Is it really worth the hassle??

[ginge87]

Hi guys. a few things have been running through my mind lately whilst reading through this forum. i currently have an ultra-d nf4 sat waiting for new parts to hook up to it and im having doubts as to whether i should use that board at all. Whilst reading through the forum, i have read about so many people having problems with the lanparty boards with all kinds of issues and issues that have crept up later down the line, days, weeks or even months after they have built there computer. i dont know if i want the hassle of all these problems with a system, and i dont fancy the idea of hardware crapping out on me after a few months of use.

 

This lanparty board will be the first ive ever used and ive gone through my computer building days using either asus or abit boards and have had zero problems with either. Whilst liking a challenge, i dont really want to be in a constant battle with settings and issues cropping up out of the blue in the future.

 

In the back of my mind, im thinking, go for the a8n32-sli deluxe motherboard as i know and can trust the asus brand for its reliabilty and ease of use. I guess what im wanting for all of u guys to do, is to convince me why i should use the ultra-d and not the asus board because im seeing far more dissapointments with this line of boards than success stories..

 

For all you users of these boards out there, dont take offence at what im sayin, im just asking you really to put my mind at ease and clear it of worries and doubts.

 

Please check out my sig as this will hopefully be my future rig and tell me if i should expect any problems or any unexpected happenings when its built. List any changes i should make and any other suggestions as i welcome them very much. I will be using the rig mainly for gaming and will be overclocking alot to get the most performance available.

 

Thank you for your comments in advance and sorry for the long post

[wevsspot]

I kind of look at my DFI build like it's a high performance, high horsepower muscle car. When you push things to the limit at some point they will mis-behave, or even worse BREAK

 

You really have to weigh your tolerance level for the failures against your bragging rights to having a super fast rig.

 

My Ultra-D has been rock solid since my build in November. A few problems here and there, but nothing that wasn't resolved through my own experience or great help here at the Street.

 

The Ultra-D board has the potential to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your hardware if you've got the time, patience and tolerance to make it happen.

 

IMHO - and I want to EMPHASIZE - opinion only. DFI has great technical expertise and engineering know how. But I think at the manufacturing level they lack some of the disciplines and process controls to consistently produce a high quality product with zero defect rate. I say this because I spent years in the automotive industry at a Tier1 supplier as a Quality Systems Manager, and I'm still in the same field (only the gun industry instead) doing the same job (that's the job that pays the bills anyway)

[bexer]

This forum is mostly for hardcore overclockers who are looking for solutions to problems. If you judge something by going to the complaints department or just reading about problems and technical issues, you absolutely will get the "feeling" that it's a hassle. However, after reading all the issues with inadequate power supplies and value ram take a look at my rock solid rig. My point: For every problem you read on this forum, there are probably ten successes. In fact most (if not all) of the problems end in success.

 

BTW-Case in point: From what I hear that particular Asus board would not be any better. I'm only judging by horror stories.

[lowboy]

I can't tell you if board is for you they can be pickey. All I can say is I have not had any problems. I did my research and followed the build guide as I had seen forum and it thought what have I got myself into. But 95% of problems are caused by the user cutting corners or some software conflict. It seems from looking at your. parts you have done your homework. Build should go fine for ya just follow the guide and study up on memory setting for your memory. Good luck on your rig.

[Sharp]

With the bits in your Sig you will be ok, just make sure you do everything correctly.

 

eg,

Make sure that all 4 power connectors are plugged into the board

# 24pin ATX connector.

# 4pin +12v P4 connector, near the ATX connector.

# Floppy power connector, under the CPU socket.

# Hard drive power connector, on top the chipset fan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plug your GFX card in the PCIe slot

# Make sure it is inserted correctly into the slot.

# Connect any power cables to it if one is required.

 

Clear your CMOS for 10 minutes

# Remove the power cord from the back of the power supply.

# Move the CMOS jumper to the clear position and leave it there for 10mins.

# Make sure you move it back to the save position after.

 

 

Insert the memory into the Orange slots

 

 

Power your PC and enter the BIOS

# Change the following,

GENIE BIOS Setting

>DRAM Configuration..................Press Enter = New Menu

FSB BUS Frequency....................200

LDT/FSB Frequency Ratio..............X 5.0

LDT BUS Transfer Width...............16 16

CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio..............AUTO

PCI eXpress Frequency................100Mhz

K8 Cool 'n' Quiet Support............Disable

Cool 'n' Quiet MAX FID...............AUTO

CPU VID StartUp Value................StartUp

 

CPU VID Control......................1.4v

CPU VID Special Control..............104%

LDT Voltage Control..................1.20 V

Chip Set Voltage Control.............1.50 V

DRAM Voltage Control.................2.70 V

 

Run MemTest86+.......................Enabled, disable later

GENIE BIOS Setting >DRAM Configuration

DRAM Frequency Set (MHZ).............200 (DRAM/FSB:1/01)

Command per clock (CPC)..............Enabled

Cas latency (tCL)....................3

RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)..............3

Min RAS active time (tRAS)...........8

Row precharge time (tRP).............2

Row cycle time (tRC).................AUTO

Row refresh cycle time(tRFC).........AUTO

Row to Row delay (tRRD)..............AUTO

Write recovery time (tWR)............AUTO

Write to read delay (tWTR)...........AUTO

Read to write delay (tRWT)...........AUTO

Refresh period (tREF)................AUTO

Write CAS latency (tWCL).............1

DRAM Bank Interleave.................Enabled

 

DQS Skew Control.....................AUTO

DQS Skew Value.......................0

DRAM Drive Strength..................Level 8

DRAM Data Drive Strength.............Level 3

Max Async Latency....................6ns

Dram Response........................AUTO/Normal

Read Preamble Time...................5ns

Idle Cycle Limit.....................AUTO

Dynamic Counter......................AUTO

R/W Queue Bypass.....................AUTO

Bypass Max...........................AUTO

32 Byte Granularity..................AUTO

 

