DFI Lanparty "EXPERT" My Initial Impressions

[kenc51]

It's saved on the board...I don't know if on a seperate part of the bios chip or on a seperate chip on the board...It's prity cool...You can have an option for stock with Cool&Quiet on for day2day use or an option for gaming with a high OC or even a benchmark option with even higher OC....
It's a life saver when OC'in, as you can save 5 seperate profiles...just save B4 changing a setting...if the board doesn't boot, reset then load and continue

[killswitch83]

too nice man.....one thing though, I don't think this mobo I have has CMOS Reloaded, unfortunately.....maybe this feature was reserved for the high-end mobos? It would be a good thing to put on a low-end board though, just to give the budget OCer options there. Oh well, lol

[kenc51]

I don't think so either....ask Blake...he has it up and running doesn't he

[killswitch83]

yeah he has the SLI Infinity.....I'll ask him later.

oh well, it's not a big deal, just so long as I can keep a floppy around with the most current BIOS release, in case I screw up something during the whole process, lol.

[kenc51]

no need for floppy, you can flash via CD aswell....DFI-Street forums has details and a bootable .iso that you can download.....

[killswitch83]

I see....wow, aren't you just a plethora of info today, lol......I have so much to learn, lol

[kenc51]

WHOOT!!!!

I have 250x8 2.5-3-3-8 stable with my TCCD with 2.6vdimm
B4 I couldn't even get 237x11 (2.6GHz) stable.........

As I've always known, from all the threads and reviews.....Drive strenght is the key to the Expert board

TCCD likes WEAK drive strenght....

I primed for 9hrs last night using large ffts in-place to stress the ram and also ~5 passes of memtest86 -> I find memtest to be useless with TCCD with this board as I can pass 280 @ 2.5-3-3-8, but can't boot into windows

I'll post screenshots when I get home......my goal as stated earlier is 260x10 / 2.5-3-3-*

Overclocking is now fun again!!!! (except for looking @ memtest86 lol)

WHOOT!

:edit:

Anyone know how I check the HTT Link speed? It's supposed to be 1GHz, but I'm also hoping to get 260MHz with the link @ 4x instead of 3x.....

[LVCapo]

I've been playing with this board for a couple of weeks. Damn good board.
I've never understood people setting the voltage super low then jacking up the CPU VID SPEC. I typically set mine to 1.35v and the SPEC to somewhere between 107-112%.
Another issue to keep your eye on is "AUITO". If you set the voltage to auto, you can't leave the CPU multiplier at AUTO.....if you set one manually, make sure you set the other manually. If not you'lll get constant reboots.
Other than that the board flies

[kenc51]

I've been playing with this baord for a couple of weeks. Damn good board.
I've never understood people setting the voltage super low then jacking up the CPU VID SPEC. I typically set mine to 1.35v and the SPEC to somewhere between 17-112%.
Another issue to keep your eye on is "AUITO". If you set the voltage to auto, you can't leave the CPU multiplier at AUTO.....if you set one manually, make sure you set the other manually. If not you'lll get constant reboots.
Other than that the board flies

I'm trying to stay away from the auto settings
Thanks for the heads up...
I have my max cpu oc already, I'm going to stick with 2.6 (fx-60)
It's only now I've found the patience to test the TCCD sticks...

I've being running constant superpi 32M tests and games of UT2004 this evening to make sure 250x10 is stable....AND IT IS



Now onto 260x10 (2.5-3-3-*)

[kenc51]

260x10 2.5-3-3-* isn't stable (damn jedec pcb)
I have to switch to 2.5-4-3-8 to get stable @ 260MHz :sigh:

I'm sticking with 255x10 (2.55GHz) 2.5-3-3-7
I prefer to keep 2.5-3-3-7 than having 2.6GHz (anyhow I'll switch to 2GB in a few months)
vdimm is 2.7v
vcore is 1.48v for now, still trying to find lowest stable....

