W1zzard
11-24-2005, 10:39 AM
[pagE=Introduction & Features]
Introduction
I would like to thank MIPS Computer (http://www.mips-computer.de) for supplying us with the tested motherboard.
The DFI LanParty NF4 Series is legendary among overclockers. The boards are well known for their excellent performance and overclocking features.
When I first heard that DFI is coming up with a new "Expert" version of this board, I was wondering if they could really improve things so much that it warrants a new product. Yes they did!
Like the non-expert boards the DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert is based on NVIDIA's nForce 4 chipset. At the moment DFI offers only the SLI-DR Expert, but there may be cheaper versions without SLI or the additional SATA chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/nf4.jpg
The nForce4 is NVIDIA's current chipset for the AMD64 platform. After the enormous success of the previous nForce chipsets the expectations were high, but NVIDIA was able to deliver another great chipset. It boasts with features like integrated Gigabit Ethernet and SATA-II support for a theoretical 300 MB/s HDD transfer rate. RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1 are possible as well.
Features
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="resulttable">
<tr>
<th colspan="2">DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Processor</th>
<td>AMD Athlon64 / FX Socket 939</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>FSB</th>
<td>2000 MT/s HTT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Chipset</th>
<td>NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory</th>
<td>4x 184 Pin DDR, Dual Channel DDR 200/333/400, up to 4 GB </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>BIOS</th>
<td>AwardBios</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Slots</th>
<td>2x PCI-E x16<br />
1x PCI-E x1<br />
1x PCI-E x4<br />
3x PCI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>HDD Connectivity</th>
<td>2x ATA-133<br />
4x SATA-II<br />
4xSATA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Networking</th>
<td>10/100/1000 Mbps - NVIDIA nForce4<br />
10/100/1000 Mbps - Marvell 88E8001</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ports</th>
<td>10x USB 2.0 (6 on Back Panel)<br />
1x Serial header on-board<br />
2x IEEE1394 (1 on Back Panel)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Audio</th>
<td>8 Channel Realtek ALC850 Audio, <br />
S/PDIF in/out</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Form Factor</th>
<td>ATX 293 x 305mm</td>
</tr>
</table>
Specifications from DFI
CPU
AMD® Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 / Sempron
Socket 939
Chipset
NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
Supports NVIDIA SLI (Scalable Link Interface)
Front Side Bus
2000MT/s HyperTransport interface
Memory
Four 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets
Supports dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface
Supports up to 4GB system memory
Supports PC2100 (DDR266), PC2700 (DDR333) and PC3200 (DDR400) DDR SDRAM DIMM
SLI / Single VGA Mode
SLI mode
Use 2 SLI-ready PCI Express x16 graphics cards (use identical cards) on the PCI Express x16 slots.
Each x16 slot operates at x8 bandwidth. When the graphics cards are connected via the SLI bridge, the total bandwidth of the two graphics cards is x16.
Single VGA mode
1 PCI Express graphics card on the PCIE1 slot operates at x16 bandwidth.
The other PCI Express x16 slot (PCIE4) operates at x2 bandwidth.
BIOS
Award BIOS
CMOS Reloaded
CPU/DRAM overclocking
CPU/DRAM/Chipset overvoltage
4Mbit flash memory
Power Management
Supports ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function
Wake-On-Events include:
- Wake-On-PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse
- Wake-On-USB Keyboard/Mouse
- Wake-On-LAN
- RTC timer to power-on the system
AC power failure recovery
Hardware Monitor
Monitors CPU/system/chipset temperature
Monitors 12V/5V/3.3V/Vcore/Vbat/5Vsb/Vchipset/Vdram voltages
Monitors the speed of the CPU fan, Fan 2 and Fan 3 fan
CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature during system boot-up
Audio
Karajan audio module
- Realtek ALC850 8-channel AC’97 audio CODEC
- 6 audio jacks
- 1 CD-in connector
- 1 front audio connector
True stereo line level outputs
S/PDIF-in/out interface
LAN
Dual Gigabit LAN - Vitesse VSC8201 Gigabit Phy and Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit PCI
Fully compliant to IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T), 802.3u (100BASE-TX) and
802.3ab (1000BASE-T) standards
IDE
Supports two IDE connectors that allows connecting up to four UltraDMA 133Mbps hard drives
NVIDIA RAID allows RAID arrays spanning across Serial ATA and Parallel ATA
RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD
Serial ATA with RAID
Four Serial ATA ports supported by the nForce4 SLI chip
- SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD
- NVIDIA RAID allows RAID arrays spanning across Serial ATA and Parallel ATA
Four Serial ATA ports supported by the Silicon Image Sil 3114 chip
- SATA speed up to 1.5Gb/s
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5
IEEE 1394
VIA VT6307
Supports two 100/200/400 Mb/sec ports
Rear Panel I/O Ports
1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port
1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port
2 S/PDIF RCA jacks (S/PDIF-in and S/PDIF-out)
Karajan audio module (6 audio jacks)
1 IEEE 1394 port
2 RJ45 LAN ports
6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
I/O Connectors
2 connectors for 4 additional external USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 connector for 1 external IEEE 1394 port
1 connector for 1 external serial port
1 connector for the Karajan audio module
1 front audio connector for external line-out and mic-in jacks (on the Karajan audio module)
1 CD-in internal audio connector (on the Karajan audio module)
1 S/PDIF connector for optical cable connection
1 IrDA connector
8 Serial ATA connectors
2 IDE connectors
1 floppy connector
1 24-pin ATX power connector
1 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 4-pin 5V/12V power connector (FDD type)
1 front panel connector
5 fan connectors
4 diagnostic LEDs
EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)
Expansion Slots
2 PCI Express x16 slots
1 PCI Express x1 slot
1 PCI Express x4 slot
3 PCI slots
PCB
ATX form factor
24cm (9.45") x 30.5cm (12")
[pagE=Packaging]
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package1.jpg)
The motherboard comes in the typical DFI LanParty anime style package, but this time it's colored green to stand out from the non-expert boards.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package2.jpg)
On the backside there is a picture of the board with the usual product information.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package3.jpg)
When you open the package, you find the accessories in two "sections" of the package. The IDE and Floppy cables are on the right side, which can be folded up.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package4.jpg)
Under the cables and manuals is the motherboard safely wrapped into an anti-static bag.
Contents
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/contents.jpg)
You will receive:
Motherboard
Users Manual, DIY Installation Guide, Addendum
2x IDE Cable, 1x Floppy Cable, 2x SATA Cable, 1x SATA Power Adapter
SLI Bridge
IO Shield
Driver CD, SATA Driver Floppy
Karajan 8 channel audio module
[pagE=Board Layout]
Board Layout
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/board_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/board.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/back_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/back.jpg)
Click here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/board_fullsize.jpg) for a 3000x2500 high-res shot of the board (3 MB download), the backside is here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/back_fullsize.jpg).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cpuarea_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cpuarea.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/mosfet_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/mosfet.jpg)
The space around the CPU area is a bit small, especially when you plan on attaching phase-change units. All MOSFETs have heatsinks on them to reduce thermal stress.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/io_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/io.jpg)
PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, SPDIF, Audio, Dual Gigabit Ethernet, six USB Ports. On the backside panel the most important connectors are included. The layout does not really follow the ATX specification, except for the PS/2 ports and the networking. But since an IO shield is included this is no big issue.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/dimm_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/dimm.jpg)
The motherboard's memory slots have been color coded for easy dual-channel configuration. To run your memory in dual-channel mode you have to put the modules into slots of the same color. If you have problems running your memory in the yellow slots, try the orange ones. I couldn't get my OCZ Gold GX to POST after a CMOS reset in yellow - tried orange and it works fine.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut.jpg)
Hrmm? What's that? Looks like DFI had to fix something after the boards were produced. So far all retail boards have this. I'm guessing that this cut trace has to do with the SPDIF audio and does not affect the rest of the board.
