Introduction

DFI keeps rolling out board after board with such abandon these days. With such hits as the P45 DK series under their belt, one can only wonder how they are going to approach the UT version of this chipset.

As much of the enthusiast community is aware, the x58 series of system boards are already available on the internet. The X58/Core I7 provides a much more efficient solution compared to the core 2 range, however it comes at a heavy price to your wallet. For those who cannot afford to purchase a brand new board, RAM and CPU then just upgrading the system board might be a tempting offer. DFI is one of the many companies that have provided you with a solution to do just that. DFI produces a range of boards that appeal to a wide range of people.

• DFI UT: Hardcore Over Clocking/Performance
• DFI DK: Over Clocking/Gaming
• DFI Blood Iron: Gaming
• DFI JR: Performance Micro ATX Solutions

Diamond Flower International (DFI) has produced a great deal of motherboards, each system board displays a myriad of BIOS options, which (depending on the users view point) either overwhelms you with the amount of over clocking options or are a logical series of progressive steps which flow like a spring into a river.

In this review, (the first of a series of ‘progressive’ reviews) the DFI LP UT P45 T2RS will be explored…

So let us take a trip once again into the universe called DFI!

DFI LP UT P45 T2RS Motherboard Specifications

Box Packaging and Accessory Tray

The style of packaging differs somewhat from the DK range of boards. The former suggesting a light airy kind of mood, whilst the latter giving the idea that this is a dark brooding kind of thinking. Both however have the ability to shine with a rainbow of colours when a strong light is used such as a camera flash.

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Inside the accessory box there are the usual DFI UV sensitive cables. One could say that these leads brighten up even under direct sunlight. With this series of board they have chosen to implement an add-on sound card entitled ‘The Bernstein Sound Module’. The sound card promises to add a rather pleasant home theater like experience to the listener. However, for those who would rather use an add-on solution, (which is majority) then this would be made irrelevant.

Motherboard Layout and Thermal Design

As usual with DFI’s system boards; the first thing that catches a person’s eye is the brightly coloured PCI/E, RAM, USB and SATA sockets. These are all UV sensitive, just like the boards cables. This is to catch the attention of the case-modification guru’s out there. The first noticeable issue found was that the first PCI/E socket is a little too close to the memory slots. This issue would cause a few problems if a user wishes to utilize a third-party RAM cooling device, as the graphics card would obstruct the cooling solution for the memory sockets. However airflow from the front chassis fan should be able to cool the RAM slots.

Main Board Layout

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CPU Area-Click to Enlarge

Power ON-Reset Switches

Around the POST debug display the afore mentioned power/reset switches, as well as the floppy drive connector. These days a floppy drive is rarely used and in the coming motherboard generations it should be phased out completely, along with the IDE connector! As usual DFI have chosen to utilize eight SATA ports. Six on the INTEL ICHR-10 and two on the J-Micron controllers.

Swiftly moving to around the back of the system board, there are two gigabit LAN ports and Six USB Slots. In addition there are the obligatory IEEE1934 headers.

Thermal Array

The thermal array itself is of a very high quality and feels solid. The heatsinks are mounted via nuts and bolts, rather than just the cheap ‘plastic pressure clips’ that have been used in the past with other board manufacturers. However, it could be said that this is the top of the range UT board, ‘no wonder that they use bolts’ A counter statement to this argument would be that DFI uses the same bolt-mounting practice through-out their entire range.

Thermal Array Mounting Method

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Various Northbridge Angles

Southbridge Angles

PWM Heatsink Angles

A major flaw in the array however, is the fact that the heatsinks have connected sections. In other words if one wishes to cool the Northbridge via a water block then one would also have to change the PWM and Southbridge heatsinks at the same time. In essence this would be a major burden to some of the more extreme of cooling enthusiasts. However, this problem is not insurmountable, just a major inconvenience, considering the lesser priced P45 DK T2RSB+. The afore mention board has a removable Northbridge block, without having to replace the Southbridge and PWM sinks. DFI needs to pay close attention to the P45 UT T2RS thermal array and to not use this solution again on future boards

Under the Hood!

One of the things that www.gilgameshreviews.com likes to do is to take of the whole heatsink array in order to see how DFI have chosen to apply the thermal paste to various sections of the board.

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As clearly shown by the amount of residue paste on the boards main components, DFI have done a great job in making sure all of the surface area on the chips have thermal paste. There have been some other board manufacturers in the past where only half of the component is covered in a paste. Moving onto the type of thermal paste DFI have used and judging by past experience, DFI use Shin-Etsu compound. Which unlike most compounds it is a solid substance rather than a paste and is extremely hard to spread. Indeed the substance itself is very expensive, costing as much as £6 (eight dollars) per gram. However its performance cannot be called into question, as the links below substantiate.

Editor’s Note - Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances, the review for this board has been discontinued.  Please accept our most humble apologies.  This is the one and only review at this site that will be incomplete.