Introduction

Although NVIDIA launched their nForce 600i series chipsets two weeks ago, availability seems to still be severely limited and we haven't even got so much as a whiff of a board from the top-tier manufacturers like ASUS, MSI or Gigabyte. With NVIDIA selling completed motherboards directly to vendors this time, we had actually expected a quick time-to-market for nForce 680i boards from OEM vendors, even unlikely motherboard sources such as EVGA and BFG. True enough, the very first nForce 680i SLI motherboard to trickle into our labs is a stock NVIDIA reference board. Being one of the manufacturers to buy into NVIDIA's new scheme, Biostar managed to push out the TF680i SLI Deluxe motherboard ahead of the competition.

The Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe motherboard.

Stock or not, Biostar is still one of the few motherboard manufacturers that continues to surprise us with its bundled 'free gifts' stunt. If you remember our last review of the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe, it came with a USB charger kit as well as a microphone earpiece set. The TF680i SLI Deluxe on the other hand, comes with a pair of memory heat spreaders. Apparently motherboards are like boxes of chocolates too; "You never know what you're gonna get".

The TF680i SLI Deluxe comes with memory heat spreaders. Go figure!

The Biostar TForce-series box packaging is the same, as well as the neatly packed 'toiletry bag' within that holds all the cables, user manuals and driver CD:

4 x SATA data cables

3 x SATA power converter cables (dual plugs)

1 x 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable

1 x floppy drive data cable

2 x Memory stick heat spreaders

Optional chipset cooler fan

I/O shield

Driver CD and diskettes

User's manuals and guides

Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe Technical Specifications

CPU Support	Supports 90nm/65nm LGA775 processor package Supports Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Extreme Supports Intel Pentium D / Pentium Processor Extreme Edition  Supports Intel Pentium 4 / Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
Chipset	NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP 400 - 1333MHz front side bus NVIDIA DualDDR2 Memory Controller 18 PCI Express lanes One link at x16 for graphics card (SLI capable) Two PCIe x1 lanes NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition MCP 28 PCI Express lanes One link at x16 for graphics card (SLI capable) One PCIe x8 Four PCIe x1 lanes Supports up to ten USB 2.0 ports Supports six SATA 3.0Gbps ports Dual-channel Ultra ATA-133 IDE controller Supports up to five PCI slots
Memory	NVIDIA DualDDR2 architecture 4 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. 8GB DDR2-400 to DDR2-1400 non-ECC memory Slot independant dual-channel mode NVIDIA QuickSync Fourth Generation DASP Support Enhanced Performance Profile (EPP) SLI Memory
Storage	NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP  2 x Ultra ATA 33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to 133MB/sec.)  6 x SATA 3.0Gbps interface  NVIDIA MediaShield Technology  Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, JBOD  Supports RAID Morphing Supports eSATA
Audio	Realtek ALC885 HD Audio CODEC Optical S/PDIF out on back I/O port
Networking	2 x NVIDIA Gigabit LAN co-supported by Marvell 88E1116 PHY chip (Transceiver) DualNET (TCP/IP Acceleration, Teaming) FirstPacket Technology
IEEE 1394 (FireWire)	Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A IEEE 1394a host controller 2 x 1394a ports @ 400 Mbps speed
I/O Interface	1 x Floppy connector 1 x Ultra ATA IDE connectors 6 x SATA connectors 10 x USB 2.0 ports (6 x rear, 4 x header) 2 x FireWire-400 ports (1 x rear, 1 x bracket) 2 x RJ45 LAN port Optical S/PDIF port 8-Channel Audio I/O ports 1 x 9-pin serial port (header) 1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port 1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port
Expansion Slots	3 x PCIe x16 slots, PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a compliant 2 x PCIe x1 slots, PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a compliant 2 x 32-bit PCI slots, PCI 2.3 compliant
PCB	ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.4cm)

Rear I/O panel of the Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe houses PS/2 ports, FireWire, six USB 2.0 ports, dual RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports, analog surround jacks and optical S/PDIF.