![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , September 04, 2007
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
EVGA 680i SLI Black Pearl
Nearly a year ago NVIDIA and EVGA released their 680i SLI motherboards. The 680i SLI proved its worth and has become one of the premiere choices for enthusiasts and gamers. EVGA has re-released the same board with a slew of native water cooler features. Meet the Black Pearl.
NVIDIA nTune
EVGA included the NVIDIA nTune software with the Black Pearl. The nTune software is something people either love or hate, but regardless it is a powerful tool that has many uses. Dynamic BIOS access, dynamic Windows based over clocking, and various adjustments and stability tests are included as well. There is an optional add-on for nTune to allow BIOS flashing within Windows and it can be found on EVGAs' website. It also ties in with your graphics card control panel if you are using NVIDIA graphics. This is what we see here as I used an NVIDIA graphics card in the test system. nTune 5.05.47 was packaged with the board and is shown here.
Under the performance section of the control panel (which can be accessed by right clicking on the desktop, and choosing control panel, or by using the nTune link in the start menu if no NVIDIA graphics card is installed) is where you will find the Adjust Motherboard Settings link which will contain options for manual control of various motherboard and system functions. Voltages, clock speeds, and memory timings can be adjusted here. All the settings that are present in the system BIOS are represented here in a similar format. Some changes will require a reboot while others will not. Just something to keep in mind. The adjust GPU settings link does exactly what it should do by the sound of it. It allows for various GPU adjustments.
The Dynamic BIOS access link takes you to the BIOS page. On that first page there is a drop down menu for all the menus of the BIOS and when selected, the page will display all settings found in the section of the BIOS that was selected. In order you will find BIOS features, Chipset Features I, Chipset Features II, Peripherals, and Power Management. Below the Dynamic BIOS Access link you will find an additional link for tuning the system. This is an automated function of nTune which allows for automated over clocking. nTune will put itself through several tests and adjust the system clocks to levels the software deems safe. After Tune System, we have View System Information. This page displays all of the motherboard system information and CPU information. Also here are Direct X version information, nTune version information and current clock speeds as well as DIMM module data. After that we have the Launch NVMonitor link. That launches NVIDIA’s' NVMonitor which monitors CPU and GPU Temperature, fan speeds, bus speeds and voltages.
Next we have the Adjust Custom Rules page. This allows you to create and define rule sets for operation of nTune and any adjustments that can be made with it. You can create rules that enable different over clocking profiles or you can create warnings for given events you deem undesirable or just because you want a warning for something out of curiosity or some other determined need. Last but not least is the System Stability Test. This allows you to test your over clock settings and adjustments. The stress test is in fact quite effective in determining if a system is unstable or not, though I still advocate using Orthos, Rthdrbl, and any other combination of stress tests to validate system stability. I have seen the System Stability Test fail when other tests do not and there is no indication of instability in a system. I am not sure if nTune is capable of testing in ways other tests cannot, or if the test is too sensitive or simply inaccurate. You may also notice the Video and Television link, but that is only present because there is an NVIDIA graphics card installed on this system with its control panel loaded and added to nTune.