Nvidia nForce 680I LT SLI Instructions for use

nForce 680i SLI/
nForce 680i LT SLI
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is subject to change without notice and we will not be responsible for any mistakes found in
this user’s manual. All the brand and product names are trademarks of their respective
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FCC Compliance Statement
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits of a Class B digital device,
pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable
protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates,
uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with
the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this
equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user
will be required to correct the interference at his own expense. However, there is no guarantee
that interference will not occur in a particular installation.
CE Mark
The device is in accordance with 89/336 ECC-ENC Directive.
Ver: EG101

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
nForce 680i SLI/
nForce 680i LT SLI
nVIDIA®nForce 680i SLI MCPs/
nForce 680i LT SLI MCPs
Support Socket 775
Intel®CoreTM 2 Extreme/ CoreTM 2 Quad/ CoreTM 2 Duo/
Pentium®Extreme Edition/
Pentium®Processors
User Manual
Dimensions (ATX form-factor):
244mm x 305mm ( W x L )
Operating System:
Windows®Vista/ Windows®XP

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
Attention- Im
p
ortant Information
Follow the procedures below…
Troubleshooting Tips
Refer to other sections in this manual…
Things You Have To Know
The images and pictures in this manual are for reference only and may vary
from the product you received depending on specific hardware models, third
party components and software versions.
This mainboard contains very delicate IC chips. Always use a grounded
wrist strap when working with the system.
Do not touch any IC chip, lead, connector or other components.
Always unplug the AC power when you install or remove any device on the
mainboard or when confuguring pins and switches.
Packing List
nForce 680i SLI/ nForce 680i LT SLI Mainboard
I/O Shield
IDE Cable
SATA Cable
SLI Bridge
1394 Cable (Optional)
Cooling Fan (nForce 680i SLI only)
Mainboard Driver & User Manual CD
Mainboard Quick Installation Guide
Symbols

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED .................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 1
SPECIFICATION ....................................................................................................... 2
CONFIGURATION .................................................................................................... 5
Layout of nForce 680i SLI ..............................................................................5
Layout of nForce 680i LT SLI.........................................................................6
HARDWARE INSTALLATION ................................................................................... 7
CPU Processor Installation.............................................................................. 7
Memory Installation: DIMM0/1/2/3................................................................ 8
Back Panel Configuration.............................................................................. 10
Connectors ..................................................................................................... 13
Front Panel Headers: FRONTPNL................................................................ 14
EZ Control Button ......................................................................................... 15
Headers & Jumpers........................................................................................ 15
Audio Configuration...................................................................................... 17
Slots ............................................................................................................... 17
Power Supply Attachments............................................................................ 18
CHAPTER 2. BIOS SETUP ........................................................... 20
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 20
MAIN MENU ......................................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3: SOFTWARE SETUP................................................... 23
SOFTWARE LIST ................................................................................................... 23
SOFTWARE INSTALLATION ................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 4: TROUBLESHOOTING................................................. 27
APPENDIX I: 8/6/4/2 CHANNEL AUDIO EFFECT SETUP......................................... 30
APPENDIX II: RAID SETUP................................................................................... 32
APPENDIX III: SLI (SCALABLE LINK INTERFACE)SETUP .................................... 70

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
1
Chapter 1. Getting Started
Introduction
Thanks for choosing nForce 680i SLI/ nForce 680i LT SLI mainboards. They are based on
nVIDIA®nForce 680i SLI/ 680i LT SLI Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets. The nForce 680i
SLI/ nForce 680i LT SLI support Intel®CoreTM 2 Extreme/ CoreTM 2 Quad/ CoreTM 2 Duo/
Pentium®Extreme Edition/ Pentium®Processors with FSB (Front Side Bus) frequencies up to
1333 MHz/ 1066 MHz/ 800 MHz.
The nForce 680i SLI/ nForce 680i LT SLI provide four DIMM (Dual In-Line Memory Modules)
sockets allowing you to install 240-pin, unbuffered non-ECC, DDRII 800/ 667/ 533 SDRAMs.
They also support Dual Channel Technology and allow you installing a total memory capacity
of 8 GB.
These mainboards provide two PCI-E x16 slots which can be used with two identical
SLI-ready PCI-Express graphics cards, enabling SLI Technology and significantly increasing
graphics performance <See Appendix III>. Furthermore, the nForce 680i SLI also provides
one PCI-E x8 slot for use with a graphics card. There are two PCI-E x1 slots provided for use
with PCI-E x1 compatible expansion cards. Two standard PCI slots for use with standard PCI
expansion cards are also allowed.
The nForce 680i SLI/ nForce 680i LT SLI provide one floppy disk drive connector that can be
used with 360KB/720KB/ 1.2MB/1.44MB/2.88MB drives. There is also one IDE connector for
connecting two IDE hard drives supporting Ultra ATA 33/66/100/133. Moreover, these
mainboards come with Serial ATA II feature, six SATA II connectors which the interfaces can
provide the transmit rate up to 3 Gbps and also support RAID 0/ 1/ 0+1/ 5 JBOD mode <See
Appendix II>
The onboard High Definition Audio CODEC (ALC885) supports 8/6/4/2 channel audio play
<See Appendix I>. These mainboards also support the Sony/Philips Digital Interfaces (SPDIF)
output function.
The nForce 680i SLI also comes with two onboard 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN chips.
There are dual LAN ports on the back panel of your case that you can directly plug into an
Internet cable. The nForce 680i LT SLI only provides one 10/100/1000 LAN port.
There are maximal ten USB2.0/ 1.1 ports which can be set up on the nForce 680i SLI
mainboard. Eight USB2.0/ 1.1 ports are available on the nForce 680i LT SLI mainboard.
All the information (including hardware installation and software installation) in this manual are
for reference only. The contents in this manual may be updated without notice. The company
will not assume any responsibility for any errors or mistakes within.

