DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B doesn’t avoid the common problem with the fan connectors. They are at the lower edge of the PCB, rather than in the middle or on the left. This means the fan cables should go through the entire system case. It is not critical for the back panel as far as the airflow is concerned, but there is nothing where you could fix the cable. So, the cable will be hanging loosely, which is not quite right. And if you run the cable to the front panel and then down, you may find that the cable is too short.

Overall, the PCB design of DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B could have been called good, if it were not for the problem with the socket location. That’s why I think that DFI engineers have only met the user’s needs halfway.

BIOS and Overclocking

There are many new things waiting for you in the BIOS. First of all, we have got the exclusive technology from DFI called CMOS Reloaded for saving BIOS presets in the flash memory and choosing any of them when necessary. That’s of course useful if you run your computer in different operational modes like at overclocked or regular frequencies. The technology takes up a full page in the BIOS:

The user can select the necessary preset at the system startup, without even entering the BIOS: just push a numerical button (1, 2, 3 or 4) and the mainboard loads up the corresponding preset.

The Advanced Chipset Features page allows you fine-tuning memory-related settings. The settings are really comprehensive:

Mainboards from ABIT have a SoftMenu page, while DFI LanParty NF II Ultra B has a “Genie Bios Setting” one.

From here you can:

• Adjust the FSB frequency from 100 to 300MHz. It’s highly improbable you can hit the ceiling, but it is possible to reach something like 250MHz by raising the voltage of the chipset’s North Bridge and improving its cooling.
• Change the CPU multiplier to any value from 5 to 22. This is good for overclocking, if you have an unlocked processor (modern processors from AMD usually come with a locked multiplier). Until now, only ABIT mainboards offered this feature. Still, you should be aware that FSB-overclocking of the CPU is more rewarding than setting a higher CPU multiplier. So, I would consider it more of a marketing trick.
• Vary the AGP frequency. You can clock the bus independently, or in relation to the FSB frequency. Unlike the AGP, the PCI bus is locked at 33MHz in nForce2-based mainboards; it doesn’t depend on the FSB and you cannot control its frequency.
• Adjust the memory frequency divisor. You can make the memory work at a frequency higher or lower than the FSB frequency, or synchronously with it. It is convenient that the BIOS shows you the resulting memory frequency.
• Adjust the Vcore from 1.0 to 2.0V with 0.025V stepping. The range seems to be wide, but you are unlikely to get lower than 1.25-1.3V, while the upper limit may be not enough for extreme overclocking. This is hardly a crucial drawback, but you should keep this fact in mind.
• Adjust the Vmem from 2.6V to 3.3V with 0.1V increment. So, high a ceiling for the Vmem is a claim for extremity.
• Adjust the Vagp from 1.5 to 1.8V with 0.1V increment.
• Adjust the voltage of the chipset’s North Bridge from 1.6V to 1.9V with 0.1V increment. You may want to increase this voltage to reach higher frequencies of the FSB.