Connectors
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx.jpg)
The DFI LanParty Expert is one of the first enthusiast boards which uses an 8-pin workstation connector. Both connectors are placed very conveniently near the edge of the motherboard.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx2.jpg)
You have only a 20-pin PSU with a 4-pin power plug? No problem, plug them in this way and the board will work fine. However, especially if you are going to do some heavy overclocking, it is advised to use a 24+8 Pin PSU.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sata.jpg)
Eight SATA ports are available for your storage. Four coming from the NF4 SLI and another four from a Silicon Image SATA RAID chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/pata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/pata.jpg)
You will find two parallel ATA ports on this motherboard, for a total of four IDE devices. Both ports are provided by the nForce4 chipset and are spec'd to run at up to 133 MB/s.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headers_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headers.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headersticker_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headersticker.jpg)
The non-expert DFI boards had their headers all in black. Now there are colors, which makes it easier to find the right pins to connect to. If you take a closer look, you will notice that the "colors" are just a sticky piece of plastic which is inserted onto the headers. Hey, works fine for me.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/jumpers_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/jumpers.jpg)
DFI has added a ton of jumpers all over the board. While the other ones deal with SPDIF and USB power, these three are certainly more interesting.
From left to right:
Safe Boot: In case you are unable to start your system during your overclocking adventures, you switch this jumper to the 2-3 position when the system is powered down, wait a few seconds then switch it back to 1-2. Now all overclocking settings are reset, while the other CMOS settings are saved. The same can be achieved by holding the Insert key during power up/reset.
Speaker On/Off: Having a PC speaker onboard is crucial when it comes to detecting bootup problems. For day to day usage it might be annoying. Switching this jumper into position 1-2 disables the onboard speaker. This is the default position (the manual says otherwise). In my opinion it would have made more sense to enable it by default, since during the first install, there could be some problems.
Clear CMOS: When this jumper is set to 2-3 it will clear all contents of the CMOS. This is useful when the system does not boot or after upgrading your BIOS.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/buttons_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/buttons.jpg)
This is one of my favorite features on the DFI boards. You no longer have to use a screwdriver to power on the system.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/fanheaders_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/fanheaders.jpg)
Spread around the board are six (five - The connector above the PCIe connector is a 4-pin floppy drive power connector for supplying extra power if you are running in SLI mode) fan headers. One is used by the chipset fan.
[page=Layout continued]
Slots
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/slots_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/slots.jpg)
If you know the old DFI LanParty Series, the first thing you will miss here is the huge jumper block. The switch between Dual-PCI-E and Single-Slot is now made in the BIOS.
The top-most PCI-E x16 slot has been moved further away from the second slot, so that there is better airflow if you are running in SLI. The drawback is that you can't use any PCI-E x1 slots when you have two video cards installed.
Cooling
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/chipset_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/chipset.jpg)
The northbridge cooler has also been relocated a little bit. In the past its fan hub was right over a video card, blocking airflow. Now it sits in between.
While the cooler is not the quietest, its fan noise is not annoying at all.
Chips
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/monitoring_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/monitoring.jpg)
ITE's 8712F is monitoring temperature, fan speed and voltages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan2.jpg)
The Vitesse CIS8201 LAN Controller is used to implement Gigabit Ethernet via NVIDIA's nForce4 chipset. A Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet controller is used for the second Gigabit Ethernet port.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/ieee1394_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/ieee1394.jpg)
Firewire (IEEE1394) comes from VIA. Their VT6307 chip is used.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/satachip_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/satachip.jpg)
The SiI 3114 chip adds an extra four SATA ports to the four SATA-II ports of the nForce 4.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio3.jpg)
Like on the last LanParty, all audio related circuitry is on a little PCB, which is plugged into the motherboard. Realtek's ALC850 8-channel sound chip is used there. If you don't need sound - don't plug the card in. According to DFI, the reason for an extra card is "to isolate the audio analog ground from digital ground eliminating noise signal and producing crystal sound output". Well, they probably mean crystal clear. I don't see a reason why this could not be done via regular circuitry, but still, it's a nice add-on. Compared to the non-expert series, the sound quality has been improved a little bit.
[pagE=BIOS]
BIOS
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bios_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bios.jpg)
DFI uses an Award WorkstationBios which is heavily customized. I am missing a feature to load a fail-safe configuration on the main page.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmos_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmos.jpg)
On the Standard CMOS page you can change date/time, configure your harddisks and floppies.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advbios_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advbios.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_hddpri_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_hddpri.jpg)
Advanced Bios lets you change the order in which drives are tried at bootup, keyboard settings and also disable the full screen logo if you want to see what's going on during POST.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advchipset_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advchipset.jpg)
Under Advanced Chipset you find options to enable certain chipset features. Spread spectrum is a feature to reduce EMI interference on the clock signals. When enabled, it varies the actual clock very slightly and so distributes the actual EMI energy on a broader frequency range. Sometimes it makes your overclock more stable, sometimes it does not.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_peripherals_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_peripherals.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ide_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ide.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_raid_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_raid.jpg)
On this page you can change several USB settings, enable/disable certain devices like floppy, onboard audio and serial port. The subpage IDE Function setup lets you tweak your IDE controller. If you want to use the integrated RAID controller of the nForce4 chipset you can enable it on the RAID Config page.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_power_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_power.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pnppci_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pnppci.jpg)
Nothing special is to be found under Power Management and PnP/PCI Configurations.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_monitoring_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_monitoring.jpg)
The Hardware Monitoring page shows the essential temperatures, fan speeds and voltages. Also you can define temperatures at which the fan outputs are completely off or running at maximum.
Memory Timings
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig2.jpg)
Memory timings and related options can be configured under Genie BIOS Setting, DRAM Configuration. DFI has done a great job here, every memory related timing, no matter how unimportant it might seem to the average user is configurable here.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramfreq_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramfreq.jpg)
DRAM Frequency Set lets you change the divider your memory is running at. The options are very complete and range from 1:2 up to 1:1. A 233 MHz setting (7:6) to run your memory faster than the FSB is also listed, but may not be supported on all CPUs.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tcl_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tcl.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tras_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tras.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trcd_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trcd.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trp.jpg)
You can change the major timings CAS Latency (tCL), Active-to-Precharge Delay (tRAS), Rad-to-Cas Delay (tRCD), and RAS Precharge Time (tRP). What is new here is that you can tighten the timings even further. Usually 2-2-2-5 is the fastest setting, DFI allows setting down to 1-0-0-0. Not many memory modules can run at CAS 1.5 for example, but there are some in the hands of the hardcore benchmarking people who will sure love these settings.
[pagE=BIOS Overclocking]
BIOS Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc2.jpg)
The Genie BIOS Settings page is home to all frequency and voltage tweaking settings, and there are a lot of them.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_fsb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_fsb.jpg)
The FSB is selectable between 200 and 550 MHz. In our testing the chipset reached 450 MHz, with a mere 0.2V increase on the chipset. With a good board 500 MHz sounds well in reach.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ldt_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ldt.jpg)
The Athlon64 connects chipset and CPU via the HTT, which runs at a multiple of the FSB. Once you start overclocking your CPU a lot, you should drop that divider, so that the HTT runs in spec and does not limit your clocks, increasing HTT does not increase performance since the bus will never be saturated, even at the default speed. This is what the LDT/FSB ratio setting is used for.
On the CPU multiplier option menu you can select half multipliers, all the way down to x4.0.
