DFI X48 UT-T3RS Motherboard

Introduction

Published: 27th August 2008 | Source: DFI | Price: £200.00 | Author: Rich Weatherstone

Introduction

In years gone by, DFI was the motherboard of choice for overclockers worldwide. The AMD Skt 939 NF4 Ultra-D was the jewel in DFI's crown, attracting praise from all sectors due to its ultimate overclocking prowess and to a lesser extent, its funky looks. So then, it seemed DFI could do no wrong. Sadly, DFI appeared to drop off the map when Intel's dominance became prevalent with the Core2 series of chips. Asus and Gigabyte took centre stage and enjoyed booming sales due in part to DFI's absence.

Having a solid background of working with NVidia chipsets, DFI released a 680i variant of its Lanparty series but the 965/975 chipsets from Intel were found wanting. It wasn't until the advent of Intel's P35 chipset that we witnessed the switch from NVidia to Intel. With the Lanparty branding still present and the trademark UV slots, DFI were welcomed back with open arms. However, due to hold ups and research in this unfamiliar territory, the Lanparty boards were not released on the chipsets launch, instead arriving midway through the season, which in hindsight is a good thing as the chipsets had time to mature. DFI released not one board but a trio, The DK(Dark), LT(Lethal Tweaking) and UT(Ultra Tweaking), catering for everyone's pocket and needs. The Thai based manufacturer gathered momentum with the X38 LT-T2R proving to be a tremendous board, cementing DFI's return to the limelight (pun intended!).

Today we will be taking a look at DFI's latest Lanparty creation in the form of its flagship X48-T3RS. DDR3, full Crossfire support and topped off with Intel's latest and greatest chipset - the X48 series.

Specification

The DFI Lanparty X48-T3RS specifications were taken directly from the DFI product page.

CPU
LGA 775 socket for:
- Intel® CoreTM2 Quad and Intel® CoreTM2 Duo
Supports Intel Enhanced Memory 64 Technology (EMT64T)
Supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST)
Supports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
Supports 1600/1333/1066/800MHz FSB

Chipset
Intel® chipset
- Northbridge: Intel® X48 Express chipset (with Intel® Fast Memory Access technology)
- Southbridge: Intel® ICH9R

System Memory
Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets
Supports DDR3 1600MHz (O.C 1800/2000 MHz)
Delivers up to 21.3Gb/s bandwidth at 1333MHz,(25.6GB/s bandwidth at 1600MHz)
Supports dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface
Supports up to 8GB system memory
Supports unbuffered x8 and x16 DIMMs

Expansion Slots
2 PCI Express (Gen 2) x16 slots (PCIE 1 and PCIE 3)
- 2-way CrossFire at x16/x16 bandwidth
- 2-way CrossFire + Physics at x16/x16/x4 bandwidth
1 PCI Express x1 slot (PCIE 2)
1 PCI Express x4 slot (PCIE 4)
3 PCI slots

BIOS
Award BIOS
8Mbit flash memory
CMOS Reloaded

Audio
Bernstein audio module
- Realtek ALC885 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Center/subwoofer, rear R/L and side R/L jacks
- Line-in, line-out (front R/L) and mic-in jacks
- 2 coaxial RCA S/PDIF-in/out jacks
- 1 optical S/PDIF connector
- 1 CD-in connector
- 1 front audio connector
DAC SNR/ADC SNR of 106dB/101dB
Full-rate lossless content protection technology

LAN
Marvell 88E8052 and Marvell 88E8053 PCIE Gigabit LAN controllers
Fully compliant to IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T), 802.3u (100BASE-TX) and 802.3ab (1000BASE-T) standards

IEEE 1394
VIA VT6307
Supports two 100/200/400 Mb/sec ports

Power Management
Ultimate 8-phase digital PWM with 18 MOSFETs
ACPI and OS Directed Power Management
ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function
Wake-On-PS/2 / Wake-On-USB Keyboard/Mouse
Wake-On-LAN and Wake-On-Ring
RTC timer to power-on the system
AC power failure recovery

Storage
Intel ICH9R chip
- Intel Matrix Storage technology
- Supports up to 6 SATA devices
- SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5
JMicron JMB363 PCI Express to SATA and PATA host controller
- Supports up to 2 UltraDMA 100Mbps IDE devices
- Supports 2 SATA devices
- SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
- RAID 0 and RAID 1

