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DFI makes ATI RD600 board

Published on 11th December 2006 by Brett Thomas

"It's ALIIIIVE!" - ATI's RD600 will get to see the light after all on the new DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G.

The future of ATI as a chipset maker has been in doubt for quite some time. For starters, the previous renditions (especially the RS480) were incredibly flaky. Even if basic design wasn't such a problem, the business climate itself fought against ATI. First, NVIDIA snapped up the southbridge manufacturer ULi, leaving it in a rather fragile position . Then, right when it looked like the company had recovered well by partnering with Intel for the Conroe launches, ATI itself became a takeover target when AMD bought it.

Right before being swallowed by AMD, the union of ATI and Intel spawned one child - the RD600. The chipset was to offer a host of new features never really seen before, but many expected boards would never get to market. However, DFI has managed to do just that - introducing the LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G.

Though little has been known up til now about the features, DFI has been pretty adamant that it would be amazing. Surprisingly, preliminary looks by XtremeSystems don't disappoint. According to them, the board is stable at a 100% overclock. The big thing, though, is the new RAM system - note the words "asynch" in the CPU-Z pictures. That's right, your RAM is no longer locked to your FSB. At all.

This feature was promised to us with NVIDIA's most recent 680 chipset, though it hasn't entirely delivered as planned on that front (the 680 only runs semi-asynchronously). Of course, we can't be too sure of this board, either, at least until Tim and Rich get their hands on it. That may be a little while, since only 100 boards are expected to be finished before Christmas.

Of course, we'll let you know as soon as it happens. If you want something to look at before then, DailyTech has a great picture of the board with the RD600 heatsink removed. That is one big chip.

Give us your thoughts on the upcoming addition to DFI's lineup in our forums.

21 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

M4RTIN 11th December 2006, 20:03

well who wants to buy a nearly new asus p5b.. that sounds stunning and i do love to keep it all ati

Tyinsar 11th December 2006, 20:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Article
Of course, we can't be too sure of this board, either, at least until Tim and Rich get their hands on it. That may be a little while, since only 100 boards are expected to be finished before Christmas.

Me waits - Me wants good board for O.C. - Me sounds really silly saying "Me ..."

robodude666 11th December 2006, 20:14

Does that mean the DFI LANParty UT CFX3200 M2 (AM2 motherboard) will be releasing sometime soon? It was planned for june/july of 2006 but they missed deadline.

perplekks45 11th December 2006, 20:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by M4RTIN
well who wants to buy a nearly new asus p5b.. that sounds stunning and i do love to keep it all ati

What you want for it? ;) Actually... naw would be a little too expensive to get it here... or what does it cost to send it to Germany?

zr_ox 11th December 2006, 20:24

Most Powerful Partnership in History Core 2 Extreme Meets CROSSFIRE....eh its onlu dual 8x PCIe :?

atanum141 11th December 2006, 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by robodude666
Does that mean the DFI LANParty UT CFX3200 M2 (AM2 motherboard) will be releasing sometime soon? It was planned for june/july of 2006 but they missed deadline.

i dont think DFI will bring out a AM2 based Crossfire mobo.

TBH, id buy this board with any questions asked then spend the rest of the month paying off for it, it will cost an arm and a leg but it would be worth it.

Ill gladly wait after the inital rush for the first batch and wat till they have them in full retail channels.

the new Asus Commando looks like a good choice also at the moment, tho the only thing that worries me about these new "super" mobo's is the price.

Quote:

Most Powerful Partnership in History Core 2 Extreme Meets CROSSFIRE....eh its onlu dual 8x PCIe

eh not anymore...they are X16 in both lanes...... so speed wise the same as X32 SLi.

bluep3ace 11th December 2006, 20:38

finally! a LANPARTY Core2d!

Woodstock 11th December 2006, 22:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by atanum141

eh not anymore...they are X16 in both lanes...... so speed wise the same as X32 SLi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFI News - Support for All New Physics Rendering Card

Support for All New Physics Rendering Card
he LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G provides users with 3 sets of PCI Express x16 slots. Two of the slots are used for ATI Dual x8 Crossfire processing while the other PCIe slot (the 3 rd slot) provides PCIe x2 for the physics rendering card.

