EVGA’s 790i Ultra SLI 775 A1

Reference, and Proud of it

The first round of nForce 790i Ultra SLI boards is based on an NVIDIA reference design. Frankly, that’s fine by us as the 790i Ultra SLI 775A1 selling under EVGA’s name is plenty advanced. Brace yourself—the board sells for $350 straight from EVGA’s Web site. But even as it’s priced in the upper echelon of enthusiast fare, the 790i-based platform only costs a few bucks more than the ASUS 780i board we’re pitting it against.

Layout-wise, EVGA does a lot of things right. Passive cooling covers the SPP and MCP chipset components. EVGA includes a variable-speed fan to cool the north bridge, but it isn’t necessary (or desirable, for that matter) if you’re running at stock speeds. As we pushed the front side bus higher, adding the fan did help head off the failed benchmarks we started experiencing.

An array of interconnected cooling spreads heat from the SPP, MCP, and voltage regulation circuitry

Optional cooling fan attached to the 790i SPP. If you're overclocking, plan on using it.

Although there’s a solid ring of chipset and power circuitry cooling around the processor socket, we didn’t have any spacing or clearance issues. Even with a graphics card installed, we had plenty of room to swap out memory modules, connect hard drives, and access the onboard I/O headers for front panel FireWire and USB. Don’t worry about the low-profile vapor chamber extending down to the MCP, either. There’s lots of room between the heatpipe’s channeled fins and any graphics card you install.

Enthusiasts definitely get the nod; as well they should for $350. We’re big fans of the onboard power and reset buttons that make it easy to work hands-on as you fine tune overclocking or benchmark on an open-air test bed. A two-digit diagnostic readout helps pinpoint any problems experienced during boot. And of course, the black and green color scheme would look sharp under a Plexiglas window.


The EVGA board includes four DDR3 memory slots able to take up to 8GB. Bear in mind that if you are gunning for memory speeds in excess of 1800 MHz, you’ll only be able to use slots numbered 1 and 3, though (the second and fourth when you’re looking at the board).

An ATX form factor allows plenty of room for expansion. EVGA includes three PCI Express x16 slots (all electrically outfitted for x16 operation), a pair of x1 slots, and two standard PCI slots. You’ll naturally have a tough time getting at those x1 and PCI slots if you’re using dual-slot graphics cards, but even in a standard SLI setup, you’ll still have access to one x1 slot and one PCI slot. Well thought-out, NVIDIA.

Six of the chipset’s USB ports are exposed on the board’s rear I/O panel. The other four are accessible through a bundled PCI header or you can use front-panel connections. NVIDIA’s signature dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers are both resident on the back panel as well, along with 7.1-channel analog outputs and a pair of digital outs.

In addition to the six SATA ports native to the MCP, there’s also a JMicron controller to contribute a seventh internal SATA port and an eSATA interface. An add-on TI FireWire controller adds another backward-facing connection. EVGA throws in a cable to take advantage of a second FireWire port in case your chassis doesn’t have its own front-mount cluster.

A True Enthusiast’s BIOS

The software controlling EVGA’s nForce 790i Ultra SLI is every bit as powerful as the hardware.

Fire up into the BIOS and you’ll find a familiar list of Phoenix AwardBIOS options. Browsing down to the Advanced Chipset Options gives you the exciting stuff.

A System Clocks sub-menu lets you manually specify a CPU multiplier and whether or not you’d like to use .5x ratios. You’ll also find settings to manually tweak the PCI Express operating frequencies and SPP to MCP reference clock.

The FSB and Memory Config window handles bus speeds and timings. If you’re using EPP 2.0-compliant memory modules, you’ll see the profiles enabled. You can also choose whether to use linked or unlinked FSB and memory clocks. Or, set the option to Auto and let EVGA’s BIOS make the call. When you opt to manually key in bus speeds, the BIOS gives you a range between 400-2800 MHz for the FSB and 400-2500 for memory. Two columns tell you what the board is currently set at compared to what you’re asking it to do. Finally, a Memory Timing sub-menu facilitates further fine tuning of whichever modules you install.

As with past NVIDIA BIOSes, you can individually enable and disable processing cores. The CPU Configuration menu also lets you turn processor features on or off.

Enthusiasts who like the board’s bus speed flexibility will appreciate its highly granular voltage menu even more. You have processor voltages ranging from impossibly low to impossibly high in .00625V steps. There are front side bus options, memory voltages up to 2.275V, SPP adjustments, and MCP voltage tweaks. Progressively higher settings are color coded to indicate their aggressiveness. Newer overclockers can stay relatively safe by selecting options colored green.