The DFI LanParty series has become well known for its extreme packages that feature much more than just a motherboard. However, these huge motherboard bundles come at a premium price. Those users that are hungry for a UV sensitive DFI LanParty motherboard, but do not want to pay the price premium, now have an alternative. DFI has just launched what they call the LanParty UT series. Basically this series packages a LanParty motherboard in a more conventional fashion. Therefore, instead of getting the LanParty motherboard with the Transpo PC carry bag, UV sensitive sleeves, FrontFX panel and so on, the board comes in a standard looking box with all the standard accessories.

This is a very intelligent way of offering these motherboards, epically the new Intel series. This generation of Intel chipsets is much like the last generations. For example there are two high-end chipsets that struggle to really differentiate from each other. Last generation these two chipsets were the i865PE and the i875P. Both these chipsets were identical, the key difference was a technology titled PAT. The Intel Performance Acceleration Technology was enabled on the i875P chipset giving it more efficient memory performance. However, motherboard manufacturers were quick to enable this technology on the i865PE chipset. This meant their i865PE motherboards were delivering i875P performance at a lesser cost.

Not much has changed with the new generation of Intel LGA775 chipsets. Of course these new chipsets are far superior technology wise, supporting DDR2 and PCI Express. However, little difference remains between the two high-end Intel chipsets. These new chipsets are the i915P and i925X. Obviously the i915P is the new i865PE and the i925X is our new i975P chipset. The key difference between the i925X and i915P chipsets is the i925Xs PAT2 support. Other than this the i915P could be said to be a more flexible chipset supporting a wider range of memory frequencies along with being backward compatible with the original DDR specification.

As I said earlier, DFI have been very smart with their introduction of these two new Intel chipsets. DFI have not just simply offered two identical high-end motherboards, one based on the i925X chipset and the other on the i915P chipset. Instead they have decided to deliver two different packages that feature motherboards which are much alike. Through my testing it is now clear that there is little to no difference between the i925X and i915P chipsets performance wise. However, the fact remains that the i915P chipset is roughly $40~$50 US less expensive.

DFI knows that whoever is willing to purchase an Intel i925X based motherboard, is obviously not concerned with cost. Therefore they will not be scaring these consumers off by offering a huge package, in fact they should be drawing these people in if nothing else. However, smart shoppers or simply those on a tighter budget, will appreciate what the LanParty UT series has to offer. The DFI LanParty UT 915P-T12 offers everything the recently reviewed DFI LanParty 925X-T2 does, minus the huge package. The best part is the LanParty UT 915P-T12 will be found retailing for roughly $170 US, which is a $50 US saving when compared to the LanParty 925X-T2.