14 DAY TRIAL // In the beginning of this article I must point out that I'm not trying to bore you. The Nvidia 680i issue seems to piss everyone off, motive for which I have to approach it even further. So if this doesn't concern you in any way, don't read it. For the rest of you who still want to find out why Nvidia 680i SLI still kind of sucks, pay attention!
First, as an update to my previous article regarding this issue, I will remind you that Nvidia has released a newer version of the 680i SLI reference BIOS that is said to correct the erratic behavior of the SATA controller. Regarding this, Nvidia stated:
"Some EVGA customers using the EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard have reported experiencing disconnect or write error issues with Serial ATA disk drives. To address this, we have worked with Nvidia to release a BIOS update for this motherboard that eliminates this bug."
The new BIOS version P23 beta 2 that was available through EVGA forums and the final BIOS version P23 were released in order to correct the Serial ATA problems that users were experiencing with 680i based motherboards. The new beta 2 disabled spread spectrums for various interconnections and also regulated memory timings in certain aspects, said users According to EVGA, the final revision should help a lot in cases when users experience random application shutdown, corrupted boot drive, "blue screen of death", corrupt data and so on, even if the beta 2 was flashed.
"EVGA and Nvidia strongly recommend that all customers upgrade their motherboards to this new BIOS, regardless of whether or not they have experienced this bug. This Nvidia hotfix will automatically check your system to determine if an update is required," said Nvidia officials.
Meanwhile, users that possess Asus 680i motherboards still complain about some SATA lock up problems. Whether a future Asus BIOS will fix this remains to be seen.