DFI LT X38-T2R LanParty - Living Review.

[Ace-a-Rue]

not a biggy because there are other people out there who are doing it now with 45nm cpu's...i presume you will want to stay with phase...once there, i guess you don't want to return to air or water.

[Clunk]

The phase isn't for 24/7, it's way too noisy.



I use watercooling for my 24/7 rig, which is a P5K, but I might keep hold of this DFI as I quite like it.

[Ace-a-Rue]

actually, i liked it but i missed Uguru in windows desktop...and really, the IP35 Pro bios simplicity far outweighs the few more ounces of performance that you can tweak out of the DFI LT board.

when you reach my age group, you start looking for an easy approach to life....i had to decipher many aircraft system books and the most difficult was the Airbus 320 aircraft...that aircraft had over 160 computers in that aircraft running the various sytems...all the flight controls were controlled by 7 computers, which had sub-backups to keep it flying even if one or two failed.

i am about making it easier on me instead of making it harder to overclock, which the DFI board does.

[Clunk]

I see what you're saying, I really do, and there are always going to be people that want the easy way of doing things. As far as overclocking, reliable, easy to use and pretty much problem free motherboards go, the P5K deluxe has been hard to beat (I know others have had their problems), and I have kept it throughout the testing of all the other boards, and always go back to it.

As I say, this DFI board has been the first that has tempted me away from the P5K, even though it does have it's minor oddities, it is rock solid and great to use.

One thing that I have found and I will mention this in the review, is that the "stock" settings will get you up and running immediately and to a relatively high overclock, and the extra options are there if you need/want to use them, but you don't have to, so on your point about the DFI making things harder, I don't agree

Are you retired 60+?

[Ace-a-Rue]

Originally Posted by Clunk

I see what you're saying, I really do, and there are always going to be people that want the easy way of doing things. As far as overclocking, reliable, easy to use and pretty much problem free motherboards go, the P5K deluxe has been hard to beat (I know others have had their problems), and I have kept it throughout the testing of all the other boards, and always go back to it.

As I say, this DFI board has been the first that has tempted me away from the P5K, even though it does have it's minor oddities, it is rock solid and great to use.

One thing that I have found and I will mention this in the review, is that the "stock" settings will get you up and running immediately and to a relatively high overclock, and the extra options are there if you need/want to use them, but you don't have to, so on your point about the DFI making things harder, I don't agree

Are you retired 60+?

yes, 60+...i retired well before the FAA (federal aviation agency) changed the retirement age to 65 in nov 2007 or nov 2006; can't remember...that happens as you get older..hehehe

i agree with you that the DFI is a very good bootable board with everything set to "Auto"...the difficulty, at least for me, came when you get into high FSB...and that high FSB requires a lot of manipulation...i had a heck of a time of getting beyond a warm post problem until someone said to raise the NB voltage beyond what i had it set to...i had it around 1.5v range and not until i got it up in the 1.65 range did it behave properly!..that was with my trusty Q6600 'G0" cpu which was a good overclocker on the IP35 board...i got the same overclock out of the DFI board but i had to be tormented...LOL

[Clunk]

Very strange that.

My quad, is admittedly FSB limited now, around 470, but the 8400 went to 510x9 (where it appears to have "walled") and I hadnt touched any of the more advanced settings, in fact, I'll fire it up later and ill do a template of my 510FSB settings so you can see


It was a slightly different story with the quad, because as you may know, it has been steadily declining for a while now, so it needed a bit of GTL ref tweaking to get stable.

As for age, we already have a fifty something person that is a nerdy tweaker No doubt he will post here to reveal his identity

[dikkiedirk]

Originally Posted by Clunk

Very strange that.

My quad, is admittedly FSB limited now, around 470, but the 8400 went to 510x9 (where it appears to have "walled") and I hadnt touched any of the more advanced settings, in fact, I'll fire it up later and ill do a template of my 510FSB settings so you can see


It was a slightly different story with the quad, because as you may know, it has been steadily declining for a while now, so it needed a bit of GTL ref tweaking to get stable.

As for age, we already have a fifty something person that is a nerdy tweaker No doubt he will post here to reveal his identity

Looking forward to that template. Are you also running 4x 1 GB of ballistix 8500 on that configuration?

[Clunk]

Just 2x1GB Ballistix in the green slots.

