DFI Lanparty Ultra-D vs. ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

[chimpy]

 

[MegaWorks]

DFI Lanparty Ultra-D

I love it!

 

[bongsteen]

handsdown dfi lanparty ultra-d.

 

[chimpy]

Thanks for the votes and replies. Couple of questions though.

1. How easy is it to set the DFI up? I heard the BIOS options are daunting for n00bs like me

2. How loud is the chipset fan, and how easy to replace?

3. Does the board work with GeIL Value RAM? I need a definitive answer, and I've heard the board is picky about RAM.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

dfi = problems. just go to www.dri-street.com and you'll see the thousands of dfi owners who hate their boards and need help

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
dfi = problems. just go to www.dri-street.com and you'll see the thousands of dfi owners who hate their boards and need help

Hmm.. according to this thread, it seems the ASUS has problems also. I'm completely 50/50 as to which to get! Hmm.. I'll make a list...

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

Advantages
Fantastic, silent chipset cooling (BIG plus)
Easier to work with - not as many cunfusing options

Disadvantages
All the problems people have with it (BIG negative)
£12 more expensive than the DFI for me

DFI Lanparty Ultra-D

Advantages
Cheaper
More overclockable IF I get it running (neither of these are hugeadvantages, though both are nice)

Disadvantages
Problems! But they both have their problems sooo I dunno!
LOUD chipset fan (big negative, but ease of use and stability is more important to me)

Thoughts? I'd love for someone to just give me a rock solid reason for getting one. Like if only one of the companies announced they were stopping it due to flaws or something. Would make my decision sooo much easier!

 

[LOUISSSSS]

haha just cuz one thread shows that 1 user is having problems with the asus board, doesn't mean there aren't thousands of other users here and at dfi-street with problems. oh and at dfi street they dont really help you too much, been there done that. asus is the only top tier motherboard company in my books, all others dfi, msi, gigabyte = second tier

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
haha just cuz one thread shows that 1 user is having problems with the asus board, doesn't mean there aren't thousands of other users here and at dfi-street with problems. oh and at dfi street they dont really help you too much, been there done that. asus is the only top tier motherboard company in my books, all others dfi, msi, gigabyte = second tier

Actually, it's many users who are having problems. Having said that, it's probably due to the sheer popularity of the board.

Anyway, after going to dfi-street and asking them if an Ultra-D would work with my current components. I was told to change my RAM and PSU! My PSU is an Enermax Liberty 500W - I'm sure you'll agree it's one of the best PSU models atm. So that alone has put me off buying the DFI.

ATM the ASUS is the one I'd go for then, though nothing's definate.

Can anyone give me an answer on this:

Will my 2x512MB GeIL Value RAM work with an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard?

Thanks for your help so far btw.

 

[RedBeard]

My ultra-D worked fine with my Antec 450 watt smartpower 2.0 I honestly think your power supply fine. I ran cheap value ram and OCZ, they both ran great.

Go for the DFI.

 

[chimpy]

Gah, I think I've made a decision, and then you have to come along and get me all indecisive again!

I think I'll go for the ASUS - the chipset cooling just about tips it I think. Thanks to everyone who posted and voted!

 

[whovous]

Both boards have lousy chipset coolers, so that should not be the deciding factor.

I've built both, and even though I am RMA'ing my Asus, I think it is the easier board to work with.

If you want top performance, however, you don't want ease of use; you want complete control over all functions. I've chosen DFI for my next new build.

So, I voted ASUS because you want ease of use. DFI is a better board, just not an easy board.

 

[Pens1566]

Replace the DFI chipset cooler with a $7 Evercool VC-RE.

 

[chimpy]

OK, I think I've changed my mind *again*, and I'm gonna get the DFI. I'm pretty sure of that. In fact, the only reason I won't get it is if I find out my RAM won't work with it. It's GeIL Value, and timings are rated at 2.5-3-3-6. Anyone know for sure, or got any other input?

 

[Tyrant222]

dont know for sure man.

but I just ordered one too to replace my dfi nf3 board.
Gonna pair it with my opteron 144. Should be here friday.

 

[mb103051]

