Doom 3	Source: id Software

Doom 3 takes advantage of the latest videocard technology and pushes the processing power of the CPU to its absolute limit. At its highest setting, Ultra quality, texture sizes pass the 500MB mark which means even tomorrow's videocards will have a hard time running everything. The frame rates in the game itself are locked at 60 fps so anything above that point is wasted. Each test is run three times with the third run being recorded.

Doom3
LQ 640x480:	FPS	Ranking
Albatron K8X890 Pro II (K8T890 200/400)	125.7
MSI RS480M2-IL (RS480 200/400)	110.4
Chaintech Zenith VNF4 Ultra (NF4 Ultra 200/400)	124.7
DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR (NF4 SLI 200/400 7800GTX Single)	126.9
DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR (NF4 SLI 200/400 7800GTX SLI)	127.5
Epox 9NPA+ SLI (NF4 SLI 200/400 7800GTX Single)	124.3
Epox 9NPA+ SLI (NF4 SLI 200/400 7800GTX SLI)	122.2
ECS KN1 Extreme SLI (NF4 SLI 200/400 GeForce 7800GTX Single)	124.4
ECS KN1 Extreme SLI (NF4 SLI 200/400 GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	121.2
DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert (NF4 SLI 200/400 7800GTX Single)	127
DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert (NF4 SLI 200/400 7800GTX SLI)	125.1

Doom 3 results are interesting and the DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert handles this game well!

Final Words on the Expert Edition DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR

Computer hardware enthusiasts looking for the best motherboards money can buy only have to look one place, DFI. After hearing for years how the overclocking market is too small for a manufacturer to survive in, it is very refreshing to see DFI doing so well in it. Much of DFI's success is based on the fact that it is willing to go all the way and give enthusiasts options that we really want, no half-assed approaches.

The original DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR was an excellent motherboard, but nothing in life is perfect and it did have its fair share of quirks. DFI has listened to the complaints coming from users and the new DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert looks like a very worthy successor.

The layout of the DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert is excellent and a real improvement over DFI's previous layout. The extra space between the PCI Express x16 slots will allow hardcore users to install larger videocard heatsinks or even waterblocks. Thankfully, the SLI jumpers have also been retired in favour of a switchless SLI option.

DFI has also upgraded the power supply on the motherboard to a four phase design, and each of MOSFETs relating to it are cooled with mini-heatsinks. The power plant found on the LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert should deliver more stable power as a result.

In terms of performance, simply stating the DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert is fast seems like an understatement. It has the most available bandwidth of any Athlon64 motherboard that has passed through the PCSTATS test labs, and is able to routinely outperform every motherboard in almost every test we tossed its way. From SYSMark2004 to PCMark05, and the game benchmarks like Doom 3 and Comanche 4, the DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert leads the way.

Overclockers will find a lot to fiddle around with in the BIOS settings of this motherboard; there are a ton of memory tweaks, enough to keep tweakers busy for a long time. The voltage options are even more impressive, and the memory and chipset voltages can be very finely tuned. When it comes to overclocking the unit we tested proved itself capable of reaching a speed of 370 MHz. The original DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-DR motherboard PCSTATS tested overclocked to 431MHz, so the results aren't quite as high (or better than first time around) as we would have liked to have seen.

With a retail price of $236 CDN ($199 US), the DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert is an expensive Athlon64/nForce4 SLI motherboard. It's also one of the best for overclockers. If you consider yourself a hardcore overclocker and want to set some speed records, there is no other board to consider than the DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert.

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