Introduction:
DFI has been in the IT industry since 1981, and by 1992 became a motherboard manufacturer. As their market increased they began to create enthusiast motherboards. Earlier this year they released the LanParty series of motherboards directly geared at the hardcore gamer, and featuring an all inclusive package with virtually everything a motherboard could have or come with. Today we look at the LanParty NFII Ultra B to see how it stacks up against the competition.
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Features & Specifications
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| CPU |
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- AMD Athlon XP 266/333/400MHz FSB
- AMD Athlon 200/266MHz FSB
- AMD Duron 200MHz FSB
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| CPU Socket |
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- Socket A
- Equipped with a switching voltage regulator that automatically detects 1.100V to 1.850V
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| Chipset |
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- nVIDIA® nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset - nForce2 SPP - nForce2 MCP-T
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| System Memory |
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- Supports dual channel memory interface
- Supports up to 3GB memory (unbuffered DIMM)
- Uses PC1600 (DDR200), PC2100 (DDR266), PC2700 (DDR333) or PC3200 (DDR400) DDR SDRAM DIMM, 2.5V type
- Three 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets
- L2 cache memory - Duron processor: built-in 64KB Level 2 pipelined burst cache - Athlon XP / Athlon processor: built-in 256KB Level 2 pipelined burst cache
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| BIOS |
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- Award BIOS, Windows® 95/98/2000/ME/XP Plug and Play compatible
- Genie BIOS provides: - CPU/DRAM overclocking in 1MHz stepping - CPU/AGP/DRAM/Chipset overvoltage
- Supports SCSI sequential boot-up
- Flash EPROM for easy BIOS upgrades
- Supports DMI 2.0 function
- 4Mbit flash memory
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| Power Management |
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- Supports ACPI specification and OS Directed Power Management
- Supports ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function
- Wake-On-Events include: - Wake-On-Keyboard/Mouse - Wake-On-USB - Wake-On-Ring (external modem) - Wake-On-LAN - RTC timer to power-on the system
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| Hardware Monitor |
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- Monitors CPU/system temperature
- Monitors 12V/5V/3.3V/CPU/VBAT(V)/5VSB(V)/DDR/AGP voltages
- Monitors CPU/chassis fan speed
- Automatic chassis fan on/off control - this prevents system overheat and prolongs fan life
- Read back capability that displays temperature, voltage and fan speed
- CPU Fan Protection function monitors the CPU fan during system boot-up
- CPU Temperature Protection function monitors CPU temperature during system boot-up
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| Audio |
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- AC'97 2.2 S/PDIF extension compliant codec
- Supports Microsoft® DirectSound/DirectSound 3D
- AC’97 supported with full duplex, independent sample rate converter for audio recording and playback
- 6-channel audio output
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| LAN |
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- Uses ICS1893 Phy chip - Integrated IEEE 802.3, 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX compatible PHY
- Uses Realtek RTL8101L fast ethernet controller - Integrated IEEE 802.3, 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX compatible PHY
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| ATA RAID |
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- RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 1.5
- Two independent IDE channels support 4 hard disk drives (UDMA modes 33/66/100/133 or EIDE)
- Supports PIO modes 0/1/2/3/4, DMA modes 0/1/2 and UDMA modes 0/1/2/3/4/5/6
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| PCI IDE |
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- Supports ATA/33, ATA/66, ATA/100 and ATA/133 hard drives
- UDMA Modes 3, 4, 5 and 6 Enhanced IDE (data transfer rate up to 133MB/sec.)
- Bus mastering reduces CPU utilization during disk transfer
- ATAPI CD-ROM, LS-120 and ZIP supported
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| SATA IDE |
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- Uses Marvell 88i8030 chip
- Supports one SATA (Serial ATA) interface which is compliant with SATA 1.0 specification (1.5Gbps interface)
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| IEEE 1394 |
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- Uses Agere FW803 Phy chip
- Supports three 100/200/400 Mb/sec ports
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| AGP |
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- Supports AGP 8x up to 2132MB/sec. and AGP 4x up to 1066MB/sec. bandwidth for 3D graphics applications
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| Rear Panel I/O Ports |
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- 4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
- 2 RJ45 LAN ports
- 2 DB-9 serial ports
- 1 DB-25 parallel port
- 1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port
- 1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port
- 3 audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in
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| I/O Connectors |
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- 1 connector for 2 additional external USB 2.0/1.1 ports
- 3 connectors for 3 external IEEE 1394a ports
- 1 connector for 1 external game/MIDI port
- 1 connector for external line-out and mic-in jacks
- 2 internal audio connectors (AUX-in and CD-in)
- 1 4-channel audio output connector
- 1 S/PDIF-in/out connector
- 1 connector for IrDA interface
- 2 RAID IDE connectors
- 1 connector for serial ATA interface
- 2 IDE connectors
- 1 floppy connector
- 2 ATX power supply connectors
- 1 Wake-On-LAN connector
- 3 fan connectors for CPU fan, chassis fan and second fan
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| Expansion Slots |
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- 1 AGP slot that supports 8x/4x AGP
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| PCB |
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- 4 layers, ATX form factor
- 30.5cm (12") x 24.5cm (9.64") All specifications above are subject to change without prior notice.
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Packaging:
This box is huge. Because of all the equipment that comes bundled with this motherboard, the box is nearly 2 ½ times as large as a standard motherboard box.
It features an appropriate design of someone at a LAN party.
On the top it has a convenient carrying handle which I'm sure would be useful if you were buying it off the retail shelf. Inside of the larger box are more boxes of course.
Each box contains separate components which are clearly labeled. The boxes are: Motherboard, PC Transpo, Accessory Kit, FrontX, and Round Cable. Upon opening each box the appropriate item is inside.
Obviously the motherboard itself is found in the motherboard box. This box also contains the motherboard manual, the drivers CD, and the WinDVD software.
The Accessory Kit contains all the smaller cabling for the SATA drives, the USB bracket, and some other items.
The rounded cables are UV reactive and come in the Round Cable box.
The FrontX is a series of ports that can conveniently fit into a 5 ¼" drive bay.
The PC Transpo is made to carry a mid or smaller tower.
