Item: ASUSTeK A8N-SLI Deluxe -vs- DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-D
Author: Ryszard Sommefeldt

Review: ASUSTeK A8N-SLI Deluxe -vs- DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-D

Thoughts

The performance of both boards considered, you'd be surprised that two boards with the same feature sets could turn out so differently. The ASUS is the board for the user that wants a bunch of features, stock performance and has no real desire to get his or her hands dirty. The DFI for those that don't care about 10 USB2.0 ports (although you get them) and the like, rather they want to tweak the last frame per second out of their system, running as much out of spec as they can.

I mentioned earlier than the ASUS stops around 270MHz dHTT for me, whereas the DFI will run to 340MHz before running out of stability. For the user that wants to crank up to around 300MHz with a memory clock to match, your choice is clear.

Once or twice I've been tempted to write that the DFI is the best enthusiast mainboard ever created, and in many respects it is, giving you the platform for some serious out-of-spec running, at high stability. The power circuitry has been designed with that in mind, giving you that easy high dHTT, those large voltage ranges, which paired with the plethora of options for adjusting the memory subsystem will have many frothing at the mouth. SLI works fine as expected and in terms of testing with the latest BIOS release never put a foot wrong. It also has a flexible PCI Express slot configuration that can free up plentiful bandwidth to the non-PEG16X slots in non-SLI mode.

Equipped with BIOS 1003 (and hopefully later BIOS revisions will retain the stability), the ASUS goes about its business with little fuss, pausing only to brush past pitiful Pentium 4 systems without stopping to catch its breath. Human comparisons aside, it's a quality product from ASUS that took some time to find its feet, but which stands out now.

Neither board is perfect: the ASUS and DFI both have fairly obnoxious coolers for the nForce4 chip, the ASUS has some layout niggles and the DFI isn't free of criticism there too.

To keep it brief, if you want solid nForce4 SLI performance, good features and pricing that won't break the bank, either board will do. However, if you want the utmost control over your system and the chance to tweak like you've never been able to tweak before, Oskar Wu created one hell of a DFI mainboard for you.

Both come recommended, but the DFI has strings to its bow that you will not find elsewhere. Go forth and purchase, there's absolutely no finer Athlon 64 mainboard at the time of writing.

HEXUS Awards

ASUSTeK A8N-SLI Deluxe

DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-D

DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-D

HEXUS.trusted retailers

ASUSTeK A8N-SLI Deluxe

SCAN - £111.50 Inc. VAT (£94.89 Ex. VAT)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=158259

Overclock - £117.19 Inc. VAT (£99.74 Ex. VAT)
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=18022

DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-D

Overclock - £129.12 Inc. VAT (£109.89 Ex. VAT)
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=18231

HEXUS.trusted trade distributors

Aventi Distribution Limited - http://www.aventi.co.uk/index.php

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Great review, enjoy MB shootouts.

The main thing I look for is the OCing section, because that's a hobby I follow these days. Just so you know, I've posted the same comments on reviews for the H, Anandtech, Xtremesystems, and a few others.

What most sites do is one of two things.
1. OC the CPU on air with the stock heat sink and fan, only going up to about 235mz.
2. OC the MB to its highest FSB by reducing the multiplier of the CPU.

The problem here is that some MBs get stuck at lower FSBs when running at the default multiplier. Examples.
My Asus A8V with an FX53 will not go above 2800 no matter what I do. It's the Via K8T800 Pro chipset that is holding me back. Others who run the A8V and Abit AV8 have reported getting stuck at 230mz.
The Asus A8N also gets stuck at 245mz.

What needs to be done in the OCing section is the following. Water cool a known good CPU that can OC to high levels. Raise vcore and memory voltage as needed, keep the CPU at default multiplier, memory at 1:1, and see what the highest FSB you can reach is. The goal should be 260mz.

Many people bought the Asus A8N-SLI, hit the roadblock of 245mz, got frustrated, and moved on to the DFI.

Try it, see if you can go past 245mz on your Asus, you can't, you'll get stuck.

Taking a MB to it's highest FSB doesn't prove anything when the MB may get stuck due to other reasons. Anand has two OCing numbers they present. One is called a “high ratio” where they take the MB to it's highest FSB, and the other is called a “standard ratio” where they leave the CPU at default multiplier. The only thing they're not doing right now is watercooling the CPU, because they're still stuck around 238mz, but you get the idea. Test with a real world example, just like OCing fans would do, to make sure there are no roadblocks. Use a watercooling setup, and a known good chip. Yes, the CPU will eventually be the limit, but it will prove how high the board can go in a real world example.

And post every single detail of how you OC the MB. Most sites simply give their final number and don't tell how they got there. Fans want all the details so they can compare results when getting stuck. Vcore, mem voltage, temps at load, are all things fans want to know about.

Thanks for reading.

Time is all that holds me back from overclocking most mainboards I have in for test with something like a phase-change chiller, that removes the CPU as the limiting factor in high-frequency tests. All I can say is that I'll try and squeeze it in whenever possible in the future.

I'll also endeavour to put as much detail about the overclock in as possible, rather than just give a final figure.

Thanks for your thoughts :)