DFI LANParty UT RDX200: ATI’s Crossfire AMD for the Bleeding Edge
by Wesley Fink on October 18, 2005 11:03 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
It has taken a very long time for the first retail ATI Crossfire motherboard to arrive. However, ATI could not have done better than to have the first retail board come from DFI, the current leader in motherboards based on the nForce4 chipset. In every performance area important to overclockers and AMD hobbyists, the DFI is at least as good as the legendary DFI nForce4 motherboards. In some areas, the DFI RDX200 is even superior to their nForce4 boards.
DFI took many of the excellent overclocking features of the landmark ATI Crossfire Reference board and added their own unique mark in the final mix. This is the first time that we have seen 4 double-sided DIMMs able to operate at 1T, and it also works using either 1GB or 512mb DIMMs. We don't know how DFI achieved this impossible task, but we can tell you that it works, and the performance boost is very real. The DFI also has a working CAS 1.5 option in the RDX200 BIOS, which is also a first on the AMD Athlon 64 platform.
Buyers are still amazed at the incredible array of tweaking adjustments and voltages on the DFI nForce4 motherboards, and we can only say that the ATI chipset version is even better. Voltages still go to 4.0V to support any memory that you can buy in any overclock situation, but this ATI version has even finer granularity and there is no need for a jumper to draw off the 5V line. Memory control options are even better than the nForce4 version, with DRAM drive strength options from 1 to 15 (1 to 8 to support 2 DIMMs and 9 to 15 for 4-DIMM control).
Some of the new performance options required some compromises on the board. For instance, the highest clock that we could achieve was 305 instead of the 318 that we saw on DFI nForce4, but that is an acceptable tradeoff for the incredible 4DSx1T performance option. All-in-all, the DFI LANParty UT RDX200 has the aura of being a more refined overclocker's board than the outstanding DFI nForce4 boards. Part of the reason for this is ATI's own excellent Reference design, which had already refined many of the most desirable features from an enthusiast and overclocking point of view. The overclocking features work, very smoothly, and without surprises, which can only be a good thing if you are an enthusiast.
While we have no complaints in the performance area or in the overclocking options and controls, we do have some complaints in the features area. It is a total mystery why DFI chose to add the Silicon Image 3114 SATA1 controller to a chipset that lacks native SATA2 support. With a SATA2 controller, buyers would only have to forgive less-than stellar USB performance on a board that is absolute tops in every other area. With the 3114 choice, there will be too much to forgive for some users. Certainly, neither SATA2 nor the zippiest USB are critical to most enthusiasts and those buyers will find everything that they want in the DFI RDX200. However, if these features are very important to you, you will have to add controllers or look elsewhere.
Last, there is the choice of southbridge. The SB450 is out of date as it launches, missing both SATA2 and NCQ support, and showing USB 2.0 performance that is not really competitive. Otherwise, it is plenty fast and capable, but you shouldn't have to make excuses with a chipset as otherwise capable as the Rx480. The good news is that SB600 will fix these somewhat minor failings and is a pin-compatible drop-in for SB450. The better news is that the ULi M1575 southbridge fixes those issues today and is an available option for ATI chipset motherboards. The DFI RDX200 would have been close to ideal with the M1575 features and performance.
In looking at the larger picture, ATI has to be extremely pleased that a high quality ATI RD480 motherboard is finally on the market. This DFI RDX200 is a superb board for the overclocker, whether they will use air, water, or phase-change cooling. This board, like the ATI Crossfire Reference board, was designed to be pushed to the limits. This means that the talk and speculation is over, and NVIDIA does have a worthy AMD chipset competitor in ATI. In fact, ATI is showing that it can cater to the AMD enthusiast with options and performance that will set the tone for future AMD chipsets.
It has taken a very long time for the first retail ATI Crossfire motherboard to arrive. However, ATI could not have done better than to have the first retail board come from DFI, the current leader in motherboards based on the nForce4 chipset. In every performance area important to overclockers and AMD hobbyists, the DFI is at least as good as the legendary DFI nForce4 motherboards. In some areas, the DFI RDX200 is even superior to their nForce4 boards.
DFI took many of the excellent overclocking features of the landmark ATI Crossfire Reference board and added their own unique mark in the final mix. This is the first time that we have seen 4 double-sided DIMMs able to operate at 1T, and it also works using either 1GB or 512mb DIMMs. We don't know how DFI achieved this impossible task, but we can tell you that it works, and the performance boost is very real. The DFI also has a working CAS 1.5 option in the RDX200 BIOS, which is also a first on the AMD Athlon 64 platform.
Buyers are still amazed at the incredible array of tweaking adjustments and voltages on the DFI nForce4 motherboards, and we can only say that the ATI chipset version is even better. Voltages still go to 4.0V to support any memory that you can buy in any overclock situation, but this ATI version has even finer granularity and there is no need for a jumper to draw off the 5V line. Memory control options are even better than the nForce4 version, with DRAM drive strength options from 1 to 15 (1 to 8 to support 2 DIMMs and 9 to 15 for 4-DIMM control).
