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- Date:
- Thursday , June 01, 2006
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
DFI LANParty UT CFX3200-DR
The latest addition to DFI’s Athlon64 arsenal seems to show off the ATI Radeon Xpress 3200 chipset’s power. How well does this board stack up?
Introduction
DFI is a well known brand name in the enthusiast circles, as well as the rest of the world. With competition aplenty from the likes of ASUS and ABIT, DFI has executed a winning strategy to establish their LANParty premium board line. Sporting innovations such as in-built diagnostic LEDs, the CMOS Reloaded BIOS save feature, and an altogether solid approach to board cooling, the LANParty line is among the enthusiasts’ favorites. Not to mention the extra glow in the dark plastic bling bling placed strategically around those boards. DFI’s latest LANParty UT release board does nothing to tarnish this reputation.
The CFX3200-DR is DFI’s latest introduction in their Athlon64 socket 939 line. The board is designed around the ATI Radeon Xpress 3200 chipset, supporting all Athlon64 processors, DDR type DRAM modules operating in Dual Channel mode at speeds up to 400MHz officially, and dual ATI PCI Express x16 video cards operating in full speed x16 CrossFire mode. The CFX3200-DR is a feature complete solution, with a minimum number of components necessary for a fully working system including the following components: an Athlon64 type CPU, DDR memory, drives, and a PSU. DFI chose to integrate the following devices in to the CFX3200-DR’s layout: 2 IDE ATA-133 ports and 4 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1 and 0+1) on the ATI controller; 4 SATA ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and 5 capable) on the Silicon Image controller; 8 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 in rear panel, and 6 onboard header supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 ports (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header supporting 1 port each); 2 Marvell Yukon based Gigabit Ethernet ports in rear panel; Realtek 8-channel High Definition audio codec featuring S/PDIF RCA input and output ports; and PS/2 port support in the rear panel.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
Packaging/Case
Staying true to form, DFI chose to use the standard LANParty design on the box front, prominently displaying the supported chipset and CPU along the front right side of the box. DFI packages the following components in with the CFX3200-DR: rounded ATA-133 IDE and floppy cables; SATA drive and dual ended power cables; Realtek audio riser card and support bracket for rear panel integration; and the standard complement of manuals, driver CDs and floppy disks. Notice on the audio riser module itself, there is a CD_IN header and a front panel audio header.
Board Layout
DFI’s design choice for the CFX3200-DR is one of the most unique layouts I have come across. DFI flipped the position of the DIMM slots and CPU socket and co-located the Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets underneath the PCI and PCI Express slots. This layout reclaims a huge amount of space around the CPU socket area that is normally unavailable and makes cooling this usually less than accessible area that much easier. DFI didn’t stop there though. They also sinked all power MOSFETs responsible for DIMM and CPU power routing. While there is no serial number listed on the board, the board revision is easily read from the sticker on the outer PCI Express x16 slot, with revision R.A00 used in testing. For capacitors, DFI chose to use components from United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) - marked as “KMG” and “KZG”. The capacitors marked with an “M” come from an unknown manufacturer.
DFI chose to situate the board’s 4 DDR DIMM slots in the upper right quadrant, just below the rear panel. The slots are arranged in a bi-colored 2-by-2 configuration, with Dual Channel memory mode activated by placing DIMMs across sets in like colored DIMM slots. The 5V/12V floppy style power connector for extra video card power is located to the upper of the upper DIMM slots. Just above the DIMM slots are the Karajan audio connector for connecting the audio riser card, the USB 1-6 select jumper, the S/PDIF header for optical connections, and the PS/2 power select jumper. The USB 1-6 select and PS/2 power select jumpers control system activation based on activity from the rear panel USB 2.0 or PS/2 ports.
The Athlon64 socket 939 CPU socket is located in the board’s lower right quadrant. The socket uses the Athlon64 standard 2 hole based hold down mechanism, with the area surrounding the socket free of obstructions and able to support even large air and water coolers. Just below the CPU sockets power circuitry are the FAN3 header, the onboard ATA-133 ports, the 24-pin EATX power connector, and the 8-pin EATX12V power connector. The CPU fan and FAN2 headers are to the upper right of the CPU socket, as well as a DRAM power LED which illuminates when the board is powered on.
Located in the lower left quadrant of the board, the actively cooled Northbridge chipset and the passively cooled Southbridge chipsets use coolers held to the chipset via push pins on opposite sides. The floppy port and Southbridge controlled SATA II ports are located directly below both chipsets. Notice how the floppy port is rotated 90 degrees so that the floppy cable lies parallel to the plane of the board when engaged. The USB 7-8 select jumper and the onboard USB 2.0 header are located just above the Southbridge chipset. The USB 7-8 select jumper controls system activation based on activity from USB devices connected to header based ports. To the left of the Southbridge chipset and the SATA II ports lie the CMOS reset jumper, the onboard speaker, the speaker enable jumper, the front panel header, the CMOS battery, and the onboard power and reset buttons. The Silicon Image RAID controller, its 4 SATA-150 ports, and the FAN 4 and FAN5 headers are located just above the CMOS battery.
The CFX3200-DR has a total of 2 CrossFire capable PCI-Express x16 slots, 2 PCI Express x1 slots, and 3 PCI slots. The inclusion of 2 PCI Express x1 slots between the 2 PCI Express x16 slots allows for use of multiple video cards with overly large coolers without space issues between them. The COM port header and the Standby power LED are situated along the outer edge of PCI slot 3. The Standby power LED illuminates when an active power source is connected to the board. In the upper left corner of the board is a 2-digit diagnostic LED display that is very helpful for troubleshooting boot related issues. Just above PCI slots 1 and 2 are the infra-red headers. The onboard IEEE 1394 header is located in between the top of the 2 PCI Express x1 slots.
The CFX3200-DR contains the following devices integrated in to its rear panel: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; RCA style S/PDIF input and output ports; 6 USB 2.0 capable ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; and 2 Marvell Yukon GigE ports. With the Karajan audio riser seated, 6 analogue audio ports are added to the rear panel.