I'll post some benchmarks tomorrow...... (I've had enough for now )

[kenc51]

I've dropped back to 10x250 / 2.5-3-3-7 / 1.47vcore and 2.8vdimm and all other timings as low as I can go.....currently running dual prime95 for 13hrs -> I had to stop one instance, so now 1 instance is only running 5hrs, and the other for 13hrs.....
I'll post screenshots of benchmarks and A64Tweaker later.....
I'll post all settings used for this board with TCCD and UTT ram....
I have yet to tweak "idle cycle limit, max async latency and read preamble".....

:edit:
I'm willing to sacrifice 100MHz for complete stability

[kenc51]

TCCD --> OCZ Platinum EL 3200rev2 => Jedec PCB (very early batch)
4400+ (2mb) -> 250x10 - 2.5GHz
Vcore = 1.47v --> have yet to find lowest stable
Vdim = 2.8v -> have yet to find lowest stable
LTD = 1.46v ==> can run @ stock voltage too -> no need to change unless going for very high HTT
Chipset - 1.59v --> have yet to find lowest stable

Dram Data Drive Strenght = Level 1 (reduce 50%)
Dram Drive Strenght = Level 7

To get my TCCD running, with my board I had to set Trc to 10 otherwise the board wouldn't boot above 230MHz, unless I set the Dram Drive Strenght to 7 => after this I could boot with Auto settings in the bios and Trc was set to 7 by default
Dram Drive Strenght = Odd numbers work best (with CPC enabled)....best to try level 3 first, then move to 5 or 7. 9 wouldn't allow me to boot passed th bios!
Dram Data Drive Strenght for me, must be on Level 1 --> nothing else worked.....
I tried 288x9 (2.6) and 277x9 (2.5) --> 288 fails and 277 "might work"

I'll post UTT settings when I get a chance....

:edit:
Orange slots used for all sticks of ram

[kenc51]

OCZ Gold 3200 -> UTT (BH5) sticks

NO screenshots of A64Tweaker yet as too lazy to switch sticks.....

Vcore - 1.55v -> never tested lower
Vdimm - 3.3v
LTD - 1.4v
Chipset - 1.6v

Ram using 1:1 @ 233MHz --> CPU = 2.56GHz

Dram Data Drive strenght = Level 2 (reduce 30%)
Dram Drive strenght = Level 11

With this ram I could lower all latencies to min
Windond IC's LOVE strong drive strenght....I read above 10 is when they take off...I couldn't get stable above 11 (board goes upto level 15)
again ODD numbers are best when setting drive strenght.....
I'll post my A65 Tweaker screenshots later so you can see settings used.....

This ram gives way more performance, but required 3.3v
Running on a 180 Mem divider allows me to run ram @ stock and CPU @ 2.6.....I tried this for a while, could never get it real stable.....The CPU is good till nearly 2.7 (tested on SLI-DR)

It's going into my P4 rig, which is going into retirement and back to stock settings....

OH and thanks again to LR and OCZ for the Ram!

:edit:
Orange slots used again -> yellow don't seem to work @ all for me

[kenc51]

This motherboard is the baine of my exsistance!!!!

Now I'm thinking for RMA'in this POS!!!!

I have probs with Vdimm....

I set 2.6v in the bios, boot into windows and it's reported as 2.53v --> I reboot and check what the Bios says -> 2.55v
I checked the Vdimm with a multimeter --> 2.57v -> the Bios is still set to 2.6v

I set 2.69v in the Bios and it still reads 2.55 with a multimeter
I've flashed the Bios 4 times....nothing
If I set 2.7v in the Bios it get 2.67v using the multimeter, then it drops to 2.55v and backup to 2.66v
I've tried different ram slots, but the yellow slots NEVER worked right for me....

I'm going to RMA this board and get a Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe.............

Are there any issues with the A8N32-SLI B4 I do this????


