The DFI RDX200 CF-DR Motherboard Review

Post by **Apoptosis** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:33 am

The DFI LANParty UT RDX200 CF-DR motherboard is the first board that is CrossFire certified by ATI and fully designed by the legendary Oskar Wu. If you are in the market for a high-end AMD socket 939 motherboard read on to see if the RDX200 has what it takes!

Dropping the memory divider to 166 and the CPU multiplier to x8 allowed me to push the board all the way to 309FSB, not too shabby at all. One issue I'd like to point out is the heat generated by the chipsets. Once I got past 300FSB the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 NB chipset was idling at 49C and peaked at 58C during my testing.

Article Link: The DFI RDX200 CF-DR Motherboard Review
Current Price: Live Pricing

sbohdan · Post by **sbohdan** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:39 am

meant to ask for a long time: anybody knows, what is it with these DFI boards that they have the NB placed in the worst possible spot? I mean no way to upgrade the NB cooling cause of the video card interference. since my understanding is that these boards are enthusiast- friendly , wit good OC'ing potential, then why put the NB in such a bad place. I never had DFI yet and since lots of you do recommend it, my question is: can you attach a waterblock to the NB or no upgrade of that little cooling fan is possible with these boards? anybody with experience?

Post by **Apoptosis** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:43 am

I was able to put water cooling on my nForce4 SLI-D motherboard via the Corsair HydroCOOL 200ex that I run on the test bench with no issues. I don't have first hand expierence with the RDX200, but I'm sure Rich can answer it for certain. He has the prommie and koolance cooling systems out there in the Vegas desert.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:47 am

sbohdan wrote:meant to ask for a long time: anybody knows, what is it with these DFI boards that they have the NB placed in the worst possible spot? I mean no way to upgrade the NB cooling cause of the video card interference. since my understanding is that these boards are enthusiast- friendly , wit good OC'ing potential, then why put the NB in such a bad place. I never had DFI yet and since lots of you do recommend it, my question is: can you attach a waterblock to the NB or no upgrade of that little cooling fan is possible with these boards? anybody with experience?

I think the placement for the chipset, is caused by AMD....I think its got to do with trace lenghts, the chipset needs to be withing a certain distance to allow a clean signal???

sbohdan · Post by **sbohdan** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:59 am

so some watercooling kits might fit but not all. is there anything like "dFI approved"

water kits? or just get the board and then go in person to a store and try fitting the kits and see which one is OK?

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:29 pm

Bravo on the review!!!

Very well written, very in depth, and very good conclusions.

Rich Caporali wrote:The RDX1200 CF-DR front connectors are clearly marked, something I think all board makers need to do. Heck, why don't we really make things simple and have a standardized layout, then maybe case manufacturers can simply use a standard plug in for their front panels, making things easier for everyone. (okay, that's my rant for the day)

^^Amen to that brotha'! It is always the little things that companies overlook, but can mean the difference between an enjoyable time with the product, or a user's worst nightmare.

And about the chipset cooling, it looks to me like DFI has managed to spread the x16 slots far enough apart that using an aftermarket air cooling solution should be much more feasable.
I agree though, the NB chip should really be placed better (like above the top-most x16 slot) in order to allow for better aftermarket cooling solutions. At least they have a decent heatsink/fan on there and not some chincy little P.O.S. that whines like a dog and will probably fail after a month.

Overall, I would have to agree with the conclusions drawn in this review. It looks like a great board and I'm glad to see ATI getting into the chipset game, but that southbridge needs some work...