PCI-Express bus frequencies can be selected from 100 to 145 MHz.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore3.jpg)
VID control sets the CPU voltage after POST, the available options are very fine-granular, going in 0.025V steps from 0.8V to 1.55V. If 1.55V is not enough for you, no problem, DFI has added a "special control" setting. This allows you to increase CPU voltage even more. For example if you run at 1.55V and select "Above VID 110%" here, your CPU will run at 1.55V * 1.10 = 1.705V.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vldt_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vldt.jpg)
The LDT voltage can be selected from 1.20V to 1.50V which seems to be a good range.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset2.jpg)
The old LanParty NF4 boards allowed up to 1.8V for chipset voltage, which wasn't enough for some people, so DFI increased this range to 1.96V.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr2.jpg)
Another relict of the past is the 4V jumper - if you wanted more than 3.3V you had to move a jumper on the motherboard to allow selection of up to 4.0V. With the new Expert boards this is no longer required. You just select a value between 2.29V and 4.00V and the board handles the rest. The step size has been reduced here too.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_memtest_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_memtest.jpg)
A very useful feature is the integrated MemTest86+. If you enable the "Run MemTest86+" option, the system will not boot from disk, but execute a version of MemTest from the BIOS. This allows you to check system stability very quick, without experiencing long boot-up delays.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pcieconfig_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pcieconfig.jpg)
Now that the SLI-jumpers are gone from the PCI-E slot area, you have to use this setting to switch the number of active lanes when running in SLI mode.
On the overclocking page you can also tweak certain LAN chip settings and disable the second Ethernet interface and the IEEE1394 chip. I think these options should go elsewhere, for example Integrated Peripherals.
CMOS Reloaded
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmosreloaded_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmosreloaded.jpg)
Another extremely useful feature in the BIOS is the CMOS Reloaded page. You can save all BIOS settings to one of four banks, which can be loaded again later. Another way to load a certain bank is to define a hotkey which has to be pressed during system startup.
The settings here are saved to the BIOS chip's flash memory, so they are not lost if you perform a CMOS reset or remove the battery.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bootmenu_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bootmenu.jpg)
When you press Escape during POST the system will present you with a boot menu where you can pick the startup device. This is very useful, you can set your first startup device to HDD in the BIOS, and the rest to disabled (faster startup times). On the rare occasion when you have to boot from CD or USB stick, just use this boot menu.
[page=Performance: Test systems]
Test Systems
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "LP NF4 Expert"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert, Bios 17/11/05<br />nForce4 SLI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "LP NF4 Ultra-D"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D, Bios 5.10-2 Fix<br />nForce4 Ultra</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "ECS KN1 SLI"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ECS KN1 SLI Extreme, Bios 1.11a 6/20/05<br />nForce4 SLI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC-3200 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "ASRock 939Dual-SATA2"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ASRock 939Dual-SATA2, Bios 1.40<br />ULi M1695</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC-3200 Gold GX 2-2-3-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "Sapphire PI-A9RX480"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480, Bios 07/27/05<br />ATI RX480</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "PM 750 CT-479"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium M 750 (S479; 2MB L2;Dothan)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ASUS P4P800-E, Bios 1008 Beta001<br />i865PE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x512MB OCZ PC4000 (TCCD) 2.0-2-2-5 3:4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 XT PE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Seagate Barracuda SATA 80GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Thermaltake TWV 500W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.8</td>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
OC 2730 is 13x210 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1(=210 MHz) 2.0-4-4-8</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "ABIT AL8"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT AL8, Bios 1.4<br />i945P</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB Platinum 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC is 15 x 300 = 4500 MHz, Memory 1:1 = DDR2-600</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "AA8XE"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE, Bios 1.4<br />i925XE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB Platinum 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 Non-Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 4500 is 15x300 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1 (=300 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "P4 2.4C"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 2.4C (S478; 512KB; Northwood)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT IC7, Bios 2.8<br />i875P</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 256MB Generic PC3200 2.5-3-3-6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 XT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Antec TrueControl 550W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 3400 is 15x283 FSB, Mem Ratio 2:3 (=188 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Performance: Sandra & Everest]
SiSoftware Sandra
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sandraint.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sandrafloat.gif
Sandra's CPU Benchmarks are only CPU dependant, so it is normal that boards of the same platform perform the same here. Small differences are caused by minor inaccuracies in execution time measurement.
Lavalys Everest
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/everestread.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/everestwrite.gif
DFI are the experts when it comes to tweaking memory settings in the BIOS. The benchmarks show this very clearly, especially the read bandwidth and latency tests.
Lower is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/everestlatency.gif
These latency numbers are just impressive. Note that we used the same memory modules on all AMD64 motherboards.
[pagE=Performance: SuperPi]
SuperPi
Lower is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/superpi1m.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/superpi32m.gif
While the differences in SuperPi performance are rather small, they are there and they are consistent. A 0.5 second difference in SuperPi is a lot for some people.
[page=Performance: PCMark04 & 3DMark01]
PCMark 2004
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/pcmark2004.gif
Application performance difference (~10% to the NF4 non-expert) is so big that it should be noticeable during work, not only in benchmarks.
3DMark 2001
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/3dmark2001.gif
Finally, a benchmark where the DFI Expert does not lay waste to the other AMD64 boards, here the ECS KN1 SLI is faster.
[page=Performance: CineBench & Kribibench]
CineBench
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cinebench.gif
In Cinebench the boards are very close to each other, since this benchmark is very CPU dependant. Intel's HyperThreading technology makes the P4s take the performance crown here.
KribiBench
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/kribibench.gif
Again, the DFI Expert board is the fastest AMD64 motherboard.
[page=Performance: Comanche 4 & Quake 3]
Comanche 4
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/comanche4.gif
Comanche 4 does not seem to be the DFI boards' strongest point, but the differences are very small.
Quake 3 Arena
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/quake3.gif
What DFI has lost in our Comanche benchmark, it has gained back in Quake 3 - easily the fastest board of the pack.
[page=Performance: Audio RMAA]
Rightmark Audio Analyzer
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/rmaa.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/loopback_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/loopback.jpg)
We used Rightmark Audio Analyzer together with a loop-back cable to analyze the quality of the on-board audio solution.
Summary
<table width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:</strong></td>
<td>+0.81, -4.79</td>
<td>Poor</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Noise level, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>-74.8</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Dynamic range, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>73.7</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>THD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.044</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.067</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Stereo crosstalk, dB:</strong></td>
<td>-74.1</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD at 10 kHz, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.315</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
</table>
General performance: Average
The on-board audio quality of the DFI NF4 Expert has improved a little bit, but it is still not comparable to the quality of other chipsets. Please note that all NVIDIA nForce 4 motherboards suffer from the low-quality audio, so there is probably not that much DFI could do to improve the sound.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/onboardaudio.gif
Frequency Response
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/fr.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Frequency range</strong></td>
<td><strong>Response</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-9.53, +0.81</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-4.79, +0.81</td>
</tr>
</table>
Noise Level
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/noise.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power, dB:</td>
<td>-70.5</td>
<td>-71.5</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>-74.0</td>
<td>-74.8</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Peak level, dB FS:</td>
<td>-58.4</td>
<td>-58.6</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>0.62</td>
<td>1.14</td>
</tr>
</table>
Dynamic Range
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/dynamics.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range, dB:</td>
<td>+69.2</td>
<td>+68.2</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>+73.7</td>
<td>+74.6</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>0.63</td>
<td>1.13</td>
</tr>
</table>
THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/thd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD, %:</td>
<td>0.0440</td>
<td>0.0471</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0682</td>
<td>0.1846</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0719</td>
<td>0.0743</td>
</tr>
</table>
Intermodulation distortion
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/imd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0687</td>
<td>0.0669</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0569</td>
<td>0.0569</td>
</tr>
</table>
Stereo crosstalk
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cross.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>L <- R</strong></td>
<td><strong>L -> R</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB:</td>
<td>-70</td>
<td>-69</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 1 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-73</td>
<td>-73</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 10 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-73</td>
<td>-73</td>
</tr>
</table>
IMD (swept tones)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/imdswept.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 5 kHz, %:</td>
<td>0.1804</td>
<td>0.1957</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 10 kHz, %:</td>
<td>0.2876</td>
<td>0.3041</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 15 kHz, %:</td>
<td>0.4773</td>
<td>0.4944</td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Fan Noise]
Fan Noise
In order to give a measurement of how loud this board is, we used an IEC651 Type II sound level meter on the dbA slow setting.
