Hardware DFI LANParty DK 790FXB-M3H5 Review

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2009/07/22/dfi-lanparty-dk-790fxb-m3h5-review/1

DFI's latest LANParty board is built on the 790FX platform for AMD AM3 CPUs is a yellow and black update to the AM2+ M2RSH. Has DFI changed anything underneath to make it a better buy? Or is it in the same mould with the same limitations? Read on to find out.

 

The yellow tbh look a bit naff. I didnt mind the luminous green DFI boards but the yellow makes it look like "My First Motherboard (C) Fisher Price"

PS Page 5 the top power consumption graph subtitle is wrong:

Power Consumption (Idle)
Power at wall socket. BIOS Defaults, all onboard hardware enabled. Prime95 Load

How can it be loaded and idle at the same time

 

It's a bit strange that you can't swap out the BIOs on these boards when you could on the AM2+ versions.

 

why no comparions against Intel products?

 

I never liked the DFI boards' look to be honest and his one is no exception. Paired with the underwhelming performance I guess I'll just keep my C2D setup a bit longer and wait for i5.

 

Because it's not a CPU review?

 

Because its a motherboard review, not a CPU review. If you're looking for CPU upgrade advice we've done loads of reviews recently.

 

UT eH7 anyone ?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=227011

 

i do understand that but if you look at the Handbrake H.264 Encoding benchmark there is a 5% variation in results based upon what MOBO you use, that could be enough to alter the standings between different chips

for example a AMD proc on one mobo may perform 2% worse than an Intel Proc but on a different MOBO it would perform 3% better.
you see the conundrum?

would be nice for bit-tech to create a database of benchmark results that would be easily comparible accross different systems each time you test a proc you update its bench and the average of all the results is displayed. therefore if you tested said proc on 3 differeent mobos the average of the 3 would be used (or if your clever Top Mean and low) thsi could be done also for GPUs against Proc / Mobo that way if ever we need to compare our old gear we only need to check our products against a relevant benchmark instead of perhaps looking accross 3 differeent review to come up with a conclusion

for example try comparing a 9800GTX against a 285 using the existing reviews
(something that is not unreasonable in terms of upgrade path)

 

Not for sale in the UK and it'll be daaaaaaaaaaaamn expensive.

 

Not for sale anywhere, yet, but maybe...

Guess I'm still haunted by dfi 939 nostalgia

 

To be honest, DFI's AMD line of motherboards has tanked. Their last good "enthusiast" motherboard for an AMD CPU would be the NF590-M2R/G. Even then that one had some quirks that made it an "meh' board. When that one died on me 1 year after reciving it i upgraded to the 790FX and while it lasted a short amount of time I was VERY disappointed in the way it performed. So now that that board is dead I am running Intel and the DFI Intel side and I must say that their Intel boards are on the order of magnitudes better than the AMD side.

 

When AMD AM2 range performed so badly for so long DFI kinda jumped ship towards its intel range due to the core duo being such a huge hit.

DFI should be ashamed by that board. I still love the yellow and black, but they were the brand you expected to be late to the table with there board, but my would it overclock!

 

what wrong with screws on the heatsinks? and whats wrong with clear CMOS at the back?

 

well pretty much every motherboard manfufacture, putting very little effort into their amd boards compared to their intels ones. You look at a mainstream intel board and it's more tricked out than an enthusiast amd board

 

DFI Lanparty DK 790FXB-M3H5

i must say im rathewr dissapointed in the board! i have always stuck with AMD cause i prefer it and always will! but this board has to be said is one of the worst yet by DFI they should have spent more time in workin out the kinks instead of rushing it cause its an AMD platform! its so annoying that this happens alot with other brands of boards to!!!! i will keep my out for an upgrade but i will rather find the best one to date than get one of these rushed boards!

 

Heatsink screws shear off - they are piss poor quality, like always.

The clear CMOS jumper on the back should be a button for ease of use.