Introduction

After a long saga, news of abit's demise in the motherboard market has been recently confirmed. For long-time fans of overclocking, it comes not so much a surprise, as regret that a former household, acclaimed brand is now no more. While abit has not showed any signs that it could revive its glory days, it was still a loss for enthusiasts.

What it also seemed to imply is that going niche is insufficient in such a competitive market, especially if the niche segment does not have the volume. This can be seen in recent years, with big players like ASUS expanding aggressively into all segments with a broad range of products, including premium models that are meant for enthusiasts. Smaller manufacturers like DFI, which has quickly cultivated a reputation for overclocking, has hence been under threat.

One of the company's latest attempt to distinguish its products from the competition is the LANParty DK P45-T2RS PLUS, which comes with a new Auto Boost System that could simplify overclocking for less experienced users. This new feature will be present on all new motherboards from its LANParty DK and Blood Iron series and it's telling that these are the more mainstream series. Of course, DFI's extensive BIOS options remains on these boards and here to illustrate this, here's a look at this Intel P45 board using the ICH10R Southbridge:-

As usual, DFI's motherboards are UV reactive and paired with the included UV reactive cables, they are certainly eye-catching.

Before we explore this board any further, the contents of the retail package are quite typical and listed below, along with the technical specifications:-

2 x SATA data cables

1 x SATA power converter cable

1 x 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable

1 x floppy drive data cable

1 x CrossFire bridge

RAID driver diskette

I/O shield

Driver CD

User manual

Auto Boost System Installation Guide

DFI LANPARTY DK P45-T2RS PLUS Technical Specifications

CPU Support	Supports all 65/45nm Intel LGA775 processors (Conroe or later) Quad-Core ready
Chipset	Northbridge: Intel P45 800/1066/1333MHz front side bus PCI Express 2.0 x16 for graphics Southbridge: Intel ICH10R
Memory	Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM Supports up to 8GB memory size 1066MHz (O.C 1200MHz) dual channel DDR2 memory architecture
Storage	Intel ICH10R Southbridge 6 x SATA 3.0Gbps interface Intel Matrix Storage Technology SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0 + 1 and RAID 5 JMicron JMB363 PCI Express to SATA and PATA host controller  Supports 2 x SATA 3.0Gbps devices RAID 0 and RAID 1 2 x Ultra ATA 33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to 133MB/sec.)
Audio	Intel High Definition Audio  Realtek ALC885 HD Audio CODEC
Networking	Marvell 88E8053 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet
I/O Interface	Internal I/O: 1 x Floppy connector 1 x Ultra ATA IDE connector 8 x SATA connectors (1 external) 3 x USB 2.0 headers (for 6 additional ports) 3 x FireWire-400 ports (3 x header) EZ touch switches (power and reset switch) Rear I/O 8-Channel Audio I/O ports 6 x USB 2.0 ports 1 x RJ45 LAN port 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output 1 x PS/2 keyboard port 1 x PS/2 mouse port
Expansion Slots	2 x PCIe x16 slots (PCI Express 2.0) (2-way CrossFireX capable, dual x8 config) 2 x PCIe x1 slot 2 x PCI slots, PCI 2.3 compliant
Special Features	CMOS Reloaded Auto Boost System
PCB	ATX Form Factor, 12" x 9.6"(30.5 x 24.4cm)

Board Design and Layout

This DFI board is pretty much your modern motherboard, with all the features and perks that we have come to expect. We were also generally pleased with the board layout, with the exception of some minor grouses.

The rear ports of the DFI LANParty DK P45-T2RS PLUS are quite typical of this class of motherboards, including optical and coaxial SP/DIF outputs, Gigabit LAN, audio jacks and six USB 2.0 ports. Additionally, DFI has a clear CMOS jumper at the rear, useful for overclockers and unlike a button, no chance of users accidentally clearing the CMOS.

Like all the P45 boards we have seen so far, the DFI LANParty DK P45-T2RS PLUS supports CrossFireX via its two PCIe x16 slots. Either one of these slots have full 16 lanes if operating alone and 8 lanes if together in CrossFireX mode. One thing we didn't like was the location of the floppy connector, which meant pulling the floppy cable across the board to be plugged in and possibly messing up your attempts at cable management.

Besides the standard 6 SATA 3.0Gbps ports from the Intel ICH10R found onboard, DFI have added two more extra SATA ports (in yellow) thanks to a JMicron JMB363 controller (the black IC in the background here). This controller also enables IDE support. The extra two ports are one of the 'extras' found on the PLUS version of this board that is not on the normal P45-T2RS.

There are four DIMM slots for DDR2 memory, supporting officially up to 1066MHz and a total of 8GB. The IDE and ATX power connectors are thankfully close to the edge of the board.