@ the moment I'm running stock with 3-4-4-10 timings and still it crashes after 20mins...........

[kenc51]

forget everything I said....I have a faulty DMM!!!

The VDimm voltage is fine....now...
I flashed to the origional Bios, then to the latest....left the battery out for 2-3hrs and now I'm stable.....
I still neet to set 2.67v in the bios to get 2.62v.....but hey It's stable.....

12.5Hrs dual prime stable....also passed 6-7 32M superpi and 3D stable

Changed drive strenght from level 5 to level 1
vcore is now 1.57v
Vdimm is 2.62v
I've yet to try lowering latencies....but hey it's stable, running my old SLI-DR settings and 2GB.......no complaints here!
Now I can finally Fold 24/7 again........
WHOOT!

[Menace]

My config.

DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert
AMD Athlon 64 4600x2 sk939
2x1GB DDR 400 Kingston
Enermar Infiniti 720W
WD 74 GB sata 10K + 2*250GB Maxtor sata2
PNY nv 7300 GT
Thermaltake Bigwater 745 liquid cooling

It's similar to yours...
I have some problem. First with COLD BOOT, i hope solve. Then with a system hang up. My system freeze randomly. Often during video play and internet surf'n.
There's some tricks I don't know? Please help me. I tried reinstall, memtest and many other solution. but nothin better.

Thanks in advance...

[kenc51]

My config.

DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert
AMD Athlon 64 4600x2 sk939
2x1GB DDR 400 Kingston
Enermar Infiniti 720W
WD 74 GB sata 10K + 2*250GB Maxtor sata2
PNY nv 7300 GT
Thermaltake Bigwater 745 liquid cooling

It's similar to yours...
I have some problem. First with COLD BOOT, i hope solve. Then with a system hang up. My system freeze randomly. Often during video play and internet surf'n.
There's some tricks I don't know? Please help me. I tried reinstall, memtest and many other solution. but nothin better.

Thanks in advance...

Welcome to LRForums!
What Bios version are you using?

It sounds like a RAM issue, this board is very picky with what ram you use and what settings used.
Can you list what memory timings your using pls?
post a screenshot for "A64Tweaker" You can get it here http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/92
Also what Ram do you have? You said "2x1GB DDR 400 Kingston" Do you know what the default timings are?

You might want to start you own thread, as this one is old and not dialup friendly with all the screenshots posted.

[blitzkrieg1110]

Just to let anyone know who might be interested. I just got my new setup a few days ago and I could not boot with my corsair valueselect ram in the yellow dimm slots. I had to move them to the orange slots. The motherboard works fine now but I'm having trouble getting it to boot at over 245FSB with a 5/6 divider (I was running this ram at 220mhz 2.5cas on my older abit board and I can't even do 208mhz at 3.0cas. I'm going to update my BIOS tonight and report back. The current BIOS version installed is pretty old (mid 2005 I believe).

[kenc51]

Get the bios here
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles//other/114/4

There's a "BigToe" modded bios floating around, it's the same as the latest official but uses loose memory timings by default.
That board is a pig for memory, it sets all the misc. timings VERY tight.


Good luck!

[blitzkrieg1110]

Get the bios here
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles//other/114/4

There's a "BigToe" modded bios floating around, it's the same as the latest official but uses loose memory timings by default.
That board is a pig for memory, it sets all the misc. timings VERY tight.


Good luck!

Well I downloaded another BIOS that was modded (I think it was the most recent "Merlin" modded bios) and it didn't help much.....I'm still stuck around 240fsb with a 5/6 divider (that makes 200mhz for my mem) and I can't boot much higher than that. The ram timings are very relaxed as well with 3 cas. However I do have 1t enabled and dual channel. One question (I know I'm a n00b) but should I change that 1t to 2t? Will that allow me to get a higher oc on my processor and where do I do this in the BIOS (It was set to 1t by default).

EDIT: I'll have to try that BIOS you posted and see if I get any different results.