DFI LANParty UT CFX3200-DR

Rounding things up...

The LANParty UT CFX3200-DR is an interesting board in may respects, and there are a lot of things to really like about this motherboard. Lets refresh what we liked and what we didn't like about DFI's RD580 implementation.

The layout is really good and it's a departure from the me-too designs that you'll often see on the market. DFI is attempting to innovate and you can see that when you look at the layout of this motherboard. They've also done a fantastic job of not one, but two, PCI slots available for use with a pair of dual slot video cards installed. This means that you'll be able to install both a AGEIA PhysX PPU and a Creative X-Fi sound card without having to make compromises to your video card choice.

The BIOS - simply put - is a tweaker's heaven. The memory voltage adjustment reminds me fondly of adjusting potentiometers that were soldered to the motherboard to improve the range of voltages available. Although its not quite as sensitive as that, it isn't too far off - the range of voltage available is about as good as it gets, too.

Stability was reasonably good and it wasn't far behind what you can expect from motherboards build by the likes of ABIT and Epox. Overclocking was also reasonably good too, but not quite as good as we would've expected from a DFI motherboard. However, we're willing to say that this might be related to the motherboard BIOS, because the board would POST all the way up to 375MHz HTT. When the HTT was above 346MHz HTT, inconsistencies crept in and there were instances where the board would work, but then there were also instances where the board didn't work as well as it should. We suspect that overclocking performance will improve as time goes by.

There may be some problems with some cases, where the CPU temperature may increase because the memory is located where most CPUs are on more conventional motherboards. However, if you've got a well ventilated case, there shouldn't really be much of an issue. The same could be said about the positioning of the ATX power connectors, too. Providing you've got a case that's spacious, there shouldn't be an issue with installation.

Finally, the stock performance wasn't as good as one would expect. However, who buys a DFI motherboard to then run it at stock just because it looks kick ass? Obviously, there are some, but the majority of people considering the purchase of one of DFI's motherboards are looking for something that they can tweak, overclock and stress... heavily. This board stands up incredibly well in all of those areas.

Ease of installation:

The most impressive thing about this board was the fact that we were literally able to install our hardware, turn the machine on and boot first time without having to do anything magical. This is a departure from the LANParty nF4 SLI-DR and also the LANParty UT RDX200 CF-DR. Both of those boards required some configuration and tinkering before they were usable - we never got our RDX200 CF-DR working properly with CrossFire enabled.

The awe of amazement between bit-tech staffers in the office was a sight to behold - we've had our fair share of troubles with boards from several vendors in the past. We were expecting to have to jump through hoops with this board too, based on our experiences with the RDX200 CF-DR. Thankfully, we didn't and it was a pleasure to use.

Value:

We had a shop around and found the board in stock at two stores in the UK. There is a second shipment of the boards expected next week meaning that the board will be available from more stores - the price might come down too, as retailers start to compete with each other on price.

Tekheads has the best price at the moment at £166.85 including VAT, while Overclockers UK are selling the board for a staggering £176.19 inc VAT. That's some crazy pricing, but then many people would say the same thing about the price of the LANParty nF4 SLI-DR when it first came out. Compare that to the price of the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe, which is selling for around £125 to £130 including VAT and you're paying a lot more. Is it worth it, though?

Final Thoughts...

We think that it might be just what the doctor ordered if you're looking for the ultimate overclocker's motherboard based on ATI CrossFire technology. The board is solid, well built, reasonably stable and is pretty overclockable too. The BIOS is great and is a tweaker's heaven. We feel that it needs to mature a little to allow for more overclocking headroom. You should start to see more of this board's potential ooze out in the bucket load as more BIOS revisions come out.

The LANParty nF4 series motherboards were expensive to buy and the die-hard enthusiasts still chose to make that investment. We think that this board will fit into the same niche, but it's hard to justify the cost of such a board. Hopefully the board will come down in price over time, because we're sure that DFI will sell a lot more of these if they were only £20 more than the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe.

It's a shame not to see this board featured as an all bells, all whistles LANParty, because that would help to offset some of the additional costs and put some peace of mind back into your purchase. However, if you're looking for one of the best motherboards we've ever had our hands on, this is probably it.