which mobo better

[karma112]

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR 196$


DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: LP UT nF4 SLI-DR 174$

whats the difference between these 2 and is it worth the extra 20 bucks?

 

[rise]

same board, different paskaging.

the regular sli-dr has the front-x diagnostic panel, some cable sleeving, stickers, carrying strap, etc.

the UT sli-dr is basically the no-frills. i got the UT.

you can see them both here-
http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_produc...ODUCT_ID=3491&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=NA

 

[karma112]

thanks ill save 20 bucks and got with the ut i heard great oc ability on it

 

[rise]

i see you over in video too. do yourself a favor and spend some time at dfi.street. its a great site even if you just browse around. all posters are required to have sigs with system specs so you can really get a good idea of what works best on these boards. not to mention that the mods are dfi tech guys and ocz and other manufacturers have a good presence there. you'll see some AT members over there too who make some really good contributions, mucker and flexy to name a couple.

dfi.street

 

[karma112]

do u know of a good case with perferably the temerparture led readout on it?

 

[rise]

i'm afraid i don't. i have the CM praetorian which at one point i had a 5-1/4 fan controller/sensor panel in but i ended up just using the 4 fan vantec fan controller. most of your hardware has sensors integrated so i use ITE smartguardian which comes on your driver cd to monitor the cpu/mobo/chipset temps and voltages and the nvidia control panel for the card.

i would be more concerned with getting a good case with good airflow, front intake, preferably 120mm fans and maybe a top blow hole. the only thing i wish the praetorian had was 120mm fans as opposed to 80mm but it does a goob, just noisier than if it had 120mm.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119029

comes in black too. the front intake is important as the nf4 chipset is down in the area that will allow the fans to blow right across it.

you can add a fan controller/sensor after finding the best case for you, jabtech and frozenpc have good selections/pricing.

also, when you get the board, before installing it, i would recommend removing the chipset fan and replacing the TIM with as5. if you do it first, it will save you the aggravation of doing it later. its simple when its a bareboard, just 2 push pins you squeeze and push through the back of the board and then push back in again.

 

[karma112]

sorry not real update on lingo whats the TIM and such and so ur saying that most these cases such as antec slkb have that info on disk and itll report it on the monitor or what? sorry for being a newb

 

[rise]

no worries.

TIM= thermal interface material. it transfers the heat from the chip to the heat sink. most heat sink fans ship with a stock pad. the artic silver 5 is sold seprately in a tube and is worth the extra cost/effort IMO. a google will get you their site and it has the instructions posted there. any etailer will have it, usually ~ $5 tube.

the monitoring software comes with the cd you'll get with the dfi board. other free programs can be had, speedfan, everest and MBM(mother board monitor) are available. "ITE smart guardian" is the one you'll get with the motherboard and can be used to monitor the temps of the cpu, the chipset and one additional fan as well as control all 3. it loads at start up and runs in the background in the system tray so you can just click it to get a quick reading.

 

[karma112]

awesome thanks yea im set with everything for my pc cept for the case looking at a antec p160 and some thermaltakes