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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LordConrad - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
It's been a year or two since the last time I researched motherboard features, so maybe I'm out of the loop. Isn't it unusual for a consumer level motherboard to offer RAID-5? This is certainly the first such board I've heard of. I wonder if the RAID-5 support is hardware or software based.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
#17"Few questions can you fit say a x1 pci-e card into a x4 pci-e slot??? "
Yes you can.
eetnoyer - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
#18 Would you consider a 100m sprinter who broke the old world record by 8% to have demolished the record? What you have to realized, is that these boards are performing at the very edge of what's possible today. While a compact car exceeding the Chevy Cobalt's top speed by 8% would make everybody yawn, a car that exceeds the Bugatti Veyron's top speed (252mph) by 8% would be pretty remarkable.Irregardless, this looks to be a very respectable board whether you want to OC or not. For the features that are on the board, $140 for an nforce4 board isn't all that bad. And just like the S754 board, I'm sure the price will come down significantly after a little while.
Trente - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
Man, I remember we used to laugh at DFI back in year 2000; How was it possible for a low-end maker to became the best brand for all die hard overclockers? someone should write a book about it...Manzelle - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
*yawn*Where are the AGP/PCIe boards...better yet, where is DFI's nForce3 939 board...
arfan - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
1. why another board maker don't try to make motherboard likes DFI Ultra have ? Because it's a big oppurtunity to buy Ultra than SLI2. What do u think Nvidia do to make this board DFI Ultra not functionally likes SLI ? Just tweak driver or likes AMD in the past, change chipset in their factory ? so people can't do likes anand do.
Burbot - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
I do not like this phrase from Final Words:We reached 318x9 at 1T Command Rate - performance that demolished our previous best of 295 1T with this same memory.
This is a gain of 8% over old result. Would you consider a car with maximum speed 8% higher than competitor model to be "demolishing" it? I don't think so. I consider this to be a "fair improvement" over previous result, and not a "demolishing" one.
1q3er5 - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
Few questions can you fit say a x1 pci-e card into a x4 pci-e slot???4 volts for RAM but your going to need active cooling, and how do you manage that.
Bozo Galora - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
I dont see what all the shouting is aboutSure its a nice board, but, unless you are an EXTREME overclocker the NF3 is plenty close enough, and the big surprise here is the Epox
johnson - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
I was hoping for a look at results of other memory as well, besides only the ocz ddr400. Perhaps the upcoming round up will use various memory sticks.