DFI Lanparty "EXPERT" My Initial Impressions

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 2:16 pm

Well Santa Claus called early for me this year.....(24th)

'Da Board.....

First off I was scepticle about this board....see here (thanks Vstrom for the link!)

The board would not boot for me @ first......The only way I could get it to boot was using 1 stick of ram in the furthest orange slot from the cpu....
I later discovered that the bios has a few "quirks" which should be fixed....

First off....The default Bios sets "Dram Responce Time" to Fastest!
I couldn't boot my "old" board using that setting (ever) (old board = SLI-DR)
The bios also sets the "Trc" memory timing to 7
This is the lowest timming you can set and only BH5 ram can run this normally.....(Trc is the second last timming from the bottom, that you see in CPUZ)
The Bios also sets your rams default voltage to 2.6v (I suspect this is why I could not boot 2 sticks.....my ram needs 2.7v min to do 2-2-2-5-7)

Straight away I could not boot into my "old" settings.....after 2hrs of resetting the CMOS and looking @ memtest I finally gave up (about 4am this morning)
I now have my old settings...with "Dram Responce Time" set to "Fastest"

The "old" SLI-DR board and this OCZ gold Ram would not do 1:1 @ 237MHz.....Some days it was stable...most days, it failed ~2hrs of memtest #5

The new Challenge for me is now to try get 237MHz with 1.5-2-2-5 timings @ 1:1........

The Chipset placement is sweet BTW.....I will be able to watercool the chipset next month ;)

Most Bios options are the same, except for the obvious...I can now select upto 4v memory and SLI without jumppers.....
There are also ALOT more "Dram Data Strenghts" and "Dram Drive Strenght" settings.....From what I have read...I'm gonna need to use them when trying for max mem OC....
The board also runs ALOT cooler, with the "old" board ALL of the heatsinks on the board got hot....on this board they are only warm

I'll post some benchies....not sure If I will get a chance today...

I'll leave you with a Pic of 'Da Board in action (pic taken @5am Christmas morning)

Happy Christmas Everyone.......

grunt · Post by **grunt** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:46 am

let us know as soon as you can. Im awaiting my flight back to the USA!!!! That board awaits me!!! Specs listed below...

DFI Expert
A64 4400+
2gb (2x1gb) Mushkin XP DDR500
Dual MSI 7800gtx
74gb Raptor/250gb WD SE16mb
Plextor DVDRW slot loaded
X-Fi Extreme Music
Seasonic 600W
Logitech z-5300e
Logitech G15 KB/Diamondback Razer
Dell 2005FPW
(awaiting the release of the CM Stacker 830)

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 1:00 pm

grunt wrote:let us know as soon as you can. Im awaiting my flight back to the USA!!!! That board awaits me!!! Specs listed below...

DFI Expert
A64 4400+
2gb (2x1gb) Mushkin XP DDR500
Dual MSI 7800gtx
74gb Raptor/250gb WD SE16mb
Plextor DVDRW slot loaded
X-Fi Extreme Music
Seasonic 600W
Logitech z-5300e
Logitech G15 KB/Diamondback Razer
Dell 2005FPW
(awaiting the release of the CM Stacker 830)

Super system man.......Just for you, I played around with the board after work 2day ;)....My goal was 237MHz 1:1 using 2-2-2-5-7etc timings! Well I'm there....(I think, 2hrs memtest)

I'm going to check if I can OC the cpu any higher now using a divider...

Of course I'll be testing for longer when I fnd the max ;)

Bios Settings

DRAM Drive Strength = Level 05
DRAM Data Drive Strength = Level 1(Reduce 50%)

See A64Tweaker for more....

Post by **FZ1** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 1:22 pm

I have had big discrepancies with RAM passign with flying colors on memtest and crapping out in Prime within a few minutes. Hopefully it works for ya!

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 1:31 pm

I'm now @ 245Mhz on test #5 same settings as above, except multi on 9x

If this lasts for another hour I'll test 3D stability......

