DFI RDX200 CF-DR First look

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 09:08 AM

Guys

Just got the board, took some pics to show packaging and the bare board. First thing i noticed was SI3114 SATA which is SATA1 only but for me thats no big deal.

So i will post these first pics then set the board up and play with memtest86 for a while to get a feel for ram overclocking. While im testing i will show pics of the bios.

I can not run any benches as Wesley over at Anandtech has an exclusive on the review so look to AT in a day or so for bench results.I will talk about the feel of the board and answer as many questions as i can over the next few hrs.

Pics

**LowRun** · 10-14-2005, 09:13 AM

He, we'll wait till you can give us every bit of info.

Thanks!!!

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 09:16 AM

**mongoled** · 10-14-2005, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Tony

Guys
First thing i noticed was SI3114 SATA which is SATA1 only but for me thats no big deal.

Oh no

tht controller was very poor on the NF2 brds, very low performance, I sure hope its not the same on tht board!

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Troman

all i want to know is the coldbug option

Cold bug is dram drive strength..i have documented this many times. Weaken the drive as you chill the cpu and the ram will clock higher

**bachus_anonym** · 10-14-2005, 09:17 AM

...Standing by for BIOS shots...

Good luck, Tony

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 09:19 AM

Thats it for now, I have to set the board up and go for bios pics next.

Stay tuned

**seldomsean** · 10-14-2005, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by bachus_anonym

...Standing by for BIOS shots...

Good luck, Tony

YEP!!! (10chars)

**Brock911** · 10-14-2005, 09:50 AM

When's Wesley over at Anandtech supposed to post a review? Like today or next week?

**dnavarro** · 10-14-2005, 09:59 AM

Can't wait to see the results Tony! Thanks for giving us a sneak peek

I hope this board loves TCCD...

D

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:03 AM

Mickeymouse is going to owe me a mousepot here...we have 4 TCCD dimms running 1T at 200fsb.

Aquamark3 runs fine, we have screenies of cpu-z, A64 tweaker and AQ3 in 1T 4dimms and 2T 4 dimms.

more soon

**mrlobber** · 10-14-2005, 10:05 AM

How does 3.4+ Vdimm work???

**dnavarro** · 10-14-2005, 10:06 AM

woot!!!!
Sounds great so far. Now lets see if this thing can clock TCCD like its brother the Ultra D

**Kasparz** · 10-14-2005, 10:09 AM

Yep, i what to know this board increase CPU/RAM OC for some Mhz or clocks the same?
And what MAX HTT on ATI chipsets?

**MaxxxRacer** · 10-14-2005, 10:11 AM

Very nice tony..

**xforce** · 10-14-2005, 10:13 AM

Good preview, Tony.

Will await bios screenies.

Btw, running 4 dimms of 512 mb sticks or 2 dimms of 1GB sticks in 1T will be more worth it on this board ?

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:21 AM

Bios shots

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by MickeyMouse

NO OEM'S/ MANUF'S /BETA TESTERS/ REVIEWERS OR /REPS

Any normal person that buys from a reg online store that we know isn't connected to anything beta/special gets one.

This gives the little guys or poor guys a chance

Thats BS man...don't move the goal posts now its been done.

I will mail my shipping details to you once you forward your email addy to me.

stand up like a man when i prove you wrong and do the right thing

**xforce** · 10-14-2005, 10:23 AM

Looking good...............

**EnJoY** · 10-14-2005, 10:25 AM

What about VTT control? Is there a specific control for it in bios or is it just tracked properly this time (unlike in the dfi nf4's)?

**EnJoY** · 10-14-2005, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by Tony

Thats BS man...don't move the goal posts now its been done.

I will mail my shipping details to you once you forward your email addy to me.

stand up like a man when i prove you wrong and do the right thing

I remember distinctly him stating previously what he just posted above. No special people, just average joes. This was stated originally.

Not taking sides, just stating fact.

**mongoled** · 10-14-2005, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by EnJoY

I remember distinctly him stating previously what he just posted above. No special people, just average joes. This was stated originally.

Not taking sides, just stating fact.

