nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream
by Wesley Fink on July 5, 2005 10:28 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D: Features and Layout
Specification | DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D |
CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 |
Chipset | nForce4 Ultra (single chip) |
BUS Speeds | 200MHz to 456MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
PCI/AGP Speeds | Asynchronous (Fixed) |
PCI Express | 100MHz to 145MHz in 1MHz increments |
Core Voltage | Auto, 0.8V to 1.55V in 0.025V increments (Normal) PLUS *104%, 110%, 113%, 123%, 126%, 133%, 136% (Special - to 1.85V) |
CPU Startup Voltage | Startup, 0.825V to 1.550V in 0.025V increments |
DRAM Voltage | 2.5V to 3.2V in 0.1V increments (3V jumper) 2.5V to 4.0V in 0.1V increments (5V jumper) |
Chipset Voltage | 1.5V, 1.6V, 1.7V, 1.8V |
Hyper Transport Ratios | Auto, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 |
LDT Bus Transfer | 16/16, 16/8, 8/16, 8/8 |
LDT Voltage | 1.2V, 1.3V, 1..4V, 1.5V |
CPU Ratios | Auto, 4x to 25x in 0.5x increments |
Cool'n'Quiet MAX FID | Auto, 8.0 to 13.0 in 0.5x increments |
DRAM Speeds | Auto, 100, 120, 133, 140, 150, 166, 180, 200 (Plus DDR433, 466, 500 with Rev. E Processor) |
Memory Command Rate | Auto, 1T, 2T |
Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR Dual-Channel Slots Unbuffered ECC or non-ECC Memory to 4GB Total |
Expansion Slots | 2 x16 PCIe Slots 1 x4 PCIe 1 x1 PCIe 2 PCI Slots |
SLI Setup | Six 16-pin Jumper Blocks |
Onboard SATA | 4-Drive SATA 2 by nF4 |
Onboard IDE | Two Standard NVIDIA ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) |
SATA/IDE RAID | 4-Drive SATA 2 PLUS 4-Drive IDE (8 total) Can be combined in RAID 0, 1 |
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 10 USB 2.0 ports supported nF4 2 1394A FireWire ports by VIA VT6307 |
Onboard LAN | Dual Gigabit Ethernet PCIe by Vitesse VSC8201 PHY PCI by Marvel 88E8001 |
Onboard Audio | Karajan Audio Module based on Realtek ALC850 8-Channel codec with 6 UAJ audio jacks, CD-in, front audio, and coaxial SPDIF In and Out |
Other Features | AMD X2 Support with 5/10/2005 or higher BIOS Diagnostic LEDs, Power and Reset momentary switches |
BIOS | Award 7/01/2005 Release |
The DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D was tested when it was launched in DFI nForce4: SLI and Ultra for Mad Overclockers. We also included the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR in our SLI roundup in nForce4 SLI Roundup: Painful and Rewarding. This is significant because the designs of the Ultra and SLI versions of the DFI are exactly the same. Both board layouts are essentiallly the same - the only difference is the SLI chipset on the SLI and Ultra chipset on the Ultra. As we detailed in Morphing nForce4 Ultra into nForce4 SLI, the SLI and Ultra chipsets are exactly the same, with the SLI features turned on in the SLI chipset. NVIDIA has modified the nForce4 chipset, making it more difficult to convert the Ultra to nF4, but the principles are still the same.
For more information on the features or layout of the DFI, please refer to any of these aforementioned reviews.
Like the Biostar, the DFI has a unique feature among nForce4 Ultra motherboards. Since the Ultra version is identical to the SLI version, even down to using the same BIOS, the Ultra version also features two PCIe x16 slots. If the board is modified to SLI, the SLI becomes a full-blown SLI board. In Ultra clothing without the mod, the DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D supports one or two video cards operating independently.
Chaintech VNF4-Ultra: Overclocking and Stress Testing
DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D: Overclocking and Stress Testing
75 Comments
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tribbleva - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
Every single one of these MBs has a fan on the NB... where are the passively cooled mobos? The last thing I want is one or TWO more tiny fans just on the mobo to worry about failing...Zebo - Friday, July 22, 2005 - link
"someof you take Anandtech's word as the word of GOD"It's as close as you can get without dying.:)
Zebo - Friday, July 22, 2005 - link
Viper - You should come inside the forums for specfic help..dg3274 - Saturday, July 16, 2005 - link
The article states that the Abit board has a problem with 1:1 overclocking. I disagree. I think the problem is that it does not provide enough ram voltage to run the RAM at high 1:1 FSB. 2.8 volts is not enough to run ANY ram much higher than 280 or so FSB.Viper4185 - Thursday, July 14, 2005 - link
No one wants to help me with my n00b questions :(Marcel - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
#67 I must be a little a slow …In the test “Maximun CPU Clock ( Lower Multiplier )”
For Chaintec, Abit, etc you use the multiplier in “11”, and only for Epox and DFI you use the multiplier in “9”, then you show a diagram with nothing more than the fsb.
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/nf4%20ultra%20r...
The first question is WHY ?? there is no explanation for use different multiplier in the review. Not some guys, but ALL ones have better result in chaintec and abit with a lower multiplier.
TheGlassman - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link
Thanks Wesley, I did find you had checked HTT, and as I stated in my last post I don't understand what the problem was. But the deeper I looked into the review, the better job you seemed to have done, so sorry if I impied you didn't try very hard.DFI has a dual core (beta) bios available, dated 6-23-05
Epox has a dual core (release) bios available, dated 6-29-05
These were not used in testing.
Wesley Fink - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link
#59 and #60 - One of the first articles I did a couple of years ago about Athlon 64 was how to overclock by manipulating HTT frequencies. I ALWAYS test manual HTT dividers I know should work for certain 1:1 memory clocks as well as Auto HTT if it is an available option.#58 - I was very CLEAR in the review that I tested with the BIOS that would allow the X2 A64 to work. We did check each board with an X2. That is the ONLY reason we tested and used very recent Beta BIOS'. Also there are 2 other very recent Chaintech reviews at other websites who had test results almost equal to what I found on the Chaintech, so there are at least 2 other Chaintechs loose with less than stirring overclocking. In the end, as I stated in the review, the Chaintech is a decent board, but at about the same price as the Epox, with poorer overclocking results, it was hard to give it an Editor's Choice this time around. The results found in this roundup should remove anyone's concern that we get cherry boards from manufacturers. I am a good overclocker, and very experienced in air overclocking and memory overclocking. What I got from these boards on air is all they could do with the TCCD memory that is all but standard test memory for motherboards these days. The capabilities of the memory we used is also well known and I tweaked for TCCD if settings were available if the board was not doing well at stock memory settings and our normal test timings.
I am really pleased some of you experienced better performance than I did with the Chaintech and Abit boards, but I can only report what I actually found in my tests. I don't think you come to AnandTech for a survey of what other websites or Forums found, because I find overclockers are notorious at exagerrating what they can reach with overclocks. We try to provide a consisten test environment for overclocking that will give repeatable overclocking results. Results, of course, always vary board to board, but having said that, OC results are usually pretty consistent on better boards from sample to sample.
lefenzy - Saturday, July 9, 2005 - link
Sorry, wrong link. that one was for the SLI version.http://www.foxconnchannel.com/productsDownload_mot...
lefenzy - Saturday, July 9, 2005 - link
Foxconn has a BIOS release that allow for multiplier adjustment.http://www.foxconnchannel.com/productsDownload_mot...