The DFI LANParty UT RDX200 CF-DR motherboard
 
 

Design and Construction

The DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR motherboard is visually very appealing. The general board layout is similar to what you see with most dual-graphics motherboards, with a PCIe x1 slot between the two x16 graphics card slots, and three PCI slots. The RAM slots are located between the CPU socket and the back panel connections.
 

Chipset and Memory

The DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR has a great chipset that works great with the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Sempron CPUs. However, in the enthusiast space, where performance, BIOS options, and dual-graphics cards are key considerations, the ATI Xpress 200 CrossFire chipset hasn't gained nearly as much popularity as Nvidia's nForce 4.

The UT RDX200 CF-DR supports up to 4 GB of DDR SDRAM. That is plenty to allow you to play the latest 3D games at blistering speeds.
 

Overclocking Features

The DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR is loaded with overclocking options in the BIOS. You can adjust all the usual options, like front-side bus speed, CPU-to-FSB ratio, etc. The 'CMOS Reloaded' feature, which lets you set a bunch of BIOS parameters, save them, and recall them upon boot-up.
 

Performance

Let's look at the performance of the DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR, particularly in comparison with a competing ASUS nForce4 motherboard.

Studies in the PCMark05 benchmark have revealed that the DFI board is just slightly faster than the ASUS nForce4 board. In the end, they are about the same, with nearly similar overall PCMark CPU and Memory scores.
 

Shortcomings

Take note that there is active cooling on the northbridge of the DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR. Passive cooling is generally preferred and this might be a problem for some enthusiasts.
 

Conclusion

The DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR is one powerful and flexible motherboard. If you're building an Athlon 64-based gaming machine, there are slightly faster boards out there, but few that offer quite as many overclocking options.

The LANParty UT RDX200 CF-DR is best for those hardcore enthusiasts interested in building a system with ATI CrossFire graphics and then overclocking it. If you're a gamer who uses only one card, you should look else where.

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