Oh I forgot to say...This is still using the default bios from last Feb

(changed after next reboot and profile saved in genie bios ;) )

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:20 pm

OK....Your right Vstrom.....I've given up on the ram for now......I tried different drive strenghts and vdimm from 3.1v to 3.6v..some other timings....
I suspect 234Mhz is the max for these sticks (max found on sli-dr)

I tested dual prime with @ 2.69GHz with 1.55v.....failed in 10mins on core1
I'm not going to use any cpu special VID for now, so with 1.55v as my max, the CPU OC is the same

To sum up.....(so far)
MEM OC = same as "old" SLI-DR
CPU OC = same as "old" SLI-DR

I'm going to see if I can beat my 3Dmark Score using timings alone.....apart from that I'm done OC'in for 2 night.......

Ps. I didn't expect any more of an OC compaired to the other board....I just wanted this board for it's layout and extra PCI slot.......but I haven't given up yet ;)

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:48 am

OK....I'm still trying for 2.6GHz 11x237 / 1:1 / 2-2-2-5

I've tried the ram with 2.8v -> 3.5v vdimm....no use
My problem is, with 3.2v vdimm I can hit 237MHz, Memtest86 stable and SuperPi 32M and Large TFT prime95 stable.....
But as soon as I try 3D the game starts and then craps out.....no blue screen, just a UT'04 debug error.....If I drop the Freq back to 230Mhz via clockgen I can game.....

Does anyone know how to get to 237Mhz 1:1? I suspect the ram has hit it's limits...but I'm hoping someone can spot something....
I've tried Drive strenghts (below setting seem to work best)
I just don't want to spend hrs changing timings etc. if someone out there knows a solution......
I'm thinging Tref....

Bios Settings

DRAM Drive Strength = Level 05
DRAM Data Drive Strength = Level 1(Reduce 50%)

See A64Tweaker for more....

Otherwise, It's time to switch to TCCD....10x260MHz / 2.5-3-3-5 (haven't even tried them sticks in this board yet!)

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 12:26 pm

man, I'd throw the TCCD sticks on that board so fast, lol....damn fine chips IMO......I'm looking around for RAM with em still, though my final decision may be a G.Skill 2 GB kit, dunno yet. Happy Greediness, lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 12:36 pm

The TCCD sticks are in the P4 rig...I could hit 270MHz (ddr540) stable with the non-expert board...I suspect they can do 280MHz....This is with 2.5-3-3-5
I tried ddr600 with 3-4-4-* but failed 5mins of memtest....
If I can I'll try for 9x288MHz.....But 10x260 will do...

I want to test the following....

mem 180 divider so 200MHz 2-2-2-5 BH5 cpu @ 2.6GHz
mem 1:1 11x237 2-3-3-5 TCCD cpu @ 2.6Ghz
mem 1:1 10x260 2.5-3-3-5 TCCD cpu @ 2.6GHz
Hoping to test aswell:
BH5 @ 237 1:1 / 2-2-2-5
TCCD @ 288 1:1 / 2-2-2-5

It may take a while.....

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 12:52 pm

ohh, you're running BH5 in the Expert system now!?!?!? man, didn't see that one coming, lol. yeah it'll take awhile for all the testing, but I'm sure it can give some decent return, as BH5 can take the voltage at good timings...dropping your multi may be a decent way to go to squeeze a little more out of the chips. I just wish I had a set of BH5, lol. If only I can find that G. Skill kit that has em, oh boy! lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:00 pm

It's the ram I won here

I know It can't do 250MHz never mind 260 (which is needed if I drop to 10x)

I've tried 3.8v with the ram...

with this board the PWM IC's were @ 40C

-> the old needed a fan to keep it cool (never mind the actual ram sticks!)

