Modded DFI NF4 Ultra breaks 12k in 3D05 !!

[mdzcpa]

What a sweet board! I was sick of waiting around to find a DFI SLI in stock, so I picked up the DFI NF4 Ultra and did the mod. It was as easy as they say.



I'm using a buddy's Giga SLI bridge until the DFI bridges I ordered show up:


Space is much tighter for water cooling on the DFI versus the Asus:


This system is nothing compared to the serious cascade guys, but not bad for a 24/7 gamer. The extra fan action is for hard benching only. I like that the DFI BIOS allows for fan speed adjustments as well so that the rig is quiet as well as fast.


And here's my best so far with the new mobo:


New personal bests all around:

3D05: 12,070 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=583951

3D03: 25,744 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3701354

I may be just gettin warmed up too. This board is allowing for my all time best CPU and mem clocks.

[Jamo]

well done mate, surely you'd get an evan bigger score if you got a proper SLi board

[mdzcpa]

surely you'd get an evan bigger score if you got a proper SLi board

No, not at all. With the modded chipset the Ultra mobo is exactly the same as the DFI NF4 SLI. There is no difference.

That said, if folks want guaranteed SLI support, they really should get the SLI mobo to begin with. DFI/Nvidia will be making the mod impossible/difficult soon. LOL...I wouldn't have even tried the mod in the first place if I could have found an SLI in stock somewhere

[Pejsen]

No, not at all. With the modded chipset the Ultra mobo is exactly the same as the DFI NF4 SLI. There is no difference.

That said, if folks want guaranteed SLI support, they really should get the SLI mobo to begin with. DFI/Nvidia will be making the mod impossible/difficult soon. LOL...I wouldn't have even tried the mod in the first place if I could have found an SLI in stock somewhere

Great results -as always- mdzcpa!

I'm sure i've read somewhere that moddet SLI setups like yours only performs 90 % of real SLI.

However right now i dont have anything to back it up, i will return if i find it hehe

[mdzcpa]

I'm sure i've read somewhere that moddet SLI setups like yours only performs 90 % of real SLI.

I think what you are referring to is the ability of some of the Ultra boards to run in "dual video mode." This is when there are two 16x PCI-E slots on the board but when they are run in psuedo SLI (dual video) they run at x16/x2 istead of the x8/x8 like they should under true SLI.

However, when you actually mod the chipset to be recognized as an NF4 SLI, then you get 100% SLI support and run in x8/x8. The key is the mobo needs to be laid out to support SLI and that DFI used the same PCB design for both the Ultra and SLI boards.

Here's what Anandtech said:
"Our little bit of very easy modification had "turned" the Ultra chipset into SLI. We no longer had driver limitations and performance was now exactly the same as the performance that we achieved with a normal SLI chipset"

You can see the whole write up HERE

[TimoneX]

You probably read this at anandtech:

"About six weeks ago, MSI showed an nForce4 ULTRA motherboard with a regular x16 PCIe slot, plus an open-ended x4 PCIe slot. Those who saw the demos said that MSI was running two matched video cards in what they called a "semi-SLI mode", which ran at about 90% of the performance of normal nVidia SLI."

However that's not what Mdzcpa is running. By converting the chip from ultra to sli along with the presence of 2x16 PCI-E slots he's running sli at 100%. I've modded my dfi ultra-D as well, but only have one PCI-E vid card and no bridge yet. The bios & nvidia drivers all report the chipset as an nForce4 SLI now though.

[eva2000]

wow nice stuff and congrats on breaking 12k

[Pejsen]

@ mdzcpa and TimoneX

You're absolutly right both of you

It was that article i was thinking about.

My bad!

[k|ngp|n]

Nice mod and nice 05' score

[justwOo]

Nice mod, yeah I wouldnt be surprised if they made the SLI mod impossible soon
I planon doing it to my board once i get funds for a second card though ;P

[althes]

Congrats my friend

[LikwidKool]

excellant stuff there! what gpu blocks are you using? I didn't think my mcw50 would fit in there.

