DFI Lan Party KT400a Motherboard

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
DFI
Jun. 1, 2003

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Layout

The most noticeable difference between this motherboard and all the others out there is the style. DFI has gone with a black board with green connectors that react to ultra-violet light. The AGP, PCI, DIMM, and IDE slots all glow a fantastic green when a black light or UV light are placed near the motherboard. This calls for a UV Cold Cathode in any case that houses this motherboard!

Expansion Slots

As you might have guessed, DFI has put a lot of thought into the layout and style of this new motherboard. They have chosen to go with 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot. There are no CNR, ISA, or any other obsolete slots to take up space here. The 8X AGP slot has a little clip on the end to hold the graphics card in place. This is a must for LANers. You don't want your graphics card falling out when you drive to the LAN. Above the AGP slot there is a little space reserved for the "Lan Party" logo.

RAID, SATA, & Power Switches

To the bottom right of the motherboard, DFI has placed two IDE RAID connections and a Serial ATA connection. The SATA is enabled or disabled via a jumper next to the connector. The neat thing about these jumpers is they have a grip on the end of them for easy placement and removal. Right next to the RAID connections there is the RAID chip. DFI has not only supports RAID 1, 0, and 0+1, but they also support their very own RAID 1.5! RAID 1.5 is similar to RAID 0+1. 0+1 uses 4 hard drives for extra speed and a backup of all your information. RAID 1.5 accomplishes this with only 2 hard drives. Next to the RAID connections there are 2 buttons. These are power and reset buttons. They are located on the motherboard in addition to the usual pins that connect with the case buttons. These are very useful for testing the motherboard and related components outside of the case.

IDE, Memory, & FSB

The normal IDE (ATA 133) and Floppy connections are located above the RAID connections. Above this, there is a set of switch-like jumpers used to configure the Front Side Bus (FSB). These values range from 100, 133, 166 and 200. Within the bios there are further options to set the speed of the FSB. To the left of the IDE connections are the 3 DIMM slots. These support up to PC3200 (DDR400) and up to 3 gigabytes of RAM.

CPU Socket & KT400a Chipset

To the left of the RAM slots are the CPU socket and the KT400a chipset. The socket is aligned so that the prongs are facing the right and left of the motherboard. This may be a problem if the RAM is in the way of the CPU heatsink clip. On the other side of the socket are a few capacitors that might get in the way of mounting the other side of the clip. Below the socket is the chipset. It is cooled with a passive heatsink with fairly tall fins. Between the socket/chipset and the rear I/O ports are the connections for getting power from the PSU. There is the normal 20-pin connection along with a 4-pin connection.

Rear I/O

The rear I/O ports on this motherboard are great too. You have the usual PS/2 and KB ports along with the parallel and serial ports. What is different is the onboard LAN and Audio. DFI has built in a dual Ethernet card so there are 2 10/100 Ethernet connections. Below each connection are 2 x USB 2.0 ports, which make for a total of 4 USB ports in the back of your computer. Next to the Ethernet and USB ports are the audio jacks for the AC'97 card built in to the motherboard. Now, this is no normal onboard audio setup. The onboard sound included on this motherboard supports 6 channels and DirectSound/ DirectSound 3D! This may not be on par with the SB Audigy, but DFI is definitely moving in the right direction.

Other Features

There is also a Wake On Lan and a Wake On Ring connection to "wake up" your computer. The Wake On Lan allows the network to wake up the computer if it is Soft Off. This means the computer is not completely off, but still receives power to be able to turn back on.

Located in several places on the motherboard are groups of small red LEDs. These LEDs switch to different combinations according to the settings of the motherboard. They also help you detect if there is an error while your computer is booting.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Board Layout & Features
Page 3: Accessories
Page 4: BIOS & Overclocking
Page 5: Test Rig
Page 6: Sound Performance
Page 7: USB Performance
Page 8: Ethernet Performance
Page 9: Memory Performance
Page 10: CPU Performance
Page 11: Conclusion

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13 User Comments

1 - Posted by Kurtis on June 1, 2003 - 12:49 am

mesa likey DFI

2 - Posted by ELiTE KiLLaH on June 1, 2003 - 1:38 am

looks good
maybe as a followup or something try running ram in dual channel? (i think i read that you only used a single stick right?)

3 - Posted by MyFifthLimb on June 1, 2003 - 10:56 pm

What game do you think the kid on the box is playing?

4 - Posted by Brian on June 1, 2003 - 11:44 pm

I would have to say Pong. Who wouldn't play pong with such a sweet mobo?!

5 - Posted by Kurtis on June 2, 2003 - 12:32 am

i think he is playing the 'look at my sexy mobo and touch yourself' game

6 - Posted by Brian on June 2, 2003 - 12:44 am

Ok, lets keep this PG guys!

Don't make me start censoring!

j/k, just watch it kronk, you know better :-P

7 - Posted by Kurtis on June 2, 2003 - 1:14 am

by touch yourself, i meant scrub your feet, cuz uh... they are stinky... yeah..

8 - Posted by notobe on August 9, 2003 - 8:19 am

Looks like a good mobo, id buy one if i had the money. Also id like to say nice UV CC.

9 - Posted by caniswolfie on August 9, 2003 - 8:41 pm

He's playing "Look how much money I'm making by modeling" :)

I wish I could have some of that.. :)

10 - Posted by Kurtis on August 9, 2003 - 8:42 pm

lolol its a cartoon kid not a real kid :P cartoons dont make money, they get paid in badger meat

11 - Posted by caniswolfie on August 9, 2003 - 8:53 pm

Mmm.. badger meat.. do you know how much that costs on the open market.. :) I could be a millionaire.. if I were a cartoon.. (*grin* this is what I get for being a smart ass without checking the picture.. ;) )

12 - Posted by Kurtis on August 9, 2003 - 9:18 pm

lolol

13 - Posted by Rich on August 9, 2003 - 9:20 pm

You bring the Badger and I will bring the TT Smartfans! :twisted:

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