DFI NF4 SLi buildup

[Dan_D]

Well today I am building a system for a customer, with a DFI nForce 4 SLi motherboard. Let me just get it over with and say that DFI is still the biggest piece of shit next to Soyo and ECS just as I remembered them from the old Pentium days.

Any motherboard that can't act right out of the box with name brand parts, is a pile of shit.

With this things specs, the machine would have been pretty sweet. Its just the shitty DFI holding it back.

Specs are as fallows:

Antec P180 Case
Antec Smart Power 500Watt ATX 2.0
DFI Lan Party (Still maintain that this is just about the gayest name for a mobo) NF4 SLi-D
2GB of PC3200 ram (Tried many brands here)
2xPNY 7800GT's in SLi
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Sony 16x DVD-R/RW
Western Digital SATA 7200RPM 200GB HDD

No I don't have a question really. I'll probably get this figured out here in a little bit. It's either memory or PSU causing the issue more than likely. I am just venting about how shitty DFI is. I've read nothing but horror stories about their SLi board, and I myself have never been able to trust DFI since the Pentium days, when I dealt with a similar DFI nightmare. Love the look of it, the layout and I can even forgive the gay name. But the quality of it and its stability is absolutely second rate. I would rather use an ECS board.

 

[Dan_D]

Problem fixed. It didn't like the second sticks of memory. All from the same brand. But the second were slightly different versions of the same ram.

I do like the Antec P180 for the most part. I wish there were an E-ATX version of it. The door is kind of cheesy though. Doesn't really lock into place without using the actual keylock.

It also doesn't fold against the side very well, unlike the way it appears to work in alot of the photos. Otherwise, I like it.

 

[Frallan]

I got my SLI-DR up and running pretty fast and tweaked in a matter of weeks. But U REALLY have to do research b4 buying parts especially PSU and RAM. I would recommend talking to the OCZ-guys at bleadingedge.com and then getting the OCZ-RAM they recommend and to check that your retailer sends the RAM-sticks from the right batch.

 

[Dan_D]

I got my SLI-DR up and running pretty fast and tweaked in a matter of weeks. But U REALLY have to do research b4 buying parts especially PSU and RAM. I would recommend talking to the OCZ-guys at bleadingedge.com and then getting the OCZ-RAM they recommend and to check that your retailer sends the RAM-sticks from the right batch.

Here is the thing. That's bullshit in my opinion. You should be able to use just about any name brand parts, and that includes PSU and RAM. With an Asus, or a Abit and even an MSI board I could use just about anything with them and they'd work. Plus a needing to do a BIOS update for stable operation out of the box is absolutely the makings of a shit sandwich. On top of that, when a customer brings parts into the tech shop and says build it. I must build it. If they didn't buy the parts from my store, or even if they did and they chose, its up to me to make it happen. With Asus, MSI or Abit I could have made it happen in about 2 hours less time.

Tweaked in a matter of weeks is also crap. I can tweak a identical system in a few days if its built with another board. I know that the DFI boards overclock like crazy, but honestly they aren't worth the hassel and are completely undeserving of the cult fan base they enjoy.

Even without sharp solder joints, I would have to say that wiping my ass with a DFI board would be too good for it. I use to pick on Abit for along time. They changed that with the AA8XE. I've also installed many Fatal1ty AN8-SLi boards over the last couple weeks in customer units and found them to be decent overall. I've done numerous Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe builds and found them to be excellent and easy to work with.

 

[JSF35rhino]

although some are a problem. the whole PSU issue with these MB is just utter crap . there is no reason a DFI will need any more power than any other nf4 mb . my ECS nf4 has no such problems --nor the asus .


if you get a good one--all you have to do is flash the bios make a few adjustments in the bios and overclock away .like any other nf4.

but a mb with the bad power regulation--well you can buy the gold plated $$$ okz ram the recomended psu pray to the tin god's over at DFI-streets --and it will still crash, re-boot hang corrupt windows and overheat .

ive overclocked mine with a 450 antec psu--with a damn 20 pin !-- used the super budget/el-cheap-o inferion 3200 ram -- even overclocked it with 4x 128 single sided sticks of inferion--with a winchester core --LOL --it seems to love the tccd-g-skill

what you really have here ia a fabrication problem with the DFI's some of the MB's are affected--others are not. i think there is a talk of some kind of class action. the power regulation problem is something that can not be fixxed by talking to gurus-swapping ram or psu's . i am would not be suprised if DFI-street don't start recommending 2000w psu's!
which they don't make yet--lol there should really ba a recall on the affected mb's.

my advice on the DFI -- flash the thing to the new bios 704-03 or 704-01 for GP ram .

if you have a psu that is putting out enough amps on the 12v rail--you should be fine .check the mosfets--if there hot enough to BBQ on---just get a new MB , it can't be fixxed--

while DFI makes a great MB they also make lots of problem child-type mb's--ig you got a problem child--maybe it time to send it to reform school-- out of the last 40 of the DFI's i have 6 that were flakey-problem prone --and i have all the required ram--psu's and equipment to test everything. although i would not say DFI is CRAP--i will say they are having a rather serious issue with fabrication quality.


if you noticed on the new-boards--they power regulation has been totally re-vamped--now why would it be changed--if there was no problem to start with ?