BTW looks like blueremy will have to fake out another score to get on top hugh!?

[charlie]

excellent. Very impressive 24/7 reliable rig.

C

[mdzcpa]

excellant stuff there! what gpu blocks are you using? I didn't think my mcw50 would fit in there.

Those are indeed MCW50 blocks.....and there is absolutely no room to spare. In fact, I needed to use an exacto knife to reduce the height of the rubber nub on the back plate of the lower card to make room. It's tight!!

To update, I've already beaten those scores and pushing for more. I'm going to keep pushing on though and leave some in scores reserve

Thanks for the kudos everyone This has to be one of my best gaming rigs yet. I played United Offensive for 3 hours last night without a hiccup at the same settings I used to run the 12,070 in 3D05. The only change was kicking the AA to x8 and AF to x 16 @ 1600x1200. Now that's load of gaming goodness!!

[Mrki]

No, not at all. With the modded chipset the Ultra mobo is exactly the same as the DFI NF4 SLI. There is no difference.

That said, if folks want guaranteed SLI support, they really should get the SLI mobo to begin with. DFI/Nvidia will be making the mod impossible/difficult soon. LOL...I wouldn't have even tried the mod in the first place if I could have found an SLI in stock somewhere

no problems with nforce drivers???

[mdzcpa]

no problems with nforce drivers???

None so far. Used the WHQL 66.93, 71.25, and 71.40.

I also use the SLI Application Selector to enable SLI on games onther than what Nvidia has officially included support for. This also works fine.

[Mrki]

mdzcpa

can you pls bench at 2900mhz an 400/1100 3dmark01,03 and 05 ...

i will bench too with my msi diamond sli. i will know if ultra loose performance.

mrki

[Jessfm]

Very nice

[NapalmV5]

Congrats!

Very nice rig...


How's 2048x1536 max settings?

Reason i ask is that in a few months i'll be getting one of those Nec/Mitsu 22" CRT.

[cantankerous]

I'm wondering how we will be able to tell if the board will be moddable or not. Will the chipset look different? As well can any harm be done if the mod doesnt take but is still attempted?

[conrad.maranan]

Awesome score!

[OPPAINTER]

Nice Job Mike

Good to see the DFI doing well in SLI mode as well as with a single card. I was wondering how it would do. Nice

OPP

[mdzcpa]

i will bench too with my msi diamond sli. i will know if ultra loose performance

There is no point to this. Once you close the bridge on the Ultra chip it becomes an SLI chip...its as simple as that. Anandtech already did all the testing and the performance between the modded Ultra and the SLI is exactly the same. Its already been proven. See the link above.

I'm wondering how we will be able to tell if the board will be moddable or not. Will the chipset look different? As well can any harm be done if the mod doesnt take but is still attempted?

I'm not really sure what Nvidia/DFI will do to make the mod more difficult or impossible, so its hard to say what to look for. If you use something reversable like a pencil mod or conductive grease (like I did) to close the bridge, then there would be nothing harmed by trying.

[mdzcpa]

Nice Job Mike

Good to see the DFI doing well in SLI mode as well as with a single card. I was wondering how it would do. Nice

Thanks for the kudos...it means alot coming from one of the top dogs

Yep, there is no doubt that the DFI board is awefully strong in SLI mode. I found zero difference in overclockability between single card and SLI operation. That's a solid mobo for sure!

[OPPAINTER]

Thanks for the kudos...it means alot coming from one of the top dogs

Yep, there is no doubt that the DFI board is awefully strong in SLI mode. I found zero difference in overclockability between single card and SLI operation. That's a solid mobo for sure!

Wow, I was just thinking, I've known you longer then I've known anyone else on this forum, besides Player0 I think.
No need for the Top Dog formalities.

OPP