NVIDIA is set to release one more nForce 680i variant that
is slightly cheaper than the nForce 680i SLI. The cut-down nForce 680i will
carry the nForce 680i LT SLI name and target extreme gamers. NVIDIA will
manufacture the nForce 680i LT motherboards for various motherboard
manufacturers.
Unlike the heat-pipe endowed nForce 680i SLI motherboards,
nForce 680i LT SLI-based motherboards will have active cooling. Instead of support
for DDR2-1200 memory, NVIDIA has limited the memory controller to DDR2-800.
Front-side bus speeds up to 1333 MHz remains supported. It is unknown if the nForce 680i-series will be compatible with Intel’s upcoming Conroe refresh. The nForce 680i LT SLI will continue to support NVIDIA’s SLI multi-GPU technology as well.
NVIDIA cut back networking features as well; nForce 680i LT
SLI motherboards will only have one Gigabit connector instead of two. Last,
nForce 680i LT SLI motherboards will only support eight USB 2.0 ports instead of
ten.
Expect nForce 680i LT SLI-based motherboards to launch in early March.