Nvidia has truly broken out as the #1 chipset supplier for the AMD platform and they are also making their way into the Intel scene with the new nForce 600 series.

Surprisingly, for the first time ever, the latest nForce chipset made its first appearance on the Intel platform, bringing Core 2 owners three new chipsets: the nForce 680i SLI, 650i SLI and 650i Ultra. Thanks to thriving Intel desktop processor sales, Nvidia had no choice but to turn their attention away from AMD and focus it on Intel. These two new "for Intel" SLI chipsets focus on performance, and are obviously designed to support dual GeForce cards using SLI technology. Currently motherboards carrying the nForce 680i SLI cost roughly $230, whereas the average 650i SLI board will set you back a more down to earth $140.

We couldn't help but wonder, why does the 680i cost so much more, and can this difference be justified? What are the performance benefits and what new features can you expect to find?

http://www.techspot.com/review/45-nv...i-vs-680i-sli/

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http://digg.com/hardware/Nvidia_nFor...Force_680i_SLI

I thought to run any 8800 cards in SLI you need to have 2 x PCI Express both running 16x? As the nforce 650i runs 2 x PCI Express lanes at 8x how is this possible or is it just a myth about the 8800 cards?

Nope that is not true so myth busted

The 8800 cards work perfectly in SLI on an 8x board. As you can see from our results the performance is the same in either 8x or 16x mode!

OK, the OCZ GameXStream Pwr Sply has 2 PCI-e connectors. The 8800 GTX requires 2 PCI-e connectors each ( = 4 PCI-e needed)! What am I missing here? I'm designing a build and would really like to know for my spec'ed parts.

You need either an adapter to convert spare standard molexes to PCI-e or a power supply that comes with four PCI-e connectors. If you look at the SLI Zone section of Nvidia's website, they list SLI certified power supplies. For dual 8800 GTX, your OCZ is not among them. Also, even though it might be listed, it wouldn't hurt to double check the specs on a particular power supply you are considering to make sure it has the required connectors.