Hardware DFI LANParty DK 790FX-B M2RSH

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2009/02/17/dfi-lanparty-dk-790fx-b-review/1

DFI's 'dark' 790FX motherboard features the latest SB750 southbridge from AMD and promises the usual crazy DFI overclocking and shenanigans. We drop the new Phenom II X4 940 CPU in to see what it's truly capable of.

 

Board makers have really been caught with their pants around their ankles when it comes to AMD. They probably figured since there is no real enthusist market for AMD over the years since Core 2 Duo that they didnt need to put in the extra hours and just left things to stagnate and i'd say the first real warning of this was when mosfets started blowing on the 780g board's when they released the first phenoms.

The board makers really should have started working on something then rather than putting bandaids on the issue. And with the release of the Phenom II and it's awesome overclockability it's really highlighted how badly the board makers have left the AMD boards to stagnate, They obviously have no idea where to start and are starting to head down the path of charging out of their arse for 'Enthusiast quality' boards which are shite and are over priced yet alone not being worthy of the word enthusiast.

You cant offer a board like this for this price without it doing its job properly, and sadly they are just pushing out half arsed boards at inflated prices because they have NFI what they are doing on the AMD motherboard front anymore. i'm sure if they had boards of a high caliber Phenom II's would be clocking a fair bit higher while staying stable, so everyone i being let down which just pisses me off

 

TBH I love DFI; I really do, but their latest boards have been quite frankly a bit ****. It's really sad too - I just hope they'll still be around in 4/5 years when I will next be able to upgrade.

 

Amen to that, And a floppy disk? where do I suppose to put that in, I have let go of FDD's 6 years ago. It is time to let go and move out of the middle ages. I want motherboard makers that release a "enthusiast" motherboard that gives me plenty of USB, SATA and all other NEW bells and whistles and brutally cut away all the old abandoned junk like FDD, IDE, PS2/keyboard, com ports. I'm a enthusiast for Christ sakes! Not a 83 year old DOS grandpa with external 5 1/4 floppy drive with a black and white television and hangs on the wonder years of his youth...

Do you hear me?
Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI and others... Ditch the old embrace the new!

 

still think the M3A79T or the newer M4A79T are a better choice.

 

Why not compare with other 790FX motherboards instead of a 780G?

 

Lately DFI's AMD boards have been taking a sharp decline downhill. I have had the 790FX and the AMD 590 one and both have been less than spectacular with performance. Yes they are good for overclocking but the previous board (590) had its temp sensor coded wrong, BOTH my gigabit LAN ports died and finally my PCI-E ports went. I just have had no luck with them.

 

It wasn't compared to a 780G, it was 790GX.

 

http://anfi-tec.de/forenbilder/08.08.30/4.JPG

waterblocks for this mobo ^^

 

oops, i spelled wrong. thats what i meant. why not compare to other 790fx mobos?

 

Probably because a lot of 790fx boards out there don't have the sb750 which is pretty important especially with overclocking phenoms

 

Bingo.

And we don't have any other 790FX-SB750s in the lab. 790FX/GX makes **** all difference unless you're concerned with graphics performance too (and even then, the DFI is slower).

GX has HD 3300 graphics and it wasn't a feature of the review.

 

didn't know that. what is better about the sb750?

My motherboard is a MSI K9A2 Platinum with the 790FX but only has a sb600. Whats that mean?

MSI says I can use AM3 CPUs in it.

 

I think the predecessor M3A79-T with the SB750 (790FX) chipset has a far better layout then the new M479T. the M479T (M4) is a refreshes M3A79-T (M3) but with a catch:

1) The older M3 has all 90 degree SATA compared to the newer M4.
2) It also has 6 SATA connectors compared to the 5 of the new M4
3) The M3 also has one ps/2 (split) input for mouse/keyboard (when was the last time you have seen a ps2 mouse)
4) More bad news is that the M4 is a crossfire-x board, so putting in a secondary graphics card will put 3 out of 5 SATA out of use.

Even with the M4 has a better eight+two-phase power arrangement. You would have suspect they left all the other good stuff from the M3 in the upgrade path. IMHO It's like upgrading and doing a step back really.

This is the 'old' with way better layout M3A79-T Deluxe:


And this is the 'new' a few step back M4A79T Deluxe:



I would buy the am2+ M3A79-T, but if you really want a AM3/DDR3 motherboard... Then take a look at the new MSI 790FX-GD70, it looks absolutely stunning:

 

Im getting in that MSI - looks superb!

I do absolutely agree - the M4A seems crap in comparison to the M3A, yet, it's more expensive

 

The crystal cat has me sold.

 

It gets an Excellence award if it comes in the package.

MSI does lolcat mobo package = win.

 

I had this board, Very disappointed in the way overhyped DFI imho

Bought an aquero 4.0 and the board wouldnt recognise it as a compatible usb device, then ontop of that, channel 1 on the ram setup would not work in dual ddr2 mode. The board was only 2 1/2 months old when i got my P2 940 and after running an overclock of only 3.6ghz fro about 2 weeks the board died.

Thankfully when i rma'd it back to ebuyer they no longer stocked this model so I reluctantly went back to Asus with a m3a79 t deluxe, which i have to say compared to this board i am absolutley delighted with. My aquero work perfectly, i have run a stable 3.75ghz oc on my 940 since the day i installed it and have maxed the oc to 3.96ghz so far with no problems to date

 

I am so glad I never ordered this board to replace my dead M3A79.

Got the M4 instead. Although I agree that mobo makers have been seriously slacking on the AMD front.

Seems things might pick up with AM3 out.

 

I picked up this board for less than £100 when it was first released and the only letdown I've ever had was the BIOS.