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
2
Specification
CPU
Support Socket 775
Support Intel®CoreTM 2 Extreme/ CoreTM 2 Quad/ CoreTM 2 Duo/ Pentium®Extreme
Edition/ Pentium®Processors
Support Hyper-Threading Technology
Support 1333 MHz/ 1066 MHz/ 800 MHz/ 533 MHz FSB (Front Side Bus) Frequencies
Chipset
Northbridge Chipset – nVIDIA®nForce 680i SLI SPP/ 680i LT SLI SPP
Southbridge Chipset – nVIDIA®nForce 680i SLI MCP/ 680i LT SLI MCP
I/O Controller – Winbond®W83627DHG
High Definition Audio Codec – Realtek®ALC885
LAN Controller – Marvell®88E1116
IEEE1394 Controller – TI®TSB43AB22A
Memory
Four DIMM sockets
Supports unbuffered & non-ECC DDRII 800/ 667/ 533 SDRAM
Supports a total memory capacity of up to 8 GB
Supports Dual Channel data bus
Onboard HD Audio CODEC (ALC885)
High performance CODEC with high S/N ratio (>100 db)
Compatible with Azalia 1.0 specification
Supports 8/6/4/2 channel playback capability
Supports jack sensing and re-tasking function
Microphone AEC, NS, and BF technology for voice application
Supports Sony/ Philips Digital Interfaces (S/PDIF) functionality

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
3
Slots
Five PCI-Express interface slots for graphics cards and expansion cards
1. Two PCI-E x16 slots: supports x16 mode for true dual-graphics SLI configurations
2. One PCI-E x8 slot: supports x8 mode for future GPU physics applications nForce
680i SLI only
3. Two PCI-E x1 slots: supports up to x1 mode with 250 MB/s one-way bandwidth
Two PCI interface slots for expansion cards
FDD Connector
Supports one FDD connector to set up to two floppy disk drives
Supports 360KB/ 720KB/ 1.2MB/ 1.44MB/ 2.88MB
IDE Connector
One IDE connector
Supports up to two IDE devices
Supports Ultra ATA 33/66/100/133
Supports high capacity hard disk drives
Serial ATA II Connectors
Six SATA II connectors
Supports SATA 2.0 specification with data transfer rate up to 3 Gbps
One SATA II connector can only support one SATA II HDD
Onboard LAN Chip
Supports Dual LAN nForce 680i SLI only
Supports 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN
I/O facility Connectors
Supports one PS/2 mouse port and one PS/2 keyboard port
Supports one IEEE1394 port on back panel
Supports one SPDIF OUT port on back panel
Supports one serial port (COM1) header and one IEEE1394 header with external
device connected

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
4
Universal Serial Bus
Six onboard USB 2.0/ 1.1 ports nForce 680i SLI only
Two front USB headers come with this mainboard for additional four USB ports
Support a maximum of ten USB ports to connect USB compatible devices 
nForce 680i SLI only
BIOS
Phoenix-Award™ BIOS
Support APM 1.2
Support ACPI 2.0 power management
Green Function
Supports ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)
Supports Phoenix-Award™ BIOS power management function
Supports S0 (normal), S1 (power on suspend), S3 (suspend to RAM), S4 (suspend to
disk – depends on OS), and S5 (soft – off).
Shadow RAM
Integrated memory controller provides shadow RAM functionality and supports ROM
BIOS
Flash Memory
Supports flash memory functionality
Supports ESCD functionality
Hardware Monitor Function
Monitors CPU/ Northbridge/ Chassis Fan Speed
Monitors CPU temperature
Monitors CPU/ Memory/ System voltages

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
5
Configuration
Layout of nForce 680i SLI

Mainboard nForce 680i SLI/
Mainboard nForce 680i LT SLI
6
Layout of nForce 680i LT SLI