The distance between fan and sound level meter was 10cm. Please note that this is very little, compared to the "standard" measurements, which are made at 1m distance. We had to do this, to get proper readings with our sound level meter, because we obviously can't spend thousands of dollars on audio measuring equipment.
All tested fans were connected to an external 12V lab PSU. 12V is the maximum rated fan speed. Some motherboards/video cards use slower fan speeds and slowly ramp them up with temperatures. This is also the reason, why the X800 series seems to have such a "loud" fan. During normal usage its fan is usually running at 33% to 66%.
DFI is using the same fan as on the previous LanParty boards, so there is no difference here.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/soundlevel.gif
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" class="resulttable">
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Common sound levels </th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ambulance siren</td>
<td align="right">120 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Crying baby </td>
<td align="right">110 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shout (5 feet) </td>
<td align="right">100 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Truck</td>
<td align="right">90 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Urban street</td>
<td align="right">80 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Automobile interior </td>
<td align="right">70 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Normal conversation (3 feet) </td>
<td align="right">60 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Office, classroom </td>
<td align="right">50 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Living room </td>
<td align="right">40 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bedroom at night </td>
<td align="right">30 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Whispering at (5 feet)</td>
<td align="right">20 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rustling leaves </td>
<td align="right">10 dbA </td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Overclocking]
Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/maxfsb.gif
In order to find the overclocking potential of the DFI LanParty NF4, we set the CPU multiplier to 5x with a memory divider of 2:1. This is to make sure that neither the CPU nor the memory are limiting our overclock here. The LDT multiplier was dropped to x2 as well.
The maximum FSB the board could run at a chipset voltage of 1.72V was 450 MHz. Further increasing voltage (remember, the settings go up to 1.9V) will sure yield overclocks into the 500 MHz region, but this also decreases chipset life drastically, especially if you do not have proper cooling on the chipset.
Above settings might give impressive FSB speeds, but performance is lacking, because the memory is running very slow.
Our "@ 2700 MHz" benchmarks were run with a CPU multiplier of 9x at 300 MHz. As cooling a watercooling system utilizing the Swiftech Storm waterblock was used. Since our memory can not run that fast, we had to drop the memory ratio to 2:3 which means the memory was running at DDR400 while the CPU ran at 2700 MHz. The board was no limiting factor here at any time. In fact I played with the Sapphire Athlon64 Crossfire motherboard a few days ago and had major issues getting 2700 MHz stable with the exact same setup. I had to tweak BIOS settings for a long time, increase the CPU core voltage beyond reason and remount waterblock and redo thermal paste about six times until it was stable.
With the DFI it was just:
plug CPU in
do not give big attention to thermal paste application
slap waterblock on top
screw down somehow, no big attention need here either
boot, go into the BIOS and change CPU voltage:1.55V, CPU clock:300 FSB, LDT multiplier:x3, memory divider:2:3
Boot Windows and run benchmarks - rock stable.
After playing with this board for a while I must say this is an awesome overclocking board. It offers all the features and settings you may want, plus a few extra BIOS tweaks. The option to run your memory at a voltage higher than 3.3V is pretty unique in the motherboard business. Other things like five fan available headers, heatsinks on all parts that could become hot and the special power connector completes the package.
One drawback to having so many options in the BIOS is that the average user might get confused with all of them. I found the "Auto" settings for memory to work quite good.
[page=Changes to Non-Expert]
Changes to Non-Expert
PCI-E x16 slots spaced farther apart
Chipset cooler no longer directly below video card
Smaller voltage steps for DDR voltage
4V DDR voltage jumper removed
SLI jumpers removed, now switched through BIOS
Memory slots moved
CPU socket orientation changed by 90°
One more PCI slot
8-pin workstation power connector instead of 4-pin
5.25" and 3.5" SLI power connectors removed
Allows more tight memory timings (CAS 1.5)
Improved memory drive strength
Four-phase CPU power
Sound quality slightly improved
Maximum chipset voltage increased to 1.96V from 1.8V
[page=Can it run 4 x 512 MB 1T?]
4 x 512 MB ?
More and more games are coming out which benefit from having more than 1 GB of memory. Since most people are upgrading from 2x512 MB to 4x512 MB we wanted to test if this board might be able to run four 512 MB modules at 1T timing.
As many of you know the DFI LanParty NF4 non-Expert has major issues running four 512 MB modules at 1T, no matter the timings - usually the system doesn't even make it to the POST screen.
Samsung TCCD
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd_setup_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd_setup.jpg)
We used 4x512 MB G.SKILL F1-4400DSU2-1GBFC PC4400.
With a setting of 2-2-2-5 the system felt very instable, but usually made it into Windows. Relaxing the timings to 2-3-3-5 1T @ 200 MHz did the trick.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd.gif)
Overclocking potential was not much, but it was there, at above settings we reached 212 MHz.
Winbond UTT-BH5
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt_setup_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt_setup.jpg)
To test if Winbond UTT-BH5 memory works in 4x configuration, we used 2x512 MB OCZ Gold GX 3500 and 2x512 MB OCZ Gold GX 3200 XTC, both are using the same chips.
On the DFI LanParty Expert there we no problems booting into Windows at 2-2-2-5 1T, but the system was not 100% stable. We tried different CL2 timing sets and played with Drive Strength and voltage, but nothing helped.
In the end we reached 2.5-2-2-5 1T @ 200 MHz rock stable.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt.gif)
We also tried some overclocking at these settings and also at 2.5-3-3-8 but we couldn't even reach 210 MHz... at least the memory is working.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a street price of around $200 this is pretty much the most expensive nForce 4 motherboard. But having the best of the best is never cheap...</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Great overclocking features
Impressive performance
Awesome BIOS, full of overclocking options
Numerous improvements
SLI
Well thought out layout
Can run 4x512 MB TCCD/UTT
Two GigE network ports
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Expensive
On-Board Audio could be better
Manually cut trace on motherboard to fix unknown issue
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.7</th>
<td>This board is definitely the best enthusiast Athlon64 motherboard on the market. Period.<br />
It is a quite a step up from the previous LanParty NF4 Series. There are numerous improvements - DFI has definitely listened to the community. If you are into some serious overclocking there are not many other boards that will be able to keep up with this wonderful motherboard. Its performance is outstanding, so are its overclocking features.<br />
The only drawback is the hefty price of $200. I see no reason why this board should be more expensive than the previous boards, except that DFI charges a premium for their world-class engineering. Let's hope DFI comes up with cheaper versions which do not have the extra SATA ports or maybe only one Gigabit Ethernet port.<br />
Should you buy this board if you already have the LanParty NF4? No. I don't think that's worth it. Should you buy this board if you want to have the latest and greatest and money is secondary to you? Absolutely.</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td><img src="http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif"></td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
I would like to thank MIPS Computer (http://www.mips-computer.de) for supplying us with the tested motherboard.
