Hey, I’ve recently acquired the EVGA 790i SLI FTW. A good looking Intel Socket 775 board, with good I/O.
While EVGA currently still hosts the drivers and latest BIOS for this board, it turns out it has some quirks.
This series (nForce 790i Chipset) was used in many 775 Socket boards, and all seem to have an 8GB max ram capacity limitation, all except one.
The XFX P09 bios, made for an XFX branded pre-built system from the era, seems compatible with the 132-YW-E179-TR model number, and seemingly a handful more looking up old forum posts online.
One clear exception is the “DIGITAL PWM!” version of the EVGA 790i SLI FTW. IF YOU HAVE THIS MODEL DO NOT FLASH THE P09 BIOS! The drivers included should still work however…
I decided to compile a pack, I call it an “All-in-one” that includes all publicly posted driver files for this board, as well as instructions and tools for flashing the P09 BIOS to unlock compatibility with a 4x4GB DDR3 (16GB) memory config. Make sure to read included readme(s) as there are some caveats and warnings that are important to know about!
I’ve hosted it on internet archive for anyone interested, I’m also personally seedboxing it’s torrent if the download is slow, as it often is from IA.
132-YW-E179-TR EVGA nFORCE 790i SLI FTW ALL-IN-ONE
I’ve made it a small hobby to do this for old technology I come across, so check my IA account here and there to see if I have similar packs for old systems you may require, if that interests you.
Hope this helps someone out there get this board running at it’s best!
Seems like a great platform for Core2Quad/P3 era gaming, or testbench platform for working on older systems/standards.