Why does everyone reccomend DFI?

[Cheezeit]

^

Whats so bad about the nforce4 ultra msi and asus ones? I know that asus quality has gone downhill lately, but the msi sck 939 nf4 ultra got pretty good reviews, better than the DfI, like at toms hardware.

just wonderin

 

[imported_Kensai]

The DFI is suggested for most people because it's got extreme voltage settings which the MSI doesn't have. But the MSI has what the DFI doesn't have. I recommend both boards.

 

[Rike]

DFI nforce4 has the best OC possiblities and good price, esp. on the ultra board. Lots of OC freaks here=lots of DFI recomendations.

 

[Baked]

Highest RAM voltage on the market for those crazy OCers.

 

[theMan]

you can tweak just about everything with those boards.

 

[Ike0069]

Really, as the others have said, the main reason is that DFI was smart enough to put the Dimm voltage line on the 5V rail, vice the 3.3V rail that is the norm. That give DFI a huge advantage for OC'ers.
MSI has recently released a Beta Bios that will allow up to 3.1V (from 2.85 originally) for RAM. That's pretty much max though.

 

[keldysh]

They look like cheesey mainboard to me.

 

[KoolDrew]

They are great boards for overclocking. FOr someone not overclocking people suggest something else like the Epox.

 

[hippotautamus]

DFI boards have a pretty complete feature set as well, especially for the price. The mad overclocking potential is what makes it a winner though.

 

[Maluno]

Yup, with 3.2v+ running through some bh5/UTT sticks you can get some pretty great results. With this mobo, no need for that DDR Booster thingy!

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally posted by: Rike
DFI nforce4 has the best OC possiblities and good price, esp. on the ultra board. Lots of OC freaks here=lots of DFI recomendations.

Not to mention lots of kids who fry their CPU's here as in the thread just a few threads away from this one on the general Hardware board. Those same morons will get on here & tell you to get DFi because it is t3h u63r 1337n355 for overclocking. Honestly, you can get just as good of an overclock with the MSi boards (you may get a minute amount higher OC, but nothing significant) and you also get the other fun stuff MSi offers. Both are excellent boards, but DFi is more for guys who like to spend hours tweaking their system whereas MSi is more for guys who want to slap it in, set it up, & get to gaming until they build their next PC. (Keep in mind I am speaking about the SLi nF4 boards)

 

[DfiDude]

rgr.

 

[twitchee2]

which one would be better for a first timer? MSI or DFI?

 

[Zebo]

It's more than voltages it's a high power board built to last with high-end caps and mosfets. Even if you don't OC it's the best board out there. Then it has relativly low CPU use on it's audio design.

The only other bord I'd consider is MSI because it has sound blaster on-board...maybe save a few bucks on a sound card. It's built pretty well like all the big three always do (asus msi and gigabyte) just not as good or have the insane clocking options as DFI

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: twitchee2
which one would be better for a first timer? MSI or DFI?

DFI probably. I don't know about the new MSI NF4 board but their older and very popular K8N Neo2 Platinum was unstable as hell, although a great overclocker.

 

[doinmybestatlast]

I have the MSI SLI. After setting up water I got a nice OC, but limited ram voltage held back more. I then wanted a DFI. SB didn't mean much because I already had a nice sound card. Now with the new beta bios I will try for more.

The MSI board does have one maddening problem - shared IRQ dropping internet functionality. This problem pops up every other week. Got the answer now.

I can't speak for other boards. This board is fine for enthusiasts and better now with the new bios. If you want rock stable, buy something else.

 

[imported_g33k]

Originally posted by: Zebo
It's more than voltages it's a high power board built to last with high-end caps and mosfets. Even if you don't OC it's the best board out there. Then it has relativly low CPU use on it's audio design.

Yep exactly. The DFI is designed for overclocking. Therefore it is built with quality parts. Quality parts means it will run better at stock and last you longer too.

 

[Promethply]

Most people considers the DFI mobos, because words have spread like wildfire that these mobos OC very well.

 

[RobCur]

Originally posted by: Promethply
Most people considers the DFI mobos, because words have spread like wildfire that these mobos OC very well.

huh really?>> should I try to do 1ghz athlon@ 2ghz???

 

[l Xes l]

just look at some benchmarks

 

[Cheezeit]

So you guys think that the DFi is actually better for first time builders? This is the exact opposite of what ive been reading. I've heard many peolple that are having tons of ram and other problems on it, but then more expierinced builders say that it just requires alot of teaking, and once it gets running, its awesome.

On the other hand, I havent heard so many setup (not ocing) problems with the MSI.

oh yeah, just to clear it up, Im talking about the NF4 ultra boards, not SLI.

 

[SVT Cobra]

I have a first revision gigabyte SLI (see sig) and i have had great sucsess overclocking, granted i might be able to get more juice with a DFI, but i love my gigabyte and past ones...i tweak using softmods and modified BIOS's anyway so it really does not matter what comes stock...

if your looking for the biggest bang for you buck id go with a nforce3 ultra gigabyte board, they're around 80$ and come loaded....

but DFI is definately a solid board

 

[rise]

dfi was my first full build, the sli-dr. it went smoothly. all it takes is some research and common sense. you'll see most of the problems people have are from not buying compatible memory and psu's. or you see the people who don't know what bios they have. or are expecting bios from january to run a cpu that wasn't released until april. or as mentioned above, people who just expect a 3000+ to run like an fx-55 without any work.

if you search any of the manufacturers forums you'll see a ton of issues as people go to support forums for, surprise, support. its not like AT where you have OT and ps3 threads. they are going for specific help, where they should have gone in the first place

whichever you decide, just go to the manufacturer specific sites and browse around looking at what people are running successfully.

 

[Azsen]

SATA overclock locks is what I like about my DFI. Hardly any boards seem to have them actually? My 875B locks the PCI/AGP & SATA bus at 33/66/100 Mhz. Other useful things might be PCI-E locks.

 

[Zepper]

Not to mention that DFI (Diamond Flower, Inc.) has been making good mobos for longer than just about any other company still doing the mobo biz. And you don't have to buy their gamer boards to get a good mobo. Their Via KM400 based mobo is one of the best for business type boxes or for home users that just surf, email and do some word proc. etc. Makes for a great cheap workhorse box.

.bh.