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DFI NF4 Ultra-D

The DFI NF4 Ultra-D is a nForce 4 Ultra chipset-based motherboard that started as an inexpensive SLI solution, but that was quickly reigned in by NVIDIA. Now it stands as a dual PCI-Express X16 motherboard that some modders are finding out is still good for SLI.

Introduction

DFI, also known as Diamond Flower International, has long catered to the OEM and system builder crowd. The rapid growth of the enthusiast market caused DFI to create their much-vaunted LANPARTY line of solutions. The LANPARTY series are well known for their performance, tweakability, and feature rich set of components. The latest incarnation of the line keeps to these ideals very well.

The UT nF4 Ultra-D is one of DFI’s latest AMD socket 939 motherboard solutions. The motherboard uses the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra 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 configuration. In dual card configuration, the board supports multi-monitor mode. The nF4 Ultra-D is a complete solution out of the box, requiring an Athlon64 socket 939-based CPU, DDR memory, PCI Express video card, drives, and PSU for a functional system. The following components are integrated into the nF4 Ultra-D’s design: 2 IDE ATA-133 ports and 4 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 capable) on the NVIDIA RAID controller; 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 on the rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 on the rear panel, 1 onboard header supporting 1 port); 1 Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet port on the rear panel; 1 NVIDIA Gigabit Ethernet port on the rear panel with integrated hardware Firewall support; Realtek 8-channel audio codec featuring S/PDIF RCA input / output ports; 4 LED diagnostic display; onboard power and reset switches; and serial, parallel, and PS/2 port support.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

The nF4 Ultra-D box carries the standard LANPARTY series artwork, with the board’s chipset and features displayed along the upper right of the box, prominently listing the board’s chipset and dual monitor support. DFI chose to include the following components: 2 SATA 150 cables, 1 dual ended SATA power plug, the rear panel shield, the Karajan rear panel audio riser, UV reactive rounded floppy and ATA-133 cables, extra jumpers, and the normal assortment of manuals and driver CDs.

Board Layout

DFI did a masterful job in designing the nF4 Ultra-D’s layout. By rearranging the placement of a few key components, the DFI engineers opened up an abundance of space around the CPU socket area that you normally wouldn’t have. Notice that they chose to sink various MOSFET chips on the board with low-rise aluminum heatsinks. They also chose to use UV reactive plastic on most pieces on the boards as well. The board itself does not seem to have any type of version of serial number marking apparent. DFI chose the following manufacturers for capacitors: United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) - marked KZG.

The unique layout of the CPU area allows even the largest HSF and waterblock units to be mounted without issues. For CPU cooler mounting, the board uses the Athlon64 standard 2 hole design. An onboard 5V/12V power port accommodating a floppy type power connector is located to the left of the CPU socket. 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 for added system stability due to the power requirements necessary for dual card operation. The onboard IEEE 1394 header is located to the upper left of the CPU socket. Directly underneath the CPU’s lower row of power MOSFETs 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 powering the system memory. To access the upper enhanced memory voltages through the BIOS, the CPU voltage must be set to a non-Auto state. Although the ATX connector is a 24-pin type connector, it supports the legacy 20-pin ATX power connector as well.

The board comes standard with 4 DDR capable DIMM slots, arranged in a 2-by-2 configuration. The DIMM slots themselves are to the left of the CPU socket, oriented in a vertical fashion and parallel to the right edge of the board. To enable Dual Channel mode, the 2 DIMMs must be placed in indentially colored slots across the grouped sets. To the upper left of the left-most DIMM slot is the rear panel Karajan audio header for use with the Karajan audio riser card. To the right of the audio header are the CPU fan and FAN2 headers, the onboard S/PDIF header and S/PDIF select jumper, and the USB power select and PS/2 power select jumpers. Note that both sets of 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 in the rear panel or through the chipset. The chipset controlled S/PDIF signal goes through the S/PDIF header, which sits between the S/PDIF selection jumper and the rear panel RCA jacks. 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 memory modules seated on the board.

The chipset is located just below the primary and secondary PCI Express x16 slots. It is actively cooled with a low profile cooler, with push pins holding the cooler to the chipset. The cooler does not interfere in any way with video card seating in either of the PCI Express x16 slots. Directly below the chipset are the 4 RAID capable SATA II ports, the floppy port, the CMOS reset jumper, and the CMOS battery. To the immediate left of the chipset are the 2 onboard USB 2.0 headers, as well as the USB 7-10 power select jumper. This jumper controls system wakeup based on activity detected from connected USB devices. To the left of the CMOS battery are the onboard speaker and onboard speaker enable jumper. The front panel header is located in the lower left corner of the board with the onboard power and reset buttons, as well as the FAN4 header, directly above it. The Safe Boot jumper, which is used to temporarily reset the system BIOS parameters without risk of losing current BIOS settings, is located just below the onboard Reset button.

DFI chose to integrate a total of 2 PCI Express x16 slots, 1 PCI-Express x4 slot, 1 PCI Express x1 slot, and 2 PCI slots in to the nF4 Ultra-D’s design. There is a jumper block located just below the PCI Express x1 slot that appears to be for SLI type operation. However, during testing we found that the system would not post with these jumpers set to SLI mode and 2 PCI Express x16 cards seated in the board. These jumpers must be left in normal mode for the board to operate correctly. The FAN5 header and the Standby Power LED are located between PCI slot 2 and the board’s edge. This yellow LED illuminates when an active power source is connected to the board. The 4 diagnostic LEDs 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.

The following ports are integrated in to the nF4 Ultra-D’s rear panel: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; S/PDIF RCA input and output jacks; 6 USB 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 NVIDIA Gigabit LAN Ethernet port; and 1 Marvell Gigabit LAN Ethernet port. With the Karajan audio riser plugged into the rear panel connector, 6 analogue audio ports are added to the rear panel as well. Notice that the audio riser card has an integrated CD_IN port as well as the front panel audio header. For the rear panel analogue audio ports to function correctly, pins 5-6 and 9-10 must be jumpered on the front panel audio header.

NVIDIA nTune

DFI chose to use NVIDIA’s nTune based performance tuning suite for the nF4 Ultra-D board. 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 automated profiling mode is performed using the benchmarking tools within the nVPerformance window. This window is accessible through the Benchmark and 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 on the main nTune screen.

In addition to the performance related options, the nTune application has a built in system information applet which 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 launches 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.