DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D

Big B · Sep 8, 2006

<h2>Introduction</h2>
 
About two years ago, DFI was a pretty generic company. Dull, unexciting motherboards were their staple. Word had it that some former Abit engineers had gone over, but most people forgot. Suddenly, DFI burst out with their NFII Lanparty nForce 2 motherboard loaded to the gills with extras and the ability to overclock like mad. Fast forward to a few months ago when the company launched their nForce 4 lineup, the NF4 Ultra or SLi D/DR series. Thanks to some very impressive BIOS options and their famous packaging, enthusiasts are scooping up these boards. We'll see how their NF4 Lanparty UT Ultra-D fares in a bit, but lets check out the specs first.
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb04.jpg">
 
<ul>
<li>nForce 4 Ultra
<li>Athlon 64/Athlon FX/Sempron processors
<li>4 184-pin DIMM slots
<li>2x PCI Express x16 slots
<li>1x PCI Express x1 slot
<li>1x PCI Express x4 slot
<li>2x PCI slots
<li>2x IDE ports
<li>4x SATA ports
<li>1x Floppy port
<li>2x 1Gb Network adapters
<li>6x USB 2.0 ports
<li>1x Firewire port
<li>1x Karajan audio module
<li>Diagnostic LEDs
</ul>
It should be mentioned that an additional four USB ports and an extra Firewire port can be added with headers available on this board. DFI does not include brackets to take advantage of this, but this might not even be an issue for most folks. Since I'm heading in that direction, I'll just mention the accessories included with the Lanparty UT Ultra-D.
<ul>
<li>2x Rounded UV IDE cables
<li>1x Rounded Floppy cable
<li>2x UV SATA cables
<li>1x SATA power adapter
<li>Extra jumpers
<li>Jumper removal tool
<li>Driver/program disc
<li>Quick start manual
</ul>
While the regular Lanparty series is loaded with extras, the Lanparty UT discard many of these extras. For the most part it's quite nice. My only real gripe is the inclusion of a quick start guide. A full, detailed one is on the CD in PDF format, but I really like to have a detailed manual in printed out. While I do realize the goal of the Lanparty UT series, I think that this was the wrong cut to make. Hopefully future mainstream motherboards from DFI will include full manuals. Anyway, let's look at the motherboard itself.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Layout
 
Before the board, there's the box and it's accessories. The box might seem a little small to some considering previous LanParty boards, but the LanParty UT series is what DFI is using instead of the past Infinity line. Same motherboard as a regular LanParty NF4 Ultra-D, but just less accessories. The box itself does stand out with it's colors and DFI's now-familiar box geek fragging away. The back lists all the goodies.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb01.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb02.jpg">
 
When you actually open the box, you'll find the accessories in there. While the usual suspects for most enthusiast-class motherboards are there, you'll also find a tool for moving the jumper blocks on the board and some extra jumpers. There's also the Karajan audio module which DFI has been making use out of their motherboards as of late.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb03.jpg">
 
The motherboard has a pretty clean layout and really not much in the way of complaints. I'll address any issues I see as I go around the motherboard. While I'm not a huge fan of yellow, DFI has done a good job on the color scheme and the fact that the plastic pieces are UV sensitive.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb04.jpg">
 
The socket area is pretty clean from what I can tell, as people are using some very large heatsinks without issues, including the gigantic Thermalright XP-120--although this can mean a more careful memory selection for those folks. As you can see, the orientation of the DIMM slots is perpendicular to their typical location on most motherboards. No expasion slot/DIMM issues are possible, and I'm glad DFI set it up this way.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb05.jpg">
 
Another plus on the board's layout is the location of the IDE connectors. They're right where they should be, making them usesful for those with full or larger ATX cases. The 24-pin ATX connector and the 4-pin 12V connector are alongside the edge of the board and by each other, something that I've seen more than a few companies fail to do. You'll also notice the floppy connector is oriented ninety degrees which can help with cable routing---if you're still using a floppy. The four SATA ports are just behind and to the side of the floppy connector.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb06.jpg">
 
