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Sim Lim Sq Walkabout: Week 15, 2008

By on April 11, 2008 2:18 pm
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After a rather long quiet period in the DIY scene, we are starting to see quite a number of new products on the shelves. Let’s see what’s available this weekend!

The DFI board comes packaged in a very cleanly designed box, just enough words to tell you what’s inside.

The layout of the board is quite neat, and I believe that there should not be any issues like blockages, etc. when it comes to installing and removing components.

 

Seen here is the Intel X48 chipset. X38 and X48 chipsets come with an IHS. A riser-type push-pin heatsink is included in the package. There is no northbridge heatsink attached by default for obvious reasons.

 

The DFI is powered by an 8-phase digital PWM by Volterra. There are four major parts; master IC, smart slave, SMT ferrite core choke and MLCC capacitor. A black heatsink seats over much of the PWM area.

Advantages of using a digital PWM are high stability, longer durability and better cost-savings as there is a lower power consumption and a lower heat output level.

 

The spacing of the upper two PCI-E x16 slots is well thought out. There would be ample breathing room for cards in Crossfire mode.

Also available on this board are the power and reset buttons. Makes things much easier for overclockers/tweakers/enthusiasts who run open-air systems. Gone are the days of shorting pins with a flat-head screwdriver.

 

The PWM heatsink extends to the edge of the board for improved cooling performance. Heat is able to escape directly via the I/O shield and not circulate around the CPU area.

DFI has not only kept the legacy PS/2 ports, but also has 6 USB ports, 2 LAN ports, and a firewire port too.

The DFI LanParty LT X48-T2R is retailing for a comparatively cheaper price of only $ 399.

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