Here is comes...
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2620
:worship: :worship: :yumyum: :yumyum: She is a beauty, I know from exp. :rollingla
^ notice the 8 pin +12v
^ they moved the ram
^ ahhhh just puts the cream and cherry on top
:worship: :worship: DFI is on the ball!
DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert – Can the best get better?
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2620
Early this year, DFI took the world by storm with the introduction of their wildly popular nForce 4 boards, namely the Ultra-D, SLI-D and feature-laden SLI-DR. Since that time, these boards have proven to be exceptional enthusiast boards, providing myriads of overclocking options and adjustments with voltages for CPU, north bridge and in particular, the memory that allowed the end-user unlimited ability to overclock to their heart's desire. Gone were the days of voltage modifications and use of the programs, WPCredit and WPCrset, to take a board, CPU and memory to their limits. DFI, in one fell swoop, had brought overclocking to the masses, where once overclocking was for the knowledgeable few. Now, even the casual overclocker could overclock like an old pro. DFI has updated this legendary overclocker's board with a large number of board revisions and component upgrades. DFI calls the result the LANParty UT SLI-DR Expert. We're here to find out if the upgrade is more than just words and clever marketing.
The most obvious change in the Expert was the new box graphics, which were introduced initially with the release of their ATI based RDX200 CF-DR motherboard. Of course, the nForce4 Expert is green and the ATI RDX200 is red. Packaging otherwise was familiar and much like other recent DFI boards.
Our evaluation of the Expert revision of the SLI-DR for this review will take a step away from the standard AnandTech review methodology and focus on the changes to the original SLI-DR, along with the new board's ability to overclock the CPU, HTT and memory. The original SLI-DR was reviewed as part of our " SLI Roundup" here in February and the complete suite of standard tests were run. The basic feature set has not changed on the Expert version of the board and all pertinent testing and results in regards to Audio, Ethernet performance, Disk Controller performance, Firewire and USB throughput remain valid for this revision and may be referred to if you want to know more about the performance of these features.
The idea with the introduction of this Expert revision is increased stability, overclockability and flexibility in working with different types of RAM modules, in particular Winbond BH-5/UTT and Samsung TCCD. That is what we will be testing.
:worship: :worship: :yumyum: :yumyum: She is a beauty, I know from exp. :rollingla
The SLI-DR Expert PCB is manufactured in DFI’s familiar black with UV reactive yellow color for the bulk of plastic components such as the PCI-e/PCI slots, IDE and Floppy connectors, and yellow and orange UV colors for the DIMM slots. The layout of components on this board is very good, with the IDE and Floppy connectors on the right side of the PCB, which generally works best in most cases. The trend recently has been to place floppy and/or an IDE at the bottom of the PCB, and it’s refreshing that DFI has shied away from this practice.
The original 4-pin Molex and the 4-pin P4 style connector have been replaced by an 8-pin 12V power connector placed next to the 24-pin ATX connector. During setup of the board, we came to realize that the PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI PSU on our review bench does not include this new style 12V plug, so we utilized the standard 4-pin 12V plug, which fit fine on one side of the 8-pin connector. We saw no ill effects on stability from using the 4-pin instead of an 8-pin connector. The 4-pin floppy-type connector for video remains above the 1st x16 PCI-E slot as was provided on the original SLI-DR.
The SATA 5, 6, 7 and 8 ports are controlled by the Silicon Image SIL 3114, which (to be honest) is a disappointment. With the SIL 3132 available, it would have made sense to include that SATAII controller, which would have given this board 8 SATAII channels and thus keeping this board future-proof and flexible. This omission is a hard one to figure out based on the many changes made on of this board, considering the current proliferation and wide availability of SATAII hard drives.
IEEE 1394 Firewire is controlled by the familiar VIA VT6307. Audio is provided by their Karajan 8 Channel audio card utilizing the AC97 codec, again the same setup as the previous generation. The board also boasts momentary switches for Power on and Reset like its previous version, along with the Vitesse and Marvel Gigabit Ethernet controllers.
The most obvious change is the 90 degrees counter-clockwise rotation of the CPU and memory. This layout was first seen on the DFI ATI based RDX200 CF-DR just recently introduced, and carried over to the Expert.
Compared to the original SLI-DR, the Expert includes some major changes in its design. In a conversation with OCZ Technology’s guru, Tony Leach, an expert in memory interfaces and BIOS, Tony pointed out: “The changes I know about fall mainly with memory drive strength. Engineer Oskar Wu has added even more resistors this time to allow near full drive from the memory controller. He also has routed the traces for the DIMMs over 4 layers to cut crosstalk to the bare minimum. DFI also use similar power regulation to the ATI reference boards, which I helped spec.”
^ notice the 8 pin +12v
^ they moved the ram
The CPU power section includes the superb Nichicon capacitors to complement DFI’s overall use of high quality Japanese capacitors throughout the board. The major change here was the move to a 4-phase PWM power section as has been used on Intel based P4 boards for a number of years. 4 Phase power, through its ability to provide clean stable power, is noted for providing increased CPU, and hence, system stability. As has been the norm in DFI’s current lineup, inclusion of heat sinks on all MOSFETs is a nice touch and very effective.
