DFI uses a single box design for the LANParty boards. Only the model name of the board is changed depending on what board is placed into the box. The box though is flashy and bright, so its easy to spot in the local PC store.
On the back of the box, DFI gives you a general layout of the board and some of the features and a basic explanation of the overall feature pack of the board itself. This helps you decide if this is indeed the board for you.
Now we start to look at what DFI gives you in the box. First up you only get 4 SATA data cables, since the board support 8 all up, you will need to source 4 extra ones if you intend to use all 8. Also 2 power converter cables supporting 2 drives per cable, 4 total. This also means if you have 8 SATA drives you will need to source and extra 4 power ports. DFI uses a totally new port layout to its previous boards, so no matter what, you will need the I/O shield for this board.
For the parallel cables, DFI includes 2 IDE and 1 FDD cable. Theses have been factory rounded and sleeved in U.V reactive material, true to the LANParty name of the motherboard.
DFI has used this feature in the past, where the audio ports are placed on a separate daughter module that plugs onto a header on the board. This is supposed to work on the principal of keeping the audio modules off the board itself to promote better audio quality. We watched some DVDs and played some music just to see if there was any difference between the DFI board and our other baseline boards, we didnt notice any difference in audio quality. Simply put this is a novelty.
DFI provides 2 separate manuals - the first one on the left is the user manual for the board itself with all the setup instructions and BIOS features the board support. The second is the info manual on how to install the external daughter module for the sound system.
Lastly on to driver support. DFI provides a single CD with all the Windows drivers as well as their own software bundle. The FDD that is included is for Windows installation. Since Windows XP, 2000 or the likes dont have the necessary drivers for the new SATA controllers used, when installing Windows you need to tell the installation what controller you are using.
