DFI X48-T3RS review - redefining the high end ?

Motherboards/Intel S775 by thorgal @ 2008-11-16

A bit late to the market, but, as always, DFI comes in with a bang. Today we have a look at the latest addition to the DFI lineup, in the form of the (ultra) high end X48-T3RS. Does it have what it takes to beat Asus et al? Read on to find out...

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A closer look at board and specifications

The board

More than time for a first look at our guinea pig of the day :

Madshrimps (c)


Not that long ago, DFI decided to change the color scheme from orange-black to green-black, with a second color for the secondary memory banks. The PCB is still black, and still looks classy. The slots are green now, but still UV-reactive: it's a Lanparty board after all. The ATX layout is classic, no reason to change a winning team. DFI tends to move the cpu-area to the upper part of the board, right along the top edge (right edge in the picture). This leaves more room for expansion slots, but could spell some interference between a large CPU cooler and your case (or PSU inside that case). In taller cases and/or with normal size CPU coolers there shouldn't be a problem though. Another something that catches the eye is the flashy new heatpipe cooling system from Thermalright, but more on that later.

Let's look at the specifications we find on the manufacturer's site, and accompany them with a look at the different board areas one by one. Click on the thumbnails to have a more detailed look.

CPU

  • LGA 775 socket for:
    - Intel® CoreTM2 Quad and Intel® CoreTM2 Duo
  • Supports Intel Enhanced Memory 64 Technology (EMT64T)
  • Supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST)
  • Supports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
  • Supports 1600/1333/1066/800MHz FSB

    Madshrimps (c)

    The CPU area has always been one of the stronger points of all the latest DFI boards. Because of their all-digital CPU power management, they are able to keep the surroundings of the socket absolutely clean: the board almost asks for more extreme cooling and the insulation of the cpu-area that comes with it.


    Chipset

  • Intel® chipset
    - Northbridge: Intel® X48 Express chipset (with Intel® Fast Memory Access technology)
    - Southbridge: Intel® ICH9R

    Madshrimps (c)

    The chipset features Thermalright's new cooler (more on that later), which is a very aggressive looking "flame" design, sporting the Lanparty name.


    System Memory

  • Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets
  • Supports DDR3 1600MHz (O.C 1800/2000 MHz)
  • Delivers up to 21.3Gb/s bandwidth at 1333MHz,
    (25.6GB/s bandwidth at 1600MHz)
  • Supports dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface
  • Supports up to 8GB system memory
  • Supports unbuffered x8 and x16 DIMMs

    Madshrimps (c)

    Memory slots haven't changed much, except for the fact that they take DDR3 memory now. The yellow slots are the preferred ones to overclock your memory, so those are the ones we'll be using most.


    Expansion Slots

  • 2 PCI Express (Gen 2) x16 slots (PCIE 1 and PCIE 3)
    - 2-way CrossFire at x16/x16 bandwidth
    - 2-way CrossFire + Physics at x16/x16/x4 bandwidth
  • 1 PCI Express x1 slot (PCIE 2)
  • 1 PCI Express x4 slot (PCIE 4)
  • 3 PCI slots

    Madshrimps (c)

    A very good expansion slot arrangement, courtesy of the CPU socket that is moved to the top of the board. Sporting 3 full size PCIe x16 slots (of which 2 are electrically x16, the third is x4 speed) and 3 standard PCI slots, this is actually my favorite layout of all boards I tested so far. I actually have quite some PCI cards lying around still (wireless, TV-card, x-fi card and some more) so having 2 PCI slots at my disposal (or 3 when you use single slot graphic cards) is very nice indeed.

    BIOS

  • Award BIOS
  • 8Mbit flash memory
  • CMOS Reloaded

    Audio

  • Bernstein audio module
    - Realtek ALC885 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
    - Center/subwoofer, rear R/L and side R/L jacks
    - Line-in, line-out (front R/L) and mic-in jacks
    - 2 coaxial RCA S/PDIF-in/out jacks
    - 1 optical S/PDIF connector
    - 1 CD-in connector
    - 1 front audio connector
  • DAC SNR/ADC SNR of 106dB/101dB
  • Full-rate lossless content protection technology

    LAN

  • Marvell 88E8052 and Marvell 88E8053 PCIE Gigabit LAN controllers
  • Fully compliant to IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T), 802.3u (100BASE-TX) and 802.3ab (1000BASE-T) standards

    IEEE 1394

  • VIA VT6307
  • Supports two 100/200/400 Mb/sec ports

    Power Management

  • Ultimate 8-phase digital PWM with 18 MOSFETs
  • ACPI and OS Directed Power Management
  • ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function
  • Wake-On-PS/2 / Wake-On-USB Keyboard/Mouse
  • Wake-On-LAN and Wake-On-Ring
  • RTC timer to power-on the system
  • AC power failure recovery

