DFI nForce4: SLI and Ultra for Mad Overclockers
by Wesley Fink on February 5, 2005 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
DFI set out to create the absolute best nForce4 boards that an enthusiast could find on the market. After spending several weeks with engineering samples and now the final retail boards, we believe that DFI has succeeded in their goal. There are other very good nForce4 boards that compete well at stock speeds, overclock well, or perform well in SLI mode, but no other board that we are aware of does so many things so well as the DFI LANParty nForce4 boards. Looking at the boards as they ship, it would be hard not to be impressed with the feature sets, performance, record-setting overclocking, and stability of the new DFI nForce4 motherboards.
If you then throw in the fact that all the DFI nForce4 boards from the $140 UT Ultra-D to the $200 LANParty nF4 SLI-DR are based on the same PCB and use the same BIOS, the story becomes even more interesting. Those simple facts mean that all of the DFI boards perform the same, overclock the same, and contain the same pair of x16 PCIe slots. This allows even the bottom-of the-line Ultra-D to run 2 PCIe video cards in x16/x2 mode at about 90% the performance of full-blown SLI. Perhaps even more impressive is that a simple mod with a #2 pencil turns the Ultra-D into an SLI board, allowing any nVidia drivers to work in full x8/x8 SLI mode. When this is factored into the formula, we have to say that no current nForce4 board - SLI or Ultra - can deliver the value that you get with the DFI LANParty UT Ultra-D.
For many buyers, the UT Ultra-D will be the start and end of their search. A $140 board that performs like this one does, overclocks like this one does, and that also can do SLI is an incredible bargain in today's market. Keep in mind, however, that the price spread from the Ultra-D to the SLI-DR is only about $60 once the prices settle down. Those who are afraid to mod may find the additional $60 for the SLI-DR to be well worth the cost. You also get a full-blown LANParty package with the top board, and the Front-X box, UV cable sheathing and carrying harness for your system do add value.
Last, but clearly not least, the overclocking results will put a smile on any user's face. Memory voltage to 4.0V, the huge array of voltage adjustments, a slew of memory tweaking options, and vCore to 2.1V are all impressive features, but they are even more impressive when they really do enable higher overclocks. On the DFI nF4 boards, that is certainly the case. We reached 318x9 at 1T Command Rate - performance that demolished our previous best of 295 1T with this same memory. We also were able to reach the highest overclock that we have ever seen at stock ratios with our 4000+ CPU, reaching a stable 238x12. Enthusiasts will love this board, and the designers deserve our admiration for the solid design work that went into the DFI nF4 series.
This does not mean that the DFI nForce4 boards are perfect, but they are certainly close. We could wish for High Definition audio on the Karajan Audio Module, and we might wish for an easier means to switch from "normal" to "SLI" mode on the boards. The 6 jumper blocks are clumsy to set to SLI, even with the included chip extractor. But if jumpers were the trade-off to give us an SLI selection on the Ultra-D, we will take them. We also wish that DFI could find some means of reaching an agreement with nVidia to provide the "dual-video" bridge with the Ultra boards. In the larger scheme of things, however, these are mostly minor complaints.
It is rare that we test a board and feel completely satisfied, but to be honest, that is exactly the feeling that the DFI nF4 boards leave with us. Yes, there are a few warts, but the complexion is much clearer of imperfections than we usually find. This is one motherboard that has just earned a spot in my personal setup and it will take something very special to displace this one. This board is a keeper - whether you mod the $140 Ultra-D or spring for the full-blown SLI-DR!
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Avalon - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
If you don't like the exclusive, wait for the NF4 roundup. It's that simple. Just because you feel enough data wasn't included in an ARTICLE, doesn't mean that Anandtech does not have such data in their LABS waiting to be released. Again, wait for the roundup.overclockingoodness - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
Justimann: Like others pointed out, Wesley is one of the most respected journalists in this industry. And AnandTech is one of the best sites as well, so I doubt they will be putting their integrity on line just to get a damn exclusive. AnandTech is just like any business but I am proud to say that I have hardly seen any bias on this site (the only bias may be disagreement between my interpretion of the reviwer's words).AnandTech would never recommend anything unless they are confident about it and even if the data is not on the graph, we trust AnandTech's editors.
DEMO24 - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
I dont remeber if people have asked this yet(having a feeling they have, but I dont want to read 5 pages of replys;)) but do you guys at Anandtech still have some Winchestor CPUs lieing around? Would be nice to see how far you could get one :)bersl2 - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
#79, #80: It's got nothing to do with any of that. SLI nForce4 chips have a price premium on them. Every Ultra sold instead of an SLI means less money for nVidia.joe4324 - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
Its more likely that nvidia doesnt want to deal with supporting hardware running out of spec AND beyond its intentions, There not stupid, they know how people are. Even if this board preformed perfectly in all ways, UNTILL you modded it. then it caught fire. They would be slamed for being unreliable and unsafe, and thus not worth buying. even though it was the best mobo out at the time, when NOT modded.rjm55 - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
I don't get it. Why did nVidia do this? If anybody did a mod to SLI they had to buy two nVidia video cards to use SLI. So nVidia got more profit. Looks like they couldn't lose with SLI only working with nV cards.Guess nVidia has now totally forgotten their gaming and enthusiast roots and they're just another big company throwing around their weight. Maybe ATI will do better.
Wesley Fink - Saturday, February 5, 2005 - link
The following Update has just been added to the front page of the review:"UPDATE 2/05/2005: nVidia has acted to prevent, or at least make it more difficult, to mod the Ultra board to SLI. First, DFI has advised us, and posted on their website, that they will NOT sell the SLI bridge to buyers of the Ultra board. Second, nVidia has advised us that future shipments of the Ultra chipset have been modified so that the mod to SLI will no longer be possible. An additional side effect of this second action is that the "Dual Video" mode, which performs at about 90% of SLI performance levels, will only work with early nVidia drivers 66.75 or earlier. If you do a quick check of web driver postings you will see it is now very difficult to find 66.75 drivers. With a chipset modded to SLI the "Dual Video" mode worked through 70.xx versions of the nVidia driver. nVidia also made it clear they will continue to make driver changes to prevent operation of any "non-standard" (8X/8X) operation of their SLI driver. This also throws into question whether the VIA "dual graphics" mode on the 894 Pro chipset will ever work with nVidia graphics cards. If you are interested in the current UT Ultra-D we suggest you buy one now if you can find it. Future versions of the UT Ultra-D will not have the same capabilities as a result of these actions."
ImJacksAmygdala - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
I guess beauty is hard to quantify. Like Wesley said he has saved the Editor's Choice Award for the SLI board review that will provide more hard data to support his opinion on the DFI board.justinmann - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Dear Gerbil, I am not wasting my time. I read the article, and like any good scientist I looked at the data. The data do not support the conclusions, therefore I felt it necessary to ask why he did not perform an experiment that backed up his proclamation. It's really a pretty simple concept.Justin
Happy Buddha - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Hey Wesley,You did use a IDE HDD for benchmarking so the question about SATA and overclocking pop right to my mind: Is Overclocking as stable with SATA drives?!?
I know that the NF3 250GB was, but sometime engineer can make silly mistake. ;)
An can you or DFI confirm that the low end (Utra-D) will have as much success with OC? Thanks...