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-   -   The motherboard that breaks the limitation of memory:DFI LANParty NF680I LT SLI-T2R (https://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f10/motherboard-breaks-limitation-memory-dfi-lanparty-nf680i-lt-sli-t2r-33514/)

windwithme 23rd May 2007 17:08

The motherboard that breaks the limitation of memory:DFI LANParty NF680I LT SLI-T2R
 
Recently, the hottest chipset of NVIDIA must be NForce 6 series (Intel
platform).
In fact, 680i is the highest model of them all, which has SLI x16 + x16
/EPP/QuickSync technology….etc. The publicity of NV 6 series is “on the rise”
these days, even though the Intel chipsets are so strong in the market.
Not long ago, I released a review of 680i’s reference board.
That is also the board of many others manufacturer too (same board,
just print their logos on) No matter the spec. or design of it is also real
excellent; particularly the
DDRII OC parts is defeats all Intel chipsets. But it was pity that the
reference board of 680i only can reached 470MHz when installed with my X
6800 CPU. Besides, I tried 965 mobo equipped with the same CPU, it ran
around 500MHz… later on, some of the mobo manufacturers tried to design
their own 680i. but seems non of them could do better than the NV reference
board.
Now, what I’m going to test is the overclock-oriented motherboard, DFI.
The LANParty UT NF680i LT SLI-T2R is the highest-end of DFI’s LP product.
It adopts 680i LT chipset; it is exactly the same spec to 680i. Maybe
the “production quality” is a bit different to 680i.
First of all, we check the package design first; it’s really “fashion-look”
this time.


The inside package contain 3 different parts.
The 1st part: NB Heat sink.


The installation guide of NB heat sink and the paste.


Imprint Fins of NB heat sink with a LP logo.
It is optional to install a 6 x 6 cm FAN,
a great help to a high performance NV chipset.


“Copper bottom” design. I heard that this NB heat sink will be sell
independently…


The 2nd part, Accessory


Inside:
Includes User menu, driver CD, SLI bridge, IO shield, connect cables,
Karajan audio module and RAID driver disk.


The 3rd part: the board itself


DFI LANParty UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R


windwithme 23rd May 2007 17:09

Lower left of the board: 3 x PCIe x16, 1x PCIe x4, 3 x PCI slots.


The lower right parts:
Power/ Reset button & Debug LED light.
Pure copper South bridge
6 ports of SATAII, which supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 functions
Built-in Silicon Image SiI3132 chip.
2 stackable SATAII ports with RAID function too.


Upper left of the board
IDE 24-pin power and 4 dimm DDRII slots


The upper left parts:
Unique 6-phase digital PWM design, except the better power supply stability,
it also provide a bigger space for a “huge” CPU cooler.


IO output
6 x USB2.0 (total up to 10 ports), Dual gigabit LAN, 1394 ports
(audio module not installed)


Northbridge


There is a cushion pad between the heat sink and the surface of the chip.
Just follow the instruction, the chip won’t be damage…


windwithme 23rd May 2007 17:10

The system details:
CPU:INTEL Core 2 Duo E6420
MB: DFI LANParty UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R
DRAM: CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF
VGA:MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-HD-OC
HD: WD1600AAJS
POWER: Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
Cooler: Thermaltake V1

I recommended that install a additional fan with the NB, especially when OC
over 400MHz…(BTW, V1 is really helpful, the air flow can help NB too, it’s
strong)
The drivers installation interface:


CPU: 266X8=>2133Mhz 1.3V
DRAM: DDRII 800 CL3 3-3-9 1T 2.19V
NB:1.18V
SP2004 steady…

DDRII 800 CL3 3-3-9 1T is a option that 680i reference board can’t be
reached.
I knew the revised version BIOS released, the reference board can works
normally at last. But the voltage is higher than DFI680i LT a little bit.

CPU: 266X8=>2133Mhz 1.3V
DRAM: DDRII 1066 CL4 4-3-9 2T 1.98V
NB:1.18V
SP2004 steady…


I tried to show the performance between 680i and 680i LT when equipped
with X6800ES CPU… (It ran steady at FSB470MHz)
CPU: 450X8=>3600Mhz 1.4V
DRAM: DDRII 1310 CL4 4-4-4 2T 2.67V
NB:1.48V
Super PI 1M


DFI 680i LT NB after increasing a little voltage, 500MHz FSB is easy to reach.
Further, the highest voltage is 3.04V; it’s a wider range of voltage settings
than 680i reference board. For my personal experience, this is the first time I
reached 1300(CL4) with 2G DDRII memory. Quite cool…
DFI did the best to make LT better than the hottest NV 680i reference board
(by their R&D design). Moreover, the FSB and DDRII performance are
obviously better than the reference board. It improves the FSB’s limitation
between different CPU of Intel.
Further, it also pushes the memory performance to a highest place under all
Intel platform.
Most of Mobo manufacturers sell the 680i reference board awhile ago and
some of them have their own design too… DFI was late in launch their 680i
LT as usual, but, the refined package design, thoughtfulness HW & BIOS
design and OC performance are still the reason why enthusiasts like it.
I’ll post a detail review about BIOS and some extreme OC test a bit later.
The up-coming reviews:
ATI RADEON HD2900XT 512MB CrossFire
The ultra-high VGA product line.


Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
High C/P ratio and high power output Active PFC PSU


Updated Seagate 7200.7 160GB HD, for increase the performance,
I brought the WD 1600AAJS 160GB 8Mb cache memory. (a latest version)

Sidney 23rd May 2007 18:54

Toasty nb temp despite the use of sizeable heatsink.

Liquid3D 25th May 2007 03:01

Any news on an AMD version? Or does anyone know why?

windwithme 28th May 2007 04:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid3D (Post 145338)
Any news on an AMD version? Or does anyone know why?


I dont have AMD verison news...

jmke 28th May 2007 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid3D (Post 145338)
Any news on an AMD version? Or does anyone know why?

the AMD version? the NF570 ? DFI has one here: http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=498

windwithme 16th June 2007 15:13

“Booting screen”

BIOS options
Main page

The voltage option pages
4 different voltage statuses below are worthy to trust.
If you want to OC with most of Core2Duo CPU, first thing is to increase NB’s
voltage. Besides, I suggest that you push the VTT up to 1.4V or more when
you use QX or E6X20 series.
CPU GTL 1 REF Volt/CPU GTL 0/2/3 REF Volt/NB REF Volt=>around170/90/95

CPU Highest Voltage 1.60000V

DDRII Highest Voltage 3.04V

NB Highest Voltage 1.74V

CPU clock and DDRII clock option
This is almost the same way to NV’s 680i CRB (reference board)

DDRII Ratio (divisor) Option,
NV’s 600 series emphasized its DDRII ratio can be “free-adjust”.
But it must under some match of the CPU: DDRII ratio. Then, you can reach a higher FSB.

CPU Feature

The parameter options page of DDRII

windwithme 16th June 2007 15:16

PC Health status
About PSU: +5V/ +12V the display of them seems a bit lower than the real
situation.
Besides, the display CPU temperature seems higher than the actual one.
But all them will be fixed in the latest BIOS version.


Test system detail
CPU:INTEL Core 2 Duo E6420
MB: DFI LANParty UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R
DRAM:CORSAIR Dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
VGA:MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-HD-OC
HD:WD1600AAJS
POWER:Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
Cooler:Thermaltake V1

I hope it can have a good performance when equipped
with Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
E6420
CPU 450 MHz/DDRII 1200 CL4 3-3-3 2T 2.40V
Sandra/ Everest

Dual Super PI 32M

Dual SP2004

The performance of X6800(ES)
CPU 400Mhz/DDRII 1200 CL4 3-3-9 2T 2.36V
Dual SP2004 runs stably

CPU500Mhz single Super PI 32M

DDRII Memory is real good
CPU 450 MHz/DDRII 1310 CL4 4-3-3 2T
Sandra/EVEREST broad bandwidth of memory…

It’s a bit pity about the divisor…
no way to run the broad bandwidth test under 500/1310 ratio.
DFI LANParty UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R
The merits
1)an organized and unique graph (includes package design, boot-up picture,
and the image of driver CD)
2)Also a unique design for the NB cooler, a extra fan will make it better too.
3)LANParty BIOS options: the range of frequency/ voltage is real “wide” for
users to tweak.
4)If the processor quality is good enough. It can easy to reach FSB500 or
above. DFI’s is better than NV’s CRB a bit.
5)NVIDIA’s 680/650 are the only models of Intel platform which can supports
SLI function.

The defects
1)a little bit late to release in market; It can have a better competitive power
2)NVIDIA chipset’s problem…high temperature from chipset
3)Lower voltage on detection, higher temperature when measure,
that needs to improve
I believe it wasn’t a coincident that EVGA’s CMB has good sales result from
the market. Except the SLI technology, NV is a step-ahead than Intel on DDR
memory overclocking.
Actually, DFI LANParty UT NF680i LT hasn’t adopts 680i but 680i LT.
But design ability is overcome most of problems of LT version, it did reach a
higher record of FSB than 680i. In addition, although LT version isn’t supports
DDRII1200 as 680i, but in fact, it shows a better performance than 680i CRB.
These are the remarkable points of this LP UT NF680i LT.

680i and 680i LT basically is the same chipset, but separate by its process
quality.
Ha, I suggest DFI to have a 680i Ultra, particularly its LT version has a better
performance than 680i CRB.
Obviously, LANParty series motherboard is getting improved step by step in
this year.
If they can launch their product a little earlier, set the price a little
reasonable and the detection of the system can be more accurate. I think
DFI’s product will “walk tall” in front of all 1st tier brand.

Massman 16th June 2007 19:58

Any chance you'll be able to play with the upcoming DFI P35 T2R?

SAMSAMHA 17th June 2007 19:01

what's that crystal cat/dog/bunny thing doing with that mobo:). :ws:

jmke 17th June 2007 19:19

copyrighting his photos of course:)


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