Review: DFI 865PE INFINITY

Processors

• Supports all Socket 478 CPUs (400FSB & 533FSB & 800FSB officially)
• Hyper-Threading support

Chipset

• North bridge: Intel i865PE MCH
• South bridge: Intel ICH5/R

System Memory

• 4 x 184-pin DDR SDRAM
• DDR200 / DDR266 / DDR333/ DDR400 support @ 2.50v - 2.60v (Dual Channel)
• 4GB maximum system RAM 
• Supports configurable ECC function

Slots

• AGP slot, 8x AGP compliant
• 5 x 32-bit PCI 33MHz slots

On-board peripherals - I/O

• 1 Serial port
• 1 Parallel port
• Mic-In, Line-In, Line-Out, Centre/Bass, Rear Out
• RJ-45 LAN Port (Realtek RTL8110S-32 PCI Gigabit LAN)
• 4 USB2.0 connectors on the back panel 
• 1 FireWire 1394a connector on the back panel (6-pin)
• PS/2 ports
• Coaxial In and Out S/PDIF connections

On-board storage

• An IDE controller on the ICH5 chipset provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA100/66/33 operation modes
• ICH5 provides 2 x ATA150 Serial ports (1 drive per port). Can only be configured for independent running.
• Silicon Image Sil3112 provides 2 x ATA150 Serial ports (1 drive per port). Can be configured for independent, RAID0 and RAID1

Integrated Components

• Realtek RTL8110S-32 PCI Gigabit LAN 
• VIA VT6306 3-port FireWire controller
• Silicon Image Sil3112A 2-port SATA controller
• CMI9739A 5.1 sound CODEC
• Headers for another 4 USB2.0 portsio
• 3 usable fan headers
• IrDA, CD-In, Aux-In connectors

BIOS & Voltages

• DFI Genie BIOS 
• FSB speeds of 100Mhz - 400Mhz (quad-pumped for 200FSB CPUs)
• Default - 1.975v Vcore, adjustable in 0.025v increments (for a 3.2GHz ES CPU)
• 2.6v - 2.9v Vmem adjustable in 0.1v increments
• 1.5v - 1.8v VAGP adjustment
• AGP/PCI/SATA options at 66/33/100, 72/36/100, 80/40/100

On first appearances, the bundle may seem adequate. However, with prominence now paid to SATA storage it isn't enough to bundle a couple of SATA cables. There's no power cables so we had to borrow one from an ABIT IC7-MAX3's bundle. This kind of omission is inexcusable. Further, only a single ATA100 IDE cable is provided, two should have been obligatory. The manual, too, is multi-language and only devotes a scant 18 pages to everything one needs to know about the board. That's not enough, and it would have been better for DFI to bundle in a single English manual that went into more detail, especially regarding BIOS options. A second manual, written entirely in good English, delineates the finer points of the on-board Silicon Image SATA controller's features and options. The utility CD contains all the necessary drivers for component installation and a few 'extras', as shown below.

It's obviously a multi-board driver CD. There's no integrated video on this model. A below average bundle and an easy-to-use installation CD that takes most of the fuss out of installing the board's features completes the package. It's just a shame that extra USB2.0 or FireWire cables weren't bundled. DFI appears to be setting the i865PE INFINITY's stall out based on a low cost / high performance approach. We'll see just how good it is in a couple of pages' time.