DFI Lanparty NF3 250Gb

[jumanji969]

I've had this board since sometime last summer, basically the problem is the board is EXTREMELY quirky. Meaning:

1. When BIOS is reset mobo always will only display from PCI video, I must use a pci video card and change Init Display First in BIOS to AGP. Rather annoying.

2. Board does not seem to want to work at all with 3 sticks of memory. Even two sticks it starts to get mad at me. I've tried the sticks in the different slots individually to see if one of the slots is bad (I assume if one is, memtest would have tons of errors).

Basically whenever I change memory or cpu on the mobo it will refuse to boot for a while. I have to keep trying to reset things and eventually after about 30-45mins it will work again.

The part that annoys me the most is the mobo works perfectly fine when I'm not tweaking it.

Just wondering if there is something I am missing about this motherboard that is getting me. If not I plan on seeing about an RMA when classes end.

Setup:

AMD Sempron64 3000 @ 290x9, 1.58v
DFI NF3 250Gb
2 x 256mb KHX3200 and 1 x 512mb Twinmos SP (all BH-5)
Leadtek GF4 Ti4200 64mb
Fortron 530w PSU

[flyfisher]

In my experience with the board:
1. You can't mix RAM
2. It doesn't like Kingston

I could run one 512 stick of PQI TCCD up over 300HTT, but put in the second stick and you were limited to around 250-260. And that's not the fault of the board, it's the memory controller on the CPU. Do you have any other RAM you could try? Or just try one stick.

[jumanji969]

In my experience with the board:
1. You can't mix RAM
2. It doesn't like Kingston

I could run one 512 stick of PQI TCCD up over 300HTT, but put in the second stick and you were limited to around 250-260. And that's not the fault of the board, it's the memory controller on the CPU. Do you have any other RAM you could try? Or just try one stick.

I don't see why you can't mix the ram, they are the same chips.

That makes sense, it does seem to like the single twinmos much better. The thing is I'm not overclocking the sticks any, I'm trying to run them all at 200mhz 1:1.

[twiggy]

All 3 slots full you have to run 2T.

Have you flashed the newest BIOS?

[shadowing]

In my experience with the board:
1. You can't mix RAM
2. It doesn't like Kingston

I could run one 512 stick of PQI TCCD up over 300HTT, but put in the second stick and you were limited to around 250-260. And that's not the fault of the board, it's the memory controller on the CPU. Do you have any other RAM you could try? Or just try one stick.

You can mix RAM as long as the ICs are similar, or same.

As for the second stick, have you ever tried inserting the strongest stick on the furthest end from the cpu?

[jumanji969]

All 3 slots full you have to run 2T.

Have you flashed the newest BIOS?

*smacks self in head* Bah of course, I needed to run 2T. Even though the BIOS on DFI's website is from last year, I swear it wasn't up there when I last checked. So, I also flashed to the newest BIOS.

After switching to 2T I found (not much testing done yet) that it will run all 3 sticks but it must be at 2T and the ram must be clocked below 190MHz.

[HydroX]

AFAIK, If you run 3 sticks, you need to set 2T at Bios and 166 MHz RAM because limitation of the controller

[jumanji969]

AFAIK, If you run 3 sticks, you need to set 2T at Bios and 166 MHz RAM because limitation of the controller

For some reason windows does not recognize the full gig of memory. Just says 512mb, but cpu-z does recognize it...odd.

Edit: Plus it is still very unstable, cant pass superPi 32m, even at 145Mhz. Ah well.

[albumleaf]

Definitely upgrade to the 6/23/05 bios for best stability.. when I got this damn thing it took me three days to get everything running properly, everything is great now though! Can't wait to drop a Newark into this beast , not to mention that 754 is going to stick around for another year, should be some good chips on the way...

[jumanji969]

Yea I just upgraded to 6/23/05. It also took me a few days to get running correctly, the display problem was a real annoyance to figure out. Plus this motherboard just doesn't like to boot when things are changed in it, like processors.

I figure I'm going to end up giving this system to my cousin and building a new one this summer anyway.

[twiggy]

AFAIK, If you run 3 sticks, you need to set 2T at Bios and 166 MHz RAM because limitation of the controller

I run 3x512mb sticks at 208mhz 2-3-2-5 2T.

When I threw in my 3rd 512 stick it took me a few days to figure out how to make it work right lol but its been stable at these speeds for over 6 months now. I refuse to give up my 754 rig!

[tonyten]

I also had problems with that mobo, I had it for a week and decided it had to go...think I reinstalled windows 3/4 times in seven days

[i found nemo]

hmmm mine works fine. sounds like you need a refurb lol