Yup I saw the same thing stated in the othe thread

**HousERaT** · 10-14-2005, 10:31 AM

Looking good so far...... can't wait to see some testing. I'm hoping this board oveclocks like many of the other DFI products. 4x512 1T would be nice also. Keep us posted.

**cadaveca** · 10-14-2005, 10:35 AM

1t? With 4 doublesided dimms?

No single-sided dimms to try Tony? Just the TCCD? how many MB/sec in memtest? That should be some killer bandwidth.

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:36 AM

4X OCZ3200Plat rev2 at ddr400 1T

CPU-Z and Tweaker showing the dimms timings ETC

Aquamark3 4 dimms at 1T notice the score

AQ3 4 dimms 2T...score drops

Finally AQ3 with 2 dimms 1T, 4dimms is slightly faster due to improved interleaving.

And if you wondering how the board does it.

Oskar has opened up all levels of drive from the memory controller, 0 to 15 is selectable. This board must have next to zero crosstalk to be able to do this as the amount of dram drive needed is huge.

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by MickeyMouse

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...23#post1078923

Nice tony got some sandra and everest? memtest/prime?

thanks

Jason if you are backing out thats fine, i proved my point.

Just remember there are those who design boards, and there are those who just play with them, the designers are much better overclockers than you think as they are the ones who give you the tools to play with.

**tomati** · 10-14-2005, 10:43 AM

Hi Tony ,

What's the feeling about the layout (new design) ?

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by MickeyMouse

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...23#post1078923

Nice tony got some sandra and everest? memtest/prime?

thanks

Those benches belong to Wesley Fink, im helping him set up his board, for now he is 4 hrs infront of me.

I have no doubt this board will run prime with 4dimms 1t, regarding sandra i really don't care for it, try and run 4dimms thru AQ3 at 1t and it will show if its stable or not.

**babyelf** · 10-14-2005, 10:44 AM

nice board Tony.. looking forward to your further testing

**eva2000** · 10-14-2005, 10:44 AM

woah talk about memory vdimm increments galore!

**Lestat HWL** · 10-14-2005, 10:46 AM

Jason isn't trying to back out. He just asked for someone that isn't a company rep or site staff member to post results...

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 10:50 AM

Ok I will do this, Im going to CES this year, i expect to have Jasons mousepot with me to give away on the DFI/OCZ booth.

I think thats a fair compromise we can both live with.

**HousERaT** · 10-14-2005, 10:51 AM

ok......now I'm drooling..... I'm sure I have for sticks somewhere that could work together with this board.

**blind_ripper** · 10-14-2005, 10:52 AM

very nice

**LenniZ** · 10-14-2005, 10:52 AM

How is 4 dimms 1T possible ? I tought it was limited by the A64 memory controller!

**largon** · 10-14-2005, 11:00 AM

LenniZ,
Look here.

**cupra** · 10-14-2005, 11:08 AM

wow, nice one tony, that board looks very nice.
i didnt see any jumper on the board that will get 5v and give as 4v in the dimms - like the j16 in the nf4 dfi boars.

and i wonder, did you try any oc on that board ?
from your impression : nf4 vs ati200 - which will be better in oc ?

thx

**charlie** · 10-14-2005, 11:28 AM

As long as it OC's as well as the nf4, I'm ALL OVER ONE!!

C

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by MickeyMouse

Isn't CES in LasVegas Jan 4-8th 2006?
I can promise you I will be there and I will bring you a Mousepot to give away at the booth no problems.

Nicely done, I will organise a nice easy competition to give away the Pot to an Xs reader.

now, come weds next week we will see lots of people doing 1t with 4 dimms so i think we can now put this one to bed...the board is built to do it and its very easy to do.

onto more bios shots

**Eldonko** · 10-14-2005, 11:38 AM

I like the 0-15 drive strength, that HAS to help with cold bug. More vdimm options are nice to have too.

As for the Mousepot, MM specifically said in that post that reps cannot participate. It is good of him to offer a pot anyway, but how is it fair to us regular joes that don’t get stuff a month before it comes out if reps get the prizes?

**J-Mag** · 10-14-2005, 11:43 AM

Will the DFI NF4 Expert handle memory like this board or does it have something to do with the chipset itself?