The DFI LanParty NF4 Series is legendary among overclockers. The boards are well known for their excellent performance and overclocking features.
When I first heard that DFI is coming up with a new "Expert" version of this board, I was wondering if they could really improve things so much that it warrants a new product. Yes they did!
Like the non-expert boards the DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert is based on NVIDIA's nForce 4 chipset. At the moment DFI offers only the SLI-DR Expert, but there may be cheaper versions without SLI or the additional SATA chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/nf4.jpg
The nForce4 is NVIDIA's current chipset for the AMD64 platform. After the enormous success of the previous nForce chipsets the expectations were high, but NVIDIA was able to deliver another great chipset. It boasts with features like integrated Gigabit Ethernet and SATA-II support for a theoretical 300 MB/s HDD transfer rate. RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1 are possible as well.
Features
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="resulttable">
<tr>
<th colspan="2">DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Processor</th>
<td>AMD Athlon64 / FX Socket 939</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>FSB</th>
<td>2000 MT/s HTT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Chipset</th>
<td>NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory</th>
<td>4x 184 Pin DDR, Dual Channel DDR 200/333/400, up to 4 GB </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>BIOS</th>
<td>AwardBios</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Slots</th>
<td>2x PCI-E x16<br />
1x PCI-E x1<br />
1x PCI-E x4<br />
3x PCI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>HDD Connectivity</th>
<td>2x ATA-133<br />
4x SATA-II<br />
4xSATA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Networking</th>
<td>10/100/1000 Mbps - NVIDIA nForce4<br />
10/100/1000 Mbps - Marvell 88E8001</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ports</th>
<td>10x USB 2.0 (6 on Back Panel)<br />
1x Serial header on-board<br />
2x IEEE1394 (1 on Back Panel)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Audio</th>
<td>8 Channel Realtek ALC850 Audio, <br />
S/PDIF in/out</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Form Factor</th>
<td>ATX 293 x 305mm</td>
</tr>
</table>
Specifications from DFI
CPU
AMD® Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 / Sempron
Socket 939
Chipset
NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
Supports NVIDIA SLI (Scalable Link Interface)
Front Side Bus
2000MT/s HyperTransport interface
Memory
Four 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets
Supports dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface
Supports up to 4GB system memory
Supports PC2100 (DDR266), PC2700 (DDR333) and PC3200 (DDR400) DDR SDRAM DIMM
SLI / Single VGA Mode
SLI mode
Use 2 SLI-ready PCI Express x16 graphics cards (use identical cards) on the PCI Express x16 slots.
Each x16 slot operates at x8 bandwidth. When the graphics cards are connected via the SLI bridge, the total bandwidth of the two graphics cards is x16.
Single VGA mode
1 PCI Express graphics card on the PCIE1 slot operates at x16 bandwidth.
The other PCI Express x16 slot (PCIE4) operates at x2 bandwidth.
BIOS
Award BIOS
CMOS Reloaded
CPU/DRAM overclocking
CPU/DRAM/Chipset overvoltage
4Mbit flash memory
Power Management
Supports ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function
Wake-On-Events include:
- Wake-On-PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse
- Wake-On-USB Keyboard/Mouse
- Wake-On-LAN
- RTC timer to power-on the system
AC power failure recovery
Hardware Monitor
Monitors CPU/system/chipset temperature
Monitors 12V/5V/3.3V/Vcore/Vbat/5Vsb/Vchipset/Vdram voltages
Monitors the speed of the CPU fan, Fan 2 and Fan 3 fan
CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature during system boot-up
Audio
Karajan audio module
- Realtek ALC850 8-channel AC’97 audio CODEC
- 6 audio jacks
- 1 CD-in connector
- 1 front audio connector
True stereo line level outputs
S/PDIF-in/out interface
LAN
Dual Gigabit LAN - Vitesse VSC8201 Gigabit Phy and Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit PCI
Fully compliant to IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T), 802.3u (100BASE-TX) and
802.3ab (1000BASE-T) standards
IDE
Supports two IDE connectors that allows connecting up to four UltraDMA 133Mbps hard drives
NVIDIA RAID allows RAID arrays spanning across Serial ATA and Parallel ATA
RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD
Serial ATA with RAID
Four Serial ATA ports supported by the nForce4 SLI chip
- SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD
- NVIDIA RAID allows RAID arrays spanning across Serial ATA and Parallel ATA
Four Serial ATA ports supported by the Silicon Image Sil 3114 chip
- SATA speed up to 1.5Gb/s
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5
IEEE 1394
VIA VT6307
Supports two 100/200/400 Mb/sec ports
Rear Panel I/O Ports
1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port
1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port
2 S/PDIF RCA jacks (S/PDIF-in and S/PDIF-out)
Karajan audio module (6 audio jacks)
1 IEEE 1394 port
2 RJ45 LAN ports
6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
I/O Connectors
2 connectors for 4 additional external USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 connector for 1 external IEEE 1394 port
1 connector for 1 external serial port
1 connector for the Karajan audio module
1 front audio connector for external line-out and mic-in jacks (on the Karajan audio module)
1 CD-in internal audio connector (on the Karajan audio module)
1 S/PDIF connector for optical cable connection
1 IrDA connector
8 Serial ATA connectors
2 IDE connectors
1 floppy connector
1 24-pin ATX power connector
1 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 4-pin 5V/12V power connector (FDD type)
1 front panel connector
5 fan connectors
4 diagnostic LEDs
EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)
Expansion Slots
2 PCI Express x16 slots
1 PCI Express x1 slot
1 PCI Express x4 slot
3 PCI slots
PCB
ATX form factor
24cm (9.45") x 30.5cm (12")
[pagE=Packaging]
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package1.jpg)
The motherboard comes in the typical DFI LanParty anime style package, but this time it's colored green to stand out from the non-expert boards.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package2.jpg)
On the backside there is a picture of the board with the usual product information.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package3.jpg)
When you open the package, you find the accessories in two "sections" of the package. The IDE and Floppy cables are on the right side, which can be folded up.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/package4.jpg)
Under the cables and manuals is the motherboard safely wrapped into an anti-static bag.
Contents
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/contents.jpg)
You will receive:
Motherboard
Users Manual, DIY Installation Guide, Addendum
2x IDE Cable, 1x Floppy Cable, 2x SATA Cable, 1x SATA Power Adapter
SLI Bridge
IO Shield
Driver CD, SATA Driver Floppy
Karajan 8 channel audio module
[pagE=Board Layout]
Board Layout
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/board_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/board.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/back_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/back.jpg)
Click here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/board_fullsize.jpg) for a 3000x2500 high-res shot of the board (3 MB download), the backside is here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/back_fullsize.jpg).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cpuarea_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cpuarea.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/mosfet_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/mosfet.jpg)
The space around the CPU area is a bit small, especially when you plan on attaching phase-change units. All MOSFETs have heatsinks on them to reduce thermal stress.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/io_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/io.jpg)
PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, SPDIF, Audio, Dual Gigabit Ethernet, six USB Ports. On the backside panel the most important connectors are included. The layout does not really follow the ATX specification, except for the PS/2 ports and the networking. But since an IO shield is included this is no big issue.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/dimm_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/dimm.jpg)
The motherboard's memory slots have been color coded for easy dual-channel configuration. To run your memory in dual-channel mode you have to put the modules into slots of the same color. If you have problems running your memory in the yellow slots, try the orange ones. I couldn't get my OCZ Gold GX to POST after a CMOS reset in yellow - tried orange and it works fine.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cut.jpg)
Hrmm? What's that? Looks like DFI had to fix something after the boards were produced. So far all retail boards have this. I'm guessing that this cut trace has to do with the SPDIF audio and does not affect the rest of the board.
