• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

DFI Revolutionizes Industrial Computing with World's First MicroATX Motherboards

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
17,808 (2.42/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/yfsd9w
DFI, the world's leading brand in embedded motherboards and industrial computers, is thrilled to announce two of the world's first Industrial MicroATX motherboards to support Intel Core 12th, 13th, and 14th (Alder Lake-S, Raptor Lake-S and Raptor Lake-S Refresh) Gen Processors. "With support for the latest Intel Core processors and features including dual GPU slots and dual 10GbE ports, RPS310 and ADS310 represent a significant leap forward in innovation for industrial and medical computing, empowering manufacturing and healthcare professionals to achieve new levels of efficiency," said Jarry Chang, General Manager of Products Center at DFI.

RPS310
Featuring dual PCIe x16 Gen 4 GPU slots, addresses key challenges for Factory Automation professionals working in Smart manufacturing field, enabling improved visualized data, complex imagery processing and quality monitoring in automated production lines. RPS310 is also perfect for medical professionals to analyze Medical imaging data with unprecedented image quality and efficiency, improving diagnosis accuracy on MRIs and CT Scanners and X-rays.




ADS310
In medical settings, the dual 10GbE ports of the ADS310 offer lightning-fast network connectivity and accelerated data transfer speeds, providing crucial advantages to healthcare professionals. These ports enable quick access to large medical imaging files and improved transfer speeds between PACS servers, accelerating diagnosis and treatment processes. Similarly, in factory automation, they ensure rapid data transfer between machines, enhancing monitoring and response capabilities.

Highlighted Features
RPS310
  • 12th, 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core with Intel R680E/Q670E chipset
  • Dual PCIe x16 Gen 4 GPU Slots
  • Built-in Out-Of-Band (OOB) Remote Management
  • Rich I/O and Expansion
  • 125 W TDP
  • Compliance & Certification: CE, FCC, Class B, RoHS

ADS310
  • 12th, 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core with Intel R680E/Q670E chipset
  • Dual 10GbE Ports
  • Rich I/O and Expansion
  • 125 W TDP
  • Compliance & Certification: CE, FCC, Class B, RoHS

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Joined
Apr 18, 2019
Messages
2,407 (1.15/day)
Location
Olympia, WA
System Name Sleepy Painter
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard Asus TuF Gaming X570-PLUS/WIFI
Cooling FSP Windale 6 - Passive
Memory 2x16GB F4-3600C16-16GVKC @ 16-19-21-36-58-1T
Video Card(s) MSI RX580 8GB
Storage 2x Samsung PM963 960GB nVME RAID0, Crucial BX500 1TB SATA, WD Blue 3D 2TB SATA
Display(s) Microboard 32" Curved 1080P 144hz VA w/ Freesync
Case NZXT Gamma Classic Black
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply Rosewill 1KW on 240V@60hz
Mouse Logitech MX518 Legend
Keyboard Red Dragon K552
Software Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC 1809 17763.1757
I know the title's already a mouthful, but...

Missing
-to support Intel Core 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen Processors
really makes the PR come off as ridiculous.


On-topic:
Kinda curious why any Industrial Mobo manu is making Intel-brand Consumer-CPU compatible boards? Intel has a recent reputation for EoLing products quickly, and "Industrial Use" PCs need to have 5-10Year support cycles.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
3,643 (2.50/day)
Location
Slovenia
Processor i5-6600K
Motherboard Asus Z170A
Cooling some cheap Cooler Master Hyper 103 or similar
Memory 16GB DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) IGP
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Display(s) 2x Oldell 24" 1920x1200
Case Bitfenix Nova white windowless non-mesh
Audio Device(s) E-mu 1212m PCI
Power Supply Seasonic G-360
Mouse Logitech Marble trackball, never had a mouse
Keyboard Key Tronic KT2000, no Win key because 1994
Software Oldwin
On-topic:
Kinda curious why any Industrial Mobo manu is making Intel-brand Consumer-CPU compatible boards? Intel has a recent reputation for EoLing products quickly, and "Industrial Use" PCs need to have 5-10Year support cycles.
The situation is much better if you ignore the K processors. The i7-8700 and 8700T are still listed and "Launched". Many 10th gen processors too. Support for some 7th gen parts expired 11 days ago. Look here for example. But the CPUs on long support often have E and TE suffixes and are pretty much unknown to most people, let alone compulsive upgraders.

