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Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe

27 Nov 2006

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HWZ's Overall Rating: 8.0

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			<h2 class="header-green">Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe (NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI)</h2>
		<span class="byline">Reviewed by Zachary Chan on Monday, 27 Nov 2006</span>
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		 		<h2 class="page-title">Introduction</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">Introduction</h3>
<p>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. </p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="401" width="500" src="/files/images/TF680i_top.jpg" title="The Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe motherboard." alt="" /></p>
<p class="rteleft">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; &quot;You never know what you're gonna get&quot;. </p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="316" width="500" src="/files/images/TF680i_gift.jpg" title="The TF680i SLI Deluxe comes with memory heat spreaders. Go figure!" alt="" /></p>
<p class="rteleft">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:</p>
<ul>
    <li>4 x SATA data cables</li>
    <li>3 x SATA power converter cables (dual plugs)</li>
    <li>1 x 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable</li>
    <li>1 x floppy drive data cable</li>
    <li>2 x Memory stick heat spreaders</li>
    <li>Optional chipset cooler fan</li>
    <li>I/O shield</li>
    <li>Driver CD and diskettes</li>
    <li>User's manuals and guides</li>
</ul>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="169" width="500" src="/files/images/TF680i_rear.jpg" title="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" alt="" /></p>			</div>
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