Hope at last: DFI to make mATX crossfire/SLI boards

So will the 780gx matx version of the DFI lanboy be identical to the Intel version besides the fact they use different CPUS and chipsets?
 
Satummoo said:
So will the 780gx matx version of the DFI lanboy be identical to the Intel version besides the fact they use different CPUS and chipsets?
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For the most part the boards are equivalent, there are some differences in layout for USB and SATA headers but that's minor (although i prefer the right-angle connectors).

Some extra features the 790GX board has over the P45 one are a 2-digit POST code display and it has Onboard video which functions in Hybrid Crossfire X mode. (interesting feature, but not likely to be used)

Overall though the only real consideration for most people is going to be do you want to run an Intel or AMD processor.

It may be nice for some people building non-gaming boxes using AMD processors such as small servers. You could fill both PCIe slots with SATA Raid cards and just use the onboard video.
 
I haven't seen any pictures or mention of other DFI mATX boards in a fair bit of web trawling. There's nothing official on their web page to know if there are more mobo's to come. I hope there's not too long a wait either as I'm itching to build my new system (upgrading from a P4 / AGP).
 
DFI has been releasing the info through second parties (Fudzilla, Professional reviewers, and etc.,). Dont know why they wont come right out and give public statements. Strange way to release info if you ask me. :rolleyes:
 
More Info at FUD

Finally we have the JR or Junior which is an entierly new series of Lanparty board and for the first time ever, DFI has done a mATX Lanparty product. This P45 board allows for CrossFireX to be used and the two x16 PCIe 2.0 slots are locked in x8 mode due to PCB space limitations. However, with PCIe 2.0 having twice the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0, this shouldn't be a cause for concern.

The board also has a x1 PCIe slot and a standard PCI slot for expansion and as you can see from the picture it has heatpipe cooling and the same colour scheme as the DK series. Around the back is two PS/2 ports, optical and coaxial S/PDIF, a BIOS reset jumper, six USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and 7.1-channel audio jacks.

The board also has four memory slots for DDR2 memory, six SATA ports and an IDE connector and headers for six additional USB 2.0 ports. We really like this nifty little board and we'd expect it to become a solid favourite with people who actually attends lanparties.

DFI also added a new BIOS feature, genius BIOS which allows you to overclock your system without touching anything in the BIOS. It's as simple as pressing a button at boot-up and the motherboard will do the rest of it for you.
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CrimandEvil said:
I wonder what happened with EVGA and their possible SLI MATX mobo?
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I've got a DOA one and they don't seem to even acknowledge it's existence anymore :mad: now I am stuck with a dual core intel [e2280?] computer which is SLOW compared to my old a-64 :( [in my experience] I think jetway made them, but they don't list them either!
 
yea, i had the matx sli evga board too. Talk about AWESOME! I had sli'd cards, 3 hd's, x2 4200, 2 gigs of ram, all stuff into a modded microfly. Heavy as a brick, but 1/2 the size of everyone elses.
 
ric0chet06 said:
its not matx?
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His point is that it has two PCIe x16 slots, interestingly they've carried over in the G45 the same dual-8x crossfire capability that the P45 has.

So we might see some G45 mATX boards with crossfire as well.
 
If such a thing existed I would have expected to see it at computex. In practice it looks like most of the manufacturers still believe mATX == HTPC and thus can't even imagine why anyone would want an SLI motherboard in there.
 
squeezee said:
His point is that it has two PCIe x16 slots, interestingly they've carried over in the G45 the same dual-8x crossfire capability that the P45 has.

So we might see some G45 mATX boards with crossfire as well.
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From what I've read so far about the x4x series chipsets, the only ones capable of multi PEG slots directly off the northbridge are the X48 (duh) and the P45, not the G45.

That seems a typical arrangement I've been used to see since the P965-based era: one full-speed PCI-E 16x slot from the Northbridge, and a 4x electrical PCI-E slot from the Southbridge, with the inherent performance hit.

I've seen this kind of setup even with mATX motherboards (mostly G33-based, but there are 945G-based capable ones, too), just with 4x physical slots (most times, open-ended, so PEG cards fit).

