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DFI LanParty Pro 875 Review
Review Date: July 12, 2003
Reviewed by: Dwayne Sessom
Sponsored by: SVC.com
When you think of performance motherboards, manufacturer names like Abit, ASUS and MSI come to mind. But DFI? To be honest, I had not even heard of DFI before they released the "LanParty" series of motherboards. The LanParty series includes the KT400A, NF II Ultra which are AMD based, and the Pro 875 - the only Intel based board in the group, and the one we are looking at today. The DFI LanParty Pro 875 is based on the much anticipated Canterwood chipset. Canterwood is the first Intel chipset to incorporate dual channel DDR, which is one of this board's major strongpoints. The memory bandwidth we achieved was unbelievable!
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Retail Package. Click for larger view.
This is the biggest motherboard box I have ever seen, and when I opened it I could see why! DFI packs a truck load of goodies and extras along with the board itself. It is apparent that DFI has been listening to the enthusiast to create the ultimate motherboard package, and they have succeeded far and beyond anything I could have imagined. Not only is it the best performing motherboard I have ever tested, it is also the first board that I have come across that comes with rounded cables. Not to mention the FrontX panel, the PC Transpo, and all the other extras! I am not going to bore you mindless by benchmarking this board to death. I will instead focus on the overclockability, and aspects of the DFI LanParty Pro875 that make it stand out among the competition (and there are many).
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Retail Package. Click for larger view.
Features:
- Intel 875P / ICH5R Chipset.
- Socket 478, Pentium4 and P4 Celeron
- FSB, Vcore, Vdimm Overclocking and overvoltage.
- 400/533/800 (HT) System Bus.
- Dual Channel DDR400.
- 5 PCI slots.
- Intel Gigabit CSA LAN.
- AGP 8X.
- 6 Channel Audio.
- 2 Serial ATA ports.
- RAID 0/10+1/1.5.
- 8 USB 2.0 ports.
- Ultra Red Dignostic LED.
- Easy On/ Easy Touch.
- BIOS Live Update (Update BIOS within Windows).
- FRONTX (mic in/audio out/USB).
- Round Cables.
- PC Transpo.
Board Layout:
Without a doubt, the thing that stands out most about this board is it's color. DFI purposely made this board to be bright. The florescent orange plastic parts glow brightly under a UV light, and contrast sharply with the dark black PCB that the rest of the board is made on. Some people have called it the "Halloween" board, because well, it IS orange and black, and does remind you of Halloween. But, this is the way DFI designed it and it certainly will gain the attention of your buddies at any LAN party - hence the name.
Click for larger view.
The overall board layout is very good. DFI did a good job of utilizing the real estate they had to work with. It is fairly representative of most other Canterwood boards on the market as far as general layout. The ATX power connector is located on the upper right edge of the board, which I find to be the most convenient location and makes it easy to route the ATX harness - which is the bulkiest cable bundle in the system. The four pin 12volt connection is a slightly tight fit, being between the CPU socket and RAM slots, but doesn't really present much of a problem.
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Click for larger view.
The heatsink riding atop the Northbridge is quite large, and although it is only a passive heatsink, it seems to do a good job of keeping the Northbridge cool. The Pro875 has 5 PCI and 1 AGP 8X slot - on par with the majority of other Canterwood boards. You just gotta love the bright orange color though!
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Click for larger view.
The CPU socket is lined with several capacitors that are very close to the edge of the heatsink retention clip. At first, I thought this may present a problem because I plan on removing the stock heatsink clip, and mounting a Swiftech MCX4000-T Peltier unit on the board. Luckily, they caused no problem at all and I was able to mount the peltier without any headaches. The Dual Channel DDR slots take up quite a bit of territory on the board, but are well worth the space! You will see what I mean later in the benchmarking section. The memory bandwidth that Dual Channel DDR provides is unbelievable, and even surpasses most Rambus benchmarks I have seen.
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Click for larger view.
The DFI LanParty Pro875 is equipped for "RAID 1.5", which is supposedly a combination of RAID0 and RAID1 using only 2 drives.
For an indepth look at RAID 1.5, see this article on it at Tom's Hardware. The battery is mounted flat on the motherboard, which is standard. I do however, prefer the battery mounted at a 90 degree angle to the board which makes switching them out much easier, but it is rare to find this configuration. The Clear CMOS jumper is right beside the battery, making it very easy to locate.
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Click for larger view.
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