Connectors
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx.jpg)
The DFI LanParty Expert is one of the first enthusiast boards which uses an 8-pin workstation connector. Both connectors are placed very conveniently near the edge of the motherboard.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/atx2.jpg)
You have only a 20-pin PSU with a 4-pin power plug? No problem, plug them in this way and the board will work fine. However, especially if you are going to do some heavy overclocking, it is advised to use a 24+8 Pin PSU.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sata.jpg)
Eight SATA ports are available for your storage. Four coming from the NF4 SLI and another four from a Silicon Image SATA RAID chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/pata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/pata.jpg)
You will find two parallel ATA ports on this motherboard, for a total of four IDE devices. Both ports are provided by the nForce4 chipset and are spec'd to run at up to 133 MB/s.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headers_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headers.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headersticker_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/headersticker.jpg)
The non-expert DFI boards had their headers all in black. Now there are colors, which makes it easier to find the right pins to connect to. If you take a closer look, you will notice that the "colors" are just a sticky piece of plastic which is inserted onto the headers. Hey, works fine for me.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/jumpers_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/jumpers.jpg)
DFI has added a ton of jumpers all over the board. While the other ones deal with SPDIF and USB power, these three are certainly more interesting.
From left to right:
Safe Boot: In case you are unable to start your system during your overclocking adventures, you switch this jumper to the 2-3 position when the system is powered down, wait a few seconds then switch it back to 1-2. Now all overclocking settings are reset, while the other CMOS settings are saved. The same can be achieved by holding the Insert key during power up/reset.
Speaker On/Off: Having a PC speaker onboard is crucial when it comes to detecting bootup problems. For day to day usage it might be annoying. Switching this jumper into position 1-2 disables the onboard speaker. This is the default position (the manual says otherwise). In my opinion it would have made more sense to enable it by default, since during the first install, there could be some problems.
Clear CMOS: When this jumper is set to 2-3 it will clear all contents of the CMOS. This is useful when the system does not boot or after upgrading your BIOS.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/buttons_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/buttons.jpg)
This is one of my favorite features on the DFI boards. You no longer have to use a screwdriver to power on the system.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/fanheaders_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/fanheaders.jpg)
Spread around the board are six (five - The connector above the PCIe connector is a 4-pin floppy drive power connector for supplying extra power if you are running in SLI mode) fan headers. One is used by the chipset fan.
[page=Layout continued]
Slots
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/slots_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/slots.jpg)
If you know the old DFI LanParty Series, the first thing you will miss here is the huge jumper block. The switch between Dual-PCI-E and Single-Slot is now made in the BIOS.
The top-most PCI-E x16 slot has been moved further away from the second slot, so that there is better airflow if you are running in SLI. The drawback is that you can't use any PCI-E x1 slots when you have two video cards installed.
Cooling
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/chipset_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/chipset.jpg)
The northbridge cooler has also been relocated a little bit. In the past its fan hub was right over a video card, blocking airflow. Now it sits in between.
While the cooler is not the quietest, its fan noise is not annoying at all.
Chips
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/monitoring_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/monitoring.jpg)
ITE's 8712F is monitoring temperature, fan speed and voltages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/lan2.jpg)
The Vitesse CIS8201 LAN Controller is used to implement Gigabit Ethernet via NVIDIA's nForce4 chipset. A Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet controller is used for the second Gigabit Ethernet port.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/ieee1394_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/ieee1394.jpg)
Firewire (IEEE1394) comes from VIA. Their VT6307 chip is used.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/satachip_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/satachip.jpg)
The SiI 3114 chip adds an extra four SATA ports to the four SATA-II ports of the nForce 4.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/audio3.jpg)
Like on the last LanParty, all audio related circuitry is on a little PCB, which is plugged into the motherboard. Realtek's ALC850 8-channel sound chip is used there. If you don't need sound - don't plug the card in. According to DFI, the reason for an extra card is "to isolate the audio analog ground from digital ground eliminating noise signal and producing crystal sound output". Well, they probably mean crystal clear. I don't see a reason why this could not be done via regular circuitry, but still, it's a nice add-on. Compared to the non-expert series, the sound quality has been improved a little bit.
[pagE=BIOS]
BIOS
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bios_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bios.jpg)
DFI uses an Award WorkstationBios which is heavily customized. I am missing a feature to load a fail-safe configuration on the main page.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmos_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmos.jpg)
On the Standard CMOS page you can change date/time, configure your harddisks and floppies.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advbios_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advbios.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_hddpri_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_hddpri.jpg)
Advanced Bios lets you change the order in which drives are tried at bootup, keyboard settings and also disable the full screen logo if you want to see what's going on during POST.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advchipset_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_advchipset.jpg)
Under Advanced Chipset you find options to enable certain chipset features. Spread spectrum is a feature to reduce EMI interference on the clock signals. When enabled, it varies the actual clock very slightly and so distributes the actual EMI energy on a broader frequency range. Sometimes it makes your overclock more stable, sometimes it does not.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_peripherals_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_peripherals.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ide_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ide.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_raid_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_raid.jpg)
On this page you can change several USB settings, enable/disable certain devices like floppy, onboard audio and serial port. The subpage IDE Function setup lets you tweak your IDE controller. If you want to use the integrated RAID controller of the nForce4 chipset you can enable it on the RAID Config page.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_power_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_power.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pnppci_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pnppci.jpg)
Nothing special is to be found under Power Management and PnP/PCI Configurations.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_monitoring_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_monitoring.jpg)
The Hardware Monitoring page shows the essential temperatures, fan speeds and voltages. Also you can define temperatures at which the fan outputs are completely off or running at maximum.
Memory Timings
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramconfig2.jpg)
Memory timings and related options can be configured under Genie BIOS Setting, DRAM Configuration. DFI has done a great job here, every memory related timing, no matter how unimportant it might seem to the average user is configurable here.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramfreq_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_dramfreq.jpg)
DRAM Frequency Set lets you change the divider your memory is running at. The options are very complete and range from 1:2 up to 1:1. A 233 MHz setting (7:6) to run your memory faster than the FSB is also listed, but may not be supported on all CPUs.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tcl_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tcl.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tras_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_tras.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trcd_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trcd.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_trp.jpg)
You can change the major timings CAS Latency (tCL), Active-to-Precharge Delay (tRAS), Rad-to-Cas Delay (tRCD), and RAS Precharge Time (tRP). What is new here is that you can tighten the timings even further. Usually 2-2-2-5 is the fastest setting, DFI allows setting down to 1-0-0-0. Not many memory modules can run at CAS 1.5 for example, but there are some in the hands of the hardcore benchmarking people who will sure love these settings.
[pagE=BIOS Overclocking]
BIOS Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_oc2.jpg)
The Genie BIOS Settings page is home to all frequency and voltage tweaking settings, and there are a lot of them.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_fsb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_fsb.jpg)
The FSB is selectable between 200 and 550 MHz. In our testing the chipset reached 450 MHz, with a mere 0.2V increase on the chipset. With a good board 500 MHz sounds well in reach.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ldt_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_ldt.jpg)
The Athlon64 connects chipset and CPU via the HTT, which runs at a multiple of the FSB. Once you start overclocking your CPU a lot, you should drop that divider, so that the HTT runs in spec and does not limit your clocks, increasing HTT does not increase performance since the bus will never be saturated, even at the default speed. This is what the LDT/FSB ratio setting is used for.
On the CPU multiplier option menu you can select half multipliers, all the way down to x4.0.
