DFI LanParty NFII Ultra Motherboard Review

The nForce2 chipset from nVidia has gained a lot of traction in the enthusiast market, not only because it supports dual channel DDR400 but also for its overclocking ability. Shortly after the release of the first nForce2 chipset, nVidia released an upgraded version named nForce2 400 Ultra. This new chipset is supposed to contain better support for the new 200Mhz FSB Athlon XP processors although for the most part it remains about the same. Being a hardware enthusiast the new chipset should mean higher overclocks than before with better stability, especially at 200Mhz FSB and higher.

nVidia nForce2 Ultra 400 Northbridge
nVidia nForce MCP-T Southbridge
Socket 462 AMD Processor Support up to 400Mhz FSB
AGP 8x
Dual Channel DDR400 up to 3GB
6-Channel AC97 Audio
Dual onboard LAN, nForce2 and Realtek 10/100
ATA133
Marvell Serial ATA
ATA133 Highpoint RAID 1.5
IEEE 1394a (Firewire)
USB 1.1 and 2.0
Onboard power and reset buttons
UV sensitive expansion slots

You can see the board features a black PCB with a strange green color to the expansion and memory slots. One of the key features of the DFI LanParty series that separates it from everything else is that these slots are UV sensitive and glow under the black light. Keep in mind that unlike the UV markers and dyes that we have seen in the past, the color shown here will somewhat dictate the color they will be under the black light.

Be sure to check the conclusion page for some glamour pics.