XFX’s mid-range 680i motherboard has the makings of a winner.

There’s just one problem with being a gamer: it’s so darn expensive.  Especially when you’re into PCs, you’re going to want the biggest and the best there is, so you know when you load up your latest purchase your rig won’t come screeching to a halt, tears of pain flowing from its modded plastic vents.  However, chances are you don’t want to break the bank in the process and it would be nice to know if the hardware you just bought will work together without melting down to a twisted lump of silicone and metal the first time you put it through the paces.

Fortunately, we live in an age of options.  If you’ve decided to swear allegiance to NVIDIA, you have the option of going for a completely SLI-certified system, giving you an Apple-like level of hardware compatibility and some nice tweaking options.  If you’re looking to save a few bucks in the process, NVIDIA’s made a point of introducing price grades into the products they design, so you can spend an appropriate amount for the hardware you need.  

Take, for example, the nForce 680i LT chipset.  Launched at the end of March, the LT version of the five-month-old nForce 600 series is a step down in features from its big brother (you can compare the specifications here), allowing NVIDIA to save the end user $50 by dropping the MSRP of the boards to under $200.  In return, NVIDIA soothes egos by calling the LT the version marketed to “the extreme gamer,” while the original 680i is for “the hardcore enthusiast.”  As we’ll see below, the distinction isn’t just pretty words; but then again, neither is $50.

Today we’ll be looking at a 680i LT board, kindly provided by XFX.  Currently one of the few LT boards available on the market, the XFX nForce 680i LT is one of three XFX offerings in the 600 series chipset.  Doing a quick survey of a few different price comparison engines, I found that merchants consistently price the XFX nForce 680i LT in the middle of the pack, with an average price of about $190.  Is the board worth your hard-won dollars?  Let’s find out.