If the BIOS has the proper code, you can have Crossfire-enabled motherboards with ANY Intel southbridge after the ICH5 (which, if I recall correctly, was still PCI-based) that has at least 4 PCI-E lanes available. Since the DMI interface is the standard Intel NB-to-SB interconnect since the 915P days, and the bandwidth hasn't changed since, you only really need available PCI-E lanes and BIOS code...

That being said, I hope I'm wrong, and the G45 does have "splittable" PCI-E lanes on the northbridge. Can you say 3-way CF on a mATX board? hehehe

However, I'd still prefer a non IGP-based chipset powering one gaming mATX motherboard. IGPs only increase heat and cripple performance, especially when OC'ing.

Cheers.

Miguel
 
However, I'd still prefer a non IGP-based chipset powering one gaming mATX motherboard. IGPs only increase heat and cripple performance, especially when OC'ing.
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Tell that to the G33/G35. On average, I'd say the FSB topped out at what? 400? with some going as high as 500? That's plenty, if you're not sticking a low-multi Penryn in there. The added benefit of a IGP is good for when you retire the board to HTPC status, and you no longer have a full graphics card. Its also good if you're too young to have spare PCI video cards lying around for backup.
 
Leman said:
Tell that to the G33/G35. On average, I'd say the FSB topped out at what? 400? with some going as high as 500? That's plenty, if you're not sticking a low-multi Penryn in there. The added benefit of a IGP is good for when you retire the board to HTPC status, and you no longer have a full graphics card. Its also good if you're too young to have spare PCI video cards lying around for backup.
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I <3 my creative Graphics blaster. :D
 
Leman said:
The added benefit of a IGP is good for when you retire the board to HTPC status, and you no longer have a full graphics card. Its also good if you're too young to have spare PCI video cards lying around for backup.
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The negative of an IGP is that some motherboard review sites still make the mistake of benchmarking a MicroATX motherboard that has built-in video only with built-in video, and then says something to the effect of the board being bad for gaming when all they did was test the IGP.

If a MicroATX motherboard has no IGP, then review sites will have to test it with discrete graphics, and maybe MicroATX can shake the negative stigma of HTPC and be taken seriously by all motherboard review sites.
 
Leman said:
Tell that to the G33/G35. On average, I'd say the FSB topped out at what? 400? with some going as high as 500? That's plenty, if you're not sticking a low-multi Penryn in there. The added benefit of a IGP is good for when you retire the board to HTPC status, and you no longer have a full graphics card. Its also good if you're too young to have spare PCI video cards lying around for backup.
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Yes, that is correct. The G33 and G35 chipsets are very good performers, kicking even "normal" ATX boards with the P35 (and previous) chipsets. And it also seems they're getting better with each iteration, which is also good.

However, and even having that in mind, I still think the IGP is one more thing to have to worry about if you want to OC. There is an HTPC market, and a gaming market, seldom overlapping. If you retire a gaming mATX board to HTPC duties, you might just as well get a €25 low-profile, no-fan entry level GPU, which might even be able to decode video better than the IGP...

But that's just me, of course.

nray said:
The negative of an IGP is that some motherboard review sites still make the mistake of benchmarking a MicroATX motherboard that has built-in video only with built-in video, and then says something to the effect of the board being bad for gaming when all they did was test the IGP.
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Yes, that is most unfortunate. If you want to test gaming and OC, you'll definetely want to stick to dedicated GPUs. The only non absolutely terrible (gaming-wise) IGPs right now are the 780G and the 8200, and even those aren't that great.

If you try to OC, it's even worse... You not only have to deal with the extra circuitry the IGP brings to the equation, but you also have to deal with the extra heat the IGP core outputs. Not to mention the most likely inability of the IGP core to scale as well as the rest of the chipset...

nray said:
If a MicroATX motherboard has no IGP, then review sites will have to test it with discrete graphics, and maybe MicroATX can shake the negative stigma of HTPC and be taken seriously by all motherboard review sites.
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Exactly. Though some of the review sites (the good ones :p) already do an apples-to-apples comparison between IGP-based and non IGP-based mobos.

I do think, however, that BIOS coding could benefit more on mATX motherboards... The DS2R was a great board, even with the crippled BIOS; same for the P5K-VM; and even the P5E-VM HDMI could benefit from a couple more BIOS spins... Maybe with DFI entering the enthusiast mATX market that changes. I sure hope so...

