Verdict: Let down by poor component layout and average overclockability

When DFI first told us that it was going to make an Intel 975X-based motherboard, we were very interested - after all, it was DFI that made the best overclocking Socket 939 Athlon 64 board in the world, the awesome Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert. However, the board on test here belongs to the Infinity series, rather than the enthusiast-focused Lanparty series, but, as it's a DFI board, we had high expectations.

As the Infinity 975X/G is based on the Intel 975X chipset, it supports CrossFire, but not SLI. The PCB is constructed from generic green fibreglass, while the expansion slots and DIMM sockets are made from blue and white plastic, rather than the gaudy yellow and orange colour scheme of Lanparty motherboards.

The component layout isn't very sensible, since both the 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS12V power sockets are located between the CPU socket and first expansion slot. This means that the bulky power cables will be messy and straddle the motherboard, restricting airflow around crucial components, including the CPU and VRMs.

In addition to the two high-speed PCI-E slots, there's a single 4x PCI-E slot, plus one 1x PCI-E slot and two PCI slots. However, one of the PCI slots will be obstructed if you install two dual-slot graphics cards in CrossFire. Four RAID-capable S-ATA II ports are provided by the ICH7R Southbridge, along with eight USB 2 ports and one FireWire port. The board also has 8-channel Intel HD Audio.

The Infinity 975X/G performed well enough at its stock settings but, even though its BIOS allows you to increase the vcore by 0.7875V, and up the RAM to 2.65V and the Northbridge to 1.75V, we could only overclock the FSB of our test Core 2 Duo CPU from 266MHz to 320MHz. The Infinity 975X/G is a decent performer, and it's sensibly priced for a 975X motherboard, but it isn't a spectacular overclocker. Given that there are better 975X motherboards available, the Infinity 975X/G isn't worth considering.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

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