Package and Contents

DFI has gone with a new colour scheme for its ICFX3200 series board. The box rather than being green goes for a red/yellow motif. On the front there is only the name of the board and the Lanparty UT logo to distinguish it.

The back contains a bit more info on the board's features as well as a detailed colour photo of the board itself with full explanations of its main attractions.

DFI has done a marvellous job on its documentation. The user manual is over 200 pages thick with full details in 4 languages on the board's features and setup. The CD provided comes with all the drivers for the board as well as some software to get you up and running. The floppy disk contains the Windows XP F6 boot drivers for the ATI SB600 and the Promise Fastrack 3410 controller chip, so there is no downloading required for this part.

The cable bundle DFI gives is rather small, but it will get you going - a couple rounded parallel cables that are UV reactive under a black light are provided, one for the IDE and one for the floppy disk. The four SATA data cables are also UV reactive but not SATA-II spec, that is, they don't lock onto the boards SATA ports or the SATA drive - bit of a disappointment there.

Lastly we have what DFI calls its KARAJAN audio module. This is simply a plug in section that goes onto the rear I/O ports to give you the 6 channel audio. The module contains the Audio Codec itself on it. DFI explains it as keeping the noise from the motherboard from making its way into the audio, however, we didn't notice any difference in audio quality compared to a non-KARAJAN audio board. If you plan to use a separate sound card, leave this module out and the system won't detect the onboard audio as the codec chip will be missing.