^ ahhhh just puts the cream and cherry on top
Another major change in the Expert board is its x16 PCI-E slots. They have been moved farther apart, which facilitates the use of improved cooling. Graphics card coolers such as those manufactured by Arctic Cooling and others, certain types of water blocks, and phase change evaporators were very difficult or impossible to use on the original DFI as there just wasn’t enough room to use them. The additional spacing opens up the ability for end-users to use alternative cooling methods. The other change involves the elimination of the SLI jumper system from the original SLI-DR. The original jumper system was a bit of headache to perform and is now switched from within the BIOS. The only criticism that currently remains involves the northbridge fan, which cannot be avoided based on the board’s layout. Long graphics cards such as the NVIDIA 6800Ultra and 7800GTX can contact the fan housing. The fan itself is a magnetic levitation design and is quiet and effective, a nice carry-over from the original SLI-DR.
This view illustrates the power section of the memory subsystem. Of note here is the addition of an Inductor and several additional capacitors, again, to provide the utmost in stability. The most apparent change is the elimination of the previous generation’s vDIMM jumper that allowed an end-user to switch the power supply provided from the 3.3V line to the 5V line. This, of course, allowed you to have at your fingertips 4V+ to apply to your RAM modules, especially modules such as BH-5, which required it to run 260 MHz+ with tight timings. The option to use 4V+ remains with this revision, but it is now simply a matter of just adjusting the memory voltage in the BIOS.
Compared to this reviewer’s experience with the original SLI-D, the Expert version is a superior overclocking platform. With DFI’s wide range of voltage options and overclocking settings, the board excels in assisting the enthusiast to get the most from any CPU. In the illustration of the Top Overclock, the 4000+ San Diego was used, watercooled, and had reached a highest clock of 2950 MHz in the original SLI-D. The Expert took this CPU to the same limit.
The 3500+ Winchester used in this review had previously run at 500 MHz FSB with extreme stability on the SLI-D. This was illustrated here. To reach that plateau on the SLI-D, it was necessary to boot into Windows at 425 MHz FSB and then utilize ClockGen to escalate to 500 MHz FSB as the board would not boot into Windows at any setting higher than 425 MHz FSB.
In contrast, the Expert had booted into Windows all the way to 510 MHz FSB. At that point, ClockGen was used to rise to the CPU’s limit of 512 MHz FSB.
It is worth pointing out that the board is only the vehicle to allow you the ability to overclock your CPU. The CPU’s ability to overclock, whether aiming for a top overclock or HTT overclock, or even a top 1:1 memory overclock, will be the over-riding factor in one’s success. Other factors, including the integrated memory controller of the A64, also contribute to the processors overclocking abilities.
Case in point is the difference between the 4000+ San Diego and the 3500+ Winchester. The 4000+ would clock the FSB easily to 400 MHz on the SLI-DR Expert, but no further, whereas the 3500+ attained an additional 112 MHz FSB. Too many times, one will blame the board when in fact the CPU is the main contributing factor.
The new revision DFI LP UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert has indeed established itself to be a worthy successor to the original Ultra-D, SLI-D and SLI-DR boards. Refinements to the board in components, PCB redesign and layout, the upgrade to 4-phase power for the CPU section, and refinement of the memory power section have taken a formerly stable platform and made it into possibly the most stable overclocking platform in the industry. Benefits reaped from the 4-phase CPU power section and vDIMM power sections included a much cooler running board to go along with its increased stability. My previous experience with the SLI-D during overclocking endeavors, while using 1.6V+ to the CPU and particularly using its 5V jumper to increase the range of vDIMM, found that you could burn your fingers on any of MOSFET heat sinks, which also necessitated additional cooling to maintain stability. The Expert stays cool to the touch, even at extreme overclocks.
The updated board maintains all the same features and controllers as the previous generation, including dual Gigabit LAN controlled by Vitesse and Marvel controllers, Karajan 8 channel audio with S/PDIF, and the additional Sil3114 Sata1 controller. The continued use of the Silicon Image SIL 3114 SATA controller is a disappointment With the SIL 3132 available, it only made sense to upgrade to SATAII at the time of this revision, giving prospective buyers an option of 8 SATAII channels with multiple SATAII RAID configurations.
One more point to be made is that this board possibly should have included the next generation dual x16 SLI chipset. Though there may not be a major windfall in 3D performance going from x8 x8 to x16 x16, the time could have been now to put the “Total” package out there as the complete motherboard to beat.
Those points aside, the SLI-DR Expert scored a coup de grace in this reviewer’s opinion as a premier overclocker’s board. It’s hard to argue with overclocking success, and when you couple it with the utmost in stability, you have just set the standard higher in this class.
Should you replace your original generation DFI NF4 Ultra-D, SLI-D or SLI-DR with this board? It’s not a necessity, in my opinion, unless you are living on the extreme edge and won’t settle for less.
If you are an enthusiast looking to upgrade from your current setup, this is the board that will take you to places that you’ve never been before.
:worship: :worship: DFI is on the ball!