Cheers.

Miguel
 
Leman said:
Its alright, I guess. Missing the solid caps, more fan headers than other boards (I count 5+1), USB connections in the middle of the board.
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The board you see in the picture linked by MC FLMJIG is the DFI BloodIron JR 780G-M2R, not the DFI LanParty JR 790GX-M2RS. DFI had display cards up for both mobos at Computex, but it's fairly obvious they put the BloodIron mobo up behind both cards as they didn't have a prototype for the 790GX mobo to display. The 790GX will be more desireable due to the better southbridge (better overclocking supposedly) and higher quality components (all solid caps). Take a look at the pics and see for yourself:

dsc_7921458.jpg

dsc_7923793.jpg

dsc_7924606.jpg



Overclocking SLI on a budget? Its alright.
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It's not SLI, it's crossfire only. AFAIK DFI didn't come out with a SLI capable mATX board at Computex.
 
I really wish we could see an EVGA 750i FTW SLI Micro-ATX. I would buy one in a heart beat and run two 8800GTs.;)
 
Toaster Oven said:
The board you see in the picture linked by MC FLMJIG is the DFI BloodIron JR 780G-M2R, not the DFI LanParty JR 790GX-M2RS. DFI had display cards up for both mobos at Computex, but it's fairly obvious they put the BloodIron mobo up behind both cards as they didn't have a prototype for the 790GX mobo to display. The 790GX will be more desireable due to the better southbridge (better overclocking supposedly) and higher quality components (all solid caps). Take a look at the pics and see for yourself:

dsc_7921458.jpg

dsc_7923793.jpg

dsc_7924606.jpg





It's not SLI, it's crossfire only. AFAIK DFI didn't come out with a SLI capable mATX board at Computex.
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Anyone know the release date of this board?
 
Toaster Oven said:
The board you see in the picture linked by MC FLMJIG is the DFI BloodIron JR 780G-M2R, not the DFI LanParty JR 790GX-M2RS. DFI had display cards up for both mobos at Computex, but it's fairly obvious they put the BloodIron mobo up behind both cards as they didn't have a prototype for the 790GX mobo to display. The 790GX will be more desireable due to the better southbridge (better overclocking supposedly) and higher quality components (all solid caps). Take a look at the pics and see for yourself:
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True enough, although budget overclocking is always good.

It's not SLI, it's crossfire only. AFAIK DFI didn't come out with a SLI capable mATX board at Computex.
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I don't know why, but when I saw AMD, I thought SLI. Must be those green logos.

...

I want my ATI back.
 
Nice detective work, Toaster. Southbridge shouldn't effect OC'ing, only features, but the solid caps make a big difference on todays boards. New ATi cards sounds fairly promising and they are going to be affordable so I am glad this will support Crossfire. Two of the 4850's in Crossfire will be like two 8800 Ultras in SLI, yet still leave the expansion slots available.

You could even use a dual slot 4870 and a single slot 4850, which seems to work well with Crossfire.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
Nice detective work, Toaster. Southbridge shouldn't effect OC'ing, only features, but the solid caps make a big difference on todays boards. New ATi cards sounds fairly promising and they are going to be affordable so I am glad this will support Crossfire. Two of the 4850's in Crossfire will be like two 8800 Ultras in SLI, yet still leave the expansion slots available.

You could even use a dual slot 4870 and a single slot 4850, which seems to work well with Crossfire.
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I believe the southbridge will effect overclocking when it comes to phenoms. I have been reading that amd said that motherboards with a SB700 will allow an auto 3GHZ overclock on the 9850 BE, and the SB750 will allow for 3.2ghz. If that is indeed the case, I might trade my P5E-VM/E8400 in for a DFI 790GX, Phenom 9850BE, and 4870 Crossfire.

I have been wanting to move to a quad-core, but I decided I was going to wait for Nehalem, or the 45nm refresh of the Phenom's. My E8400 should be here Friday, to replace my aging E4400, and I'm hoping it's gonna run cool enough, and fast enough to hold me over.


