"Official" DFI nF4 Ultra-D / SLI-DR Thread

[ImJacksAmygdala]

You guys might want to head over to the DFI forums and give the SLI board threads a read. It seems there are a few issues with the earlier boards regarding the bios, memory, and board revision. Two DFI forum moderators have dead boards and even the modertor at ABXzone has a DOA board. The DFI moderators recommend a RMA if you have the earlier revisions, and to update to the february bios release for the TCCD memory problems. One guy claims the board killed his CPU, and quite a few others have problems getting memory to work in certain slots.

I think I'll wait for the next batch...

 

[GodLovesPunk12345]

WAY too many posts here to search through them all for the answer to my question.. However, I'm wondering how loud the chipset fan on the DFI SLI board is? I know the Asus one is a loud mofo.. wondering how the DFI compares.

 

[slash196]

Newegg claims to be selling the Ultra-DR. Just a heads up.

 

[Sylvanas]

i have the SLI-D on my shelf waiting for the rest of my parts to arrive. once its all assembled and running ill post some thoughts/overclocking results here

 

[imported_BadKarma]

Originally posted by: ImJacksAmygdala
You guys might want to head over to the DFI forums and give the SLI board threads a read. It seems there are a few issues with the earlier boards regarding the bios, memory, and board revision. Two DFI forum moderators have dead boards and even the modertor at ABXzone has a DOA board. The DFI moderators recommend a RMA if you have the earlier revisions, and to update to the february bios release for the TCCD memory problems. One guy claims the board killed his CPU, and quite a few others have problems getting memory to work in certain slots.

I think I'll wait for the next batch...

Link please.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: slash196
Newegg claims to be selling the Ultra-DR. Just a heads up.

Edit: Warning, the following may be a typo at Newegg (thanks to Chilled for spotting this):

Yeah, $184 shipped:

DFI Ultra-DR at Newegg

 

[jmg888]

Originally posted by: GodLovesPunk12345
WAY too many posts here to search through them all for the answer to my question.. However, I'm wondering how loud the chipset fan on the DFI SLI board is? I know the Asus one is a loud mofo.. wondering how the DFI compares.

The chipset fan is VERY quiet.

 

[chilled]

Originally posted by: shira

Originally posted by: slash196
Newegg claims to be selling the Ultra-DR. Just a heads up.

Yeah, $184 shipped:

DFI Ultra-DR at Newegg

The pics and description don't show the extra SATA ports!

 

[Kanonmat]

There hasn't been any official information about Cool 'n' Quiet support. But looking at a BIOS picture here shows that it is present.

This thread also gives some information that it is important to disable "Errata 94 Enhancement" if using a Winchester CPU.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: chilled

Originally posted by: shira

Originally posted by: slash196
Newegg claims to be selling the Ultra-DR. Just a heads up.

Yeah, $184 shipped:

DFI Ultra-DR at Newegg

The pics and description don't show the extra SATA ports!

You're right. Also, the Ultra-D has disappeared from Newegg's site, and the price of this MB is the same as the last price of the Ultra-D.

So this may be a typo on Newegg's part.

 

[wmansfield]

Well, I went ahead and ordered the AGPB power supply. For the cost I don't think you can go wrong there. I read more reviews and it seems to be a solid power supply and has decent looks also. Now all I need is a freakin video card

 

[vanvock]

Originally posted by: Kanonmat
There hasn't been any official information about Cool 'n' Quiet support. But looking at a BIOS picture here shows that it is present.

This thread also gives some information that it is important to disable "Errata 94 Enhancement" if using a Winchester CPU.

Thanks for the link!

 

[ImJacksAmygdala]

Here ya go, but it appears Angry Games has edited the thread where he stated that both himself and Rgone did not have operating DFI-SLI boards. If you read Sierra's post he mentions the same thread I cannot find anymore. Good news is that Sierra was able to get his board working though, so maybe its just a problem with older bios versions not working with TCCD.

http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=52258

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=50022&postcount=2

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88699&page=3&pp=15

 

[KHarvey16]

On the topic of the recent update on the anand review...does it not sound like nVidia is simply enforcing it's restrictions on the software mod through the driver? Future chipsets will be modified to keep the Ultras from being turned into an SLI chip, but reading the update I get the sense the driver changes will have no effect on the hardware mod like some are suggesting. The current revisions of these boards sound like they will work fine with newer drivers because, as far as the system knows, the chipset is SLI. The driver changes will continue to restrict the use of 16/2.

Does this sound reasonable?

But anyway, my Ultra-D(or as newegg calls it, Ultra-DR...do these even exist?) is on the way.

 

[vanvock]

Originally posted by: KHarvey16
On the topic of the recent update on the anand review...does it not sound like nVidia is simply enforcing it's restrictions on the software mod through the driver? Future chipsets will be modified to keep the Ultras from being turned into an SLI chip, but reading the update I get the sense the driver changes will have no effect on the hardware mod like some are suggesting. The current revisions of these boards sound like they will work fine with newer drivers because, as far as the system knows, the chipset is SLI. The driver changes will continue to restrict the use of 16/2.

Does this sound reasonable?

But anyway, my Ultra-D(or as newegg calls it, Ultra-DR...do these even exist?) is on the way.

That's the way I see it too. They also seem to be pressuring DFI not to supply any bridge connectors to Ultra buyers.

 

[KHarvey16]

Originally posted by: vanvock

Originally posted by: KHarvey16
On the topic of the recent update on the anand review...does it not sound like nVidia is simply enforcing it's restrictions on the software mod through the driver? Future chipsets will be modified to keep the Ultras from being turned into an SLI chip, but reading the update I get the sense the driver changes will have no effect on the hardware mod like some are suggesting. The current revisions of these boards sound like they will work fine with newer drivers because, as far as the system knows, the chipset is SLI. The driver changes will continue to restrict the use of 16/2.

