| DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D Motherboard - Page 4 of 7 |
Unique BIOS Features:
I am not going to detail all of the different BIOS screens in this section, but I do want to point out a few unique features of the DFI nF4 Ultra-D. First off are the overwhelming options for boot devices. You are given options to set priorities for 3 categories of boot devices; removable devices, hard disks, and network devices. After setting each of those priorities, you than can set which type of device boots first second and third. I did not try booting from a USB device personally, but that option is included in the list. The nF4 chipset supports both IDE and SATA onboard. It also supports RAID using both IDE drives and SATA mixed. Once enabled in the RAID configuration screen, any hard drive can be used in a RAID array with any other, regardless of interface.
 
Along with the rest of the normal Phoenix Award Bios screens, The DFI nF4 series include an overclocker-dedicated screen called Genie Bios Setting. This is the screen that will allow you to take this board to record breaking levels of performance. At the top of the list is DRAM Configuration. Normal memory timings might include 4 or maybe 6 different timings for a user to adjust; this board allows you to custom tune an incredible amount of timings. Working down the list a ways we see the voltage control section of the Genie Bios. DFI has included options for some of the highest voltages ever. The CPU VID voltage control may initially seem to only go up to 1.55 volts, however by using the CPU VID Special Control option, you can set a percentage over VID and get almost any voltage you want up to 2.108 Volts (1.55 + 136%). DRAM Voltage control is where the DFI nF4 boards excel. Initially you have voltage control up to a maximum of 3.2 Volts. By moving the DRAM 4V jumper you are now given the option of taking the DRAM voltage as high as 4 volts.
 
Setup and Testing:
With all of the attention given by DFI to overclocking and gaming, it was decided to give this motherboard a fighting chance and equip it with some of the best stuff on the market. We also had a brief chance to run some tests on the Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR board. Configurations on both boards were identical, using the same parts, as listed below:
• DFI Lanparty nF4 UT Ultra-D / SLI-DR
• AMD A64 3000+ Winchester core (CBBID 0451EPMW)
• 2x512MB(1 gig) G.Skill PC-4400 LE (Samsung TCCD)
• Thermalright XP120 heatsink with Enermax 120mm fan
• NVidia 6600GT video (2x on SLI-DR board)
• 2 x 200 gig Seagate SATA NCQ hard drives
• 1 x Western Digital 36 Gig Raptor Hard drive
• Enermax EG701AX-VE SFMA 2.0 SLI (600 watt active PFC)
Windows XP SP1 was installed with all available updates for all testing as were a host of benchmarking and monitoring programs including, PCMark04, 3DMark 2001SE, 3DMark 2003, 3DMark 2005, Everest, SiSoft Sandra 2004, PiFast and HD Tach. For baseline benchmarking all Bios settings were left in the default or auto settings except for the RAID configuration. The system was set up with the two Seagate SATA NCQ 200 gig drives in RAID 0 and the Western Digital Raptor all by itself. The G.Skill TCCD memory reported SPD stock timings of 2.5, 4, 4, 7. CPU was running 200MHz x 9 for 1800MHz.
Now it was time to play with the Genie BIOS settings. Lowering the CPU multiplier to 5, I began raising the Front Side Bus. With stock DRAM voltage I had no problem getting clear out to 285MHz. Increasing to 3 Volts on the DRAM and raising the CAS Latency to 3.0, I was able to get a screenshot clear out at 315 MHz x 8 for 2520 CPU MHz. The processor seemed to be maxed out at that point with 1.7 volts. Increasing the CPU voltage did not help any. There is no end to the amount of tweaking you are allowed on this board. With very minor effort and time, I was able to get a FSB of 300 MHz at a multiplier of 8 for a CPU frequency of 2400 MHz. With some time spent, this board will go much higher, although this particular CPU was not helping. This seemed like a good place to run a complete set of benchmarks for comparison.
Benchmarking:
The following is a list of all benchmarks and game tests run on the DFI Lanparty nF4 UT Ultra-D motherboard, in the order that they will be analyzed...
• SiSoft Sandra 2004 Memory Benchmark
• Everest Memory Benchmark
• SiSoft Sandra 2004 CPU Arithmetic Benchmark
• PCMark04
• PiFast
• HD Tach v3.0.1.0
• 3DMark 2001 SE
• 3DMark03
• 3DMark05
• UT 2003
• Halo
• Far Cry
• Doom 3
Please read on to the next page for more... Next
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Home | Forum | Review Index
|
|
|
|