EDIT: That would be a nice looking system. Motherboard with a RED PCB, as well as 2x HD4000's with matching RED PCB's, all inside a SG01 with the interior painted gloss black, with a black/red corsair 620w to boot. :D
 
sleepeeg3 said:
Southbridge shouldn't effect OC'ing, only features
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That's not true when it comes to Phenoms. The current SB700 was originally supposed to include an integrated clock generator. But AMD encountered a bug with it, forcing mobo manufacturers to add an external one instead. The SB750 will have a proper functioning integrated clock generator (and Super I/O controller) which will supposedly aid in Phenom overclocking stability. Details are still sketchy but FUD gave some hints on what to expect back in April.
 
ah ok but the new AM3 chips can be used on the Am2+ platform correct?

As long as I get REALLy good DDR2 ram (compared to bad ddr3), and 2 years later get a new am3 CPU, I should be pretty futureproof :)
 
DFI Lanparty JR P45-T2RS... Socket 775 and Crossfire. Looks super sexy too!

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Specs:

Chipset INTEL® P45+ICH10R
CPU
* Socket-775 for Intel Core TM2 Quad, Core TM 2 Duo, Core TM2 Extreme
*Socket-775 for Intel Pentium® D
* 4 Phase digital PWM
FSB
* 800/1066/1333 MHz
Memory
* 128-bit Dual-channel memory architecture
* 4 240-pin DDRII DIMM sockets max 8GB
* Supports unbuffered, single/double-side DDR2 533/667/800 DIMMs
* Supports x8/x16, non-ECC and up to 1Gb DDRII devices
Expansion Slots
* 1 x16 or 2 x16 Graphic Slots in 2 x8 lanes by IC switch
* 2 PCIe x1
* 2 PCI slots
Storage
* 1 Floppy port
* 1 parallel IDE ports with up to 133Mbps UltraDMA
* 6 serial SATAII ports with up to 3Gbs
* Support INTEL SATAII with RAID 0/1/0+1/5
* JMB 368 supports 1 IDE port
USB
* 12 USB2.0 ports
Audio
* Realtek ALC885 for 8CH HD audio CODEC
LAN
* 1 GbE LAN by Marvell 8053
Legacy I/O &#1048698; IT8718F-S
* Hardware Monitoring:
CPU/System temperature sensing w/ overheating alarm CPU
overheating protection during system boot-up
12v/5v/3.3v/Vcore/Vdimm/Vnb/Vbat/5Vsb voltages sensing
Current drive CPU temperature sensing
3 Fan speed sensing and 1 Linear fan speed control for CPU fan
Back panel I/O
* 1 x PS2 mouse, 1 x PS2 keyboard
* 2 USB2.0 ports, 1 x RJ45
*4 USB2.0 ports
Other Onboard Connectors
* 3 USB header for 6 USB2.0 ports
* 1 5x1-pin for IRDA header
* 1 4-pin FAN connector for CPU, 2 3-pin FAN for Chipset, 3 3-pin FAN for system
* 1 COM
* 24-pin ATX and 8-pin ATX power connectors
* Standby LED, S3 LED
* EZ-On and EZ-Touch switches for onboard power on and reset
* 10x2-pin front panel headers (IDE LED, Power LED, Power switch, Reset button,
 
Leman said:
True enough, although budget overclocking is always good.



I don't know why, but when I saw AMD, I thought SLI. Must be those green logos.

...

I want my ATI back.
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I very much agree. I've gone with Nvidia the past two generations due to bang for the buck, but I've really missed the red side.
 
KrylonArt said:
Memory
* 128-bit Dual-channel memory architecture
* 4 240-pin DDRII DIMM sockets max 8GB
* Supports unbuffered, single/double-side DDR2 533/667/800 DIMMs
* Supports x8/x16, non-ECC and up to 1Gb DDRII devices
Expansion Slots
* 1 x16 or 2 x16 Graphic Slots in 2 x8 lanes by IC switch
* 2 PCIe x1
* 2 PCI slots
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I've seen this information repeated so many times but I wonder how accurate it is. It's pretty clear the board does not support that number of slots, and the sign at computex mentioned support for faster (1066?) memory. Hopefully DFI will release some sort of official spec sheet soon.
 
the phenom board looks great, especially if the rumour about a 2.8GHz CPU auto-OC'ing to 3.2GHz with the 750SB is true.
 
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