DFI UT P35-T2R: Tweakers Rejoice!
by Rajinder Gill on October 18, 2007 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Going Sub-Zero With Our Cascades
Hardware used:
PCP&C 1200W PSU
2GB OCZ Flex 9200 RAM
ASUS 8800 GTS 640MB
WD2500 KS 250GB Hard Drive
Intel X6800 Core 2 Duo CPU (Retail)
Dual Rotary Cascade (CPU cooling)
Dual Mini Cascade (GPU cooling)
Dimas Tech Benching Table
Moving over to sub-zero means that all voltage related conservatism was thrown out of the window, as evaporator loaded temps remained between -110 and -106C throughout testing. Due to the clean CPU socket area, neoprene insulation can be applied with relative ease, one issue with Digital PWM is that all the heat producing components are aligned on one side of the socket (to the left). Obviously due to a lack of heat producing circuitry around the top side of the socket, the associated area is very prone to condensation during extended benchmarking sessions, we recommend you take a little extra time checking insulation is sufficient enough to prevent any moisture penetration.
The initial plan was to scale up the settings which had worked well when benching the water-cooling setup with the QX6800. We had not accounted for the fact that our QX6800 was reluctant to run over 4.5GHz in both four and two core mode. It was taking copious amounts of time to try and hold the board steady with the QX6800 (both in two and four core mode) anywhere over 4.5GHz. We eliminated all possibilities of PSU based inadequacies by comparing clocking results on two separate models and also cross comparing motherboards by using the ASUS Striker Extreme.
Both boards exhibited the same CPU MHz wall, so it was time to move on to another processor. One other oversight is that we should have used an air-cooled graphics card while we were attempting to tweak GTL settings. The 8800 GTS was also being cascade cooled, and idle temps were hovering in the region of -81C. The side effect of leaving the card idling while trying to improve the CPU stability was that the whole graphics card froze over - lesson learned.
After a few hours of various attempts with several processors, our trusty Core 2 Duo X6800 was dusted off and given the thumbs up for a test run. After spending the better part of a day tweaking and twisting BIOS settings, we did manage to save a few screenshots with the X6800.
The 8800 GTS 640MB card clocked up really well at 940MHz on the core with around 1.55Vgpu while our X6800 ran without fault at these settings. It has to be said that the whole benchmarking experience, while tiring, was thoroughly enjoyable. Kudos to the folk who are able to manage LN2 on a couple of pots while trying to break records! Going sub-zero is not as easy as one would initially think. We will endeavor to provide more testing like this in the future on performance oriented motherboards with a standard set of peripherals; although the sacrifice in time is great, the end results are very rewarding and certainly a fun experience.
Hardware used:
PCP&C 1200W PSU
2GB OCZ Flex 9200 RAM
ASUS 8800 GTS 640MB
WD2500 KS 250GB Hard Drive
Intel X6800 Core 2 Duo CPU (Retail)
Dual Rotary Cascade (CPU cooling)
Dual Mini Cascade (GPU cooling)
Dimas Tech Benching Table
Moving over to sub-zero means that all voltage related conservatism was thrown out of the window, as evaporator loaded temps remained between -110 and -106C throughout testing. Due to the clean CPU socket area, neoprene insulation can be applied with relative ease, one issue with Digital PWM is that all the heat producing components are aligned on one side of the socket (to the left). Obviously due to a lack of heat producing circuitry around the top side of the socket, the associated area is very prone to condensation during extended benchmarking sessions, we recommend you take a little extra time checking insulation is sufficient enough to prevent any moisture penetration.
The initial plan was to scale up the settings which had worked well when benching the water-cooling setup with the QX6800. We had not accounted for the fact that our QX6800 was reluctant to run over 4.5GHz in both four and two core mode. It was taking copious amounts of time to try and hold the board steady with the QX6800 (both in two and four core mode) anywhere over 4.5GHz. We eliminated all possibilities of PSU based inadequacies by comparing clocking results on two separate models and also cross comparing motherboards by using the ASUS Striker Extreme.
