As always we start at the box that the board is supplied in and what you get in terms of features. The 680i board has a new box design with a lot of green and black in it, as this is the staple colour for nVidia chips. The front has a nice logo and some minor info on the board.
The back of the box is where all the major info on the board is located as well as a nice colour photo of the board, so you know what youre getting into when you buy.
On documentation and software, Gigabyte is never one to slacken off. A detailed user manual is included that explains the setup in plain English with colour photos for installing expansion cards and setting up the SLI feature.
It goes on to explain the BIOS side as well as the software included on the CD. The CD contains all the drivers needed to get Windows XP, XP64 and Vista going - great to see Vista drivers now included!
With the DQ6 series of boards, Gigabyte provides two PCI cover plates with two e.SATA ports / plate as well as a Molex power adapter. These plug into any spare SATA ports on the board to turn them into e.SATA ports for your external storage convenience needs.
For the internal cable bundle Gigabyte is always on the ball. Out of a total of 10 SATA ports, six cables are included, combine this with the four e.SATA ports you have, then youve got the total 10. One single IDE cable with two drive support and a single FDD cable with a single FDD port are also included, making up the bulk of the cable bundle that Gigabyte gives you.
Lastly we come to the little things that make this board up. The I/O shield is colour coded so you not only have the ports coloured but the surrounds on the I/O shield to help guide you to what cables get plugged into each port.
Lastly is the SLI bridge connector. Gigabyte has gone with a dark blue PCB design rather than a ribbon cable, which are more popular.
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