I don't know but I assume Intel has a support policy that's known at launch of each generation of CPUs, so industrial (and business) users know what they are getting.
 
Joined
Apr 18, 2019
Messages
2,407 (1.15/day)
Location
Olympia, WA
System Name Sleepy Painter
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard Asus TuF Gaming X570-PLUS/WIFI
Cooling FSP Windale 6 - Passive
Memory 2x16GB F4-3600C16-16GVKC @ 16-19-21-36-58-1T
Video Card(s) MSI RX580 8GB
Storage 2x Samsung PM963 960GB nVME RAID0, Crucial BX500 1TB SATA, WD Blue 3D 2TB SATA
Display(s) Microboard 32" Curved 1080P 144hz VA w/ Freesync
Case NZXT Gamma Classic Black
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply Rosewill 1KW on 240V@60hz
Mouse Logitech MX518 Legend
Keyboard Red Dragon K552
Software Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC 1809 17763.1757
Expected a Lan Party...
Other than OCing, these would be perfectly acceptable for such uses. TBQH, these 'Industrial' boards have WAY better expansion options vs. what's consumer-facing. (also higher thermal and vibration tolerances, IIRC)

NGL, 'Been tempted to pickup a more-modern DFI industrial board, and paint the slots, etc. :laugh:

The situation is much better if you ignore the K processors. The i7-8700 and 8700T are still listed and "Launched". Many 10th gen processors too. Support for some 7th gen parts expired 11 days ago. Look here for example. But the CPUs on long support often have E and TE suffixes and are pretty much unknown to most people, let alone compulsive upgraders.

I don't know but I assume Intel has a support policy that's known at launch of each generation of CPUs, so industrial (and business) users know what they are getting.
Fair. I'd forgotten about that.

IIRC, even a few years ago, there were a couple Haswell (Refresh) SKUs not yet EoL.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
3,643 (2.50/day)
Location
Slovenia
Processor i5-6600K
Motherboard Asus Z170A
Cooling some cheap Cooler Master Hyper 103 or similar
Memory 16GB DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) IGP
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Display(s) 2x Oldell 24" 1920x1200
Case Bitfenix Nova white windowless non-mesh
Audio Device(s) E-mu 1212m PCI
Power Supply Seasonic G-360
Mouse Logitech Marble trackball, never had a mouse
Keyboard Key Tronic KT2000, no Win key because 1994
Software Oldwin
Fair. I'd forgotten about that.

IIRC, even a few years ago, there were a couple Haswell (Refresh) SKUs not yet EoL.
But I'm not sure how to read the Ark data. For example, the i7-6700 has Marketing status listed as "Launched" but its Servicing status is "End of Servicing Lifetime".
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
8,262 (1.32/day)
Processor Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling 6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory Corsair Vengeance RBG 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s) Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s) Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse Logitech G604s
Keyboard Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670
WTB DFI gaming motherboards again
 
Joined
Apr 18, 2019
Messages
2,407 (1.15/day)
Location
Olympia, WA
System Name Sleepy Painter
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard Asus TuF Gaming X570-PLUS/WIFI
Cooling FSP Windale 6 - Passive
Memory 2x16GB F4-3600C16-16GVKC @ 16-19-21-36-58-1T
Video Card(s) MSI RX580 8GB
Storage 2x Samsung PM963 960GB nVME RAID0, Crucial BX500 1TB SATA, WD Blue 3D 2TB SATA
Display(s) Microboard 32" Curved 1080P 144hz VA w/ Freesync
Case NZXT Gamma Classic Black
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply Rosewill 1KW on 240V@60hz
Mouse Logitech MX518 Legend
Keyboard Red Dragon K552
Software Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC 1809 17763.1757
WTB DFI gaming motherboards again
Yup. Same.

