DFI nForce4: SLI and Ultra for Mad Overclockers
by Wesley Fink on February 5, 2005 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4GHz) Socket 939 |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 |
| Hard Drive(s): | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM IDE (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: | nVidia nForce 6.31 (nForce4 SLI) SiS 1.17e VIA 4in1 Hyperion 4.51 (12-02-2003) nVidia nForce Platform Driver 4.24 (nForce3 Ultra) |
| Video Card(s): | nVidia 6800 Ultra (AGP 8X) nVidia 6800 Ultra (PCI Express) |
| Video Drivers: | nVidia nForce 61.77 (SiS, VIA, nF3U, Intel 925X) nVidia nForce 71.40 Beta (nForce4) |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D Winfast 755FXK8AA (SiS 755FX) Soltek K8TPro-939 (VIA K8T800 PRO) Epox 9NDA3+ (nForce3 Ultra) nVidia nForce4 Ultra Reference Board Abit AV8 PRO (VIA K8T800 PRO) ECS KV2 Extreme (VIA K8T800 PRO) Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 (nVidia nForce3 Ultra) MSI K8N Neo2 (nVidia nForce3 Ultra) MSI K8T Neo2 (VIA K8T800 PRO) |
Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-7 timing in benchmarks on the DFI nForce4 boards.
The nVidia 6800 Ultra AGP was used for testing in all 939 chipsets other than nForce4. The PCI Express 6800 Ultra was used for all testing with the nForce4 and the Reference Intel 925X. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless noted otherwise.
Results for the DFI nForce4 boards are color-coded red in all graphs. VIA K8T800 Pro based motherboards are in green in our results, and nVidia nForce4/nForce3 are in orange. Results for the SiS 755FX based Winfast are yellow in all graphs. Intel results are included for Reference only and are blue in the graphs. The color coding should allow easy comparison of the tested DFI nF4 to other nF4/nF3 results and to other chipsets and processors.
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114 Comments
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flachschippe - Thursday, February 3, 2005 - link
Why is the A8N missing from the comparison?Zebo - Thursday, February 3, 2005 - link
WHAT BIAS??? Please spell it out for me as I don't see it. This a bad arse mobo... I wager best Wes ever seen and used in years of comp building time... I'm suprised he's not even more animated... and even to dwell on insignifigant "short comings" later in article shows me he was giving a fair shake...leaving "best" PCIe 939 title open even though he knows in back of mind DFI already won...:)byvis - Thursday, February 3, 2005 - link
#55 I agree that this board is very good in overclocking and etc... But I'm telling what I thoughts came to me reading this article. Until now I haven't read such biased and praying article. Everything has drawbacks, even ultra extreme mbs... Professional shouldn't express their opinion like this. I can, you can, but not professionals... This is ofcours IMHO :) So don't flame me :)erios666 - Thursday, February 3, 2005 - link
#60 - Ha! Excellent point Zebo and I'd have to agree. As an enthusiast I'll take care of the sound myself thank you. Just as I would the video.Zebo - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
Cheeezzzusss...some people....LOL get em flexy.
Also those people complianing about sound are kinda weird. even if they put 880 or SB live on there it's still crap if you're at all interested in hifi. Plus it adds $20 to mobo cost... for "just ok" sound. NO THANKS. I'd prefer they drop sound all together (save $8+) as this is an enthusiast board.. not an all in one..notice thiers no on-board graphics?
Shinei - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
The message is clear: DDR2 has failed! DDR636 at EXTREMELY reasonable latencies--color me impressed.I'd like to see how this board handles Crucial's Ballistix RAM, since Ballistix is pretty cheap on the Egg (~$220 for the pair of 512MB sticks) and performs like TCCD; would be interesting to see what the DFI can take the Micron chips to, considering the legs it gives to TCCD chips...
Gerbil333 - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
#54: Considering Abit's best engineer, Oscar Wu, has been working for DFI for a while, I doubt Abit will change much. Abit's last good board was the NF7-S. Since then, they seem to have gone downhill. DFI has only been improving.flexy - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
my bad..nevermind...i confused the MSI board with the dfi....the dfi is NOT the one with the onboard sb live :)flexy - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
#42, you can have the SB live onboard sound with the SLI-DR...well....and the Ultra ius cheaper and comes with the crappy sound. WHO CARES ????I got a Audigy 2 Value for $42.
If you NEED the good onboard sound..then get the SLI-DR board....if not get a pci soundcard.
flexy - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
>>>The board is nice, but not outstanding, incredible, top performing, etc... Jesus AnandTech I have never seen you so biased. I hope that the benchmarks don't lie. Poor preview, poor...
>>>
ehrm...its the best and fastest enthusiast's NF4 board right now with the best overclocking capabilities AND a way to "mod" it to a SLI...what do you want more ? Cheeezzzusss...some people....