I have tested 2x2GB with the G0 and they ran stable at 1000Mhz, not tried them with the E8400 yet.

[Clunk]

510x9 4590Mhz 1.4625v 1020Mhz RAM 5-5-5-15 OCCT stable.

Click image for full size.



11/01 Genie BIOS Template for 510FSB as above - Only a few adjustments from stock, but keep in mind that I was using phase cooling so your results may vary.

CPU Feature
Thermal Management Control: Disabled
PPM(EIST) Mode: Disabled
Limit CPUID MaxVal: Disabled
CIE Function: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled
Virtualization Technology: Disabled
Core Multi-Processing: Enabled

Exist Setup Shutdown: Mode 2
Shutdown after AC Loss: Disabled
CLOCK VC0 divider: AUTO
CPU Clock Ratio Unlock: Enabled
CPU Clock Ratio: 9 X
Target CPU Clock: 4590Mhz
CPU Clock: 510
Boot Up Clock: AUTO
DRAM Speed: 333/667
Target DRAM Speed: 1020Mhz
PCIE Clock: 100mhz
PCIE Slot Config: 1X 1X

CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum: Disabled

Voltage Settings
CPU VID Control: 1.4625
CPU VID Special Add: AUTO
DRAM Voltage Control: 2.19v
SB Core/CPU PLL Voltage: 1.51v
NB Core Voltage: 1.55v
CPU VTT Voltage: 1.205v
Vcore Droop Control: Enabled
Clockgen Voltage Control: 3.45v
GTL+ Buffers Strength: Strong
Host Slew Rate: Weak
GTL REF Voltage Control: Disable - kept this disabled for the dual core, seems to work better at the moment.
x CPU GTL1/3 REF Volt: 110
x CPU GTL 0/2 REF Volt: 110
x North Bridge GTL REF Volt: 110

DRAM Timing
Enhance Data transmitting: AUTO
Enhance Addressing: AUTO
T2 Dispatch: Disabled
Clock Setting Fine Delay
Ch1 Clock Crossing Setting: AUTO
DIMM 1 Clock fine delay: Current
DIMM 2 Clock fine delay: Current
Ch 1 Command fine delay: Current
Ch 1 Control fine delay: Current


Ch2 Clock Crossing Setting: AUTO
DIMM 3 Clock fine delay: Current
DIMM 4 Clock fine delay: Current
Ch 2 Command fine delay: Current
Ch 2 Control fine delay: Current

Ch1Ch2 CommonClock Setting: Auto

Ch1 RDCAS GNT-Chip Delay: Auto
Ch1 WRCAS GNT-Chip Delay: Auto
Ch1 Command to CS Delay: Auto

Ch2 RDCAS GNT-Chip Delay: Auto
Ch2 WRCAS GNT-Chip Delay: Auto
Ch2 Command to CS Delay: Auto

CAS Latency Time (tCL): 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 5
RAS# Precharge (tRP): 5
Precharge Delay (tRAS): 15
All Precharge to Act: AUTO
REF to ACT Delay (tRFC): AUTO
Performance LVL (Read Delay) (tRD): AUTO

Read delay phase adjust: Enter

Ch1 Read delay phase (4~0)
Channel 1 Phase 0 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 1 Phase 1 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 1 Phase 2 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 1 Phase 3 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 1 Phase 4 Pull-In: Auto

Ch2 Read delay phase (4~0)
Channel 2 Phase 0 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 2 Phase 1 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 2 Phase 2 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 2 Phase 3 Pull-In: Auto
Channel 2 Phase 4 Pull-In: Auto

MCH ODT Latency: AUTO
Write to PRE Delay (tWR): AUTO
Rank Write to Read (tWTR): AUTO
ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD): AUTO
Read to Write Delay (tRDWR): AUTO
Ranks Write to Write (tWRWR): AUTO
Ranks Read to Read (tRDRD): AUTO
Ranks Write to Read (tWRRD): AUTO
Read CAS# Precharge (tRTP): AUTO
ALL PRE to Refresh: AUTO

[Clunk]

517x9 4656Mhz 1.53v 1035Mhz RAM 5-5-5-15.

CPU-Z Validator Database

520x9 4680Mhz 1.53v 1040Mhz RAM 5-5-5-15.

CPU-Z Validator Database

522x9 4704Mhz 1.53v 1044Mhz RAM 5-5-5-15.

CPU-Z Validator Database