DFI's consumer-enthusiast boards were born out of genuine enthusiasm within DFI's design/dev team(s). Company Culture (everywhere) has changed.

While I could see 'a return' being as simple as writing custom firmware w/ OCing, subtracting some of the remote management features, and subbing-in 'colorful' slots, etc.
-They'd still be $250-500 motherboards.

Some of us, might be *that* nostalgic for DFI LanParty boards but, I'm doubting it'd be possible to be 'successful' and 'profitable'.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2024
Messages
115 (0.42/day)
Processor AMD 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI B650 Tomahawk
Cooling Noctua NHU12S
Memory 2x16 GB GSKILL 6000MHZ CL28
Video Card(s) Powercolor 7900 GRE
Storage 1TB Samsung 980 PRO
Display(s) LG 32GP750 31.5" 2K QHD (2560 x 1440) 165Hz Gaming Monitor
Case Coolermater HAF 650
Audio Device(s) BeyerDynamic Amiron Home
Power Supply Seasonic 850W Gold

freeagent

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
8,981 (3.91/day)
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling Thermalright Frozen Edge 360, 3x TL-B12 V2, 2x TL-B12 V1
Memory 2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s) Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, SN770 1TB
Display(s) LG 50UP7100
Case Fractal Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) JBL Bar 700
Power Supply Seasonic Vertex GX-1000, Monster HDP1800
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G213
VR HMD Oculus 3
Software Yes
Benchmark Scores Yes
I was more of an Abit guy.. popped in because old names and all..

It would be nice to have another well established player making hardware for us again :)

Edit:

Grammar error :(
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 22, 2021
Messages
22 (0.02/day)
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X (PBO)
Motherboard AORUS X570 Ultra
Cooling NH-D14
Memory Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 (16-19-19-39)
Video Card(s) MERC 6900XT (2800/2100 @ 1.175v)
Storage 980 1TB (Windows 10), P5 Plus 2TB (Games), Rocket 4 Plus 1TB (Games)
Display(s) Acer K272HUL
Case P500A
Audio Device(s) ALC1220
Power Supply RM850x
Mouse Roccat Kova
Keyboard K70 RGB
Can DFI return to the consumer market? Please?
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2020
Messages
595 (0.40/day)
Location
Connecticut, USA
System Name Desktop // Laptop
Processor R9 5900X (VRM-B2) @ 180W/160A/140A | Mfg Wk03/2022 // i7-13620H 90W-50W | Mfg Wk25/2024
Motherboard Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro V2 // Dell 006JN2
Cooling Thermalright PA120 w/ 3x P12, MX-6 // Stock (4x heatpipes, 2x Elepeak radial fans) w/ MX-6 GPU & CPU
Memory 2x16GB Ballistix 8Gbit Rev.E @ 3800C15, 1:1 FCLK // 2x16GB Kingston Fury Impact H16A @ 4800C36
Video Card(s) PowerColor Red Devil 6600XT @ C2800MHz/M2300MHz (Samsung), 216W, MX-6 TP-3 // RTX 4060 Mobile (70W)
Storage SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB, TeamGroup MP33 Pro 2TB, Seagate Ironwolf HDD 4TB // Patriot VP4300 Lite 2TB
Display(s) 1x Gigabyte M27Q, 1x MSI Optix G274, 1x Dell E152FPg // Dell AUO30A5
Case Phanteks P500A (non-digital) w/ 4x 140mm Arctic P14 PWM PST CO fans // Dell Inspiron Plus 7630
Audio Device(s) FiiO E10K-TC (USB) -> Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (80ohm)
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W // Lite-On 130W
Mouse Logitech G203
Keyboard Kingston HyperX Core RGB
Software W10 Pro // W11 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://hwbot.org/user/machinelearning/ https://hwbot.org/team/warp9_systems/
I was more of an Abit guy.. popped in because old names and all..

It would be nice to have another well established played making hardware for us again :)
If DFI comes back to the consumer market in the next 5 years, they'll probably sell well. After that, not enough people would remember or care. It's been 14 years already... :(

Sadly, I think it's unlikely. Although last I checked they still have Oskar Wu with them.
 
