[H]ard|OCP

Navigation

• [H] Forums
• Archives
• Search
• [H] Folding

DFI nF4 SLI-DR

DFI's latest socket 939 offering pairs the power of the nForce4 chipset with PCI-Express based SLI. Read on to see how well this board does against the rest of the nForce4 SLI crowd.

Introduction

Although Diamond Flower International (DFI) has a long history in the OEM and system builder circles, it has only recently burst onto the enthusiast scene with their LANPARTY offerings. The LANPARTY line of boards is well known for their breakneck performance and overabundance of integrated peripherals and in-box components. The latest addition to the LANPARTY lineup is no exception to this rule.

The nF4 SLI-DR is DFI’s latest AMD Athlon64 socket 939-based motherboard. The motherboard is designed around the NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset, which supports all Athlon64 socket 939 type processors, DDR type SDRAM RAM operating in Dual Channel mode up to speeds of 400MHz officially, as well as PCI Express x16 based video cards operating in either single card mode or dual card SLI mode. The nF4 SLI-DR is a feature complete solution, needing only an Athlon64 socket 939 based CPU, DDR memory, a PCI Express video card, drives, and a PSU for a fully functional system. DFI integrated the following components in to the nF4 SLI-DR’s design: 2 IDE ATA-133 ports and 4 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 capable) on the NVIDIA RAID controller; 4 SATA ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and 5) on the Silicon Image 3114 controller; 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, 1 onboard header supporting 1 port); 1 Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet port in rear panel; 1 NVIDIA Gigabit Ethernet port in rear panel with integrated hardware Firewall support; Realtek 8-channel audio codec featuring S/PDIF RCA input / output ports; 4 LED diagnostic display; on-board power and reset switches; and serial, parallel, and PS/2 port support.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

The nF4 SLI-DR box is adorned with the DFI standard LANPARTY design, prominently listing the board’s chipset and SLI support. As is standard fare for the LANPARTY line of boards, there is an immense amount of included items for the end user’s modding enjoyment. The included items are masterfully bundled into four individual boxes, labeled Motherboard, FrontX, Round Cables, and PC Transport. Note that the SATA cables, audio riser, cable sleeve kit, and rear panel shield are the only items not in a box with in the main box.

The board includes the following bundled items: 4 SATA 150 cables, 2 dual ended SATA power plugs, the rear panel shield, a cable sleeve kit, the rear panel audio riser, UV reactive rounded floppy and ATA-133 cables, the normal assortment of manuals and driver CDs, system transport straps, and the FrontX assembly. The FrontX device is a componentized drive bay kit that supports a S/PDIF optical output port, an IEEE 1394 port, a 4 LED Diagnostic display panel, and an external SATA port.

Board Layout

It’s obvious from the layout of the board that DFI took the design of the nF4 SLI-DR board very seriously. They rearranged the normal layout of a few major components, allowing for an abundance of free space around all components including the area around the CPU. Notice that there are many aluminum heatsinks covering various chips around the board, as well as the fact that all plastic pieces on the board are UV reactive. As far as the board version goes, I could find no identifying version or serial number type markings on the board at all. For capacitors, DFI chose to use components from United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) - marked as “KMG” and “KZG.” The capacitors marked with an “M” come from an unknown manufacturer.

Due to the re-orientation of the entire area surrounding the CPU, you should have no issues with mounting even the largest HSF or water block units to the board. The board uses the standard 2 hole Athlon64 design in order to seat the cooling mechanism to the CPU. To the left of the CPU socket is a 5V/12V power port for connecting a floppy-type power lead from the power supply. DFI recommends connecting power leads from the PSU to this port as well as the 4-pin MOLEX port located below and to the left of the CPU socket when using 2 PCI-Express video cards in SLI mode for added system stability. Just above the onboard mini power port is the IEEE 1394 header. Just below the CPU socket are the 2 onboard ATA-133 IDE ports, the Fan 3 header, the 24-pin ATX and ATX12V power ports, and the DRAM 4V Select jumper block. This jumper block controls the maximum selectable memory voltage. When set to the 2-3 position, a maximum of 4V can be selected through the BIOS for the system memory voltage. However, the CPU voltage must be set to a non-Auto state in order to access memory voltages above 3.1V. Note that the ATX connector supports both the 24-pin and 20-pin male ATX power connectors. The board’s 4 DIMM slots are located to the right of the CPU socket, oriented vertically and grouped in a 2 by 2 configuration. Memory modules must be placed in the same color slots to enable Dual Channel memory mode. Directly above the DIMM slots is the Karajan audio connector for use with the audio riser card, the USB power select jumper, the CPU fan and FAN2 headers, the chipset S/PDIF header and S/PDIF select jumper, and the PS/2 power select jumper. The USB and PS/2 power select jumpers control system wakeup based on rear panel port activity. The S/PDIF select jumper controls whether S/PDIF signals are output through the Realtek codec using the RCA ports or through the chipset using a connected optical port. The DRAM Power LED is located just below the left set of DIMM slots. This yellow LED illuminates when power is actively supplied to the seated memory modules.

