DFI X48 LT T2R: Floats like a Butterfly…
by Rajinder Gill on April 28, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Conclusion
DFI's execution of the P35 T2R motherboard was so close to perfection that any board released after it was bound to face an uphill task to live up to the performance, compatibility, and ease of use that has become synonymous with the product. The LANParty X48 T2R board has managed to equal the P35 when it comes to the simple things like USB ports and plug-in peripherals working as they should - we had no issues to speak of with any of our peripherals whilst using the board. However, overclocking the board to its limits is a little bittersweet.
It's sweet that the fine tuning options allow running components like memory at high bandwidth with the lowest VDIMM we have ever managed with our memory modules. The other positive is that users who don't want to go for elusive levels of FSB will find that the board will run fine without any need of tuning GTL levels right up to 485FSB for dual-core 45nm processors and 420FSB for quad-core 45nm processors. The bitter aspect is that boards from ASUS such as the Rampage Formula are in direct competition to DFI's offering in this segment and can run ultra high FSB speeds and lower tRD levels with relative ease.
As a result of this, there are times when performance on the ASUS boards is actually better than our achievements on the current DFI BIOS and with far less overall effort and time expenditure. Mind you, DFI still has an edge when it comes to flexibility for users who wish to run 8GB of memory. Access to all known chipset registers allows users to give and take on performance so that they can run high processor and memory speeds even with all the DIMM banks populated - there is no doubt DFI is the market leader for memory overclocking.
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Right at the very top-end of the performance ladder, we know DFI are working hard to pry everything they can from the X48 chipset, and in order to succeed they need to be able to provide that last few percent of headroom that people have come to expect from DFI products. Right now, for outright brute force overclocking, realizing that additional 1%-2% headroom is not possible. The board's current strengths may not be enough to win over the type of user that will generally choose this type of product to "race".
What we have here is a motherboard not quite able to dominate the DDR2 sector outright, but it certainly sets new standards in other regards. If tweaking is your thing and you have the patience to work with the extensive BIOS options, there is no doubt that the X48 T2R will keep you occupied for a long time. However, DFI's own P35 offers everything a user could need and can be teamed with a dual-GPU card to get around the P35 chipset limit of having a single x16 bandwidth PCIE slot.
We were hoping for a little more performance from this board and despite DFI's efforts thus far, we did not find the final few percent that would have given this board top-DDR2-dog status for 2GB and 4GB memory overclocking (that title still belongs to DFI's P35 LANParty board), but it's certainly an interesting contender. So interesting, that if you are not ready to move to DDR3 and want to run CrossFire, then we suggest you take a look at it.
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24 Comments
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orangeblue - Friday, June 13, 2008 - link
hi,can anybody tell me if the ocz flex 9200 4gb-kit(2x2048) workz too instead the four 1024 plz.
Zoomer - Saturday, May 3, 2008 - link
I miss the analysis of other features than just plain memory latency.Max fsb overclock, max mem overclock, etc?
Running the board at 400fsb seems boring - lots of P965 boards can best that. Tons of people don't buy these multiplier unlocked chips.
Rajinder Gill - Sunday, May 4, 2008 - link
Hi,Dual core 45nm's top out at around 510-515FSB using air cooling. Most of the quad CPU info is in the review.
We are looking at perhaps adding some more content tomorrow. Mainly 2x2GB and 4X1GB maxmimum stable overclocks and best operating points - using air cooling.
When Using 45nm dual core CPU's X48/X38 chipsets are really only 'good' to around 500FSB tops for 24/7, after this VMCH requirements and total stability with low tRD becomes futile rather quickly. SOme of the DDR3 boards are a little better in this regard, though this overhaed always comes at a high voltage price when used with a suitably high CPU multiplier.
65nm CPU's in dual core form may cruise upto 550fsb with some work, perhaps a 67% GTL table will help for that. Many of the benches in the review were run at 8x500FSB just to reflect the maximum 24/7 somebody is likely to be able to achieve and/or use consistently. FSB values over this are prone to failure in applications like PC Mark Vantage or 3D in some instance (even with lots of GTL work). Our E8500 processor managed 510FSB with 4X1GB maximum stable on this board, while using 2x1GB memory allowed me to boot at a around 520FSB - though this was far from being called stable.
regards
Raja
Zoomer - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - link
Thanks for taking the time to respond.Unfortunately, I have not been keeping up with the latest tweaks on the best boards. Thanks for the detail, though. :)
amalinov - Friday, May 2, 2008 - link
Am I imaging things or something fishy is going on here?The board has 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots - from the X48 MCH. OK.
The board has the following PCIe devices connected to the ICH9R:
1. PCIe x1 slot
2. PCIe x1 JMB363 SATA/PATA controller
3. PCIe x1 Marvell 88E8052 Gigabit Ethernet controller
4. PCIe x1 Marvell 88E8053 Gigabit Ethernet controller
5. PCIe x4 slot (physical x16)
IMHO in this situation the x4 slot can be utilized as x4 only if at least 2 of the PCIe x1 devices are disabled? (if so, then wich exactly?) But this is not mentioned anywhere - neighter in the review, nor in the official DFI specifications or manual. Also, in the manual there is no BIOS settings description section - so I can't find what does the "PCIE Slot Config - 1X 1X" option stand for? (I assume for putting the x4/x16 slot in x1/x16 mode when the other devices are not disabled?)
n7 - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - link
Great stuff.I have one concern though.
What are you using to test stability for 8 GB?
I have found that what people like to consider "stable" is only stable because of the use of applications like P95, Everest, OCCT, & Memtest86+, which don't tend to really stress 4+ GB RAM & the Northbridge to the same extent as multiple instances of HCI Memtest or as LinPack.
Just curious is all.
Rajinder Gill - Monday, May 5, 2008 - link
HCI memtest seems the way to go for me for memory NBGTL related stuff.For CPU core testing Prime/PC Mark Vantage (Blu-Ray test).regards
Raja
aldy402 - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - link
great review RajinderIt was very in-depth and well written. A big chunk of the memory portion seemed to focus on micron D9 chips. I have the 4gb Gskill(powerchip ICs) and would really like to see a write up on this board involving "other ICs" and maby a guide with 65nm quads.
also have you tested the performance differential between the intel and jmicron sata ports?
well done
-Aldy
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - link
HI Andy,Although the guide says Micron I did add a comment on TRFC and double density modules. tRAS adn tRFC are the 2 tiimings that need to be changed for the most part. The boards will hold upto 450FSB and a dual core 45nm 'stable' with most of the chipset registers set to fast/more aggressive. Comments are already in the guide for 65nm CPU's pertaining to leaving the GTL controls at defaults - nothing more is really needed tbh..
regards
Raja
coolbluewater - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - link
Replacing two of the six USB ports ith two eSata ports would seem to make sense. Not sure why they didn't do this on a board in this price range.