PCI-Express bus frequencies can be selected from 100 to 145 MHz.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vcore3.jpg)
VID control sets the CPU voltage after POST, the available options are very fine-granular, going in 0.025V steps from 0.8V to 1.55V. If 1.55V is not enough for you, no problem, DFI has added a "special control" setting. This allows you to increase CPU voltage even more. For example if you run at 1.55V and select "Above VID 110%" here, your CPU will run at 1.55V * 1.10 = 1.705V.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vldt_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vldt.jpg)
The LDT voltage can be selected from 1.20V to 1.50V which seems to be a good range.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vchipset2.jpg)
The old LanParty NF4 boards allowed up to 1.8V for chipset voltage, which wasn't enough for some people, so DFI increased this range to 1.96V.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_vddr2.jpg)
Another relict of the past is the 4V jumper - if you wanted more than 3.3V you had to move a jumper on the motherboard to allow selection of up to 4.0V. With the new Expert boards this is no longer required. You just select a value between 2.29V and 4.00V and the board handles the rest. The step size has been reduced here too.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_memtest_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_memtest.jpg)
A very useful feature is the integrated MemTest86+. If you enable the "Run MemTest86+" option, the system will not boot from disk, but execute a version of MemTest from the BIOS. This allows you to check system stability very quick, without experiencing long boot-up delays.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pcieconfig_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_pcieconfig.jpg)
Now that the SLI-jumpers are gone from the PCI-E slot area, you have to use this setting to switch the number of active lanes when running in SLI mode.
On the overclocking page you can also tweak certain LAN chip settings and disable the second Ethernet interface and the IEEE1394 chip. I think these options should go elsewhere, for example Integrated Peripherals.
CMOS Reloaded
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmosreloaded_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_cmosreloaded.jpg)
Another extremely useful feature in the BIOS is the CMOS Reloaded page. You can save all BIOS settings to one of four banks, which can be loaded again later. Another way to load a certain bank is to define a hotkey which has to be pressed during system startup.
The settings here are saved to the BIOS chip's flash memory, so they are not lost if you perform a CMOS reset or remove the battery.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bootmenu_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/b_bootmenu.jpg)
When you press Escape during POST the system will present you with a boot menu where you can pick the startup device. This is very useful, you can set your first startup device to HDD in the BIOS, and the rest to disabled (faster startup times). On the rare occasion when you have to boot from CD or USB stick, just use this boot menu.
[page=Performance: Test systems]
Test Systems
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "LP NF4 Expert"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert, Bios 17/11/05<br />nForce4 SLI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "LP NF4 Ultra-D"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D, Bios 5.10-2 Fix<br />nForce4 Ultra</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "ECS KN1 SLI"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ECS KN1 SLI Extreme, Bios 1.11a 6/20/05<br />nForce4 SLI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC-3200 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "ASRock 939Dual-SATA2"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ASRock 939Dual-SATA2, Bios 1.40<br />ULi M1695</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC-3200 Gold GX 2-2-3-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "Sapphire PI-A9RX480"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3000+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480, Bios 07/27/05<br />ATI RX480</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Gold GX 2-2-2-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 2700 is 9x300 FSB, Mem ratio 2:3 (=200 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "PM 750 CT-479"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium M 750 (S479; 2MB L2;Dothan)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ASUS P4P800-E, Bios 1008 Beta001<br />i865PE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x512MB OCZ PC4000 (TCCD) 2.0-2-2-5 3:4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 XT PE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Seagate Barracuda SATA 80GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Thermaltake TWV 500W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.8</td>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
OC 2730 is 13x210 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1(=210 MHz) 2.0-4-4-8</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "ABIT AL8"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT AL8, Bios 1.4<br />i945P</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB Platinum 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC is 15 x 300 = 4500 MHz, Memory 1:1 = DDR2-600</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "AA8XE"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE, Bios 1.4<br />i925XE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB Platinum 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 Non-Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 4500 is 15x300 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1 (=300 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "P4 2.4C"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 2.4C (S478; 512KB; Northwood)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT IC7, Bios 2.8<br />i875P</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 256MB Generic PC3200 2.5-3-3-6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 XT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Antec TrueControl 550W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 3400 is 15x283 FSB, Mem Ratio 2:3 (=188 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Performance: Sandra & Everest]
SiSoftware Sandra
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sandraint.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/sandrafloat.gif
Sandra's CPU Benchmarks are only CPU dependant, so it is normal that boards of the same platform perform the same here. Small differences are caused by minor inaccuracies in execution time measurement.
Lavalys Everest
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/everestread.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/everestwrite.gif
DFI are the experts when it comes to tweaking memory settings in the BIOS. The benchmarks show this very clearly, especially the read bandwidth and latency tests.
Lower is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/everestlatency.gif
These latency numbers are just impressive. Note that we used the same memory modules on all AMD64 motherboards.
[pagE=Performance: SuperPi]
SuperPi
Lower is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/superpi1m.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/superpi32m.gif
While the differences in SuperPi performance are rather small, they are there and they are consistent. A 0.5 second difference in SuperPi is a lot for some people.
[page=Performance: PCMark04 & 3DMark01]
PCMark 2004
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/pcmark2004.gif
Application performance difference (~10% to the NF4 non-expert) is so big that it should be noticeable during work, not only in benchmarks.
3DMark 2001
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/3dmark2001.gif
Finally, a benchmark where the DFI Expert does not lay waste to the other AMD64 boards, here the ECS KN1 SLI is faster.
[page=Performance: CineBench & Kribibench]
CineBench
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cinebench.gif
In Cinebench the boards are very close to each other, since this benchmark is very CPU dependant. Intel's HyperThreading technology makes the P4s take the performance crown here.
KribiBench
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/kribibench.gif
Again, the DFI Expert board is the fastest AMD64 motherboard.
[page=Performance: Comanche 4 & Quake 3]
Comanche 4
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/comanche4.gif
Comanche 4 does not seem to be the DFI boards' strongest point, but the differences are very small.
Quake 3 Arena
Higher is better
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/quake3.gif
What DFI has lost in our Comanche benchmark, it has gained back in Quake 3 - easily the fastest board of the pack.
[page=Performance: Audio RMAA]
Rightmark Audio Analyzer
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/rmaa.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/loopback_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/loopback.jpg)
We used Rightmark Audio Analyzer together with a loop-back cable to analyze the quality of the on-board audio solution.
Summary
<table width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:</strong></td>
<td>+0.81, -4.79</td>
<td>Poor</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Noise level, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>-74.8</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Dynamic range, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>73.7</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>THD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.044</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.067</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Stereo crosstalk, dB:</strong></td>
<td>-74.1</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD at 10 kHz, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.315</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
</table>
General performance: Average
The on-board audio quality of the DFI NF4 Expert has improved a little bit, but it is still not comparable to the quality of other chipsets. Please note that all NVIDIA nForce 4 motherboards suffer from the low-quality audio, so there is probably not that much DFI could do to improve the sound.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/onboardaudio.gif
Frequency Response
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/fr.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Frequency range</strong></td>
<td><strong>Response</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-9.53, +0.81</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-4.79, +0.81</td>
</tr>
</table>
Noise Level
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/noise.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power, dB:</td>
<td>-70.5</td>
<td>-71.5</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>-74.0</td>
<td>-74.8</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Peak level, dB FS:</td>
<td>-58.4</td>
<td>-58.6</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>0.62</td>
<td>1.14</td>
</tr>
</table>
Dynamic Range
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/dynamics.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range, dB:</td>
<td>+69.2</td>
<td>+68.2</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>+73.7</td>
<td>+74.6</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>0.63</td>
<td>1.13</td>
</tr>
</table>
THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/thd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD, %:</td>
<td>0.0440</td>
<td>0.0471</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0682</td>
<td>0.1846</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0719</td>
<td>0.0743</td>
</tr>
</table>
Intermodulation distortion
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/imd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0687</td>
<td>0.0669</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0569</td>
<td>0.0569</td>
</tr>
</table>
Stereo crosstalk
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/cross.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>L <- R</strong></td>
<td><strong>L -> R</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB:</td>
<td>-70</td>
<td>-69</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 1 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-73</td>
<td>-73</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 10 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-73</td>
<td>-73</td>
</tr>
</table>
IMD (swept tones)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/imdswept.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 5 kHz, %:</td>
<td>0.1804</td>
<td>0.1957</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 10 kHz, %:</td>
<td>0.2876</td>
<td>0.3041</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 15 kHz, %:</td>
<td>0.4773</td>
<td>0.4944</td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Fan Noise]
Fan Noise
In order to give a measurement of how loud this board is, we used an IEC651 Type II sound level meter on the dbA slow setting.