The bling-bling fan covers the nForce 4 Ultra chip. Another thing DFI has done out of the ordinary is use a magnetic drive fan. Instead of a ball- or even a sleeve-bearing fan, this one relies on magnetism to spin. The two benefits are quiter operation and longer lifespans. While it is pretty close to both x16 PCIe slots, I didn't find it to interfere with the cards at all.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb07.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb08.jpg">
 
There's not much excitement around the BIOS chip and front panel connectors, except for the power and reset buttons. While it's not useful once the board has been installed in your case, it makes things easier to test the motherboard outside the case.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb09.jpg">
 
The LanParty/UT series features 2 PCIe x16 slots, 1 PCIe x4, 1 PCIe x1, and 2 standard PCI slots. If you have a lot of older PCI cards that you want to use, you're probably not going to be excited by the expansion slots. However, for most people, this is a workable solution, and should give you more options down the road as the industry moves to PCIe cards over regular PCI.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb10.jpg">
 
Unlike every other board with SLI enabled, DFI uses a set of jumper blocks to toggle between single- and SLI-video modes instead of a card, which have been reported to be flimsy (depending on who you ask). Yes, I know, this board uses the nForce 4 Ultra, not the SLI version. Well, yes, but DFI has done all the connections save one, which can be done with a small mod to the Ultra chipset itself. However, nVidia knows about this and has a new revision of the chipset coming out that makes this mod much harder to pull off. Additionally, if you do get a moddable board, DFI is refusing to sell the SLI bridge to folks with the Ultra chipset, but I suspect it's probably to protect themselves.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb11.jpg">
 
The I/O panel is rather unique. Except for the PS/2 ports, legacy is gone. Six USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire, and 2 Gigabit NIC jacks are here. Additionally, two RCA connectors for S/PDIF functions are on-board.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb12.jpg">
 
From here, you can see a few important chips. The Vitesse and Marvell chips power the first and second gigabit jacks, respectively. The VIA VT6307 powers the lone Firewire port and the extra header. I wish that DFI had put this header in a little bit better place, to make it more accessible for using a Firewire port in the front of a case.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb13.jpg">
 
DFI has quickly built itself up as a company catering to the enthusiast crowd. It's complimented the motherboard with some heatsinks on the voltage regulators to keep them cool. And, as the many have learned, this is definitely a good thing.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb14.jpg">
 
Another standout feature DFI's been using is the Karajan Audio module. In short, it's supposed to help make for better audio by keeping the audio chip as close to the audio output as possible. The Realtek ACL850 powers this, and while it's not something I can see a professional or audiophile using, it's probably a decent enough solution for many.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb15.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-mb16.jpg">
 
Overall, I'm finding it very difficult to find much of anything to criticize DFI on regarding the layout. Simply put, there's been a lot of thought put in to the design to make it as user friendly as possible. The board is impressive, but how's the BIOS on this bad boy?

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>BIOS</h2>
 
DFI uses the familar Award BIOS for the Ultra-D. The board did come with an earlier BIOS, but was flashed to the March 10 BIOS as it addresses various issues, particularly with some RAM.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi01.jpg">
 
The Standard CMOS features are well, pretty standard. I am still getting used to seeing SATA channels listed. There's not much out of the ordinary in the Advanced BIOS Features menu either, except for having separate submenus for changing the boot priority in four categories.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi02.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi03.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi04.jpg">
 
Advanced Chipset Features are here, but probably not something that you'll be playing with too often. The same can probably be said for the Integrated Peripherals menu. Thanks to the nForce 4 Ultra flexible RAID options, you are able to create RAID arrays with SATA and PATA drives side by side in the array.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi05.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi06.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi07.jpg">
 
There's a couple of options in the PnP/PCI Configuration menu that are probably of interest since they affect the PCIe lanes. While most motherboards PC Health menu usually doesn't have more than one or two settings, DFI allows for automatic fan adjustment based on temperatures.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi08.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi09.jpg">
 
The Genie BIOS is where things happen, and it's got a lot of settings for the tweaker. In the DRAM submenu, it's immediately obvious that DFI has gone to great lengths to add a host of options that should give most more than they know what to do with. I'm not going to go through each setting, but you do have the option to raise the FSB in 1MHz steps up to 456MHz for starters.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi10.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi11.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi12.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi13.jpg">
 
