After careful consideration I have decided to transfer all hardware review activities to a new domain. I purchased Hardwareasylum.com in 2012 and have been working hard to build a new and improved Ninjalane on that domain. If you are reading this you have reached one of the archived articles, news, projects and/or reviews that were left behind during the site migration.
Please update your bookmarks and be sure to visit the new and improved Ninjalane at Hardwareasylum.com
DFI LanParty Pro875 (Canterwood) Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Conclusion
Like I mentioned before the i875P (Canterwood) chipset was originally targeted towards the workstation market though considering the chipset architecture and features it really makes a great starting point for and exceptional gaming and enthusiast motherboard. Personally I'm partial to the barebones approach to motherboard design preferring that many of the performance features like video and sound be handled by add-on cards. Though in the case of the LanParty Pro875 I am actually very pleased with the onboard features, regardless if I am going to use them or not. The onboard sound is exceptional, and the inclusion of both SATA and PATA RAID on the Pro875 is just a bonus.
Overclocking on the LanParty Pro875 was a pleasurable experience and despite not having a huge list of overclocking controls to choose from the board easily pushed the Pentium 4 3.0Ghz processor to its limits.
I think it is pretty safe to say that the new LanParty series from DFI has been a great success on many levels. In the case of the LanParty Pro875 it is rather difficult to find anything wrong. I guess if you wanted to get nitpicky DFI missed a perfect branding opportunity by not putting the LanParty logo on the Northbridge heatsink. 
Glamour Shots
Aside from the exceptional feature set both in the box and on the motherboard the thing that stands out the most on any of the LanParty boards is how the expansion slots and cables glow under the black light. It is unfortunate that so many people compare the LanParty Pro875 to Halloween but in a way you can't ignore the color combo. 
Here are a few shots of the Pro875 under the purple/blue glow of the black light, not to shabby if I say so myself.
Here are a few shots of the Pro875 under the purple/blue glow of the black light, not to shabby if I say so myself.
Those of you familiar with Ninjalane will know that this is the 3rd DFI LanParty motherboard that we have reviewed which now includes the entire LanParty series. I'd like to thank DFI for helping to make this series of reviews possible and I look forward to see what they release next.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things.
The Good Things
Dual Channel DDR 400
Black PCB
UV Reactive Expansion Slots
Onboard ATA RAID
Impressive Set of Included Items
SerialATA w/RAID
800Mhz Pentium 4 Processor Support
Very Strong PCB, (i.e. no flexing)
Black PCB
UV Reactive Expansion Slots
Onboard ATA RAID
Impressive Set of Included Items
SerialATA w/RAID
800Mhz Pentium 4 Processor Support
Very Strong PCB, (i.e. no flexing)
The Bad Things
No Active Northbridge Cooling
No Onboard Firewire
No Onboard Firewire
Ninjalane Rating
