The nForce 600 chipset was released in the first half of November 2006, coinciding with the GeForce 8 series launch on November 8, 2006. The nForce 600 supports Intel's LGA 775 socket and AMD's Quad FX platform and replaces the nForce 500 series.
Specially made for the AMD Quad FX platform proposed by AMD, providing a total of two CPUs and multiple graphic cards configuation (SLI) working on a single chipset.
AMD Dual Dual-core Socket FEnthusiast multiple-GPU segmentSupport for HyperTransport 2.02 northbridges as Media and Communications Processor (MCP) equal to that of nForce 570 SLI MCP, each providing one x16 and one x8 PCI-E lanes and total 28 PCI-E lanesTotal of 4 PCI-E x16 slotsTwo of the x16 slots receive x8 PCI-E lanes bandwidthAdditional PCI-E slots support (PCI-E x8/x4/x1 slots)Support of a total of 56 PCI-E lanesPCI slot(s)Support up to 4 non-registered DDR2 DIMM modulesSupport for EPP memorySupport up to 12 SATA harddisksSupport RAID configurations:RAID 1RAID 0+1RAID 5JBOD4 onboard Gigabit Ethernet portsNVIDIA FirstPacket TechnologySupport up to 20 USB 2.0 portsEstimated price US$ 200 or moreSocket 939/Socket AM2/Socket AM3 processorsMainstream IGP segmentMCP61P northbridge, IGP renamed as GeForce 7050sDVO connection for optional HDMI outputDVI, TV-out outputs1 PCI Express x16 slotExtra PCIe x1 & PCI slotsHigh-definition audio (Azalia audio)10 USB 2.0 ports4 SATA 3.0 Gbit/s ports with RAIDGigabit EthernetNVIDIA nForce 680i SLI System Platform Processors (SPPs) and Media Communications Processors (MCPs) are the top of the line motherboard for Intel users in the nForce 600 series.
Support for Quad Core CPUs and 1333 MHz Front Side BusSupport for 1200 MHz SLI-Ready Memory with EPPSupport for up to 46 PCI Express (PCIe) lanesSupport for up to 10 USB 2.0 portsSupport for 6 3 Gbit/s SATA and 2 PATA drives, which can be linked together in any combination of SATA and PATA to form a RAID 0, 1, 5, or 0+1NVIDIA nTune, a tool for easy overclocking and timing configurationsHDA (Azalia) AudioDual Onboard Gigabit EthernetNVIDIA FirstPacket and DualNetSupport for Quad Core CPUs and 1333 MHz Front Side BusSupport for 800 MHz SLI-Ready Memory with EPPSupport for up to 46 PCI Express (PCIe) lanesSupport for up to 10 USB 2.0 portsSupport for 6 3 Gbit/s SATA and 2 PATA drives, which can be linked together in any combination of SATA and PATA to form a RAID 0, 1, 5, or 0+1NVIDIA nTune, a tool for easy overclocking and timing configurationsHDA (Azalia) AudioSingle Onboard Gigabit EthernetNVIDIA FirstPacket and DualNetIntel LGA 775Performance/mainstream dual-GPU segmentEstimated price US$150 or lessIntel LGA 775Performance/mainstream single-GPU segmentEstimated price US$150 or lessIntel LGA 775IGPSingle Channel DDR2 SDRAM memoryVideo outputs: HDMI, DVI with HDCP and D-SubValue IGP segmentNo PureVideoNVIDIA has issued a fix named NV121906 in late December 2006 for 680i SLI motherboards. This hotfix was released because users have reported disconnect or write error issues with Serial ATA disk drives on their nForce 680i motherboards. It is an update specifically for SATA Disk Drives and system instability. System instability is observed in the following ways (not a complete list):
Random application shutdownCorrupted boot driveBSOD (Blue screen of death)Corrupt dataTo address them, BIOS updates were released for some NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI based motherboards that eliminate those symptoms. Affected motherboards include:
EVGA nForce 680i SLIBFG nForce 680i SLIBiostar TF680i SLI DeluxeECS PN2-SLI2+This update is supposed to improve system stability and prevent future stability issues related to SATA disk drives on those systems requiring this hotfix. NVIDIA has strongly recommended that all customers upgrade their motherboards to the newest available BIOS revision that their nForce 680i-based motherboards could support, regardless of whether or not they have experienced the issues. Also, NVIDIA has stated that this upgrade will preserve the user's current computer settings.