better hope you get a good board.about 25% or so of the dfi boards are defective in some way.many take so many hours of trying settings and tweeking and still wont run stable at stock settings.if you get a good one things may work out ,if not good luck.your not using the dfi reccomended parts with it so your chances of having a fairly easy build just went down the drain/these boards are the most over rated low quality POS ever put out on the american market.ive had 3 of these,1 ultra d,2 experts.first expert ate my cpu on a startup with default settings.rma and second one booted up after 36 hours of playing with settings.sold it and was glad to see it go.ultra d was easier to setup but was very picky with ram and psu.spent most of my time tweeking it just so it would run.according to dfi the expert dosent eat cpu's[BS] and dosent have a cold start problem{BS}they will fix your board for 15 dollars to work correctly even though its not a board problem.5 of us filed a cas against dfi and after 2 months of lawyers talking they agreed to replace our boards and cpu's.we were allowed to pick any board dfi makes to replace the fab expert.3 took the venus and i am waiting for the am2 boards to decide which one i want.they are the most arrogant company to deal with.either everybodys hardware is bad or the user dosent know how to set them up correctly.its always something other than a bad board or a bad designed board {EXPERT}untill you put legal pressure on them the have no help for you.you confront them with evidence and a lawyer starting a class action lawsuit and alot of publicity and the buckle and admit they missed the boat with some of their boards.i hate to have to use another dfi board but its free and im willing to bet when i order one it will be a handpicked board and tested before its shipped to me.the venus boards the 3 other guys involved in the lawsuit got came with a letter and test results from dfi's testing lab.oscar wu even sent them a sheet with settings for 5 different types of ram.they all reported the boards are running perfect.its a fixed version of the expert basically.i can choose a venus too but i want to see the am2 boards first but i still may get the venus.the production number on the venus boards is xxxx.no numbers so we dont know if its over the 1000 production models.they replaced the opterion cpu's on 2 of them,the 3rdperson had a sd3700 a64.ihad the 4400 x2.
so just a story to let you all know what kind of a company dfi really is and what it takes to get them to admit they have some garbage boards and try to put the blame on innocent people and other companies.i hate them with a passion and may very well get a venus ans sell it just to run and enjoy using a fine asus,abit ,biostar or msi board.all very good honest companies who take care of problems with their boards when something isnt right.asus is my first choise.some of their am2 boards look mighty nice.selling a new venus should buy me any asus am2 board i may want.good luck to anyone who buys a dfi board.................beware............................

 

[njswift10141980]

dfi

 

[Thor86]

DFI, just because of the bios settings profile saving options.

 

[SniperWulf]

Get the DFI. I pretty much asked the same question about 2 months ago and got the same answers, except I was thinking about the Asus A8N-E (which i'm glad i didn't buy becaue my friend wound up RMAing his outta the box). As long as your Ultra-D is rev. AD0, you should be fine (all the boards shipping from newegg and zzf are AD0).

 

[CP5670]

They're actually AE0 now. Although I think the only change from the AD0s is the BIOS that comes loaded on them.

I would also recommend the Ultra-D. I had quite a few issues with the last few Asus boards I used while the two DFIs I have now are nearly perfect. As SniperWulf said, the newer revisions are better overclockers than the old ones and have many of the memory compatibility issues fixed.

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: Tyrant222
dont know for sure man.

but I just ordered one too to replace my dfi nf3 board.
Gonna pair it with my opteron 144. Should be here friday.

Well it's Saturday now, did you get it? How is it?

Thanks for the other posts, I'm now 95% sure I'm gonna get the DFI Ultra-D. I have my last exam on Wednesday, and then 10 weeks of nothingness so I'll probably order it Tuesday so I can fiddle around with it without feeling guilty for not revising

Keep the votes coming in though, I'm not 100% yet!

 

[Megatomic]

I voted ASUS as I'll never get another DFI POS product again.

 

[RFtesla]

Well I own the DFI lanparty right now and it is quite the board. That is if you have the right ram. The BIOS is AMAZING if you plan to overclock, there are so many ways to change even the slightest item.

That being said, this is my first DFI mobo, I've had all ASUS previous to this. The reason I bought this mobo was because of the overclocking potential that I read it had. I've bought 5 ASUS mobo's and they have all been very stable.

Personally, seeing as how you have that Geil RAM and desire stability, I would go with the ASUS.

 

[whovous]

DFIs will work with the Geil Value RAM, they just won't OC much.

And there is not a lot of point to getting DFI, and all the extra work that goes with it, if you do not plan to OC.

Meanwhile, I think mb103051 is just blowing smoke. There is no such thing as a five person class action suit. In any case, the cost of suvh a suit would be so high for five people that a free mobo would not come close to compensating that cost. His facts just don't add up for this lawyer.

 

[zylander]

I currently have the lanparty ultra-d and I love it. THis is my first DFI board, all my boards before this have been Asus. My DFI board was easy to setup, wen I was readying reviews about it before buying I was affraid I wouldnt be able to do it because of so many people saying that its a difficult board to use but I dont see it. Ive never had any problems with this board and the OCing abilities with this board are AMAZING! Ive always loved Asus boards, but now my next board will deffinitely be a DFI.

 

[confused1234]

haha dont be tempted not to get this board if you are a noob. last year i accidently knocked a cord out of a socket and it fried my computer. and i was ready just to buy a premade one. but then realized that building your own was a better choice. so i obviulsy had to do some research and to be honest, connecting everything to this board was pretty straight forward, got it to boot. then after all that was done i did a little research on overclocking and found the best hands down OC'ing guide.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823

there is no better OCing guide there, so dont be intimidated and go for the best! DFI FTW!!!!

btw i had 0 problems with this board, other then my case sucks and everything in the case overheats pretty easily