Setting Up The Perfect DFI NF4/SLI System!

I can't believe they are leaving the X800 AGP owners behind on NF4. I want an AGP to PCI-E adapter

El<(')>Maxi said:

I can't believe they are leaving the X800 AGP owners behind on NF4. I want an AGP to PCI-E adapter

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That will definitely be a downside to upgrading for me (and many others). I am sure we wont have any problems selling the video cards though.

El<(')>Maxi said:

I can't believe they are leaving the X800 AGP owners behind on NF4. I want an AGP to PCI-E adapter

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Same here

OMG! Just saw you x800 overclock!! Did you volt mod it?

An excellent, and most interesting look at things to come deception``, great work!

Reading this got me all excited about upgrades that I likely won't be making for at least a month or four .

This thread was also successful in making me feel really, really terrible about my current hardware setup, and it's complete inferiority to the stuff being talked about in this thread .

The DFI s754 UT (which also offers 4.0 vdimm option through modded bioses) runs the memory volts through the 3.3 volt. Only the DFI LP B/UI use the +5 volt.

deception``

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I have a question for you, right off of this. Do you have any idea whether or not the DFI S939 SLI boards will feed the VDIMM off of the +5VDC rail, or off of the +3.3VDC rail?

As crazy as it sounds, this will be an extremely signifigant trait that I will be looking for (and I suspect that a few others will be looking for as well) in the S939 motherboard that I eventually choose.

Well, there's good news. Ultra DOES make a 20 to 24pin modular connector for 14 bucks

So now my prospective system equates to about:

*FUTURE* AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm
*FUTURE* DFI LanParty UT nForce4 Ultra-D
*FUTURE* ATi X800 XL PCIe video card
1GB Corsair XMS PC3200C2PT DDR400
Seagate 120GB SATA 8MB buffer
2x Western Digital 74GB Raptors in RAID0
Lite-On DVD/RW Combo Drive
Custom WCing kit (PolarFLO blocks, Eheim 1250 pump, Dual 5.25" acrylic bayres, clearflex 1/2" tubing)
RaidMAX Scorpio 668 (modified)
Ultra X-Connect 500w PSU

Now, I just have to wait for that DFI to come out and it'll all be mine...muahaha..MUAHAHAHA!!!

As we said before, i dont think you would have a problem with running i a 20-24 pin adapter, i think everyone would be better off if they ran 24 native pin psu. Looks like u got ur eyes on the good stuff.

felinusz said:

I have a question for you, right off of this. Do you have any idea whether or not the DFI S939 SLI boards will feed the VDIMM off of the +5VDC rail, or off of the +3.3VDC rail?

As crazy as it sounds, this will be an extremely signifigant trait that I will be looking for (and I suspect that a few others will be looking for as well) in the S939 motherboard that I eventually choose.

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ViperJohn, another big DFI guru, mentioned to me that the NF4 offerings will run off the +5 volt once again. This is very interesting that they are taking the old route as they did with their NF2 design. And I understand your desire for this, even if most do not.

deception``

El<(')>Maxi said:

I can't believe they are leaving the X800 AGP owners behind on NF4. I want an AGP to PCI-E adapter

Click to expand...

DFI has an upcoming s939 AGP board. However, it's probably just going to take a little longer for it to launch. Stay tuned for it's release. I will gladly post an update once more information comes available.

deception``

i dont know if i miss something or what.
i looked at your link for LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
and it says this: LANPARTY UT Ultra-D exclusive features
DXG(Dual Xpress Graphics) supported

and in the end it says this:

Expansion Slots

2 PCI Express x16 slots

1 PCI Express x1 slot

1 PCI Express x4 slot

2 PCI slots

hmm
and do you know maybe the price ?

and 2 pci slots it to low i think....


and btw tnx for your info....i like it...

At the moment, nobody is sure of the prices on these motherboards. Currently, there are boards that are pre-ordering close to the $300 mark, which is ridiculously high. However, this is most likely due to the lack of other NF4 offerings, and these initial prices will probably reduce significantly over time. I suspect that the majority of these boards will sell close to or under the $200 price-point in a few weeks pending their initial availability.

deception``

I recieved this private message over the evening, and I thought it would be best to answer it here:

Neo_peter said:

On a recent post you written :"IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT POWER SUPPLY MEANT TO RUN AN ATHLON 64 SYSTEM HAVE AT LEAST 24A ON THE +12 VOLT, BUT 30A IS IDEAL IF YOU PLAN TO OVERCLOCK". I was just wondering what publication you've read this from. The reason I'm wondering is that there are small form factor pcs with 240W supplys for A64 and they will do 1 HDD, 1 X800XT fine perfectly. I'm just curious as to what this 24A. THanks.

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1. Unfortunately, I do not recall the specific document that I read this from. However, this has been mentioned on several occasions as a recommendation made by die-hard enthusiasts who look to simplify the requirements for future systems.

