DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D Gamer Motherboard

The "UT" part of the product name destines that it has plastic parts (the slots, mainly) that are sensible to ultraviolet and therefore glow under a blacklight. Of course, unless you play in a black-lit room all the time, you'll need to buy a black-cathode-light for the inside of your case to make the best of this. But the burning slots are not what make this CPU gameboard unique.

You'll notice at once that the random computer memory slots are in a weird emplacement, for an nForce 4 gameboard. Commonly, they're toward the front side of the C.P.U., but in the nF4 Ultra-D, they're above it, toward the top margin of the CPU gameboard. We couldn't find reason to believe this was either good or bad, but it does slightly reposition the C.P.U.. You'll have no problem getting a large C.P.U. cooler on, but cases that have air ports aligned for C.P.U. cooling might not line up exactly with the C.P.U. socket location on this CPU gameboard. Power plugs and IDE/floppy ports are located in the usual place at the front margin of the gameboard.

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Motherboard>Supermicro P4SCi Workstation Board

DETAILS: Supermicro motherboards are designed with the utmost attention to detail to provide you with the highest standards in quality and performance.PRODUCT FEATURES:Suspend to RAM (STR): all tasks are stored in RAM and can be resumed within 10 seconds from the minimum power consuming suspend mode;Wake-on-LAN allows for remote network management and configuration of the PC, even in off-hours when the PC is turned off.

This reduces the complexity of managing a network;Onboard 4-phase switching power regulator supports CPU core voltages from 1.1-1.65 volts;6x 3-pin fan headers with tachometer monitoring on 3x fans (for CPU, chassis);Keyboard wake-up from Soft-off;Connector for LED overheat indicator. Product Description SUPERMICRO SUPER P4 SCi - motherboard - ATX - E7210 Product Type: Motherboard Form Factor: ATX Dimensions (WxDxH): 12 in x 9.5 in Chipset Type: Intel E7210 Max Bus Speed: 800 MHz Processor: 0 ( 1 ) - Socket 478 Compatible Processors: Celeron, Pentium 4 RAM: 0 MB (installed) / 4 GB (max) Supported RAM Technology: DDR SDRAM Supported RAM Integrity Check: ECC Storage Controller: ATA-100, Serial ATA-150 (RAID) USB Ports Configuration: 4 x USB Storage Ports Configuration: 2 x ATA, 2 x SATA Graphics Controller: PCI - ATI RAGE XL - 8 MB ( 8 MB ) Networking: Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet ALTERNATE ITEM #: MBD-P4SCI-O UPC: 0672042883196

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GIGABYTE GA-K8U-939 ULi 1689 Chipset DDR400 Socket 939 ATX Motherboard

Supporting the latest AMD socket 939 Athlon™ 64 X2 / 64 processors, the GA-K8U-939 represents the most cost effective solution for AMD socket 939 platform. The unprecedented AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core processor leads the industry not only to the increasing performance enhancement but also the more complete security and productivity abilities by true multi-taking capability based on AMD 64-bit platform. Accompanied with the innovative designs of AMD technology, the advanced ULi 1689 processor contributes to functionality and stability of this platform. The Serial ATA interface enhances storage performance. The AGP 8X graphic interface and 8-channel audio also ensure the enjoyment of multi-media application. Last but not the least, Norton Internet Security software is bundled for security protection. With such array of leading technologies and Gigabyte's unique features, users are sure to get the most value from the GA-K8U-939.

* AMD AthlonTM64 X2 Dual –Core Processor
Powered by ULi 1689 platform processor, GA-K8U-939 supports the unprecedented AMD AthlonTM64 X2 Dual-Core processor to deliver a true multi-tasking platform with dual support for 32-bit applications and increasing 64-bit computing needs.
* HyperTransportTM technology
A high-speed, low latency, point-to-point link designed to provide excellent interconnect for computation and networking. This Technology not only provides more bandwidth but also reduces the I/O bottlenecks and, consequently, greatly enhances the system performance.

