X-bit labs

DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G Mainboard on ATI RD600 Chipset Review (page 16)

Category: Mainboards

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 01/31/2007 | 07:47 PM ]

Conclusion

Now that we have completed our detailed investigation of the DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G features and performance, I can say that we were pleased and disappointed at the same time. On the one hand, it is a unique product, because DFI appeared the only mainboard manufacturer to offer an ATI RD600 based solution at this time. And thanks to the DFI engineers’ great effort LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G turned into a real “toy for enthusiasts”. BIOS Setup of this mainboard offers remarkable options for system parameters configuring. It contains extensive settings for front side bus and memory controller adjustment and a huge list of voltages to play with. As a result this mainboard may be extremely helpful for successful overclocking of those CPUs that do not require FSB frequency over 490MHz.

Nevertheless, despite all the potential DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G is not the FSB overclocking leader. Solutions built on P965 chipset are still showing better results. And strange as it might seem, but overclocking on Intel based platforms is much simpler to perform.

However, this mainboard beats the competitors’ solutions not only with richer list of settings and more complicated overclocking procedure. Its indisputable advantage is asynchronous memory bus clocking. As a result, it allows increasing the system performance in many ways thanks to diverse DDR2 SDRAM configuring and tweaking options.

The main drawback of the DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G mainboard is its relatively low performance determined by the chipset it is based on. Unfortunately, DFI engineers couldn’t resolve this problem.

But since ATI RD600 supports Crossfire technology its only fully-fledged competitor in the today’s market is Intel i975X Express. And if we compare these two against one another, then the ATI/AMD solution has all the chances to find its fans among overclockers.

Highs:

• ATI Crossfire technology support;
• Outstanding options for internal system parameters configuring;
• FSB overclocking up to 490MHz;
• Independent memory overclocking;
• Passive cooling on the chipset components and processor voltage regulator;
• 6-channel digital processor voltage regulator.

Lows:

• Low performance;
• Some flaws in the BIOS.