The distance between fan and sound level meter was 10cm. Please note that this is very little, compared to the "standard" measurements, which are made at 1m distance. We had to do this, to get proper readings with our sound level meter, because we obviously can't spend thousands of dollars on audio measuring equipment.
All tested fans were connected to an external 12V lab PSU. 12V is the maximum rated fan speed. Some motherboards/video cards use slower fan speeds and slowly ramp them up with temperatures. This is also the reason, why the X800 series seems to have such a "loud" fan. During normal usage its fan is usually running at 33% to 66%.
DFI is using the same fan as on the previous LanParty boards, so there is no difference here.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/soundlevel.gif
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" class="resulttable">
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Common sound levels </th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ambulance siren</td>
<td align="right">120 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Crying baby </td>
<td align="right">110 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shout (5 feet) </td>
<td align="right">100 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Truck</td>
<td align="right">90 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Urban street</td>
<td align="right">80 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Automobile interior </td>
<td align="right">70 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Normal conversation (3 feet) </td>
<td align="right">60 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Office, classroom </td>
<td align="right">50 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Living room </td>
<td align="right">40 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bedroom at night </td>
<td align="right">30 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Whispering at (5 feet)</td>
<td align="right">20 dbA </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rustling leaves </td>
<td align="right">10 dbA </td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Overclocking]
Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/maxfsb.gif
In order to find the overclocking potential of the DFI LanParty NF4, we set the CPU multiplier to 5x with a memory divider of 2:1. This is to make sure that neither the CPU nor the memory are limiting our overclock here. The LDT multiplier was dropped to x2 as well.
The maximum FSB the board could run at a chipset voltage of 1.72V was 450 MHz. Further increasing voltage (remember, the settings go up to 1.9V) will sure yield overclocks into the 500 MHz region, but this also decreases chipset life drastically, especially if you do not have proper cooling on the chipset.
Above settings might give impressive FSB speeds, but performance is lacking, because the memory is running very slow.
Our "@ 2700 MHz" benchmarks were run with a CPU multiplier of 9x at 300 MHz. As cooling a watercooling system utilizing the Swiftech Storm waterblock was used. Since our memory can not run that fast, we had to drop the memory ratio to 2:3 which means the memory was running at DDR400 while the CPU ran at 2700 MHz. The board was no limiting factor here at any time. In fact I played with the Sapphire Athlon64 Crossfire motherboard a few days ago and had major issues getting 2700 MHz stable with the exact same setup. I had to tweak BIOS settings for a long time, increase the CPU core voltage beyond reason and remount waterblock and redo thermal paste about six times until it was stable.
With the DFI it was just:
plug CPU in
do not give big attention to thermal paste application
slap waterblock on top
screw down somehow, no big attention need here either
boot, go into the BIOS and change CPU voltage:1.55V, CPU clock:300 FSB, LDT multiplier:x3, memory divider:2:3
Boot Windows and run benchmarks - rock stable.
After playing with this board for a while I must say this is an awesome overclocking board. It offers all the features and settings you may want, plus a few extra BIOS tweaks. The option to run your memory at a voltage higher than 3.3V is pretty unique in the motherboard business. Other things like five fan available headers, heatsinks on all parts that could become hot and the special power connector completes the package.
One drawback to having so many options in the BIOS is that the average user might get confused with all of them. I found the "Auto" settings for memory to work quite good.
[page=Changes to Non-Expert]
Changes to Non-Expert
PCI-E x16 slots spaced farther apart
Chipset cooler no longer directly below video card
Smaller voltage steps for DDR voltage
4V DDR voltage jumper removed
SLI jumpers removed, now switched through BIOS
Memory slots moved
CPU socket orientation changed by 90°
One more PCI slot
8-pin workstation power connector instead of 4-pin
5.25" and 3.5" SLI power connectors removed
Allows more tight memory timings (CAS 1.5)
Improved memory drive strength
Four-phase CPU power
Sound quality slightly improved
Maximum chipset voltage increased to 1.96V from 1.8V
[page=Can it run 4 x 512 MB 1T?]
4 x 512 MB ?
More and more games are coming out which benefit from having more than 1 GB of memory. Since most people are upgrading from 2x512 MB to 4x512 MB we wanted to test if this board might be able to run four 512 MB modules at 1T timing.
As many of you know the DFI LanParty NF4 non-Expert has major issues running four 512 MB modules at 1T, no matter the timings - usually the system doesn't even make it to the POST screen.
Samsung TCCD
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd_setup_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd_setup.jpg)
We used 4x512 MB G.SKILL F1-4400DSU2-1GBFC PC4400.
With a setting of 2-2-2-5 the system felt very instable, but usually made it into Windows. Relaxing the timings to 2-3-3-5 1T @ 200 MHz did the trick.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_tccd.gif)
Overclocking potential was not much, but it was there, at above settings we reached 212 MHz.
Winbond UTT-BH5
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt_setup_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt_setup.jpg)
To test if Winbond UTT-BH5 memory works in 4x configuration, we used 2x512 MB OCZ Gold GX 3500 and 2x512 MB OCZ Gold GX 3200 XTC, both are using the same chips.
On the DFI LanParty Expert there we no problems booting into Windows at 2-2-2-5 1T, but the system was not 100% stable. We tried different CL2 timing sets and played with Drive Strength and voltage, but nothing helped.
In the end we reached 2.5-2-2-5 1T @ 200 MHz rock stable.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4Expert/images/2g_utt.gif)
We also tried some overclocking at these settings and also at 2.5-3-3-8 but we couldn't even reach 210 MHz... at least the memory is working.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a street price of around $200 this is pretty much the most expensive nForce 4 motherboard. But having the best of the best is never cheap...</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Great overclocking features
Impressive performance
Awesome BIOS, full of overclocking options
Numerous improvements
SLI
Well thought out layout
Can run 4x512 MB TCCD/UTT
Two GigE network ports
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Expensive
On-Board Audio could be better
Manually cut trace on motherboard to fix unknown issue
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.7</th>
<td>This board is definitely the best enthusiast Athlon64 motherboard on the market. Period.<br />
It is a quite a step up from the previous LanParty NF4 Series. There are numerous improvements - DFI has definitely listened to the community. If you are into some serious overclocking there are not many other boards that will be able to keep up with this wonderful motherboard. Its performance is outstanding, so are its overclocking features.<br />
The only drawback is the hefty price of $200. I see no reason why this board should be more expensive than the previous boards, except that DFI charges a premium for their world-class engineering. Let's hope DFI comes up with cheaper versions which do not have the extra SATA ports or maybe only one Gigabit Ethernet port.<br />
Should you buy this board if you already have the LanParty NF4? No. I don't think that's worth it. Should you buy this board if you want to have the latest and greatest and money is secondary to you? Absolutely.</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td><img src="http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif"></td></tr>
</table>