It was looking promising to being two x16 lanes and a x8 lane like on the 680i lanes which would be really nice

Krikkit 11th December 2006, 22:05

3 PCI-e 16x slots, 2 PCI slots free, even with a dual-slot cooler set. What a board. DFI rawk my world.

[edit]Full specs. :)[/edit]

BUFF 11th December 2006, 23:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by atanum141
i dont think DFI will bring out a AM2 based Crossfire mobo.

better tell them that as they've had 1 out for a while ... :)
http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=5075&CATEGORY_TYPE=INFINITY&SITE=US

Quote:

Originally Posted by atanum141

eh not anymore...they are X16 in both lanes...... so speed wise the same as X32 SLi.

not according to guys that have 1 ...
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1888998&postcount=234

m0ng0lh0rde 12th December 2006, 00:25

Now, if only a release date was listed (even if only tentative), as I'm looking to go Core2 Duo after the holidays (sooner if I can talk the wife into it)...

Techno-Dann 12th December 2006, 00:27

Quote:

That is one big chip.

Doesn't look much bigger than the old nForce 4 chips from where I'm sitting, and the board doesn't seem to be set up for heatpipe cooling, either...

I'll think about getting one if K8L turns out to be a dud. If it works, though, I'm going to go K8L + Crossfire for my next system.

robodude666 12th December 2006, 01:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by atanum141
i dont think DFI will bring out a AM2 based Crossfire mobo.

TBH, id buy this board with any questions asked then spend the rest of the month paying off for it, it will cost an arm and a leg but it would be worth it.

Ill gladly wait after the inital rush for the first batch and wat till they have them in full retail channels.

the new Asus Commando looks like a good choice also at the moment, tho the only thing that worries me about these new "super" mobo's is the price.

eh not anymore...they are X16 in both lanes...... so speed wise the same as X32 SLi.

That sucks, I was really hoping for it. Guess I would have to go with ECS MVP board.

Duste 12th December 2006, 03:12

Finally a Core 2 Duo DFI board! This is VERY good news.

If all goes to plan, I'll try and get this to perfectly match the colour-scheme of my new case. ;)

EDIT: Any guesses on the pricing? ;)

Mother-Goose 12th December 2006, 11:55

OOOOK need something cleared up. I thought the R600 was ATi DX10 core?

So this mobo will support the R600 DX10 card? I am actually VERY confused now :(

Highland3r 12th December 2006, 12:02

The board has 3 PCI-e 16* slots, however in crossfire mode they work in an 8*8 config. The third (furthest from CPU) is a 8* slot (though is the same size as a 16*)

Board looks to clock pretty well, seems to max ~ 510 FSB or so though which is a lot lower than the 965 boards have been hitting.
True async memory overclocking looks very nice though, should make ram clocking nice and easy.

Shame it caps at ~ 51- FSB though, means a 965 board is still going to be required to pull the high FSB's needed with a 6600 and 6300 under DICE :( Should make a nice 24/7 base though...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser
OOOOK need something cleared up. I thought the R600 was ATi DX10 core?

So this mobo will support the R600 DX10 card? I am actually VERY confused now :(

RD(RS)600 = chipset. R600 = DX10 GPU.
Yes the board will support R600 in Crossfire, you should be able to run R600 crossfire on any dual PCI-E capable mobo though (ie 975, RD580, RD480 etc) as long as the drivers are left "open"

Bindibadgi 12th December 2006, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser
OOOOK need something cleared up. I thought the R600 was ATi DX10 core?

So this mobo will support the R600 DX10 card? I am actually VERY confused now :(

R600 is the DX10 core
RD600 is the next chipset.

ATI wont need heatpipe cooling like NVIDIA, since they are far better at producing low power chipsets. Most of AMD laptop parts even before the buyout were ATI chipsets because of their superior power management.

Dann: my prediction based on what Ive seen of the architecture is: don't hold your breath on the K8L.

Mother-Goose 12th December 2006, 15:54

Bindi, are you thinking K8L isn't going to the shiz niz people are expecting?

DougEdey 12th December 2006, 16:24

AMD have a problem now, their R&D is nowhere near as advanced as Intels, their FABs are relatively dated and now they have bought ATi their budgets will have decreased MASSIVELY

specofdust 12th December 2006, 16:56

Woot DFI! This looks great, and it's a decent alternative to Asus. I can't wait.

Highland3r 12th December 2006, 17:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougEdey
AMD have a problem now, their R&D is nowhere near as advanced as Intels, their FABs are relatively dated and now they have bought ATi their budgets will have decreased MASSIVELY

Of course, they've only just started designing/planning their next chip....
The resource allocation, FAB upgrades, design etc would have been in place before ATI was purchased.
AMD's also upgrading/upgraded their FAB's to 65nm anyway, there's 65nm versions of the current gen AM2's out soon iirc :)