Does this sound reasonable?

But anyway, my Ultra-D(or as newegg calls it, Ultra-DR...do these even exist?) is on the way.

That's the way I see it too. They also seem to be pressuring DFI not to supply any bridge connectors to Ultra buyers.

Yup. But I'm sure a manufacturer with no ties to nVidia will see a great opportunity to make some money and will take advantage of the vaccuum left there.

 

[tmchow]

Originally posted by: jmg888

Originally posted by: GodLovesPunk12345
WAY too many posts here to search through them all for the answer to my question.. However, I'm wondering how loud the chipset fan on the DFI SLI board is? I know the Asus one is a loud mofo.. wondering how the DFI compares.

The chipset fan is VERY quiet.

Anyone have any exact measurements of how loud? Is it quiet enough that it's a non-issue in an HTPC case?

 

[tmchow]

Originally posted by: shira

Originally posted by: slash196
Newegg claims to be selling the Ultra-DR. Just a heads up.

Edit: Warning, the following may be a typo at Newegg (thanks to Chilled for spotting this):

Yeah, $184 shipped:

DFI Ultra-DR at Newegg

From this thread these are the differences between all the variants:

LanParty nF4 SLI-DR: Dual RAID (nVidia and sil3114), SLI, FrontX, and LED Connector
LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR: Dual RAID (nVidia and sil3114) and SLI
Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-D: RAID 0/1 (nVidia) and SLI
LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-DR: Dual RAID (nVidia and sil3114) but No SLI
LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D: RAID 0/1 (nVidia) but No SLI

I heard complaints that "R" versions with dual raid have the Silicon 3114 chip that was a major complaint in the Nforce2 board (the chip is REALLY slow). Anyone have a review or first hand experience on whether they fixed the problems? If not, the dual raid versions will be useless.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: tmchow

Originally posted by: shira

Originally posted by: slash196
Newegg claims to be selling the Ultra-DR. Just a heads up.

Edit: Warning, the following may be a typo at Newegg (thanks to Chilled for spotting this):

Yeah, $184 shipped:

DFI Ultra-DR at Newegg

From this thread these are the differences between all the variants:

LanParty nF4 SLI-DR: Dual RAID (nVidia and sil3114), SLI, FrontX, and LED Connector
LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR: Dual RAID (nVidia and sil3114) and SLI
Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-D: RAID 0/1 (nVidia) and SLI
LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-DR: Dual RAID (nVidia and sil3114) but No SLI
LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D: RAID 0/1 (nVidia) but No SLI

I have no doubt that DFI is going to produce all those boards, but on the DFI website right now, they have listed only the non-UT SLI-DR, the UT SLI-D, and the UT Ultra-D. So I'm wondering if the Ultra-DR is available yet.

Also, in the description of the UT SLI-D on the DFI website, they include FrontX as a feature (but maybe that's a typo on their part). Finally, the non-UT SLI-DR incudes UV-reactive cable sleeving.

 

[wmansfield]

Something interesting I noticed is that Newegg's pictures of the Ultra-D show an SLI bridge connector with the cables and such. I should get my board tomorrow or Tuesday and will let you know if this is indeed in the box. If not I'm going to be a little annoyed.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Does anyone have any idea when nvidia will start shipping ultra chipsets that can't be modded into an sli chipset? Or when those will start appearing in boards?

 

[Bertzmaru]

Originally posted by: wmansfield
Something interesting I noticed is that Newegg's pictures of the Ultra-D show an SLI bridge connector with the cables and such. I should get my board tomorrow or Tuesday and will let you know if this is indeed in the box. If not I'm going to be a little annoyed.

ill be waiting..

 

[imported_mxracer]

Originally posted by: wmansfield
Something interesting I noticed is that Newegg's pictures of the Ultra-D show an SLI bridge connector with the cables and such. I should get my board tomorrow or Tuesday and will let you know if this is indeed in the box. If not I'm going to be a little annoyed.

i dont wanna be the bearer of bad news, but I recieved my Ultra-D board on Friday (2-4-05) from Zip and there was NO SLI bridge :frown: the picture at Zip also showed the bridge but its not in the box. and to top it off, the LED and power pins on the board were all bent up.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Bertzmaru

Originally posted by: wmansfield
Something interesting I noticed is that Newegg's pictures of the Ultra-D show an SLI bridge connector with the cables and such. I should get my board tomorrow or Tuesday and will let you know if this is indeed in the box. If not I'm going to be a little annoyed.

ill be waiting..

It wil NOT include the SLI bridge. It is not an SLI board. Only the SLI-DR and SLI-D will have the brige. Newegg and other retailers are notorius for using stock photos that don't accurately represent the product.

For those that are worried about postings from folks that are having a hard time with the DFI boards, just realize that there are a lot of people out there that make mistakes, overclock out of the box, and just plain do things wrong. I set up the Ultra-D for my dad tonight. Got it to POST outside the case in about 15 minutes. Set it all up in the case, wired it up, and installed Windows. Took 3 hours (most of the Superbowl). No issues or problems whatsoever for the following:

Ultra-D
3000+
2x 512mb Corsair Value
6800GT
Seagate SATA

 

[jmg888]

Anyone have any exact measurements of how loud? Is it quiet enough that it's a non-issue in an HTPC case?

I put my ear to it and couldn't hear it over my very quiet CPU and PSU fan's. I have a HTPC and I would have no hesitation whatsoever using one of these mb's for it.