Rear Panel I/O Ports
Mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port and PS/2 keyboard port
1 IEEE 1394 port
6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
2 RJ45 LAN ports

I/O Connectors
3 connectors for 6 additional external USB 2.0 ports
1 connector for an external COM port
1 connector for an IEEE 1394 port
1 connector for the Bernstein audio module
1 front audio connector (on the Bernstein audio module)
1 CD-in connector (on the Bernstein audio module)
1 S/PDIF connector (on the Bernstein audio module)
1 IrDA connector
1 CIR connector
8 Serial ATA connectors
1 40-pin IDE connector and 1 floppy connector
1 24-pin ATX power connector
1 8-pin 12V power connector
2 4-pin 5V/12V power connectors (FDD type)
1 front panel connector
6 fan connectors
1 diagnostic LED
EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)

Hardware Monitor
Monitors CPU/system/Northbridge temperature and overheat alarm
Monitors Vcore/Vdimm/Vnb/VCC5/12V/V5sb/Vbat voltages
Monitors the speed of the cooling fans
CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature and fan during system boot-up - automatic shutdown upon system overheat

PCB
6 layers, ATX form factor
24.5cm (9.64") x 30.5cm (12")

The DFI sets its stall out well with quality components chosen for its premium board, making for a perfect foundation with which to overclock the nuts off both CPU and RAM. With support for 45nm processors and DDR3 it is obvious that the T3RS is aimed at the high-end of the market. Should you have the funds to fill those green and yellow memory slots, the board will support up to 8GB of DDR3 and overclock to 2000MHz! Being an X48 chipset the board natively supports ATI Crossfire configurations and with the quality Bernstein module included, the T3RS is sure to be a hit with the hardcore gamers out there.

Lets take a look at the motherboard's packaging and contents...

Most Recent Comments

27-08-2008, 21:29:14

Rastalovich

Nearly bought this board ...

Today I received an Abit IX48 GT3, and have to modify a scythe ninja (trim 4 fins) in order to get past the skycraper of a nb cooler!

What is the deal with all these cokey coolers ? Why we want a wad of heatsink sticking out the back of the case ? Why we want big arse tower things ?

Just give us an oustanding board with decent cooling... most of the hardcored guys take them off anyways.

27-08-2008, 22:12:52

Kempez

I'm sorry Rast, that boards cooling is simply gorgeous. Unless you're watercooling you won't need to replace it.

Great review. As always, DFI's are nail-biting, scream-inducing overclocking nightmares but if you fiddle long enough they hit the spot big time :drool:

- EZ Clear switches don't ALWAYS clear CMOS.
- EZ Cear switches look basic in comparison to other boards.

Stretching the mediocre points a little I feel, I've not met an EZ Clear CMOS switch that works every time yet to be honest

27-08-2008, 22:51:16

w3bbo

Great review. As always, DFI's are nail-biting, scream-inducing overclocking nightmares but if you fiddle long enough they hit the spot big time :drool:
Stretching the mediocre points a little I feel, I've not met an EZ Clear CMOS switch that works every time yet to be honest

I guess it comes down to your point of view. Overclocking has never been so easy with other boards, maybe that takes some of the fun out of it or maybe it relieves the stress of endlessly rebooting, stress testing resetting BIOS etc.

Point taken over the switches, I was just peeved while writing the conclusion as I was stupidly running the chip at 3.9ghz( I'm always one to push things as far as possible lol) and had a BSOD when the conclusion was almost complete. The board then wouldn't reboot (again) without a jumper switch. Grrrrr:banghead:

That said there's simply no doubting it's one hell of a clocker and providing you have the patience, as the review showed, the overclocking results can be astounding.

27-08-2008, 23:18:40

Ham

I wish more companies would adopt the digi PWM. the socket area is just so much cleaner.

Just cries out 'insulate me!'

Fantastic job as ever webbo!

28-08-2008, 01:01:50

Bungral

Wow... It's so flat and clean it reflects logos that aren't actually there :eek:

[IMG]http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/articles/2008/08/24131911733l.jpg[/IMG]

28-08-2008, 08:17:09

Jim