DFI Infinity 865PE Motherboard Review
DFI's Latest Intel Offering

By: Jeff Bouton
November 6th, 2003

Historically, DFI has focused more on developing basic motherboards strong on functionality and stability, leaving the flashy presentations and excessive bundles to motherboard manufacturers that cater to the enthusiast set.  But recently the company has undergone a bit of a metamorphosis, moving from bland to grand, with the release of their LAN Party line of motherboards, as well as their brown bag equivalents.  Clearly, DFI felt it was time to get into the mainstream arena and challenge some of the old dogs on the block.

Along with the attention received with the LAN Party line, this exposure has helped to bring their other, less flashy products to the forefront.  There are users who simply do not want or need all of the extras that come with the LAN Party line.  So to cover all of the bases, customers have the choice of buying just the motherboard to save cost.  Today, we are going to take a look at the standard Infinity 865PE package that foregoes the excessive bundling and focuses more on performance and innovative features.
 

Features of the DFI Infinity 865PE
Features and Functionality


 

CPU
Intel Pentium 4 Processor with Hyper-Threading Technology
- 800MHz/533MHz system data bus
Intel Pentium 4 Northwood processor
- 533MHz/400MHz system data bus
Intel Celeron Northwood processor
- 400MHz system data bus


CPU Socket
Socket 478

Chipset
Intel 865PE chipset
- Intel 865PE Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
- Intel 82801EB I/O Controller Hub (ICH5)


Memory
Four 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets
Supports dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface
Supports up to 4GB system memory
Synchronous operation with processor system bus
- PC2100/PC2700/PC3200 (DDR266/DDR333/DDR400) with 800MHz FSB CPU. DDR333 will
run at 320MHz memory frequency when used with 800MHz FSB CPU.
- PC2100/PC2700 (DDR266/DDR333) with 533MHz FSB CPU
- PC2100 (DDR266) with 400MHz FSB CPU
Supports non-ECC (x64) DIMM using 128Mb, 256Mb or 512Mb
Supports unbuffered DIMMs


BIOS
Award BIOS, Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP Plug and Play compatible
Genie BIOS provides:
- CPU/DRAM overclocking
- AGP/PCI/SATA overclocking
- CPU/DIMM/AGP overvoltage
Flash EPROM for easy BIOS upgrades
4Mbit flash memory
CMOS Reloaded
Super Patch


Power Management
Supports ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM)function
Wake-On-Events include:
- Wake-On-Keyboard/Mouse
- Wake-On-USB Keyboard
- Wake-On-Ring (external modem)
- Wake-On-LAN
- RTC timer to power-on the system


Hardware Monitor
Monitors CPU/system temperature and overheat alarm
Monitors CPU/1.5V/5VSB/VBAT/3.3V/5V/12V voltages and failure alarm
Monitors CPU/chassis/2nd fan speed and failure alarm
Automatic chassis/2nd fans on/off control
Read back capability that displays temperature, voltage and fan speed
Opened chassis alarm

Audio
C-Media CMI9739a 6-channel codec
20-bit stereo full-duplex codec with independent variable sampling rate
High quality differential CD input
True stereo line level outputs
S/PDIF-in/out interface
LAN
Realtek RTL8110S Gigabit LAN PCI controller
Full duplex support at both 10, 100 and 1000 Mbps


PCI IDE
Supports ATA/33, ATA/66 and ATA/100 hard drives
PIO Mode 4 Enhanced IDE (data transfer rate up to 14MB/sec.)

SATA IDE with RAID
Silicon Image Sil3112A PCI to Serial ATA controller
Supports two SATA (Serial ATA) interfaces which are compliant with
SATA 1.0 specification (1.5Gbps interface)
Supports RAID 0 and RAID 1


IEEE 1394
VIA VT6306 PCI 1394 integrated host controller
Supports three 100/200/400 Mb/sec ports


AGP
Supports 1.5V AGP 8x (2.13GB/sec.) and AGP 4x(1066MB/sec.) for 3D graphics
applications (AGP 2x and 3.3V AGP card are not supported)
Supports AGP 3.0 and AGP 2.0 spec.

Rear Panel I/O Ports
1 PS/2 mouse port
1 PS/2 keyboard port
1 DB-9 serial port
1 DB-25 parallel port
4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 1394 port
1 RJ45 LAN port
2 S/PDIF RCA jacks (S/PDIF-in and S/PDIF-out)
3 audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in
2 audio jacks for center/bass and rear out


I/O Connectors
2 connectors for 4 additional external USB 2.0/1.1 ports
2 connectors for 2 external IEEE 1394 ports
1 front audio connector for external line-out and mic-in jacks
1 connector for an external game/MIDI port
2 internal audio connectors (CD-in and AUX-in)
1 S/PDIF connector for optical cable connection
1 connector for IrDA interface
4 Serial ATA connectors
2 IDE connectors
1 floppy connector
2 ATX power connectors (20-pin and 4-pin 12V)
1 Wake-On-LAN connector
1 opened chassis alarm connector
CPU fan, chassis fan and 2nd fan connectors


Expansion Slots
1 AGP slot
5 PCI slots


Compatibility
PCI 2.2 and AC 97 compliant
Intel AGP version 3.0


PCB
4 layers, ATX form factor
30.5cm (12") x 24.4cm (9.6")


The Bundle:

Like we said earlier, this product is the standard edition, scaling down the contents of the package to the the bare essentials.  The unit came with a User's Manual and RAID Manual covering the installation of the board, configuration and RAID setup.  We did find the User's Manual to be a bit brief, covering the mere basics of this board.  The RAID Manual, on the other hand, was a little more thorough, covering the entire setup process in detail.  The board also came with two SATA cables, one IDE and one Floppy cable, although sadly no SATA power adapters were provided.  The package also included an I/O Shield, Setup CD and RAID Drivers Floppy Disk.

Click to Enlarge

Overall, the bundle is in line with what one would expect to get with a basic motherboard package.  Next we'll take a closer look at the DFI 865PE Infinity motherboard and assess its quality.

 

 

The Board and The BIOS