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
2,737 (0.68/day)
Location
Alabama
Processor Ryzen 2600
Motherboard X470 Tachi Ultimate
Cooling AM3+ Wraith CPU cooler
Memory C.R.S.
Video Card(s) GTX 970
Software Linux Peppermint 10
Benchmark Scores Never high enough
Expected a Lan Party...
That's LanParty "Jr." to you. :D

Yeah, would be nice if they did it again.
They could make one like the Impact series from Asus so we know it can be done but DFI, like Soyo did years ago got out of the enthusiast segment of board making.

We can dream and hope but I believe that ship has sailed and sunk.
 
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
44 (0.01/day)
Location
Ottawa ON, Canada
System Name Titan
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 7600, 6C12T,
Motherboard Asus B650 ProArt Creator
Cooling ThermalRight SI-100
Memory 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance 6000 MT/s CL36 EXPO
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Radeon RX 6650XT Gaming OC 8GB
Storage XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade 2TB PCI x4 Main Drive (+5.5TB in other drives)
Display(s) DELL S3422DWG 1440P UltraWide + DELL SE2723DS 1440P in Portrait
Case CoolerMaster Qube 500
Audio Device(s) EPOS H3 Pro Hybrid, Senheiser HD 598
Power Supply Seasonic Focus SGX-500W SFX-L 80+ Gold
Mouse Zelotes T-50 Vertical Mouse
Keyboard Keychron K3 Pro Low Profile Mechanical 75% or Microsoft Natural Ergo 4000
Software Windows 11 + Linux (distro hopping)
Benchmark Scores GeekBench 6.2: SC 2939 / MC 13857
DFI Revolutionizes Industrial Computing with World's First MicroATX Motherboards
I can't be alone to have read this as if they were announcing the first ever mATX boards lol.

Meanwhile what most people on this site would really want to see is a 15 years follow-up from the LANparty JR... (to stay on the topic of mATX boards)
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2020
Messages
104 (0.07/day)
WOOOAAH!!!!! :eek: I almost fell off my chair when i saw this in the news feed. WHAT?!?!? Theyre back?? NOOOOOO. :cry:
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
247 (0.05/day)
Location
Poznan, Poland
It's funny how so many people remember how the DFI LanParty series was overclocking. Somehow, no one remembers the ridiculously high RMA rate. I was working in distribution back then, and we stopped selling them because of too high losses from RMA. The same did many other distributors. I guess it was one of the reasons for their problems.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2024
Messages
115 (0.42/day)
Processor AMD 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI B650 Tomahawk
Cooling Noctua NHU12S
Memory 2x16 GB GSKILL 6000MHZ CL28
Video Card(s) Powercolor 7900 GRE
Storage 1TB Samsung 980 PRO
Display(s) LG 32GP750 31.5" 2K QHD (2560 x 1440) 165Hz Gaming Monitor
Case Coolermater HAF 650
Audio Device(s) BeyerDynamic Amiron Home
Power Supply Seasonic 850W Gold
It's funny how so many people remember how the DFI LanParty series was overclocking. Somehow, no one remembers the ridiculously high RMA rate. I was working in distribution back then, and we stopped selling them because of too high losses from RMA. The same did many other distributors. I guess it was one of the reasons for their problems.
I had a DFI Lan Party Venus for the better part of 15 years with HEAVY HEAVY overclocks on it with no issues.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
10,854 (1.73/day)
Location
Austin Texas
System Name stress-less
Processor 9800X3D @ 5.42GHZ
Motherboard MSI PRO B650M-A Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory 64GB DDR5 6400 1:1 CL30-36-36-76 FCLK 2200
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 FE
Storage 2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s) Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s) Yes
Power Supply Corsair SF750
Mouse DeathadderV2 X Hyperspeed
Keyboard 65% HE Keyboard
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.
DFI is back... with the first ever "industrial" m-itx boards...

Delayed april fool's joke?
 