Both boards exhibited the same CPU MHz wall, so it was time to move on to another processor. One other oversight is that we should have used an air-cooled graphics card while we were attempting to tweak GTL settings. The 8800 GTS was also being cascade cooled, and idle temps were hovering in the region of -81C. The side effect of leaving the card idling while trying to improve the CPU stability was that the whole graphics card froze over - lesson learned.
After a few hours of various attempts with several processors, our trusty Core 2 Duo X6800 was dusted off and given the thumbs up for a test run. After spending the better part of a day tweaking and twisting BIOS settings, we did manage to save a few screenshots with the X6800.
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The 8800 GTS 640MB card clocked up really well at 940MHz on the core with around 1.55Vgpu while our X6800 ran without fault at these settings. It has to be said that the whole benchmarking experience, while tiring, was thoroughly enjoyable. Kudos to the folk who are able to manage LN2 on a couple of pots while trying to break records! Going sub-zero is not as easy as one would initially think. We will endeavor to provide more testing like this in the future on performance oriented motherboards with a standard set of peripherals; although the sacrifice in time is great, the end results are very rewarding and certainly a fun experience.
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Acanthus - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
Although all of the tweaking options provided are nice, it literally does no better than Asus P5K Deluxe or the Gigabyte P35-DQ6.Furthermore with X38 boards on the way, im not seeing a whole lot of incentive for this $300 motherboard.
Just my $.02
retrospooty - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
This board has hit 672mhz FSB, far FAR higher than any other other board ever, including early samples of X38. Not likely to be matched until the DFI X38 comes out.http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...
This link shows it at 666mhz, I cant find the 672mhz one at the moment, but its on the same forum, by the same guy with the same golden CPU.
cmdrdredd - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
Not usable 24/7WHO CARES!?
retrospooty - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
Well, it still goes alot higher than the others you mentioned, it is absolutely the best overclocking motherboard available. - that was what I responded too, obviously its not the one for you.Acanthus - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
That is from the DFI labs... with a beta board... on supercooling...and volt mods... on a dual core CPU that doesnt stress the PWMs...Anandtechs results even using phase dont approach those results.
retrospooty - Friday, October 19, 2007 - link
No, that is not from DFI labs, that is an independant dood, and CPU's that hit that high FSB are pretty rare.Whatever man, you can poo poo it all you want. It is the best OC mobo out there, and goes higher and takes it farther than any other. It may not be the one for you though.
Raja Gill - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
You need to remember that this board was compared at stock settings, not OC'ed, things change up top...;), not to mention we could not get the board to crash..regards
Raja
Acanthus - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
Its the same chipset, its not going magically increase in a non-linear fashion.The P5K and DQ6 hit the same maximum overclock.
MadBoris - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
It makes sense that article takes a different approach, customers of this board or tweakers in general, will really appreciate the fine details.Personally, in the last ten years I have gotten to a place where I am very comfortable not pushing for the last 100 - 300 mhz. The meager tangible return is not worth all the extra voltage or potential stability issues that often come up later in the life of the HW due to creep, dust, aging paste, etc. I get a nice stress test capable OC, then back it up a notch. I won't win any 3dmark awards that way though but am very satisfied with stability when a new product stresses HW in ways not stressed before.
One thing for sure with this board, I wouldn't want to lose the CMOS, then have to remember all my settings after a year.
Nice board and good article, $300 is too much though for a MB for me. It's definitely elite.
retrospooty - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
Its alot of reading, but that is because the DFI is alot of motherboard. I have had it since it was first released and loving every minute of it. I have a C2D 6750 running at 8x500 fsb for a sweet 4 ghz on water at DDR2 1000 4-4-4-10 timing, man is it sweet.There are sooooo many bios tweaks to get better performance, or stability at high overclock - its definitely not for beginners... worth every penny of the $300 I spent.