DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Motherboard

Talk about the best motherboard on the market

Strengths: extremely stable, looks great a plus on the accessories

Weakness: waiting for some myself

This mobo was what I was looking for when I was building an ultimate gaming machine. DFI worked with OCZ to get some extreme memory designed for this mobo. I'm telling you, for building my first mobo (and I am definitely being careful not to screw up with this fine peice of machinery) this was the way to go. If you plan on going for th ultra thats great but there are issues with modifying them to...
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This mobo was what I was looking for when I was building an ultimate gaming machine. DFI worked with OCZ to get some extreme memory designed for this mobo. I'm telling you, for building my first mobo (and I am definitely being careful not to screw up with this fine peice of machinery) this was the way to go. If you plan on going for th ultra thats great but there are issues with modifying them to be like this board. So, why bother when they still can even match this board after modification.
I am telling you, just buy this board and spend the extra, you'll thank me. I will say though ANY first time builder should look around first of course. I spent two months making sure I got the best board for my money. I found this to be one of the ones I liked because of the features.

By hadvad - Sep 11, 2005

OC motherboard

Strengths: Speed, Ports, Spacing, OC potential.

Weakness: Price

This is the board for the true gamer looking for blazing speed and overclocking ability. This board offers a lot of room for upgradibility in the future with dual cpu's and ddr. This board is the 939 socket which most users choose for its ease of use and allows for mods to be made in the upcoming flux of technology. Highly reccomended. It runs fine so far!

By nutzilla - Jul 18, 2005

A working nForce4-SLI MoBo

Strengths: Can remove the stock chipset fan so as to install a liquid cooler. Works well. Includes some useful accessories.

Weakness: BAD color choices - looks like the colors were chosen by a designer's preschool daughter.

While it remains true that all nForce4-SLI-based MoBos are very buggy (just take a look at any of the manufacturer's online forums regarding these boards to get some idea), some work better than others. I've had a better experience with this board than with the Asus A8N-SLI Premium. Many users theorize that the finicky chipset gets too hot under load, and that may be the reason why systems based...
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While it remains true that all nForce4-SLI-based MoBos are very buggy (just take a look at any of the manufacturer's online forums regarding these boards to get some idea), some work better than others. I've had a better experience with this board than with the Asus A8N-SLI Premium. Many users theorize that the finicky chipset gets too hot under load, and that may be the reason why systems based upon such boards tend to have reboot/crash/lockup issues. With this board, one can easily remove the stock fan and install a liquid cooler; having done so, I'm experiencing a reliable computing experience.
The board also includes highly useful indicator LEDs to help you determine where any problem lies, and on-the-board power and reset switches. There is a dubiously-useful "FrontX" component, dubious since it brings less useful ports to the front of your case. But also included are some round floppy and IDE cables, as well as a very handy case carrying strap. Most professional reviewers seem to agree that this MoBo is currently the king of the hill.

By Mason Storm - Aug 19, 2005

After a bit longer....

Strengths: Lots of easy to use accessories, and logically placed slots.

Weakness: Overheats, requiring much additional airflow. Chipset & cooling fan are blocked by ANY decent video card.

Built a system using this MOBO as the base, GeForce Nvidia 6800GT w/256 ram, and 2g of ram, using Windows XP home. I was THRILLED when I built it because everything ran supper fast. BF1942/desert combat was a whole new experiance and I couldn't compliment this equipment enough. Unfortunately many of the older games like Ravenshield, Ghost recon and such would cause the system to crash to blue...
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Built a system using this MOBO as the base, GeForce Nvidia 6800GT w/256 ram, and 2g of ram, using Windows XP home. I was THRILLED when I built it because everything ran supper fast. BF1942/desert combat was a whole new experiance and I couldn't compliment this equipment enough. Unfortunately many of the older games like Ravenshield, Ghost recon and such would cause the system to crash to blue screen, never figured out why. BF2 comes out and now I am finding a whole new set of problems. Crash to desktop with memory errors over and over, crash to blue screen regularly with video driver errors. I am part of a group of people playing this game, all of us with same video card. It's NOT the card. Something doesn't work between the two. After reading documentation, this was created to use SLI with 6600 Nvdia cards. Unfortunately, the single 6800 out performs two SLI linked 6600.

All in all, I think they have something here, however I think it's got enough bugs that a new to DIY user shouldn't attempt. Personally, I think they screwed themselved by trying to cram TOO much on the board, leaving it diffult to keep all working properly.

Oh, forgot to say, the on-board Audio is iffy at best. It works, don't get me wrong. But if you want to use the 7.1 surround, be prepared to set this up about every 3x you boot up, and it will never quite work right. Oh, also it's NOT 32bit. Audigy 2 is Much better.

By Gonzo_JR - Sep 18, 2005