DFI LanParty Pro875B (Intel 875P Canterwood) Motherboard Review
DFI LanParty Pro875B Board Features
The PCB design has no special issues to complain about: the latches for the memory slots are not blocked by the video card, and the main and additional power connectors are positioned in a good way. The only issue may come up when a long expansion card is installed in the last PCI slot. Then it would be uncomfortable to the assembly operator to plug the cables of an additional RAID controller thereto (not the most common combination :).
The connectors to plug in IDE cables are positioned in a more or less convenient way. Besides, close to each important component there is a distinct marking ("PATA1, PATA2" - for the same connectors).
The board offers 4 connectors to plug in fans: the CpuFan is reserved for a processor cooler and is positioned near the DIMM slots, the ChassisFan is positioned near the FDD connector, and the SecondFan near the PCI5 slot. The last connector (ChipFan) is meant for a fan on the chipset and is positioned near the processor socket (quite a strange choice of place).
However, the cooling of the north bridge is made passive.
The radiator orientation matches the first versions of the reference design. As a result, conflicts may come up when video cards with massive radiators on the reverse side of the board are installed. Some time ago, Asus made such a mistake (see the review on P4C800 Deluxe), but fixed is afterwards.
Under the North Bridge there are 4 DIMM slots, all partitioned into two groups, with two slots in each group. The first two slots refer to the first controller channel, with the other two to the second controller.
To enable the dual-channel mode, memory modules have to be fitted into different channels. To accentuate this, the memory slots are colored differently (so that the user fills the slots of the same color). The maximum memory capacity makes up 4GB; and ECC memory modules are allowed.
Once voltage is applied to the board, a red LED positioned between PCI4 and PCI5 lights up. But when the system starts up (or hibernating), then one more LED is on - near the memory slots.
There is an AGP Pro slot with a latch installed onboard. Only 1.5V (or 0.8V) AGP 4x/8x video cards are allowed into the slot.
Engineers at DFI fitted quite a smart latch. But using it is quite awkward - the motherboard "grabs hold" of the video card too tight :).
Besides, there are five PCI slots on the DFI LanParty Pro875B motherboard.
As we already noted, the slots are colored with special paint that glitters when exposed to ultraviolet.
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VGA Card:
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CPU & Memory:
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