# Change your boot order

- 1st = Floppy (if you have one)

- 2nd = CD rom

- 3rd = HDD

 

Disable things that you do not need

# Integrated peripherals

- Onchip USB = Disabled

- AC97 Audio = Disabled

- Onboard FDC Controller = Disabled

- Onboard Serial Port 1 = Disabled

- Onboard IRDA Select = Disabled

 

# Genie Settings

- MAC LAN = Disabled (Turns off nVidia NIC)

- Internal PHY SATA 1/2 = Disabled (Turns off SATA port 1 & 2)

- Internal PHY SATA 3/4 = Disabled (Turns off SATA port 3 & 4)

- VIA 1394 Control = Disabled (Turns off Firewire chip)

- Marvell Giga LAN Control = Disabled (Turns off Marvell NIC)

 

# PnP/PCI Configurations

- Resources Controlled by = Manual

- IRQ Resources >Press enter >Assign all to PCI Device

 

# Save & Exit

 

Now memtest should be running?

# Let it run for 3 hours or more

# If you get any errors instantly stop and try 1 stick at a time.

 

After Memtest or 3 hours, press escape or reboot the PC

# Enter the BIOS and disable Run memtest86+ in the GENIE settings bios menu.

 

Skip this bit, Now you can flash the BIOS (only if memtest had 0 errors)

# Download the BIOS you want.

- Use either the bootable CD or a bootable floppy disk

Tmod's bootable CD

Make your own bootable floppy disk

FlashXpress

 

Now reinstall your operating system/windows XP

# Boot from the CD

# Install + quick format

 

Once in windows you must install the following and in this order

# SP2 if it is not integrated to your CD. (download full installer here, burn it to a cd)

Get SP2 here

# Restart and install the nVidia chipset drivers, (You could burn it to the SP2 CD).

Get nVidia chipset drivers here

- Do not install the nvidia firewall/network access manager software

- Do not install the IDE SW driver

* Note, if you install these Audio drivers you do not need to install the RealTek ones.

# Restart the PC and wait a bit

 

Next you can install your GFX card drivers

# Download them here, maybe burn it to the same CD as the XP SP2 one.

Get ATi drivers here

Get nVidia drivers here

# Restart your PC and wait a bit

 

Now you should be ready to install your other applications.

# You can install the Marvell driver now (if you want)

# Install other software.

[sniper007]

This is a forum for discussing DFI motherboards. As with all computer forums it will mainly be ISSUES and problems with such boards posting for assistance especially with the presence of real DFI support people. Your going to see problems posted basically. PLus they are very popular boards so many people use them hence more probs, plus majority of users overclock = more problems. They are the best boards out there for OCing and since I have started my DFI ownership i have not had one problem with the board at all and it has performed very well. Same board you are asking bout too.

[Smoken Joe]

I have has less problems on this board than my old Asus and Abit boards though that was primarily the fault of the components and user error. Get good parts and do a little reading and you should have little problem. Certan other MBs also have problems they just dont have such a helpfull forum to go with it.

[iamkoza]

Think of things this way, if you do run into problems, you actually can find a help site that actually... helps!!! I don't think there are many other sites like this one out there

[Kawasaki 1]

Yeah, I must say that I have had no issue's with my rig since building it 10 months ago. I think I have had this luck because of what parts I'm using, but I guess I could just be a lucky one.

[sound-tekkie]

I have been experiencing some problems but they all have some kind of simple answer, overlooked cables, perhaps corrupt hardware such as cd drives etc (not so simple if you payed a lot for a particular piece of equipment. Most people reporting faults are new to DFI boards or its there first one so they are expected to make mistakes, jst follow the build guide and you will be fine. any problems and everyone will try and help. i dont know dfi boards that well yet but i can try and help

[sgrinavi]

I have both; A DFI Lanparty UT nf4 SLI D and a Asus A8N32-SLI..

 

My DFI product works like a champ and if I ever have any questions I come here and get a response in a matter of minutes. I've been running my 4200 x2 at 9x290 for over a month now without a hiccup. I had it running in SLI mode until I got my pseudo-quadro card (512 mb 6800 ultra Riva-tuned) . Now I use it as my graphics workstation, it outperforms my $8000 dual xeon workstation by leaps and bounds in every category.....

 

OTOH, my ASUS product has not worked right since day 1, I have tested every component of the system in two other computers and they work perfectly.. put them in the A8N32 and it will not go in to SLI mode, not to mention that I can't get the memory to run over 270 mhz to save my arse...

 

SO, after 3 weeks of calls to ASUS tech support I finally get an RMA number, SIX WEEK LATER they return THE SAME BOARD TO ME with nothing done to it...

 

Ya, it's cool and has a lot of potential, but it's not ready for prime time

 

GO FOR THE DFI AND DONT LOOK BACK

[mcpdigital]

Just like you, this is my first DFI mobo. I've been building with Asus, Epox, Abit and MSI for the last 1000 years. The most buggy one was always Asus, temp reading problems, PCI conflicts, Bad voltage do the GPU, just to mention a few.

Epox and Abit were stablebut with some conflicts too. MSI was a big surprise, it comes loaded with features and options and performs very well.

But now with the Lanparty I'm more than happy and impressed. Its a high end product with all the possible settings for OC and providing your HW a reliable and configurable platform.

My installation was like the Sharp nice walktrough. I had the BIOS CD and Windows XP SP2 ready and the rest was just a matter of hours to get it set and OCed.

Very good mobo.

 

Marcelo