# Dual Channel DDR architecture support
The AMD AthlonTM 64 processor improves the memory performance by integrating a DDR memory controller into the processor. With the integrated memory controller, this platform supports dual channel DDR400 memory architecture and delivers high capacity of 4GB memory and high bandwidth up to 6.4GB/s to ensure greatest memory performance.
# Superb bandwidth AGP 8X graphics interface
Featuring AGP 8x (AGP 3.0) the new generation VGA interface specification, this platform delivers enhanced graphics performance with high bandwidth up to 2.12GB/s. Allowing users to have a more realistic graphics experiences while gaming or movie watching.
# Ethernet 10/100Mb LAN Network Connection
Ethernet 10/100Mb LAN Network Connection Provides high-quality 10/100 Ethernet performance for value-minded users who need straight forward network connectivity. Ensure a high-speed, stable solution for new broadband era.
# Serial ATA with RAID 0,1 function
Serial ATA is the revolutionary ATA interface that provides scalable performance for IDE device. With up to 150MB/s data transfer rate, Serial ATA is faster than current Parallel ATA and delivers superior input/output performance. In addition, the Serial ATA interface is furnished with RAID 0, 1 function for extra performance enhancement and data protection.
# 8-Channel Audio
Experiences the 3D surround sound through the 8-channel audio solution. The advanced feature fulfills the requirements for a variety of audio applications, such as MP3 or Audio CD playback, DVD movies and gaming thus delivering ideal platform for multimedia solution.
# Norton Internet SecurityTM Included
Norton Internet SecurityTM is the essential protection from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats. It protects user during the online activities such as e-mailing, shopping, banking, and game playing.

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Motherboard - ASUS K8N-E Deluxe nForce3 250Gb

The times, they are a changin. AMD introduced its lineup of Athlon 64-bit processors almost a year ago. They were tempting speed-demons capable of performing both 64-bit and 32-bit processes. Basically, this meant you could upgrade to a 64-bit processor without having to wait for the 64-bit version of Windows to be released. All the benefits of forward-compatibility without any of the negatives of having to rebuy all your software packages. Great! Why didn't they catch on? The mighty dollar struck again and all of the new 64-bit hardware was just too expensive.
Well, a year really makes a difference in the computer industry. First, prices have dropped significantly from last year, making 64-bit computers a feasible of reality for us little folk. In addition, ASUS and Nvidia got their acts together after releasing a dismal nForce3 150Gb motherboard and released this -- the K8N-E Deluxe nForce3 250Gb.
This socket 754 (most AMD Athlon 64 Processors are socket 754 however the newest of the new is socket 939 now) motherboard comes loaded for bear with everything you could possible need for today's multimedia machine.

Let's start with I/O devices. You've got your PS/2 connectors for ancient keyboards and mice. For those of you not living in the Dark Ages, the motherboard comes with eight (8) USB2.0 ports and a built-on IEEE1394 (firewire) port with the ability to add an expansion slot with yet another firewire port.

That's fine, but there are a whole lot of other ports here that do nifty stuff; let's talk about Realtek's ALC850 8-channel onboard sound with BOTH coaxial and optical digital-out as well as standard speaker outputs. Even Creative Labs' Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS doesn't come with SPDIF (optical) out. And the Sound Manager program handles all of the adjustments and configuration issues for any speaker system available with expert ease. The sound quality is absolutely superb.

For hard drive support, you've got your standard two IDE channels capable of each handling two drives (overall support for four drives). In addition, you also get six (6) Serial ATA controllers. Yes, that's right, I said SIX. Two of which are controlled by the BIOS itself with the remaining four controlled by the spectacular onboard Sil 3114 controller chip.

ASUS didn't stop there, though. They decided to throw in gigabit ethernet. Yep, no 10/100 Ethernet for this monster, you've got the ugpradability of 10/100/1000 Ethernet.

As far as stability goes, this motherboard runs like a champ. We've even run some performance numbers for you on the very system being used to write this review:

The original specs of this PC were as follows: an Athlon XP 2600+ processor running on an ASUS A7N8X2.0-Deluxe motherboard (check out our review by clicking here) with 1024MB of matched pair Mushkin Level-One memory running with RAID-0 Western Digital 36.7GB Raptor hard drives (for a combined 20,000RPM and 16MB of cache) and a Powercolor ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card. The PCMark2001 results looked like this:

Athlon XP 2600+ System
CPU Score: 6311
Memory Score: 5131
HDD Score: 2100
3DMark2001: 14322
3DMark2003: 4855

The only components changed were the motherboard and the processor. Everything else remained the same for the following PCMark2001 results:

Athlon 64 3200+ System
CPU Score: 7186
Memory Score: 8067
HDD Score: 2303
3DMark2001: 17357
3DMark2003: 5269

Granted, the CPU Score is completely dependent on the new Athlon 64 3200+ chip we threw down but the rest are completely motherboard-determined. Performance increases by just changing out the motherboard and processor looked like this:

Percentage Increase
CPU Score: 113% faster
Memory Score: 157% faster
HDD Score: 110% faster
3DMark2001: 122% faster
3DMark2003: 109% faster

Yes, the time has come for 64-bit processing despite the fact that the 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows XP isn't due until later this year or early 2005. The ASUS K8N-E Deluxe motherboard is spectacular bringing faster overall performance to every aspect of computer use. If you're looking for a motherboard to carry you years into the future, you need not look any further than the ASUS K8N-E Deluxe 250Gb.

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