SUMMARY: We've got two very capable Pentium 4 based chipsets under the spotlight today from Intel based on DFI's new line of LANPARTY "B" motherboards for the enthusiast. We compare the more expensive Canterwood to the cut-down Springdale chipset but tweaked up by DFI. The results may surprise!
Both boards are packaged with the same accessories, in the same manner. Oh and what a package it is! The actual box is the largest one I’ve seen of any motherboard package to date. When you open the box you’ll understand why. There are five separate boxes inside. They consist of a “PC Transpo”, Rounded Cables, Front-X 5”1/4 unit, Accessory Kit, and of course another box containing the motherboard itself. Let’s take a look at each of these boxes in more detail.
- PC Transpo
This box contains a carry strap designed to wrap around your case, making for easier transport. It is designed to suit any standard midi tower case, and there are pockets on the sides to allow for transport of your mouse, keyboard, and various other cables too. This is something you certainly don’t see in other motherboard packages around, but is a nice addition to the “LANPARTY” range as it is quite evident that the motherboard itself is aimed towards the LAN party community.
- Rounded Cable Box
This box includes three orange “UV reactive” rounded cables - two being IDE and one floppy. The cables look to be very nice quality indeed, and are more than long enough for most people’s needs. Even today, very few motherboard packages have the inclusion of rounded cables so this was another nice offering from DFI.
- Front X
Here is clearly another device you wouldn’t normally see included within a motherboard package. The Front X takes up a 5”1/4 drive bay and allows for easy access to USB ports (via the headers on the motherboard) as well as a headphones and line-out socket. The device also has the ability to be customized in terms of socket placement as well as leaving room for additional sockets you may like to implement down the track. A new feature of this device as part of the B revision boards (along with the 865PE) is the Diagnostic LED display of which is designed to be attached to the FrontX Panel. With the four LED’s you can see the progress of your system as it cycles from POST to desktop. Should a problem arise, it will be a helpful tool in sourcing the problem at hand.
The only gripe I have with this device is that I feel it’s been introduced 2 years too late. You will find that almost all cases nowadays, be it on the cheap or not, have their own built-in USB and audio sockets. As for the Diagnostic LED display, that could just as easily be placed elsewhere. Keeping that aside, the panel would be a highly useful feature, particularly when using headphones and so forth at LANs.
- Accessory Kit
Within this box we have a number of smaller bits and pieces including two red SATA cables, a SATA power converter cable, some el’cheapo thermal paste, a backplate for the motherboard, a PCI bracket with a gaming port for the onboard sound, and in the case of the 865PE board, another PCI bracket with a Firewire port.
- Motherboard Box
Inside here is the heart of it all. Aside from the superb looking motherboard itself (we’ll be getting to them shortly), we have the obvious inclusion of manuals galore, CD’s and floppy disks containing a stack of supporting applications and drivers, a rather large (and cool looking) LANPARTY sticker, case badge, and some spare jumpers.
