freezing the screen. I did an RMA on the 1st MOBO because my computer would freeze within 20 seconds, could it be that i need to RMA this MOBO also? I don`t believe it`s the PSU that causes this as this problem occurs regardless if i`m using 1 or both cards, 750w is pushing it for 2 cards but should work. So what `s causing it be unstable at a 8.5 multiplier while 8.0 adds stability? Also i noticed that when i change something in the cmos upon the next boot it seems to always to hardfreeze within the 1st minute or 2. So what else can i try? The memory tested 24 hrs at this 8. 0 multiplier for 24 hrs with no errors, only at a 15% OC using the auto OC in cmos did i return errors while rounding up to 5. So after troubleshooting for 2 months i believe the problem lies with either the OS or Mobo. BTW i haven`t had any any hard freezes using Ubuntu. i have tried the fixes i saw on the windows 7  forums but they don`t work for me. What are my options? As i see it i RMA this mobo too, purchase a different mobo and see if the problem still exists or install Vista or XP and see if the problem still exists. If anyone has any ideas they would be appreciated and thank you all for your support.

Thanks to everyone that replied to this post,if nobody has anymore comments or suggestions i`ll open a more appropriate thread to further troubleshoot before i buy anything.

quadlatte

well if you don't hard freeze using unbuntu then that tells me it's a windows issue. You can try with bare min setup with a fresh install slowly adding your parts, drivers and programs until you get the freeze. does your system logs tell you anything on what cause the error?

Yes that`s what i thought, and i have been reinstalling with the bare minimum and adding things slowly i get the kernel power generic code for it not shutting down correctly (41, 63). i`m waiting for the next freeze so i can write down the time and check the event logs to  see if it`s if it`s a service that doesn`t like my setup. Also i found an error that may points it to the hard drive i`m currently using, a wd320g from my old hp pc, it`s 3 years old so could be failing, i also used a new WD Cavier Black 1 TB hdd and had the same problem. I have anothe hdd a 500g WD internal ( forget the name) i put on my wifes pc when her hdd crashed, i know thats a good hdd. Also i changed my timings back to whats on the package of the OCZ memory setting the dram to 1.99 close as i could get to the 2.00v that cpu-z says the memory should run at without going over as my cmos only gives me the option of 1.99v or 2.01v. I also have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse that was bought a few months ago i`m going to try, thinking maybe it`s a problem with my old HP PS2 keyboard and mouse. i`m almost certain it`s not a driver i installed as i let it run on the microsoft generic drivers that windows installs itself (i did not use windows update for drivers) and it froze with those, so i updated those first using the latest whql then using the latest beta then the earliest available then the earliest always using driver sweeper or reformatting the hdd before trying a new driver. Anyway this post is way off topic lol as i was only asking about the 780i availability originally so after i try the other hdd i`ll open another post somewhere and try and post error logs so someone with a more detailed knowledge can have a look, probably in a windows7 forum, any suggestions on which forum to use?