True to its name, the DFI LANPARTY PRO875 is an i875P motherboard built with the LAN enthusiast in mind. At its core, the LANPARTY PRO875 is a high-end 1 AGP/5 PCI based motherboard with all the features expected at this market level, It includes the standard PAT, dual-channel DDR, and HT features of the i875P, and adds onboard options such as Gigabit LAN, 6-channel audio, and 8 USB 2.0 ports, but does not feature Firewire support. The DFI board also includes Parallel IDE (x2) and PATA RAID through the HighPoint 372N (x2), along with SATA RAID using the ICH5R (x2). These are the basics of the board itself, but as we'll cover in the next section, the DFI LANPARTY PRO875 adds a few new wrinkles to the standard i875P configuration.
The LAN market figures heavily in the retail bundle of the DFI LANPARTY PRO875, and each equipment group is nicely put into its own individual box. The Accessory Kit box includes the basic extras, such as two Serial ATA cables, one SATA power adapter, one I/O Shield, one audio S/PDIF bracket and one gameport bracket. A 178-page, multi-lingual user manual, a Quick Setup Guide, a LANPARTY Features Booklet, a driver CD, two RAID driver floppies, silicon heatsink compound, and a CD of InterVideo's WinCinema round out the basic ingredients.
DFI earns the LANPARTY name through the secondary list of equipment, including a box of rounded cables (1 x floppy, 2 x IDE), a FrontX front case unit for easy access to USB and mic/headphone ports, a PC Transpo Computer Carrying Case, and even a large LANPARTY case decal and smaller case sticker. This is a pretty wild selection of hardware and software, and the LAN extras are a welcome and useful addition to the overall package.
The DFI LANPARTY PRO875 has, for the most part, a very good layout. Both ATX power connectors are well situated, with the main one located at the top-right of the board next to the two Parallel IDE connectors, and the secondary link situated between the DDR and CPU sockets. The DDR sockets are not color-coded, and instead are the same orange tone as the rest of the main sockets and connectors. The Serial ATA ports are on the bottom-right, as are the two Parallel ATA RAID connectors. One novel feature of the board is the presence of manual on/off and reset buttons, which means you can use this motherboard open-air, or in a design outside of a conventional case.
There are a few issues with the overall layout, such as the choice of placing the floppy drive connector at the very bottom-right of the board. Most LAN users sport smaller, lighter cases, but it may be a stretch getting the floppy drive cable attached on some larger tower models. The CPU fan header is also right next to the CPU socket, and while we didn't have any installation problems, there is some real estate to work with between the CPU and DDR sockets.
The basic install went very smoothly with the DFI LANPARTY PRO875, and the segregation of hardware into individual boxes really helped with the organization and location of various components. The orange DDR sockets really could have used color-coding, but the manual covers it all off anyway. If you intend to add the FrontX case unit, then count on some extra lead time, but otherwise, the layout and rounded cables helped make the installation quite easy. The software load was like any other i875P motherboard, and both Windows XP Pro and the various software drivers installed without a problem.
DFI is kind of a wildcard when it comes to overclocking, but we were quite pleased with the options found on the DFI LANPARTY PRO875. Its System BIOS allows 1 MHz front-side bus increments, up to a maximum of 400 MHz, while the CPU, DDR and AGP voltage selections are all present. The maximum voltages may not challenge for the uber-enthusiast crown, but all are quite robust and more than enough for high-end overclocking. Unfortunately, there are no facilities for DDR clock speed overclocking, and AGP/PCI overclocking is not featured, but overall features are more than adequate for an i875P board.
DFI is definitely going for the LAN enthusiast market with their LANPARTY PRO875 motherboard, and succeeds on most counts. The motherboard itself has the main features and performance to satisfy the LAN gaming community, and extras like rounded cables, FrontX case unit, and the PC Transpo carrying case are very nice extras indeed. For those interested in setting up a new LAN gaming beast, the DFI LANPARTY PRO875 is the right place to start, but the added expense makes it a tough sell for conventional desktops.
