Features (cont’d)

SOYO’s DRAGON series have made quite a name for themselves, in part due to the Sigma box SOYO includes with these boards. This value added product brings front panel USB and FireWire ports (among other things) to the SOYO board.

FRONTX panel

Installation is a snap

DFI builds on this with their FRONTX panel, provided by the company with the same name. The FRONTX front panel is designed to fit within the 5.25” drive bay on your case, just below your CD/DVD drive if you wish. Unlike previous front panels, FRONTX is completely modular, meaning you can customize the front panel connections on your particular FRONTX panel unit, as well as their location on the FRONTX panel.

The FRONTX panel has eight different bays you can customize, with options varying from extra USB and FireWire ports to audio ports, game ports, and even S-Video and RCA video connectors. These connections can all be purchased from the FRONTX website, FRONTX.com.

To get you started DFI includes a really cool port with a bank of 4 LEDs, this is tied to the diagnostic LEDs on the LANPARTY board. No more looking in your case to know the current status of your motherboard during POST!

Also included are microphone and headphone ports, a FireWire port, and a dual USB port. For added performance, these ports support USB 2.0.

When not in use, the FRONTX panel can be hidden underneath a door. The door folds down, revealing the entire bay. The slot holders can be easily adjusted, simply adjust the ports to your liking.

For those of you who already have front panel USB and FireWire access on your current case, you probably aren’t as impressed with the FRONTX panel. But guess what, since the connections aren’t proprietary, you can adapt FRONTX for use with one of your older systems which may not have front panel ports. This gives end user’s more flexibility.

The only thing FRONTX is really missing is support for different media types like Smart Media, Sony Memory Stick, and Compact Flash. Hopefully they’re hard at work adding these features. In any case, it goes without saying that ASUS offers nothing like this with the A7N8X-E Deluxe, much less any of their motherboards. FRONTX is a standard feature with all DFI LANPARTY boards however.

Round cables

Besides FRONTX, DFI has another ace up its sleeve, round IDE and floppy cables. While this feature has become more commonplace recently, DFI was one of the first motherboard manufacturers to include these cables with its boards, starting with the LANPARTY PRO875 we reviewed last year. Of course, also keep in mind that ASUS doesn’t include this feature with its motherboards. Both companies are thoughtful enough to include a bag with extra jumpers though, as well as a 2-port USB header and Serial ATA data and power cables (two of each). Shame on DFI for only including two Serial ATA data cables though.

Based on all this, we’d have to give the overall features edge to DFI. ASUS’ Wi-Fi@Home keeps it close though. If you really do like the idea of wireless, this board may be better suited for you (at least on this perspective).