The tccd is ocz plat rev.2

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:13 pm

PWMIC's were running that cool? that's awesome, you must have good case cooling as well, because I know you're W/C'ing some of the components in this system. Plat Rev. 2 is the shiznit IMO, and it's one of my choices here. Btw, I'm curious, what IC's do G. Skill generally use? I know some of the older kits used BH5, but I also saw some using TCCD and even CH5, so I was curious as to what most of the kits ran. I guess the main reason I plan on going with G. Skill is price....they're a good price for what's under the hood, ya know?

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:14 pm

Killswitch83 wrote:I just wish I had a set of BH5, lol. If only I can find that G. Skill kit that has em, oh boy! lol

BH5 !! -> F1-3200BWU2-1GBGH

-> $139.50

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231013
http://www.gskill.com/f1-3200bwu2.html

TCCD
PC3200 -> $151.82
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... etailSpecs
http://www.gskill.com/f1-3200dsu2fx.htm
PC4800(DDR600) -> $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231008
http://www.gskill.com/f1-3200dsu2la.html

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:23 pm

ahhh very nice, thanks Ken

yeah, I forgot exactly how much voltage BH5 needed, and considering my build is going to be around a DFI Ultra Infinity mobo, I might need to drop to TCCD-based memory. I plan on grabbing up the BH5 though, because I plan on eventually grabbing a Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D or SLI-DR......I really am not up on the options on the "Expert" board, so I'll limit my future s939 builds on the high-end to those DFI boards. I didn't know BH5 was still floating around out there, that's crazy!

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:29 pm

Upgrading from TCCD to BH5 is pointless....even to a lanparty board is...
Your new setup will keep you going fine, until well after socket AM2 and DDR2 has matured...
With your board your better off with TCCD...low voltage and can clock high....even good OCZ performance series with 2.5-3-3-5 using a divider will do with the AMD64...(Performance series is cheap, comes with copper heatspreaders but no OC headroom)

Also the options on the Expert board are the same as the Lanparty...just ~4 more drive strenght options (only needed to squeeze last MHz outa ram) and finer voltage options

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:33 pm

I like to have headroom with my OC's, so yeah I'll go the TCCD-based Plat. Rev. 2

It seems like you have millions of combinations for voltages, RAM drive strength, frequencies, multis, etc, etc.....it has to be maddening at some point, lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:37 pm

you just start with the basics.....multi / FSB / vcore / divider and the main 4-5 emory timings....just increase the rest or set to auto....
It's very easy to OC these boards (all DFI boards)...The great thing is after your OC...you can then go back into the bios and start lowering those other timings...
It can also save your bios settings, so if you need to clear the CMOS you can get straight back to your perfered settings....

It's the final tweaking that takes time....but that's why I went DFI!!!

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:48 pm

I see, I'm curious about something though: how do you save the BIOS settings you have into a file on the PC or a floppy? I've heard people backing up their BIOS, but never knew how....only know how to flash the BIOS. You're right, DFI has what you need when it comes to memory timings, voltages, FSB, practically everything. Even the Ultra Infinity I was surprised to see the 3.2v VDIMM cap....that's pretty high for a low-end board I think anyways. Helpful as always

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:53 pm

the way it saves the settings is "CMOS reloaded"

You can save upto 5 different profiles and give them unique discriptions...

Capper wrote:For the more advanced user, CMOS Reloaded allows you to store different BIOS configurations for different uses. Think a specific setting might be better for gaming? Simply store it and name it something like "Gaming." Want to have the ultimate overclocking configuration? Simply save it as "O/C." Do you do alot of system testing? Great! Simply name and save seperate configurations that can be loaded at start up. A fantastic feature that works exactly as it should.

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:59 pm

ok, so it saves it to the HDD then? Or on the CMOS itself? Sorry for sounding like a newb, but hey, I'm learning, lol. I've heard good things about CMOS Reloaded as well. I guess you really don't understand how things like that work until you work with it up close and personal, which I've not had a chance to do yet, unfortunately