Ovaj test nekako je više poprimio oblik ATI vs. NVIDIA na polju matičnih ploča tj. čipseta. No to nam je i bila glavna namjera pošto poučeni prijašnjim iskustvom znamo da DFI-eve ploče pružaju vrhunske perfomanse bez obzira radilo se o ATI-jevom ili NVIDIA-inom rješenju. Prvi ATI-jev pokušaj proboja u high-end tržište sa kombinacijom RD480+SB450 čipseta nije dobro prošao. Premda je RD480 northbridge bio prilično dobar, southbridge svojim performansama jednostavno nije mogao parirati NVIDIA-inim riješenjima. Spas je za neke proizvođače matičnih ploča bilo korištenje ULi-jevog southbridge čipa, a u ovu skupinu spada i DFI s pločom koju smo analizirali u ovom članku. Kombinacija se pokazala kao dobitna, ne samo da su dostignute performanse ljutog rivala, već je u nekim testovima nForce nadjačan.

Što se generalnog dijela tiče ploča zadovoljava sve potrebe pravog entuzijasta. Tako se tu nalazi 8 SATA konektora, 6 USB 2.0 konektora, mogućnost uparivanja dvije grafičke kartice u CrossFire način rada, nevjerojatan izbor opcija u BIOS-u za pomoć pri oveclockanju te velik izbor napona, od kojih neki mogu ići do enormnih visina. Upravo zbog mogućnosti korištenja visokih napona nema realne potrebe da se na ploči rade raznorazni voltmodovi. Uz to ploča izgleda fantastično, kombinacija crnog PCB-a sa UV osjetljivim utorima i kablovima je odlična. Kod testiranja ploča se pokazala izuzetno stabilna – nije bilo nikakvih rušenja. Sve u svemu, DFI je još jedanput napravio jako dobar posao.

Jedini problem u cijeloj priči su njena cijena, ali i Socket AM2 procesori. DFI CFX3200-DR u Hrvatskoj košta oko 1700 kn, no to smo i očekivali – kvalitetne ploče sa sobom nose i odgovarajuću cijenu. Socket AM2 je problem budući da će se danas rijetko odlučiti na kupovinu Socket 939 procesora osim ako nije riječ o nadogradnji, a u tom slučaju korisnik već ima matičnu ploču. Drugim riječima, DFI-jeva ploča je na tržište zakasnila par mjeseci.

Conclusion in english

In the end this article became something of a comparison between ATI and NVIDIA chipsets. Truth to say, this was our goal because we know from our previous experiences that DFI boards offer excellent performance regardless of chipset. First ATI’s attempt to enter high-end motheboard market segment with the combination of RD480+SB450 set of chips haven’t been a sucess. Altough RD480 northbridge was pretty good, ATI’s old southbridge had too low performance to compete with NVIDIA’s solution. Some motheboard manufacturers solved this issue by using ULi southbridge and that’s the precise thing what DFI did with its CFX3200 motheboard. Combination of RD580 northbridge and ULi M1575 southbridge proved to be very effective. It managed to attain and in some tests surpass performance offered by NVIDIA nForce4 chipset.

DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR can satiate needs of almost any enthusiast. It offers 8 SATA ports, 6 USB ports (with additional two provided via on-board header) and CrossFire compatibility with full x16 bandwidth per GFX slot. Its powerful BIOS offers many tweaking options and very high voltages, practicaly eliminating the need for any additional volt-mods. One more thing we have to note is good looks of this board which is especially important for modding crowd out there – combination of black PCB and UV reactive yellow components and bundled cables is pretty attractive in our opinion. Beside good performance, this DFI board also offers good stability. During our testing we haven’t encountered any stability problems, even when board was heavily overclocked. All in all, DFI once again did a very good job.

There are two basic issues with this board – price and Socket AM2 CPUs. In Croatia DFI CFX3200-DR has a price of about 1700 kn, but we expected that – quality boards always have an adequately high pricetag. Socket AM2 is a bigger problem. Very few people will today buy a Socket 939 CPU if they are not planning to use the processor for upgrading their old system (Socket 939 motheboard included). In other words, DFI’s board came on the market a little bit to late.