Some of the new performance options required some compromises on the board. For instance, the highest clock that we could achieve was 305 instead of the 318 that we saw on DFI nForce4, but that is an acceptable tradeoff for the incredible 4DSx1T performance option. All-in-all, the DFI LANParty UT RDX200 has the aura of being a more refined overclocker's board than the outstanding DFI nForce4 boards. Part of the reason for this is ATI's own excellent Reference design, which had already refined many of the most desirable features from an enthusiast and overclocking point of view. The overclocking features work, very smoothly, and without surprises, which can only be a good thing if you are an enthusiast.
While we have no complaints in the performance area or in the overclocking options and controls, we do have some complaints in the features area. It is a total mystery why DFI chose to add the Silicon Image 3114 SATA1 controller to a chipset that lacks native SATA2 support. With a SATA2 controller, buyers would only have to forgive less-than stellar USB performance on a board that is absolute tops in every other area. With the 3114 choice, there will be too much to forgive for some users. Certainly, neither SATA2 nor the zippiest USB are critical to most enthusiasts and those buyers will find everything that they want in the DFI RDX200. However, if these features are very important to you, you will have to add controllers or look elsewhere.
Last, there is the choice of southbridge. The SB450 is out of date as it launches, missing both SATA2 and NCQ support, and showing USB 2.0 performance that is not really competitive. Otherwise, it is plenty fast and capable, but you shouldn't have to make excuses with a chipset as otherwise capable as the Rx480. The good news is that SB600 will fix these somewhat minor failings and is a pin-compatible drop-in for SB450. The better news is that the ULi M1575 southbridge fixes those issues today and is an available option for ATI chipset motherboards. The DFI RDX200 would have been close to ideal with the M1575 features and performance.
In looking at the larger picture, ATI has to be extremely pleased that a high quality ATI RD480 motherboard is finally on the market. This DFI RDX200 is a superb board for the overclocker, whether they will use air, water, or phase-change cooling. This board, like the ATI Crossfire Reference board, was designed to be pushed to the limits. This means that the talk and speculation is over, and NVIDIA does have a worthy AMD chipset competitor in ATI. In fact, ATI is showing that it can cater to the AMD enthusiast with options and performance that will set the tone for future AMD chipsets.
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bigtoe36 - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
having tested the RDX200 at the same time as Wesley I am able to confirm that i was able to run cas1.5. Now on the NF4 LP boards oskar enabled what seemed to be cas1.5, infact this option gave no performance increase over the cas2 option. On RDX200 he has though found a significant speed increase by using the 1.5 option.Running OCZ PC4800Plat's with drive srength at 9 and 1.5-2-2-5 timings a 100MB/s increase in available memory bandwidth was seen over setting 2-2-2-5. I was however forced to use 3.1Vdimm to achieve this at 200fsb 1:1. Another point is that BH5 and VX (UTT CH5) would not do cas1.5, it seems to be a samsung TCCX tweak only.
mongoosesRawesome - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
thanks for the infoLeper Messiah - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Used to be buy an nVidia mobo and an ATi graphics card. Funny how things have changed...but 4DS at 1T is awesome if you aren't OCing your RAM, but 250-2-2-2-7 2T is going to be faster than 203 2-2-2-7-1T.Madellga - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Thanks for the good review Wesley. One thing I always missed on your reviews was what kind of BIOS settings you used.It took me a long time to get my DFI-NF4 up and running. You know better than anybody that tweaking is time consuming - specially with so many settings on the BIOS.
Make this an habit and keep posting the BIOS settings used on the reviews.
mongoosesRawesome - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Isn't that integrated into the A64 memory controller and don't the Nforce 4 DFI boards support those DDR speeds?
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
The additional ratios are available in the AMD Athlon64 Rev. E Memory Cntroller and can be implemented on any Socket 939 motherboard. However, the BIOS writer has to implement these choices. AMD made them a part of their Reference Board and they will likely find their way to many retail boards. DFI implemented them on the RDX200, but you rarely if ever see these finer ratios actually implemented on nForce4 boards.jr9k - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
2000 points.
Impressive...
until you do some math. 4 dimms at 1T are 2.3% faster than 4 dimms at 2T.
Don't get me wrong, the achievement of running four dimms at 1T is impressive, but the results are not (as we already knew). It's the way of showing things.
Anyway, it is good to see some competition from ATI.
Nice review and nice board
mongoosesRawesome - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Yea, I agree. A lot of times a big deal is made over only a few percentage points. I would have rather seen FPS in some games. I truly doubt we'd even see 2% in some cases.Spacecomber - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
I had the same sort of reaction to the signifigance of the 1T vs 2T scores. I translated the Aquamark score back into FPS got this.2 DIMM 1T 91fps
4 DIMM 2T 90fps
4 DIMM 1T 92fps
While this capability certainly says good things about DFI's engineering team, I'm not sure that I'd spend a $100 premium on a motherboard just to get this feature.
Overall, this is a board with very good potential, but I wouldn't want to rush out and buy this first release. It sounds like the revision with a different south bridge will be worth waiting for. Hopefully, the price will be mroe in line with the comparable nforce4 boards by then, too.
ksherman - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
I am particularly impressed with the ability to use 4DS DIMMs @ 1T. That is a really nice little feature! Too bad you have to stay near stock speeds... is it possible to do some overclocking, but use divides to keep the memory at 406? or is overclocking the memory the better thing to improve system performance?