DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert – Can the best get better?

Final Words

The new revision DFI LP UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert has indeed established itself to be a worthy successor to the original Ultra-D, SLI-D and SLI-DR boards. Refinements to the board in components, PCB redesign and layout, the upgrade to 4-phase power for the CPU section, and refinement of the memory power section have taken a formerly stable platform and made it into possibly the most stable overclocking platform in the industry. Benefits reaped from the 4-phase CPU power section and vDIMM power sections included a much cooler running board to go along with its increased stability. My previous experience with the SLI-D during overclocking endeavors, while using 1.6V+ to the CPU and particularly using its 5V jumper to increase the range of vDIMM, found that you could burn your fingers on any of MOSFET heat sinks, which also necessitated additional cooling to maintain stability. The Expert stays cool to the touch, even at extreme overclocks.

The updated board maintains all the same features and controllers as the previous generation, including dual Gigabit LAN controlled by Vitesse and Marvel controllers, Karajan 8 channel audio with S/PDIF, and the additional Sil3114 Sata1 controller. The continued use of the Silicon Image SIL 3114 SATA controller is a disappointment With the SIL 3132 available, it only made sense to upgrade to SATAII at the time of this revision, giving prospective buyers an option of 8 SATAII channels with multiple SATAII RAID configurations.

One more point to be made is that this board possibly should have included the next generation dual x16 SLI chipset. Though there may not be a major windfall in 3D performance going from x8 x8 to x16 x16, the time could have been now to put the “Total” package out there as the complete motherboard to beat.

Those points aside, the SLI-DR Expert scored a coup de grace in this reviewer’s opinion as a premier overclocker’s board. It’s hard to argue with overclocking success, and when you couple it with the utmost in stability, you have just set the standard higher in this class.

Should you replace your original generation DFI NF4 Ultra-D, SLI-D or SLI-DR with this board? It’s not a necessity, in my opinion, unless you are living on the extreme edge and won’t settle for less.

If you are an enthusiast looking to upgrade from your current setup, this is the board that will take you to places that you’ve never been before.