2. Small form-factor systems use mini-ATX motherboards, and these do not draw as much power as a typical ATX motherboard. This is also why one is able to get away with a significantly weaker unit in powering such a system. Additionally, a SFF motherboard most likely will not provide the same robust overclocking options via their bios (such as 4.0 vdimm or 2.1 vcore). Settings such as these, which range on the high-end for any motherboard or enthusiast, are obviously going to require a strong unit to meet these demands. Also, an x800 (with an exception being the x850) will typically consume less power than a comparable NVIDIA 6xxx card, and will use considerably less power than an SLI system. Lastly, let's not forget that DFI boards are meant for the overclocker in mind, which in turn will place an added strain on any unit. So if you were to add all of these factors together, you can clearly see why the power demands of the average NF4/SLI rig can be pretty high.

deception``

Tytanium said:

Well, there's good news. Ultra DOES make a 20 to 24pin modular connector for 14 bucks

So now my prospective system equates to about:

*FUTURE* AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm
*FUTURE* DFI LanParty UT nForce4 Ultra-D
*FUTURE* ATi X800 XL PCIe video card
1GB Corsair XMS PC3200C2PT DDR400
Seagate 120GB SATA 8MB buffer
2x Western Digital 74GB Raptors in RAID0
Lite-On DVD/RW Combo Drive
Custom WCing kit (PolarFLO blocks, Eheim 1250 pump, Dual 5.25" acrylic bayres, clearflex 1/2" tubing)
RaidMAX Scorpio 668 (modified)
Ultra X-Connect 500w PSU

Now, I just have to wait for that DFI to come out and it'll all be mine...muahaha..MUAHAHAHA!!!

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Everything looks good, but let me add my two cents here:

1. I wouldn't get that memory. It doesn't appear to be TCCD, and probably won't give you the nice 1:1 HTT clocks that a DFI will provide. You would do well to look at my memory choices outlined in this thread. And if you prefer to buy Corsair, know that they have their own PC 3200 TCCD sticks: Corsair PC 3200XL.

2. PowerFLO makes some very pretty waterblocks, but you can get equal or better performance from a less expensive solution, such as the Swiftech MCP 6002, which sells for under $50.

deception``

Good job, it's obvious a lot of work was put into this, but this should probably moved to the dfi amd64 mobo secion (Overclockers Forums > Overclocking > Motherboards > AMD Motherboards > DFI AMD Boards). Another option would be to generalize this thread more since 90% of the guide seems to be about amd64 in general (replace dfi with generic nforce4, nforce4 ultra, nforce4 sli etc). Obviously you're a huge fan of dfi, but so far I don't see much specific to dfi at least in the guide part. Adding more dfi specific material and moving it to dfi's mobo section would prob be a good way to go. Just some minor critiques.

Good read deception``. Thanks for putting it together!

JonasQ said:

Good job, it's obvious a lot of work was put into this, but this should probably moved to the dfi amd64 mobo secion (Overclockers Forums > Overclocking > Motherboards > AMD Motherboards > DFI AMD Boards). Another option would be to generalize this thread more since 90% of the guide seems to be about amd64 in general (replace dfi with generic nforce4, nforce4 ultra, nforce4 sli etc). Obviously you're a huge fan of dfi, but so far I don't see much specific to dfi at least in the guide part. Adding more dfi specific material and moving it to dfi's mobo section would prob be a good way to go. Just some minor critiques.

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1. As Super Nade was wise to point out, I put this here as it will recieve much more hits in the AMD CPUs forum. Besides, most people will come here to look for advance an AMD system anyway. What's the point in writing a detailed thread if nobody looks at it? I just thought it would be of a greater help to people in a more frequented forum.

2. Sometime today I will include a summation of the various DFI motherboards, and outline the pros and cons of each alternative. But I deliberately chose to keep this thread pretty open-ended so that it will apply to those looking for the DFI Lanparty or any NF4/SLI will find it useful.

deception``

YEah kinda silly to put it in the DFI forums since no one really goes there. It belongs here and here only and I think 99.9% of the people here will agree.

Fantastic guide! Thank you for the hard work. I have been one of the few that hasnt gotten into the Athlon64 world yet and skipped over the 754, now I'm ready to jump in and this has helped me make some decisions on how to do it right. Same goes with the video card, I'm still using my 9500pro so going PCI-E isnt going to hurt at all.

...

So this is the ram to get:
G.SKILL PC4400(DDR550) 2.5-3-3-7, PC3200 2-2-2-5 512M Kit
I checked and that was the cheapest place to get it. But, no heatsinks, that's kinda cheap for good ram and doesn't win any beauty contests.

BiGhItTeR said:

So this is the ram to get:
G.SKILL PC4400(DDR550) 2.5-3-3-7, PC3200 2-2-2-5 512M Kit
I checked and that was the cheapest place to get it. But, no heatsinks, that's kinda cheap for good ram and doesn't win any beauty contests.

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There's no rule saying that you must buy that memory, but it is certainly one of the top contendors. And just in case you don't know, often times heatspreaders trap more heat than they dissipate. This is exactly why some people prefer to remove them and instead appropriate some airflow over their dimms. Anyhow, the ram is nothing to look at, but it does it's job and does it very well.

deception``

D'oh! Your post has got me down I have been planning on upgrading to a new a64 winchester system while reusing some of my old components...

I was going to use my Antec Truepower 430w as its only 1 year old (still 2 years on warranty) but its only 20A on the 12v.


Will it still be ok? Here is the other stuff I will run:

Either 3200 or 3500 winchester
Either MSI Neo2 Plat or DFI's s939 AGP
2x512 Kingston hyperx pc3200
MSI geforce 5600 vtdr128 (crap I know, will upgrade to a new AGP card in about 1 year more)
WD 120g SATA
SB audigy 2
old DVDrom and CDRW drives
Antec superlanboy case /w one cold cathode and 2x120mm fans