Okay, the voltages. The CPU VID might not seem all that impressive at 1.55V (in 0.025V increments), however the CPU VID Special control allows for up to 136% voltage increase in addition to the top voltage. If you do the math, that's over 2V for the CPU. The LDT ranges from 1.20 to 1.50V in 0.1V steppings. Voltages for the chipset range from 1.50V to 1.80V in 0.1V increments. Lastly, the DRAM voltage ranges from 2.50V to 3.2V by default. Now, if you need more than that, DFI has a jumper to allow for up to 4V. This is something they probably could've integrated into the BIOS, but it's possible they designed it this way as a safety precaution. 3.2V isn't exactly restrictive, but DFI is catering to the extreme overclocker here.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi14.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi15.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi16.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi17.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi18.jpg">
 
Lastly, we have CMOS Reloaded. This is one of the coolest BIOS features since innovations like Gigabyte's Dual BIOS. Even if you're not an overclocker, the ability to save BIOS settings is ingenious. I can't speak for the entire geek population, but once I've got my settings where I want them, I usually leave them well enough alone. If for some reason I need to clear CMOS, all the work I put into the settings is gone. By this time, I can't remember every little setting I changed to suit my taste. With CMOS Reloaded, this isn't an issue...assuming you make use of it.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-bi19.jpg">
 
That's it for the BIOS, so let's see how this thing runs.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Test Setup</h2>
 
It's been awhile since we've had a motherboard for review, and this happens to be the first Athlon 64 motherboard review for Zone 365...needless to say, there won't be much to comment on in terms of comparisons to other A64 boards. While they may be popular, I doubt how useful FutureMark's 3DMark series is in terms of actual performance, and we are no longer including 3DMark in the test bench. Instead, we have Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and FarCry, which should provide a much more accurate picture in gaming performance. For the most part, the numbers will just be from the NF4 Ultra-D, since the tests have been changed or updated since the last motherboard review.
 
Test Setup
<ul>
<li>DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D
<li>Athlon 64 3000+ (Winchester)
<li>512MB (2x256MB) Patriot PDP+XBL PC3200
<li>Timings: 2-2-2-5-12
<li>eVGA GeForce 6600GT PCIe
<li>Enermax EG565P-VE FMA 535W
<li>Western Digital 60GB, 7200RPM IDE
<li>Maxtor 40GB, 5400RPM IDE
<li>Samsung 52x CDRW
<li>MadDog 16x DVD-ROM
<li>CMD649 ATA100 PCI card
<li>Philips Dynamic Edge
<li>nForce 4 driver 6.53
<li>ForceWare driver 71.84
<li>Philips driver 4.05
<li>Windows XP SP2
</ul>

Software
<ul>
<li>DOOM 3
<li>Far Cry
<li>SiSoft Sandra 2005
<li>Clibench
<li>ScienceMark 2.0 Beta
</ul>

DOOM 3
 
Using the console and the "timedemo demo1" command, the timedemo was run three times at the lowest two resolutions and the low detail settings. The average score was also included. As you can see, the first pass is rather low in comparison with the last two due to loading the textures. The scores between the two resolutions don't really differ much, which is what we should see.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be01.jpg">
 
Far Cry
 
For the Far Cry benchmark, the lowest detail settings and two lowest resolutions were used. The map used was the Tech Report's Regulator demo. The benchmarks are pretty much in line with what DOOM 3 told, but the second pass has the 800x600 resolution a tad faster than the 640x480 resolution. However, the difference is less than a single FPS.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be02.jpg">

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Benchmarking, Cont.</h2>
 
ScienceMark 2
 
The first benchmark is testing the memory and the L1 and L2 caches on the CPU. Given the speed and positioning in the memory heirarchy, it's no surprise to see the numbers for the L1 cache. For the second, the STREAM benchmark, the execution time is in seconds, lower being better. Unfortunately, there's not past results to use for comparison. In the Cipher benchmark, I've thrown in the Abit IS7-E results, which uses the i865PE chipset paired with an Intel 2.4B chip. The results are in seconds, and the Athlon platform is a bit quicker here.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be03.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be04.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be05.jpg">
 
