Initial test of a Super-value motherboard, DFI INFINITY P965-S Dark!!
 

Infinity P965-S has been launched into market about a month.
Some of articles in different forum are showing that Infinity P965-S’s OC
ability is above the standard…
I’d like to make an introduction about OC and related features about this
board.
The package design is emphasize the “Dark” , Dark color like style.
Recently, the package designs of DFI mid-range or high-end product also
have their own style.


The bundled accessories
No matter, the menu or driver CD are also use dark color style.


The motherboard itself…
The “dark style” is applied to PCB and NB/ SB heat sink.



The lower left of the board:
2 of PCI-e x16 and support CF mode(x16 + x4)
2 of PCI-e x1
The rest are 2 of traditional PCI slots.


The lower left of the board,
South bridge is adopted ICH8R
Built-in “on board” power and reset button
8 of SATA2 slots, which are supports RAID0,1,0+1, 5.


The upper left of the board:
4 DIMMs for DDR2 memory
A 24 + 8 Pin power input and a IDE device.


The upper left of the board:
There is a nice arrangement around the CPU area;
it’s enough space to equip any big size cooler.
Then, 4-phase digital PWM is adopted.


I/O parts…
The S/PDIF output and the High-definition 8 channels audio


DFI has chosen a bigger heat sink for the North Bridge this time.

About the BIOS part:
The main page


The main “adjusting page”


CPU information


DRAM options page:
The BIOS options of INFINTY are a little “user friendly” than other series.



Range of FSB: 266 to 700MHz


DDRII clocking ration: 533/ 677/ 800


Voltage options page


The highest voltage that we can add is 0.7875V.


The highest voltage for DDRII that I can reach is 3.375V. really a wide range.


2 VTT options that you needed to take care, if you reached FSB500 or
above.


NB voltage

System for the test
CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo E6420
MB: DFI INFINITY P965-S DARK
DRAM:CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF
VGA:ELSA GLADIAC 860GTS
HD:Seagate 7200.7 80GB
POWER:Corsair HX620W Modular Power Supply
Cooler:TT Big Typhoon VX


DARK, driver installation page


CPU overclock parts….
It is easy to reach 500MHz, without any additional voltage
for VTT and NB
5001X7=>3508Mhz
DDRII 1002 CL4 4 3-9 2.33V( a tight setting for DDRII)
SUPER PI 32M 14m03s


DDRII 1002 CL5 5-5-15 2.04V(auto setting of DDRII )
SUPER PI 32M 14m26s


Dual Super PI 32M


The limit of the FSB is approximately 505 MHz,
which’s without any additional voltage for chipset.
Of course, it’s related to CPU itself.


I have made a strict parameter for DRAM settings of INFINITY P965-S…
Then, there is a very good result from Super PI.
CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF


DDRII 1200 CL5 5-5-15 2.33V
SUPER PI 32M


ELSA GLADIAC 860GTS

VGA: 675Mhz/2.02GHz
3DMARK


3DMARK2005


3DMARK2006


DFI INFINITY P965-S DARK
The advantages:
1)For a fully solid capacitors version, the price is really reasonable.
2)The BIOS has a gigantic options for tweak, particularly the voltage options
3)It is not hard to let the CPU reached FSB500MHz without any additional
voltage.
4)DRAM can reach 1200 level. So far, only ASUS P5B high-end model can
does the same

The defects:
1)Late market launching, might be lost some opportunity in market.
2)There is no Dark logo for the opening scene, when the system gets start.
DFI has a good improvement these days….
Such like product package….from RD600 to now 965S, 680i….they truly found
their “characteristic” in concept. Further, the OC ability is a main advantage
of DFI boards as the past. Compares to other products that based on P965,
DFI’s INFINITY P965-S DARK is almost one of the best board in the industry.
It’s also a very good Intel platform too.
The next test:
The OC master of integrated platform>> BIOSTAR TA690G AM2

Good board ;)
I could not think of a better one at this price range ~$140.

My board arrives end this week, i'll post results later.