The nForce4 SLI chipset is positioned just below the primary x16 PCI-Express port. The chipset itself is actively cooled with a low profile aluminum unit, attached to the chipset via push pins on opposite sides of the cooler. Although it may appear that the chipset cooler will interfere with video card placement, I found no issues with a card seated in the primary x16 PCI-Express port. Just below the chipset are its 4 RAID capable SATA II ports, and the onboard floppy port. The CMOS reset jumper, CMOS battery, onboard speaker, and onboard speaker enable jumper are located to the left of the floppy and SATA II ports. The BIOS chip is located directly above the onboard speaker, with the Safe Boot jumper and onboard power and reset switches to the left of the chip. The Safe Boot jumper can be used to temporarily reset the system to a safe state without losing your configured BIOS settings. Directly above the BIOS chip are the 4 Silicon Image controlled SATA-150 ports, the Fan 4 header, the 2 onboard USB 2.0 headers, and the USB 7-10 power select jumper. The power select jumper controls system wakeup based on activity through connected USB devices via 2 USB headers. The front panel header is located in the lower left corner of the board.

The nF4 SLI-DR has a total of 2 PCI Express x16 slots, 1 PCI-Express x4 slot, 1 PCI-Express x1 slot, and 2 PCI slots. In between the 2 PCI-Express x16 slots is the SLI controller jumper block used for enabling single or dual card mode. Between PCI slot 2 and the board’s edge are the Fan 5 header and the Standby Power LED. This yellow LED illuminates when an active power source is connected to the board. The 4 diagnostic LEDs and the external diagnostic LED header are located in the upper left corner of the board. These onboard LEDs are useful for troubleshooting boot-related issues. The infrared header is located to the top left of the secondary PCI-Express x16 slot.

DFI chose to incorporate the following directly into the nF4 SLI-DR’s rear panel: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; 6 USB 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 NVIDIA Gigabit LAN Ethernet port; and 1 Marvel Gigabit LAN Ethernet port. Plugging the Karajan audio riser into the rear panel connector provides S/PDIF RCA type input and output ports, as well as 6 analog audio ports to the rear panel. Notice that the audio riser card has an integrated CD_IN port as well as the front panel audio header. For the rear panel analog audio ports to function correctly, pins 5-6 and 9-10 must be jumpered on the front panel audio header.

NVIDIA nTune

DFI included the NVIDIA-based performance tuning suite nTune with the nF4 SLI-DR. nTune version 2.00.23.05 is shown in the screen shots. For performance tuning, the nTune software has 2 modes of operation: automated profiling and manual manipulation. The auto profiling is performed using the benchmarking tools within the nVPerformance window. This window is accessible through the Benchmark and the “automatically tune my system” button in the main nTune window. The Clock Control window allows for manual manipulation of synchronous CPU and memory bus speeds, PCI bus speed, HyperTransport link multiplier, as well as selected memory timings. The Clock Control window is accessed via the “Clock Control” button in the bottom button bar in the main nTune screen.

In addition to the performance related options, the nTune application has a built in system information applet that displays CPU, bus speed, memory, and nForce driver version-related information. This applet is accessed through the “I” button in the lower button bar in the Main nTune screen. The “Monitor my system” button in the nTune window runs the nVMonitor applet, which allows for real time monitoring of all system level voltages, bus speeds, and system temperatures. The “Manage my profiles” button from the nTune window runs the nVProfileManage applet. This applet allows for configuration of profiles that trigger system responses to configured events. Responses can include warning sounds, program launching, and automatic system tuning on a percentage basis. The “Troubleshoot performance” or “create a support log” button in the main nTune window launch a system troubleshooter window. Various system components are listed in the upper box, with specific performance tips for the highlighted component listed in the lower portion of the screen.