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

[CheesePoofs]

Any one with the refrence heatsink should be fine. Leadtek's don't though.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: arthas76
is the SLI-D going to be released in the USA or not? monarch had it for a few hours before they pulled it off the site...i really dont need the extra w/ the SLI-DR and would rather put the money towards something else.

Yes, they do. I purchased the SLI-D from Monarch back on Feb 4th. Works perfect.

Originally posted by: cubeless
i'm running with one stick of hyperx3500, my 4000 won't run, either... i'm gonna try some of the corsair from newegg...corsair cheepo

I'm using that same ram... except I paid $20 more for mine just a month ago! Right now, it's running 315 * 8x with a /133 (ram actual is ~210mhz). Not earth-shattering, but good and stable for some cheap ram. SuperPI 1M is 34s and 32M is 30m 45s.

 

[Shimmishim]

this is a sweet board... i booted up at 7 x 360 with no hitch at all (with 166 divider). didn't get a chance to test it out to see how stable it was.

decided to run 8x 300 1:1 because you lose about 150 MB/s bandwidth running the 7x mult.

either way, this is a sweet board...

one question though.. does it matter what lan you using... 1 or 2...

1 is the top one... 2 is the bottom one...

1 is the gigabit phy
2 is the gigabit pci (marvell)

thanks!

 

[dng29]

Anyone modded the non-sli ultra to run SLI? I really want this board, but the SLI one is still way too expensive. I hope price will come down soon. I have an asus a8n sli dlx, but it's not stable and not a great performer. i wonder if i get the ultra and modded it to SLI, if i can use the sli bridge from the asus a8n board. hrmmm

 

[CJ4]

I recently read a post from someone who says they received a board that cannot be modded to SLI:
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6918

However, I haven't seen this confirmed by anyone else and I also saw a post from someone who said that they successfully modified a revision A03 board (the ones shipping now).

YMMV

CJ

 

[dng29]

where did you get your ultra cj? so it'll depends on luck with the dfi ultra huh. btw, you got a link to the mod guide? too lazy to look for it . i might as well get the ultra and try it out. no more asus mobo for me.

 

[CJ4]

I got my Ultra board from either Newegg. However, you would probably have a better chance at getting an earlier board from a vendor that doesn't do as many sales. I've had pretty good service from zipzoomfly and monarch as well. Also, realize that the person who posted may just not have done the mod correctly (though it is a pretty simple mod).

Searching for a link to it would be just as quick for you as it would be for me. Here's a hint- it's in this forum (anandtech).

CJ

 

[dng29]

Thanks for the advice CJ. I might try the local frys here or order from newegg or zzf. i could also go for the lowest price vendor, but don't want to get a board that's broken or missing stuffs. i save a picture of the mod from anandtech. I read you can use a pencil, but what if i want to solder the points? i've never bridge anything using pencil before. now i wonder if the asus sli bridge will work with the dfi board. does dfi sell the sli bridge seperately?

 

[CJ4]

I used a pencil for mine and it worked fine. I wanted to make sure that I could undo the modification easily if I needed to. I think that you can use any bridge, since the bridge is dependant on the cards and not the motherboard. I've also read that it is a one-to-one connection. DFI does not sell the bridge separately and has said that they have been requested not to from NVidia. However, I have read of people getting SLI bridges (though I'm not sure from where).

CJ

 

[dng29]

#2 pencil or just any pencil? . what's your technique? gentle or hard press with the pencil? sorry for question too many questions. just want to make sure before i screw up the board . i wonder if i can get $100 for this asus a8n sli dlx at a local pc store. so how are you going to use sli on your board? hopefully someone will make sli bridge that will work with the dfi ultra.

 

[CJ4]

I used a type B lead (in drafting, leads a based on hardness - 2H, H, HB, B, 2B). #2 pencil is probably HB and would probably work fine. I pressed pretty hard and went back and forth a few times to make sure that I had a graphite bridge. You can also use conductive paint, which I think comes off fairly easily if you have to put it back to original condition.

Right now I'm not too interested in SLI... I just modded the board so that I had the capability if I ever needed it.

CJ

 

[skgarach]

Looks like there's a new bios posted on the dfi website dated 3/10/05

http://www.dfi.com.tw/Support/Download/...CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&STATUS_FLAG=A&SITE=US

 

[dng29]

can you flash bios on dfi ultra with a cd? I can flash my asus a8n thru a cd by pressing Alt+F2 and it will automatically flash the bios. I don't have a floppy drive and probably never will use it.

 

[EatsPocky]

Hey, has anyone tested the Ultra with regular Kingston Value RAM PC3200? I was using a dual channel set (1gb) of Kingston PC 3200, and I've always been having stability problems with it. I've gotten it to boot and run windows alright, but it seems to go BSOD on me every now and then, usually when running an application that eats up a lot of resources (World of Warcraft, Azureus, Emule,etc.). Memtest gave me errors at 2.6V, but I moved it to 2.5V and it seemed to pass without errors, but it still gave me BSOD. I had to set it to 180 FSB (at 2.5V) to get it to run stable (so far so good, only one BSOD in last 36 hours), but was wondering if anyone else had that problem, thanks.

