Comment thread for DFI Infinity P965-S Dark review

[sswilson]

Comments, suggestions, questions are strongly encouraged!!!!

I'm still running this board, so I'm interested in your experiences with it. I'm also more than willing to try out different settings / dividers if you want info that wasn't provided in the review.

The review can be found here.... http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/hardw...rd-review.html .

[Cardboard box with DSL]

Hmmmm, I want one, but at the same time I want a P5K as well...
Looks like DFI was a little slow to the mark this time, which is really too bad because they make some nice stuff.
I'll probably wait until we figure out what happens with DDR3 and the like, before getting a new board.

[sswilson]

Yeah, they were a little slow bringing this one to market.

I've been out of the DFI loop for quite a while, but I suspect they were focusing all of their attention on this board... DFI Product for Mainboard

It's a pity IMO, because the Dark is really a great board for the price, and they would have sold a lot more of these than they did of the other.

I've been pretty busy tweaking this board and getting the stuff together for the review, but now that I've played with it, I'm itching to get out and do some surfing to see what kind of results other folks are getting with other boards in this price range.

DDR3 eh..........

I think I'll hold off until I absolutely have to.... I just upgraded to DDRII a couple of months ago.... :)

[Eldonko]

Nice review. I have this board myself, few questions on your max fsb testing:

Have you tested your CPU FSB wall?
Have you tried active cooling on NB?
Did you tweek DQ calibration and GTL+ D-S?
Did you test if loosening trc/trfc has an effect on max fsb?

Some tips:

1) On this board the DQ-/DQS calibration and GTL+ Strength, are integrated so you need a certain balance. Try GTL+ D-S = 2 and DQ-C = 4 or 5.

2) Keep VTT about .35v~0.2v gap with SB 1.5v. These were some of the best voltage combos for me:

NB 1.25V Setting: 1.35V
SB 1.5V Setting: 1.6V
SB 1.05V Setting: 1.15V

3) If the board wont post when you save from bios, don't keep pushing the reset button, flick off your PSU switch for 5 sec. Resets can fry your ram.

4) If you need a clockgen program use SETFSB. http://www13.plala.or.jp/setfsb/down...etfsb20b13.zip
ICS9LPRS509HGLF (DFI Infinity P965-S)

[sswilson]

Thanks for the tips. I'll give them a try this weekend.

I did try some finer adjustments (and combos) to try to get the FSB above 450 (had a couple of "cheat sheets" from the new DFI forums site), but fine tuning like you suggest to find the "magic" combination take time for me to do. (Took me 3 months to find the best combo for my 3700+ on an ultra-d :) ).

I haven't given up on my quest for the holy grail yet, and tips like yours are exactly what I need to achieve it.

What kind of results have you gotten with yours?

[Eldonko]

Took some tweeking time but I got 530fsb; cpu fsb limit after that. First thing you should try is set up DQ calibration and GTL+ D-S as shown ^^. :)

[sswilson]

530 is pretty sweet!!!!!

I had the memory up to around 1100 with relaxed timings (667 selected if I remember correctly) at a lower fsb, but I'm wondering if it's not kean on doing 1-1 at high fsb.

As far as active cooling goes.... I don't have it, but I do have a side case fan which blows directly on the heatsink.

I tried running gtl @ 2 (even though the first guide I found suggested it was only for quad cores) as well as messing with the DQ, but certainly haven't had time for trying all of the possible combinations.

Some folks might cringe at the idea of doing this kind of playing to get the max fsb out of this board, but I actually look forward to it. :)

[Eldonko]

Me too, that's why I buy DFI, I like figuring stuff out.

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

Me too, that's why I buy DFI, I like figuring stuff out.

That's the way I feel about it, but folks shouldn't be scared away from this board because of that kind of tinkering to get to the highest FSB. 444 stable is more than most folks will be able to get out of the latest round of chips.

[Eldonko]

This is true, esp with the new 4000 series CPUs, FSB wall sucks. That's why it is good to test CPU fsb so you arent banging your head against the wall tweeking a board when CPU is issue.