XFX 650i Ultra Socket 775 Motherboard
The Board - Close up
Published: 5th June 2007 | Source: XFX | Price: |
The first thing you notice is the fact that the XFX 650i Ultra motherboard is on a green PCB. I was hoping for XFX to be using a black PCB as they do on some of their cards, but as this board is a lower end board I assume this must be cost-saving. The next thing you notice is that the cooling is very minimal with no South-Bridge cooling and no PWM IC cooling.
The colour scheme is pretty decent with white and black being used predominantly and the PCI and PCI-e slots being differentiated by these colours.
The NorthBridge heatsink is just a large chunk of aluminium painted black, not the best cooling solution we've ever seen in all honesty.
Not only did I notice this, but I also noticed that the capacitors around the PWM area are very close to the CPU socket. After fitting the Scythe Infinity cooler here it is obvious that these are far too close for comfort and although I fitted the heatsink sideways, it would not fit face-on as it usually does. I believe this would mean many of the larger coolers would have some issues fitting on the board, which is a bit of a shame.
Notice two things in this picture; firstly the PWM has no heatsink on it at all which is pretty strange, secondly notice that the 12v power connector is a 4-pin affair which is contrary to many of the high-end boards out nowadays. Indeed your PSU will need to either have a splitable 8 PIN 12v lead, or have a special adaptor (as mine had).
With a couple of PCI-e X1 slots, 1 PCI-e x16 slot and three PCI slots onboard I think XFX have done well for expansion slot choice with a nice range there for you. Nothing overly unusual in the layout here...
One feature I found pretty cool on the board was the battery that had been made vertical to save space. This means that it's easy access in case of change or if that CMOS really won't clear properly.
All of the connectors are at the edge of the board where they should be and also unusually the front IO panel is very much on the bottom edge of the board which is good. Again notice that the SouthBridge is devoid of cooling, which is slightly unusual.
There's enough room from the CPU area to the RAM slots to be able to add some oversize memory such as the OCZ Reaper modules. The ATX power connector is again at the edge of the board, just as it should be.
Overall the layout is "OK", with some quibbles which would put enthusiasts off altogether, unfortunately.
Overall the layout is "OK", with some quibbles which would put enthusiasts off altogether, unfortunately.
Most Recent Comments
Thats pretty cool, i went for evga 680i though, by the way your link to the forums on the review is dead.
When you review stuff do you just get given it to test?
Did you get my pm?
Thanks
Rob
When you review stuff do you just get given it to test?
Did you get my pm?
Thanks
Rob
cool review, i didnt expect that board to do so well tbh 
Nice review, glad you pointed out the green! My 15quid Epox board is green 
Cool review
I find it wierd that people are talking about mobo's (or hardware in general) when they mention 'colour schemes' etc
Reminds me of this thread
Not like the old days
I find it wierd that people are talking about mobo's (or hardware in general) when they mention 'colour schemes' etc
Reminds me of this thread
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='XMS'
Agreed! it won't be long before we have colour coded processors, ram and graphics cards that match up with the relevant slots on the motherboard (or are Gigabyte already doing this with their technicoloured mobo's) :P
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='equk'
Not like the old days |
it's the same 650i Ultra nVidia reference mobo as eVga (& no doubt others) also provide.
bit surprised that it isn't significantly cheaper than a 650i SLI solution though.
bit surprised that it isn't significantly cheaper than a 650i SLI solution though.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='BUFF'
it's the same 650i Ultra nVidia reference mobo as eVga (& no doubt others) also provide.
bit surprised that it isn't significantly cheaper than a 650i SLI solution though. |
Not a BAD mobo, just nothing special
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