Added:
I RMA'ed the first set of RAM, and received a second set, still has the same issues. Board runs stable on my old PC2100 RAM (one Kingston stick, one PNY stick), tho it seems to BSOD when running emule (except when I remove the kingston stick, though i don't do that much since XP crawls at 256 MB...). I am tempted to believe this board does NOT like Kingston RAM...

 

[imported_doc007]

I moded my Ultra-D to SLI and it shows up as an SLI now on the boot screen, but I got mine awhile back from ZipZoomFly. Rev.02 according to the sticker and .03 acording to Ntune.

I think I read that the Asus bridge (or maybe another board) won't work because it's a differnt width between the card slots on that board, so you want to find a DFI one some how. Or at least sized to fit this board. I saw flexable ones on Tom's Hardware that they said came from Nvidia I think. (just for them to test with I guess)

 

[thanatos355]

any single slot sli bridge will work with the ultra-d/sli boards. the asus is a dual slot and will not work. yes, when nvidia sent out referance boards and when some mobo makers sent out testers, they included ribbon type connectors. nvidia told them to use a pcb for the bridge instead though. supposedly for performance/stability resons.

 

[falcc]

New bios out with better memory compatability.

http://www.dfi.com.tw/Support/Download/...?PRODUCT_ID=3449&STATUS_FLAG=A&SITE=US

 

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: EatsPocky
Hey, has anyone tested the Ultra with regular Kingston Value RAM PC3200? I was using a dual channel set (1gb) of Kingston PC 3200, and I've always been having stability problems with it. I've gotten it to boot and run windows alright, but it seems to go BSOD on me every now and then, usually when running an application that eats up a lot of resources (World of Warcraft, Azureus, Emule,etc.). Memtest gave me errors at 2.6V, but I moved it to 2.5V and it seemed to pass without errors, but it still gave me BSOD. I had to set it to 180 FSB (at 2.5V) to get it to run stable (so far so good, only one BSOD in last 36 hours), but was wondering if anyone else had that problem, thanks.

Added:
I RMA'ed the first set of RAM, and received a second set, still has the same issues. Board runs stable on my old PC2100 RAM (one Kingston stick, one PNY stick), tho it seems to BSOD when running emule (except when I remove the kingston stick, though i don't do that much since XP crawls at 256 MB...). I am tempted to believe this board does NOT like Kingston RAM...

Flash to the new 3/10 bios that just came out today first, and up the memory voltage to 2.8v if that doesn't work. Anything up to 2.9v should be safe for any ram, so 2.8 should be fine.

 

[wylecoyote]

This is a retarded question, but how do you flash to new BIOS? What are the steps? I'm an idiot. Sorry.

 

[Kalibaba]

Here's your answer:
http://www.dfi.com.tw/Support/mb_faq_us1.jsp?FAQ_ID=3042&PAGE_TYPE=US&SITE=US

 

[dng29]

woot, there's hope for us who modded the dfi lanparty ut ultra-d.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20050312/etc_vgabridge.html.

i hope i can get one here in the states. if anyone on this thread will be heading to japan in the futre, do you mind picking one up for me . thanks.

 

[thanatos355]

yeah, get a couple for me too. i'm good for it, i swear!

on an interesting note. my temps had been running 33-36 idle and i really didnt think much of it. so i head off into the bios, after the flash to the 3/10 update. while there i adjust my voltages a little. left the vcore at 1.4, BUT i took the special vcore off of auto and set it at 104%. guess what, my temps drop! now i'm running 28-30 idle! raising my volts, lowered my temps! ccrazy i know! now i just want to know what that 'auto' really does on all those settings it's default on!

 

[dng29]

I'm definitely going to sell my asus a8n sli dlx and get the dfi lanparty ut ultra-d. i hope i can get a good deal for the asus. i'm going to get the dfi at the local frys. anyone know their return policy? i'm planning on modding the ultra-d to sli and if i mess up, i hope i can return or exchange it . any recommendation for setting up the dfi? thanks in advance.

 

[Headd]

Originally posted by: dng29
i'm planning on modding the ultra-d to sli and if i mess up, i hope i can return or exchange it

:shocked:
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Is there a definitive solution to replacing the chipset fan? I've removed the HSF and applied a small layer of ceramique and that lowered the temp about 6 degrees. I'm still at 49 under loan. And the fan is still annoying as hell?

Any advice?

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: dng29
i'm going to get the dfi at the local frys. anyone know their return policy? i'm planning on modding the ultra-d to sli and if i mess up, i hope i can return or exchange it . any recommendation for setting up the dfi? thanks in advance.

Yeah, their policy is the same as any other retailer-- you break it, you bought it. No returns when doing something that will void your return/exchange warranty.

Why would you want to mod it anyway? You don't have an SLI bridge for it to connect the 2 video cards to each other, so what point would it serve?

Let's say you find an SLI bridge in your front yard. Ok, great. So now you need another video card. The cheapest combo that will run SLI is 2 6600GTs. So, you're planning to spend at least $360 for video cards, but not $40 extra for the true SLI board?