DFI boards and what they do

[MaxxxRacer]

FWIW, after vdimm, VTT, and vcore mods, my Ultra-D is a dream to work with. takes a long time to get it tweaked right where u want it, but when yo finally do, it screams.

[Johnny Bravo]

I must admit tho, the newer versions for the ultra-d are alot better at VTT tracking, and with a suitable fan on the MOSFET I'm running 3.77volts stable on this board. It's a joy to work with and running BH-5 stable at 281MHz

[Tony]

If you all look at the eXpert PCB from around the middle of the board up it is exactly the same as the RDX200, now venus deviated from this and you will see the new RD580 board shares the same design tweaks + a little more, so you could say it was built up off the same PCb as the Venus.

I have a feeling we may see a cheaper NF4 board built off the Venus PCB...something like an eXpert Rev2 or rev B maybe, only time will tell.


My whole point here was to educate the guys who b1tch and moan about the various boards not doing what they want, fact is you have to buy carefully as specific boards do specific things. I am lucky in that i have all the boards here, so it really is my duty to point end users in the right direction and to try and show that boards are designed to do specific things...it is REAL hard to make a board real good at everything, something always has to be compromised.

[trodas]

Some compromise solutions you can still tweak as the end user - if the user is willing to resolder half of the mainboard, hehe

The catch is, that you can't change the layout, so, unless it is really good, it have a little sense exchange the components to higher quality ones in order to get higher

From this point of view I favor the Grouper for the caps, since I have older nF2 DFI mobos and they all had issues with the bad caps brands like Teapo, OST and so. Also using Chemi-con KZG caps in the PWM circuits is, IMHO, a bit cheating on the users, when MUCH more quality Rubycons MCZ (not MBZ, MCZ!) or Nichicon HZ caps do there MUCH better job (read - higher OC, since they give higher stability at higher voltages...) ...

DFI certainly know about this issue, that is why the Venus feature all solid polymer caps, like better server mobos do already

[eva2000]

I've used ultra-D, but that sucker is all issues when running 4 gigs.

might depend on ram and cpu too as to how well it handles 4GB ram... old 4x 1GB Ballistixs @11x274mhz 3-3-3-8 2T at 2.85v on DFI NF4 UT SLI-DR R.AB0 623-3 bios http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?p=19690#post19690

[Mr. Tinker]

I think the reason that many went for the ultra-d/sli-dr with non-tccd stuff was because if it were meant so specifically for tccd, why would it need the 5v jumper?

Also, because it was the best board out there for any ram at the time.

[LiQU!D]

1T with all 4 dimms full?

Isn't it solely CPU dependant? And as far as I know all current Socket 939 CPU's can't do 4 dimms at 1T.

[Mr. Tinker]

Welcome to 6 months ago.

[eva2000]

1T with all 4 dimms full?

Isn't it solely CPU dependant? And as far as I know all current Socket 939 CPU's can't do 4 dimms at 1T.

with right board tweaks and board design DFI has been able to pull off 4x dimm 1T at 200-205mhz ish IIRC

[Tony]

I think the reason that many went for the ultra-d/sli-dr with non-tccd stuff was because if it were meant so specifically for tccd, why would it need the 5v jumper?

Also, because it was the best board out there for any ram at the time.

trust me when i say it was tuned for TCCD, I had huge debates with oskar over IM and email about the pre release boards not working well with other makes of memory.

When it comes to old BH5, that stuff runs well in any board, as we all know.

[Lastviking]

trust me when i say it was tuned for TCCD, I had huge debates with oskar over IM and email about ithe pre release boards not wotjing well with other makes of memory.

When it comes to old BH5, that stuff runs well in any board, as we all know.

You got a point there, bh5 works well in all Dfi boards thats i have tested. And thats becuse of Oskar. Many thx to him, without Oskar abits boards is nothing. With Oskar Dfi boards are rocking!

[largon]

1T with all 4 dimms full?

Isn't it solely CPU dependant? And as far as I know all current Socket 939 CPU's can't do 4 dimms at 1T.

Mem controller is the most important part in the equation of running cmd rate 1T but signal tracing and EM shielding also have some relevance.

Generally it can be said it's solely a cpu issue. Afterall, it's just some ~10MHz that can be achieved with tweaked tracing and enhanced EM management.

[chinkgai]

wow i was just doing a search for an old expert thread to refesh my memory about it then this comes up. nice toejob

[zungkono]

OMG before read this, I never thhought that my expert can run 4 dimms at 1T
I will try if my bh-5 (4x512MB) can run 2-2-2-5 1T 242MHz 3.14v

[xenolith]

OMG before read this, I never thhought that my expert can run 4 dimms at 1T
I will try if my bh-5 (4x512MB) can run 2-2-2-5 1T 242MHz 3.14v

Not at 1T. You shouldn't have too much trouble with 1T @ 200mhz though. But 2T @ 242mhz is a little faster anyway.

[wfarid]

nice post tony, i wish the dfi site had more on there that explains the differences as well...

[865pe]

nice post.. thanks

[shaolin95]

Ah ok. My expert runs BH5 like a monster but with my ultra-d's even when I'm at 2.8v I get cold boot issues big time with the 5v jumper or 3.3 trick.

Next board = yonah?

So thats why I had such problems with my OCZ VX memory. I thought it was the memory so I RMA it but I loved the tight timings. My SuperPi dropped from 26mins to 33min with my new 2 gig memory. Still, my gaming is better so I am happy :-)
I lust for 2 gigs of 2-2-2-5 memory

[zungkono]

Not at 1T. You shouldn't have too much trouble with 1T @ 200mhz though. But 2T @ 242mhz is a little faster anyway.

I dont understand yet, is expert can run 4 dimms 1T only @200MHz?
cant take more than 200 ?

[xenolith]

I dont understand yet, is expert can run 4 dimms 1T only @200MHz?
cant take more than 200 ?

It's not the Expert. It's the CPU memory controller. The Expert just gives you a good chance to get 4x512 1T at 200mhz, unlike many other boards. I couldn't get my 4x512mb BH5 stable at any higher than 204mhz with 1T, no matter how much vdimm. Heck, give 240+mhz a try, maybe you'll get luckier than me and others.

[simonk]

Tony, can you use the Expert bios in a Venus as a last gasp solution?

[thegoatman]

How can I expect my micron -5b D chips to run on my eXpert?

[zungkono]

my experts wont boot using bh5 on yellow dimm, help ....
(with ultra-d it doesnt matter)

[Tony]

my experts wont boot using bh5 on yellow dimm, help ....
(with ultra-d it doesnt matter)

just use the orange for 2 dimm overclocking

[Visioneer]

CFX3200..

I havnt been following mobos lately, but thats the first ive heard of it.. guess DFI is really trying to milk the 939 systems to the end.

Considering that AM2 will only bring very little improvement it makes sense, at least with 939 you know whats working well together