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,847 (3.94/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
On-topic:
Kinda curious why any Industrial Mobo manu is making Intel-brand Consumer-CPU compatible boards? Intel has a recent reputation for EoLing products quickly, and "Industrial Use" PCs need to have 5-10Year support cycles.
This kind of contracts are governed by other ToS and agreements than your average retailer.

Think of how Microsoft will patch old Windows versions for enterprises, long after their EoL. For a price, of course.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
190 (0.03/day)
Location
VT
I know the title's already a mouthful, but...

Missing

really makes the PR come off as ridiculous.


On-topic:
Kinda curious why any Industrial Mobo manu is making Intel-brand Consumer-CPU compatible boards? Intel has a recent reputation for EoLing products quickly, and "Industrial Use" PCs need to have 5-10Year support cycles.
Typically industrial PC manufacturers use TE or E SKUs from intel. You can still buy systems with Skylake processors from various industrial PC companies since many times companies don't need the latest and greatest and they only actually care about reliability and longevity.
 
Joined
Apr 18, 2019
Messages
2,407 (1.15/day)
Location
Olympia, WA
System Name Sleepy Painter
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard Asus TuF Gaming X570-PLUS/WIFI
Cooling FSP Windale 6 - Passive
Memory 2x16GB F4-3600C16-16GVKC @ 16-19-21-36-58-1T
Video Card(s) MSI RX580 8GB
Storage 2x Samsung PM963 960GB nVME RAID0, Crucial BX500 1TB SATA, WD Blue 3D 2TB SATA
Display(s) Microboard 32" Curved 1080P 144hz VA w/ Freesync
Case NZXT Gamma Classic Black
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply Rosewill 1KW on 240V@60hz
Mouse Logitech MX518 Legend
Keyboard Red Dragon K552
Software Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC 1809 17763.1757
It's funny how so many people remember how the DFI LanParty series was overclocking. Somehow, no one remembers the ridiculously high RMA rate. I was working in distribution back then, and we stopped selling them because of too high losses from RMA. The same did many other distributors. I guess it was one of the reasons for their problems.
TBF, their Mobos were meant to "fix it 'till its broken." Even if you knew what you were doing, LanParty Boards would often let you go 'too far'. Which, was awesome! :D

Probably why Today's XOC Enthusiast class boards are so insanely expensive; you're (figuratively) buying 2+ boards in your initial purchase.
 
Joined
May 13, 2008
Messages
762 (0.13/day)
System Name HTPC whhaaaat?
Processor 2600k @ 4500mhz
Motherboard Asus Maximus IV gene-z gen3
Cooling Noctua NH-C14
Memory Gskill Ripjaw 2x4gb
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 FTW @ 2037/11016
Storage 2x512GB MX100/1x Agility 3 128gb ssds, Seagate 3TB HDD
Display(s) Vizio P 65'' 4k tv
Case Lian Li pc-c50b
Audio Device(s) Denon 3311
Power Supply Corsair 620HX
TBF, their Mobos were meant to "fix it 'till its broken." Even if you knew what you were doing, LanParty Boards would often let you go 'too far'. Which, was awesome! :D

Probably why Today's XOC Enthusiast class boards are so insanely expensive; you're (figuratively) buying 2+ boards in your initial purchase.

Yeah, you and I are certainly on the same page.

I appreciated Abit for their stability; having what Oskar did was icing on the cake. DFI (to us, the enthusiast 'back then') took what he was able to do and then built hardware capability around it AFAICT.

Did they take it too far? Probably. Were my DFI boards ever as stable as my NF7-S (I had both versions) et al boards? No. Do I believe what was said above wrt their RMA rate? Yes.

The boards I've used since (mostly Asus) I'd place in the middle; more stable but less exciting than DFI. Less stable, but more fun than Abit.

That's the whole thing: It was fun to mod the Ultra-D to an SLI board, run ram off the 5v rail (and overclock the bejesus out of low-latency Winbond BH-5/high-bandwidth TCCD), etc.

It was actually exciting, because you knew you were actually operating outside of intended spec. Was it for everyone (even some that bought them)? Most certainly not.

There was a shift at some point...If you lived through it and IYKYK...but the 'enthusiast' crowd slowly shifted from knowledgeable modders that knew the risk to populist software that was used en masse.

