LAN PARTY KT400A - LAN PARTY KT400A
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DFI LAN PARTY KT400A
OVERCLOCKING
Methodology: We start with the same Athlon XP2500+ processor from the previous comparison and add one 512MB stick of PC3700 DDR RAM from OCZ in place of the twin 512MB sticks of Kingston PC2700. We tested with the BIOS set to read the RAM settings and timings by SPD (the BIOS recognized the RAM at 400MHz) and then we locked down the RAM frequency to 333MHz and tested again. Below you will find the highest CPU frequency and FSB combinations that we could attain and still run PCMark2002. We also found the highest combination we could attain and still run 3D benchmark programs. It seems that after a certain FSB setting, the AGP card would lock up. I could not locate any setting in the BIOS to verify that the AGP bus was locked down at 66MHz and the PCI bus was locked down at 33MHz. Since I didn't populate any of the PCI slots they were not a factor in testing. With all that said I have included the verified compatible memory list from DFI's support webpage.
Tools:
Results
We start off by showing you the CPU at default FSB and then at the highest overclock with the BIOS memory locked to 333MHz and 400MHz.
333MHz/333MHz | 380MHz/333MHz | 380MHz/400MHz |
These three charts show the default CPU results compared to the two overclock results. As you can see overclocking raised the CPU Arithmetic and Memory Bandwidth scores but the default CPU had the highest Multimedia score. This was simply due to the fact that there was one Gigabyte of PC2700 compared to only 512Megabytes of PC3700. Now although I was able to get Sisoft Sandra information at this frequency, I was unable to run any other program other than Hypersnap for the screen captures.
Down to 352FSB...
By slowly backing down on the frequency, I was able to finally get some benchmarking programs to run cleanly at 176MHz(352FSB).
PCMark2002
The overclock made very little difference except for the CPU score.
3DMark2001 SE v330
Again, not even a major leap up in score.
3DMark2003 v320
Only a 220 point advance in score.
* One other point to make is that even these overclocked scores do not beat the default clock scores of the two nForce2 boards.
CONCLUSIONS
Pros
Tons of extras for configurability (i.e.. FrontX, IEEE 1394/SPDIF/Gameport expansion plates)
Visually attractive color scheme (black PCB and greenish yellow connectors and cables)
Free PC transporter system for carrying up to a full sized tower case
built-in power and reset buttons on the motherboard
Diagnostic LED's on motherboard
Software package (WinDVD Cinema, Winbond Hardware Monitor, LiveUpdate, McAfee Antivirus)
Two Ethernet NIC's built in
Native USB 2.0 and Firewire (IEEE 1394) support
Cons
Relatively speaking, slower than comparable nForce2 based motherboards
"Superbright" diagnostic LED's (made it difficult to see the UV effect)
Lack of any documentation explaining the overclocking features in the "Genie" BIOS
No readily apparent way to lock the AGP and PCI buses separately for overclocking
No instructions included in the manual at all regarding configuration of the basic BIOS settings
Even though this board trailed the two nForce2 boards in almost every test, I could still see recommending this as a purchase for someone who will not be trying to push their PC to the ragged edge of performance. The accessories alone would cost you another $80 to $100 if purchased separately. The ability to test the board out of a case is worth at least one thumbs up. The chipset will only get better as it matures and new BIOS updates are released (hopefully addressing the AGP/PCI lock issue). Everybody knows that the KT400A was just an evolutionary stopgap by VIA while they are perfecting their KT600 chipset but this motherboard won't cause any gamers to run home crying with their mouse cord between their legs. This motherboard is a power hog, as evidenced by the numerous warnings in the manual that a minimum 300W PSU is required but that is fully understandable due to all the juice that would be flowing if you decided to connect all the peripheral devices this board supports. Three fans, three Firewire ports, six USB ports, 6 channel audio, a game controller port, and two NIC's, just about the only thing they didn't throw in was Bluetooth support. I'm going to end this review with an answer to my question "is it a gamer or a lamer?" I would say this motherboard is a gamer. Not the very best gamer, but a good one. I'm betting DFI's Canterwood and nForce2 Ultra versions are a better choice just based on the BIOS implementations.. I'm going to end this review with some pics of the motherboard under UV light. Now if we could get some detailed documentation on the various options in the main and sub-BIOS I would be a very happy camper.
Here are some pictures of the motherboard in the studio from DFI's website and in my case at home.
The first three pictures are under intense UV light in a studio and the last three pictures are under normal room light in a case with a UV cold cathode.
So the UV reactive cables and connectors sound great in theory but in practice are not as visually stunning as advertised.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read my review of this item and want to invite you to stop by the forums with rants, praises or just general comments about this review. I want to give a big shout out and thanks to DFI for offering this package up for review.
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