welcome to ByteSizedReviews.com

HomeReviewsArticlesGamesCompare Prices at US shops for cheapest prices :: Pricebomb USBest BuysLinksAbout UsContact UsFilesNews
Latest Reviews
Intel Core 2 Duo Review
Foxconn C51XEM2AA 8EKRS2H Motherboard Re
Asus P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard Review
Cooler Master iGreen 430W PSU Review
MSI K8N Diamond Plus Review
More ...
Reviews
Category: Motherboards
Manufacturer: DFI
DFI Infinity 975X/G Motherboard Review
Posted by: Ben on 13th of October 2006

Board Features and Layout

DFI is well known for its LANParty series of overclocking enthusiast motherboards, but the firm also makes some slightly more modest boards in its Infinity line. These boards do not boast the same bright colour schemes nor the reams of extras of the LanParties, but offer superb performance and the same awesome level of tweaking we have come to expect from DFI.





DFI’s box is certainly more corporate looking than the LANParty boards we have evaluated in the past, but is still attractive and eye catching with its flame motif.





The board comes in a rather unstriking green colour, though the layout is for the most part excellent. SATA, IDE and floppy ports are to the right where we like them and there is plenty of room between the two PCI-E slots should you want to go for a dual GPU solution.





The Northbridge cooler on the DFI is a passive affair, but a very large one. We found it remained cool to the touch even when overclocking, proving that you don’t need complex and expensive heat pipes to maintain a stable and cool setup. To the left of the Northbridge you will find a useful fan header should you wish to fit an after-market chipset cooler. Spacing between the memory slots and the PCI-E video card slot is ideal, and memory can easily be removed without touching the graphics card. There is also plenty of space between modules so if using chunky RAM like Corsair’s XMS Pro, you need not worry about a lack of space.

The Power connectors are rather oddly placed to the left of the chipset. This is not ideal as routing the cables so that they do not interfere with the CPU cooler is tricky. You will also notice a lack of heat sinks on the MOSFET chips – once again remember this is not a LANParty series!





On the rear panel the DFI features six analogue Azalia HD audio ports and both Coaxial and optical SPDIF connectors. You will also see an external SATA connection, four USB ports and Firewire. The Infinity has only one Gigabit LAN port, but this will be enough for the vast majority of users.





The Clear CMOS jumper is on the right of the CMOS battery and is easy to locate. It is well placed unless you plan on running Crossfire, in which case you will need a lot of finger dexterity to change its position. Something us reviewers always appreciate is the presence of on-board power and reset buttons, a big help if the test rig isn’t in a case! Also useful is an on-board system speaker which can help diagnosing any problems you encounter.

The Southbridge chipset is cooled by a ceramic plate, an interesting solution that offers more than enough cooling for this kind of chip.

The Bundle





The bundle for the DFI Infinity is basic, but functional. You get a driver and application CD, four SATA cables and SATA power adaptors, the normal IDE and floppy cables, an IO shield and driver floppies for RAID modes. We really appreciate motherboard manufacturers who provide floppy disks with their boards – after all they only cost about 10p each, something I am sure everyone would be happy to pay extra for.
Select Page:

Find and compare prices for 'DFI Infinity 975X/G Motherboard' at Pricebomb.com [] or Pricebomb.co.uk []



© Copyright 2000-2010, ByteSizedReviews.com. All Rights Reserved [Privacy Policy]
 Hot Deals

More ...