Things like programmable voltage (through things like Afterburner), rather than requiring somebody to solder a pot, were both a blessing and a plague.

When I degraded my OCZ (remember Ryan? 'Unique' dude to many...) Winbond/Sammy DIMMs, I knew I was at fault; bought more. Made sure I had more Delta screamers pointed at them the next time.

When I delidded a chip and cracked the core mounting a waterblock, hence releasing the magic smoke (for those that don't know: silicon dust is that 'new electronics' smell), I didn't ask for an RMA.

Many did, though. It was that mentality mixed with people that probably shouldn't have been doing what they were doing that took many players out of the game, and caused others to adapt.

The turning point (imo) was when OCZ was going to mass-produce a R134 rig on the cheap (planned to be a fraction what my vapochill cost), but then pulled out of the game completely due to the risk.

As I've mentioned before, this, coupled with nVIDIA locking down everything, shifted the type of person that 'enthusiast' computing was catered towards. It increased the market size, but...

I'm glad that more people got into the hobby bc of ease of use; glad there are/were successful boutique companies/services that did well with 'safe' overclocking.

But, that said, I do think with that increase in the quantity/ease of use wrt overclocking, it degraded the overall quality of the community, and because of that we have increased restrictions 'for our own good'.

I do generally become saddened when we see AMD's X3D chips with locked voltage, because I don't want it to be so, but I also understand WHY they did it. Because some Asus people would blow it up.

I get bummed out about power limits and voltage restrictions on GPUs....because I think many of us knew you often needed to change the cooling in certain scenarios. Some, however, don't/didn't.

It's becomes a difficult thing to talk about at some point, as I don't want to come across elitist. That said, I'm also saddened 'real' overclocking largely has left us; it's WHY I enjoyed this hobby to begin with.

That, and the people. The make-shift engineers that operated both within and outside the companies for products they worked on. Them talking, sharing; having access to them. That's largely gone.

While some of it was AMD/nVIDIA worried about market segmentation and losing margains on higher-end chips, some of it was due to people that would never touch a soldering iron using software that could brick their hardware, and then asking for a replacement. Also, sure, some board partners just took things too far on a certain product design and/or configuration. Those things suck.

What bums me out the most is losing out on amazing people and what they were able to come up (like pin/power mods, unsigned bios/driver mods, etc) that pushed the envelope beyond not perhaps just what the original creators intended, but we were actually capable of achieving; perhaps due to standards/safeguards/margins/yields/etc for a generalized product.

Big 'overclocking' news these days is AMD allowing a greater number to be entered into the RAM frequency on a GPU. A true sign that 'overclocking' is now pretty much baked-in, fake, and commercialized.

It used to be people like TiN/Kingpin or Oskar with a new power-adding gadget or software/bios revision on the reg. Might they take your tweak to the next level? Maybe. Might they start a fire? Possibly.

It was a true hobby that actually required skill, and it was fun. You never knew if you could find a way to get that extra mhz, but now there's pretty much a hard, but artificial, wall on 'most' things. 'Protections'.

It feels like those cats (whom I appreciate dearly) tested the fences raptor-style; were the hackers that nabbed the bounties for us but then were patched to protect against.

Now they've largely disappeared, been disappeared, retired, or been obsoleted...and it bums me out...because largely nobody has replaced them...and they MADE this community.

'Overclocking' has become a falacy; binned chips (and/or added v/pl) gate-kept by price. Real OCing was going beyond what could be guarenteed at your own risk, which may yield tangible fruit; that's gone.

I haven't visited XS in years, and haven't messaged Oskar in over a decade. I hope he is well, and that he is happy. I still appreciate what he did for us, and probably still does for others in a different way.

I'm sure he had opportunities to join other companies with his endeavors, but chose to stay at DFI when they went full industrial. That always felt like a huge loss to me, but I could understand why he did it...

...Perhaps so he didn't have to fight against a machine he was trying to improve but in many ways was working against him, and in the end didn't have to take his skills/talents elsewhere (like so many others).
 
Top