DFI NF4 Ultra vs Abit AN8 Ulta

Vulcan · Post by **Vulcan** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 5:55 pm

I was planing on using one of these for my next build. Overclocking and quietness with both be primary concerns. The DFI has superior overclcoking options, while the AN8 woudl give me silence. Has anyone had success using a passive/very quiet cooler on the DFI while overclocking?

merovingian · Post by **merovingian** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:58 pm

I would say that depends on what processor you plan on running and how what the HTT clocks to on the AN8. With a DFI board you don't really need to have anything more than the 3000+ and a decent cooler to see around 2.7-2.97 on air. I like asus premium most but it costs cash and requires a 3200+ to see top clocks on air and water.

Anyway, you got experiance with OCing cause I hear that is not an easy board to OC and it still has giving alot of people some problems.

miTchy · Post by **miTchy** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:04 am

yeah im one of those people having problems ocing the dfi, i had a asus a8v deluxe using the same processor i could get 2.6ghz on stock voltage, the dfi seems to have trouble doing 2.4 at 1.5

Vulcan · Post by **Vulcan** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:04 pm

merovingian wrote:Anyway, you got experiance with OCing cause I hear that is not an easy board to OC and it still has giving alot of people some problems.

None with the A64. I have heard the same thing. However, it does have some great features that really appeal to me, it lets you save 4 different bios setups and has memtest 86 built into the bios.

I'd probably have to put a different cooler on I guess, depeneding how loud the stock one is.

It looks like the epox performs great as well. Might be considering that one too.

Vulcan · Post by **Vulcan** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:05 pm

miTchy wrote:yeah im one of those people having problems ocing the dfi, i had a asus a8v deluxe using the same processor i could get 2.6ghz on stock voltage, the dfi seems to have trouble doing 2.4 at 1.5

must be your settings... The DFI is known to be a great overclcoker.

miTchy · Post by **miTchy** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:31 am

the motherboard is probably the best i've ever had all the little extra features like memtest built into the bios.

it loves voltage, so i need to get some extra cooling if i wana overclock more even tho, theres not really much need too, i would rather have it quieter.

ArcticOC · Post by **ArcticOC** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:22 pm

I`m running a DFI nF4-Ultra @ +350MHz HTT passive cooled, temperatures well under 50C always!

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23961

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:31 pm

Look at EPOX for like 60 dollars cheaper.

only thing it doesnt have is ram voltage that goes above 3.1 volts.

besides that the sli version is one hot board for 110 dollars. and you get to feel special not buying a board with the words, "lan party" in it. shiver.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:45 am

The ABIT has a pretty sophisticated NB cooler able to handle that board at it's max OC. The DFI might get more EXTREME on the OC-but you are risking a toasted chipset as the DFI would be running on,at best the fairly plain Zalman. I doubt the DFI has space for a Coolermaster Blueice on the chipset. The ABIT likely would get the best PASSIVE -and stable OC,the ASUS with heatpipe also should work well,but at more $

Generally the more you overclock-the hotter the CPU and Chipset run-so a max overclock rig can never use the max silence tricks. As far as the NF4 chipset-happily ABIT solved part of the conflict. Use a jumbo CPU heatsink+120 fan and mind your temps.

afrost · Post by **afrost** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 10:01 am

The AN8-Ultra is a quality board, I say go for it and you will have a quiet stable board that is worst case scenario 200 MHZ less of a CPU overclock than the DFI.