    Storage

  • Intel ICH9R chip
    - Intel Matrix Storage technology
    - Supports up to 6 SATA devices
    - SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
    - RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5
  • JMicron JMB363 PCI Express to SATA and PATA host controller
    - Supports up to 2 UltraDMA 100Mbps IDE devices
    - Supports 2 SATA devices
    - SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
    - RAID 0 and RAID 1

    Madshrimps (c)

    Storage is very complete, as always. Sporting 6+2 SATA ports, the board should satisfy all but the most demanding users. I am also very pleased that DFI has not done away with ATA and Floppy just yet. They do still have their merits, from time to time.

    Rear Panel I/O Ports

  • Mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port and PS/2 keyboard port
  • 1 IEEE 1394 port
  • 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  • 2 RJ45 LAN ports

    Madshrimps (c)

    Unlike many others, DFI still gives us two PS2 connectors for keyboard and mouse, which I appreciate a lot. It seems that board manufacturers are proud nowadays when they can do away with connectors... well they don't make me happy, as my KVM-switch still relies on PS2 only (ok, ok, I should upgrade too, from time to time ;-) ). Other than that DFI gives us double LAN, 6 USB in the rear and IEEE134 or firewire 400 too. Nothing to complain about. The rest of the space is reserved for cooling, but more on that on the next page.

    I/O Connectors

  • 3 connectors for 6 additional external USB 2.0 ports
  • 1 connector for an external COM port
  • 1 connector for an IEEE 1394 port
  • 1 connector for the Bernstein audio module
  • 1 front audio connector (on the Bernstein audio module)
  • 1 CD-in connector (on the Bernstein audio module)
  • 1 S/PDIF connector (on the Bernstein audio module)
  • 1 IrDA connector
  • 1 CIR connector
  • 8 Serial ATA connectors
  • 1 40-pin IDE connector and 1 floppy connector
  • 1 24-pin ATX power connector
  • 1 8-pin 12V power connector
  • 2 4-pin 5V/12V power connectors (FDD type)
  • 1 front panel connector
  • 6 fan connectors
  • 1 diagnostic LED
  • EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)

    Hardware Monitor

  • Monitors CPU/system/Northbridge temperature and overheat alarm
  • Monitors Vcore/Vdimm/Vnb/VCC5/12V/V5sb/Vbat voltages
  • Monitors the speed of the cooling fans
  • CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature and fan during system boot-up - automatic shutdown upon system overheat

    PCB

  • 6 layers, ATX form factor
  • 24.5cm (9.64") x 30.5cm (12")

    Let's see what else is included in the box ...>
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    Comment from jort @ 2008/11/17
    The Bernstein Audio Module sports a classic Realtek ALC885 solution, which is a bit of a shame as better solutions are available on some boards. It SUPPORTS ? 8-channel audio with all the usual connectors. Nothing special here.

    As you can see however, the Module does not fit into any slot on the motherboard by itself. Instead, it features a 12-pin connector in which the supplied cable fits, while the other end of the cable goes into the motherboard of course. The benefit of this solution is the fact that you can plug the audio module in whatever expansion slot of your case you like, depending on where and how many other expansion cards you've got plugged in. The cable could have been a little longer though, as the bottom-most expansion slot was not reachable even with a completely stretched cable.
    Comment from thorgal @ 2008/11/17
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jort View Post
    The Bernstein Audio Module sports a classic Realtek ALC885 solution, which is a bit of a shame as better solutions are available on some boards. It SUPPORTS ? 8-channel audio with all the usual connectors. Nothing special here.

    As you can see however, the Module does not fit into any slot on the motherboard by itself. Instead, it features a 12-pin connector in which the supplied cable fits, while the other end of the cable goes into the motherboard of course. The benefit of this solution is the fact that you can plug the audio module in whatever expansion slot of your case you like, depending on where and how many other expansion cards you've got plugged in. The cable could have been a little longer though, as the bottom-most expansion slot was not reachable even with a completely stretched cable.
    What do you mean Jort ? Just saying here what DFI themselves say :?
    Comment from Massman @ 2008/11/17
    A typing error, I think. In the article it says 'sport'
    Comment from thorgal @ 2008/11/17
    Fixed "Sports" is a possible word in this case too though
    Comment from goingpostale1 @ 2008/11/19
    Great review Thorgal, looks like another DFI masterpiece.

    Dunno about Oskar Wu being the best engineer on this planet, but way to ground the review in history a bit by bringing up the NF7-S. I've still got mine, and I still love it .

     

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