**Eldonko** · 10-14-2005, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by J-Mag

Will the DFI NF4 Expert handle memory like this board or does it have something to do with the chipset itself?

Good question. Will the drive str and extra vdimm options be in expert too?

**babyelf** · 10-14-2005, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Eldonko

Good question. Will the drive str and extra vdimm options be in expert too?

well the expert looks like it's based on this design.. so vdimm options should be the same..

I think before Tony gets the actual board itself he won't be able to comment?

**ZeroX** · 10-14-2005, 11:52 AM

I love that options for vdimm

How much will cost the board¿?

Keep us updated Tony

**LowRun** · 10-14-2005, 11:58 AM

IIRC 4x512@1T is made possible because of the six layers PCB. Someone correct me if i am wrong.

**charlie** · 10-14-2005, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by ZeroX

I love that options for vdimm

How much will cost the board¿?

Keep us updated Tony

The board SHOULD cost about $189... however the vaseline vendors will get about $260 the first week... ncix has it for $220USD, pre-order.

C

**ZeroX** · 10-14-2005, 12:04 PM

Thanks for the info Charlie

**babyelf** · 10-14-2005, 12:10 PM

here's a shot from the manual given on dfi's website

looks very much like the nf4 ones now

NB +1.2v A?

**purefun65** · 10-14-2005, 12:12 PM

4 sticks at 1t has me drooling. I was gonna sell them for 2 1gig sticks.

**MaxxxRacer** · 10-14-2005, 12:16 PM

now the real question. this board, grouper or expert.

**madpete** · 10-14-2005, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by MaxxxRacer

now the real question. this board, grouper or expert.

Or CF-BT

**wai-wai** · 10-14-2005, 12:33 PM

wow~~~~ i love it ~~~~
still waiting nf4 expert

**pcdoc1** · 10-14-2005, 12:35 PM

Woah! Time to image the nvidia array..........

**Prometheus** · 10-14-2005, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Brock911

When's Wesley over at Anandtech supposed to post a review? Like today or next week?

The review is sceduled to post at AnandTech on Monday/Tuesday at midnight. If we can get it up Monday AM we will, but I just got the board a few hours ago, and we plan to check out all the controllers and features.

One nice surprise is that DFI did a Karajan audio module with an Azalia HD chip - for those who might care. This should be very low CPU utilization AND decent sound quality for those who might game between competetive benchmark runs.

According to DFI, New Egg will have retail product for sale either Tuesday AM or Wednesday AM.

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 12:54 PM

all the boards are 6 layer...its more to do with the traces and which layers they are spread over.

Grouper=6 layer
halibut= 6 layer
RDX200= 6 layer
expert=6 layer

**Dani** · 10-14-2005, 01:16 PM

@Tony,
How about those VDIMM's, how exactly is eg. 3.59V in Windows via Smart Quardian?
Is it 0.02V lower in Windows than BIOS?
Which DRAM Driving Strength is best when we are pushing CPU's with CO2/LN2, 0 or 15?

I lov that space around S939

**x714n** · 10-14-2005, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by cupra

wow, nice one tony, that board looks very nice.
i didnt see any jumper on the board that will get 5v and give as 4v in the dimms - like the j16 in the nf4 dfi boars.

afaik you dont need jumper for that

**dnavarro** · 10-14-2005, 01:33 PM

Tony, how does the clocking with two dimms look? 300 1:1 1T still possible? Any particular issues with initial setup? Thanks for the preview

D

**kappa2001** · 10-14-2005, 01:33 PM

what i really want to see is x1800xl/xt benchies in CF :p
that would be really nice

**Tony** · 10-14-2005, 01:39 PM

Guys

Bear with me, im playing with overclocking at the mo and i only have 1 screen as the wife has borrowed my other so im back on forth on this monitor.

Vdimm i will check with a meter, the options are good but not quite as nice as CF-BT will be as that goes from 2.5 to 3V is 0.02V steps then from 3 to 4V in 0.05V steps.
Drive strength, 15 is max drive, we used that to hit 4dimms at 1T, regards the other settings its going to take me 40 hrs just to learn the board so i need time to play.

I will bring you as much as i can as i can, im working close with Prometheus to get the board clocking well etc as there are tight deadlines.

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