DFI's LanParty boards...selection and memory...?

[jdavisomaha]

If I am not going to be using SLI, is there any reason to get their SLI boards?

Other than SLI what's the difference between

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D ATX AMD Motherboard

for $119 and

DFI Lanparty nf4 SLI-DR

for $195?

Basically....I'm going to get a DFI. I have an EVGA 7800 GTX. I am not ever going to get another one. So SLI would be useless for me. I am also not an extreme overclocking guy.

So which board would you pick up and why?

And once you've selected the board, which memory would you select if you were getting 2 gigs? I'd prefer something that would be stable on base settings at least to start off with.

Link to newegg would be appreciated, as I'm going to do this ASAP.

 

[nealh]

I own a DFI SLI DR mobo..I am pretty sure I will never use SLI..so why get it...4 more sata ports and the sata ports support optical drive not sure about Ultra-D

also I am pretty sure the ULTRA D doesnt support SATA II or 3.0gb/sec...not really an issue now...

In retrospect, someone said the sata ports from nvidia may support optical drives(only sata on Ultra D) ....I figured pretty soon?? dvdrw will start to have sata ports...so I got the SLI DR to be sure

The $195 board has the 5.25 bay expansion for front ports...and extra cable stuff...

The DFI SLI DR I bought does not include the other stuff...look here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136157

I really not sure it is worth the extra money...if I had to do it over again..I would not go sli...and i am not sure I would go DFI

The chipset fan can get loud and there is no real easy aftermarket change...I took off my HSF and applied AS ceramique but temps are not alot better like others

Also the board can require alot of tweaking to get things right..which was a huge PITA

With that said mine is rock stable with Venice 3200@2750 1.57v and ram @ 250mhz....

I went with crucial valuram..not real tight timings..I first had OCZ PC3200 GOLD 2-2-2-5-1t but they do not overclock easily and I saw no real benefit to the tight timings..in fact IMHO the crucial ram is faster SuperPi with the looser timings(not sure if this is a function of 1gb vs 2 gb of ram)

the crucial valuram 2 x 1GB sticks when I got them 1-2mo ago were $220...I run them at 250mhz using 9/10 or 180 divider which with a 3200 A64 equals 250mhz@3-3-3-7-1t

My setup:
3200 venice@2750 275fsb xp90/vantec stealth fan 1.57v
2x 1gb crucial valuram 250mhz 2.8v @3-3-3-7-1t
bios 623-2 ..yellow slots
DFI SLI DR
2x200gb Seagate 7200.8 native sata
x800XL
Benq 1640 dvdrw
Audigy2
OCZ 520w Powerstream
P180
4 120mm fans(2 coolermaster and 2 Yate Loon)

 

[jdavisomaha]

Ok so you have the crucial valueram then....I've got 4X512 of that sitting around.

Were you able to basically plug everything into the board and get it working right then? Or did you have to adjust the ram voltages?

I was reading on DFI-Street that the corsair valueram is really bad with the LanParty boards.....

 

[nealh]

I original had OCZ PC3200 gold which was bh 5...I did not change my bios to -3 version as many have...what I did was boot into the bios. set optimized defaults...set cpu to 200x 10 .... then set ram to 200mhz 3-3-3-10 1t...everything else was default...changed voltage to 2.7v...turned it off and removed the OCZ ram(which BTW will not post at cas 3)

then I booted and everything was ok...went into bios set load optimized....and rebooted and went into the dram setup and again changed to 3-3-3-10 1t and loaded winxp...then I shutdown..I do this to make sure everything is ok

then I went ahead and tried o/ced settings

Note 4 x 512 will not run at 1t you will need to run 2t

I had heard the 1gb sticks at one time were binned crucial ballistix but the sticks I got were different than what others reported

I did try cas 2.5-3-3-3-1t it was a no go

I needed 2.8v(the mobo seems to overvolt a bit) to be memtest 86 stable @250mhz for 6hr when I stopped it

I am very happy with this ram for the cost/performance...I could not see/feel the advantage in my setup with tighter timings....so for me an extra $80 I got another 1gb ram ....

the OCZ PC3200 gold on my setup would not overclock even with alot of voltage....so I had to run it at 196mhz(because of mulitpler on 3200 chip) 2-2-2-5 1t...

I could not even get 227 mhz stable with that ram...it was new BH5 per OCZ support guys

 

[jdavisomaha]

Ok, so I'll go with the basic DFI Ultra then. Thanks.

So the lower timings of the OCZ ram was slower?

If you had to choose, would you get:

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum System Memory - Retail

Or....

OCZ Titanium 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail

Both those are compatible with the board, right?

 

[peleejosh]

Dont get the titanium. The only reason it is more expensive is for the customer service. It is made for businesses who need to replace it fast if it stops working.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

also I am pretty sure the ULTRA D doesnt support SATA II or 3.0gb/sec...not really an issue now...

It's an nForce4 Ultra board, of course it does

If I were you I'd just get the Ultra, as SLI isn't very practical now anyways.

The DFI SLI DR I bought does not include the other stuff...look here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136157

That's the UT SLI-DR model. UT models are the same, minus certain accessories.

-The Pentium Guy

 

[jdavisomaha]

Sweet, thanks for the info on the titanium.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy

also I am pretty sure the ULTRA D doesnt support SATA II or 3.0gb/sec...not really an issue now...

It's an nForce4 Ultra board, of course it does

I thought I read on the DFI website the Ultra did not support SATA II..maybe I am mistaken but please verify this...

OK I was wrong...


http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_produc...ODUCT_ID=3471&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=US


I would only get more expensive ram if you really think you it need for certain apps...otherwise I doubt you will see any better performance with tight timings...check over at bleedingedge forums regarding how well the 1gb sticks in platinum series OC if this is important....it will depend on the chips...if they are bh5 and I do not recall you will need alot of voltage and may still only get 230mhz

I found the tighter timings did not on my system seem to provide any better performance...that was me...not everyone will agree

I preferred not to spend alot on ram....Zebo showed tight timings on the A64 do not make a big difference..

 

[The Pentium Guy]

I found the tighter timings did not on my system seem to provide any better performance...that was me...not everyone will agree

Sure, not everyone will agree, but I think most will agree that it's better to spend more cash on some other aspect of your system than tight RAM. I'd rather get 2 GB of Corsair ValueSelect than 1GB of OCZ Titanium RAM, assuming they're the same price.