DFI LanParty NForce II Ultra

Reviews: Hardware

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
DFI
Sep. 27, 2003

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Overclocking

Overclocking on this board is the best I have ever seen. Period. While the BIOS shipped with the board was a bit unstable, the latest BIOS (downloadable from DFI's website), made this board solid a overclocker.

Using Corsair PC4000 memory and a AMD Athlon 1700+, I was able to get the CPU to 2250 MHZ stable with a FSB of 250 and a multiplier of 9. I was also able to get the CPU to 2400 MHZ with Corsair PC3500 @ 200 x 12. Now I won't tell you how great this is... screw it... I have fallen in love with this board!

Conclusion

Man have I had fun checking out these motherboards from DFI. The DFI Lan Party NForce II Ultra, just like the other boards in the Lan Party series, come with some fantastic accessories that will benefit anyone who frequents LAN parties. The UV reactive nature of the board will definitely spice up your computer, and in this case, beauty isn't just skin deep. This board performs as well as it looks (assuming you like how it looks... you sarcastic bastards... you know who I'm talking about!). Besides the great performance during "real world" benchmarks, the board overclocks like a dream with more options than you can shake a stick at (I don't even know what that means). If you constantly work on your computer outside of your case, you will appreciate the power and reset buttons located on the motherboard, and the onboard LEDs will help you determine what's wrong when your computer won't boot.

If you are looking for style, this board is a winner. If you are looking for lots of extras, this board is a winner. If you are looking for performance, this board is a winner. If you are looking for some crazy overclocking, this board is a winner. If you want to mount a heatsink with screws, you're screwed. That pretty much sums it up.

Pros

UV Reactive
Insane overclocking options and performance
ATA RAID 1.5
SATA compatible
Dual onboard Ethernet
Decent onboard sound
Onboard power and reset switches
Plenty of extras

Cons

Can't change shutdown temperature
No mounting holes around socket

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Layout & Features
Page 3: Extras
Page 4: BIOS & GENIE BIOS
Page 5: Test System & Sandra CPU Benchmarks
Page 6: Sandra & Aida32 Memory Benchmarks
Page 7: ScienceMark & PCMark02 Benchmarks
Page 8: 3DMark01 & 3DMark02 & GLMark Benchmarks
Page 9: Overclocking & Conclusion

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by Guest on August 2, 2004 - 8:17 am

Minor mistake in the review, otherwise good work : this board actually DOES feature Nvidia SoundStorm! Written on the back of the box in fairly big letters (doh) plus deatiled on the DFI spec page.

If you want 5.1 audio out then you must scarifice the mic-in and line-in ports since the IO plate only has 3 audio jacks. However, a rear backplate bracket is available direct from DFI to add extra audio jacks which will prevent the loss of those ports (but it's NOT included by default in the box, which would have been better to see).

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