Sandra 2005
 
The second benchmark suite is the 2005 edition of Sandra. The first benchmark is on the CPU Arithmatic scores. I know it's not a great comparison, but the Athlon 64 platform comes out on top everytime. The Multimedia test shows that here, the Athlon 64's scores are much closer together than the Intel platform. In the Memory test, the scores don't vary much between the Integer and Floating Point scores for either platform. The Athlon 64 has an on-die memory controller, which helps the scores here.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be06.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be07.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be08.jpg">
 
Clibench
 
Again, the Athlon platform beats the Intel in the Dhrystone and Whetstone socres, but they're much closer here than with Sandra. In the second graph, the gap between the different platform's scores aren't as much on the floating point test as with Sandra.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be09.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be10.jpg">

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Benchmarking, Cont.</h2>
 
Like we've been seeing, the Athlon 64 system outperforms the Intel system in the Number Crunch. However, Intel does leave the mighty A64 eating it's dust in the Eight Queens test. Lastly, the memory benchmark only has a score for the A64 setup. I don't know the exact reason, but Clibench crashed or wouldn't run this test on the Intel platform.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be11.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/img/2005/may/nf4ud/nf4ud-be12.jpg">
 
Overclocking
 
I could very well spend a great deal of time trying to tweak everything to perfection. However, considering the vast array of memory tweaks, this could take some time to find the best combination. In other words, I probably don't have the Ultra-D fine tuned with these results, but this is an example of what kind of OC you can expect here. I left the multiplier at the CPU's default of 9x and went straight to a 230MHz HTT without issue. Okay, 245MHz, so far so good, and a 400MHz OC without breaking a sweat. I didn't start running into trouble until I hit a 270MHz HTT. First, I recieved errors in Memtest, but these were fixed by relaxing a few memory timings and a voltage bump to 2.9. The next problem was the CPU passing Prime 95, which was running at 2430MHz. The 3000+ CPU I have is a 0507 week chip, which tend to top out around 2.4-2.6GHz.
 
As it appears, a 260MHz HTT was all I could get out of this chip with the x9.0 multiplier. After raising the core voltage to 1.84V and pushing the other available voltages up considerably, I was unable to push my overclock any further. Dropping the multiplier yeilded similar results. I'm not sure where the problem lies, as the memory has been able to pass 285MHz. If there is a culprit, it'd likely be the CPU, but as this is new equipment, I can't rightly say what's to blame.
 
Thoughts
 
There's very little to say bad about this board, but let's get that out of the way. In my personal experience with the board, I'd say that the main issue I have is the printed manual. For a board that runs $130-140 online, I really expect a bit better manual than this. A detailed manual is on the CD, but it's not always convinent to have to open the manual on another computer. I haven't experienced this next one, but there seems to be problems running Corsair DDR, including the XMS stuff. Corsair is a pretty popular brand amongst enthusiasts, and this could be a major turnoff for owners of that memory. New DIYer's may find the BIOS settings overwhelming.
 
Okay, now the good news. The NF4 Ultra-D has been a great pleasure to work with. The layout is well thought out, especially with the orientation of the DIMM slots. The IDE, Floppy, and SATA ports all line up in great places, making this motherboard a solid choice for full-tower cases. While there are a lot of jumpers, with all the complaints about the flimsly SLI cards on other motherboards, the jumpers seem to be a better idea...if you've got an Ultra-D that can be modded to an SLI board. More important that good looks, stability was excellent. The BIOS and voltage options are the most extensive of any other board on the market. Abit and EPoX come close, but as of this writing, there is no other nForce 4 motherboard with a 4V memory option. I've really never used DFI before, but I have to say I'm very impressed by the LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D. They may have had some problems with their nForce 2 and 3 motherboards, but DFI seems to have learned from past issues and come out with what looks to be one of the best, if not the best, motherboards to date. If overclocking is your passion and you're looking for a new AMD setup, this is definitely a board you need to look at and preferrably buy.

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