Layout: LANParty KT400A
First up is the LANParty KT400A, which DFI dresses up in funky neon trim. I'm usually not a fan of neon, but since the LANParty's trim also glows under UV light, I don't mind the rather garish color scheme. At the very least, this board should be right at home in a windowed case next to a lava lamp, black light, stack of Grateful Dead bootlegs, and maybe a bag of, um, Oregano.

Overall, the LANParty KT400A is well laid out. I would prefer that the power connectors were a little closer to the edge of the board to help eliminate cable clutter, but since both power connectors are placed so close to each other, the power cables could be bundled together with a couple of zip ties.

The area around the LANParty KT400A's socket is generally quite spacious, but the few capacitors clustered around the socket's CPU retention clip studs can complicate heat sink installation and removal. To its credit, the board has four heat sink mounting holes to support larger, heavier third-party heat sinks.

Both LANParty boards support a maximum of 3GB of DDR400 memory, but the LANParty KT400A offers only a single memory channel. The single-channel memory design can't compete with dual-channel designs when it comes to theoretical memory bandwidth, but single-channel designs are more accommodating when it comes to memory upgrades since DIMMs don't need to be added in pairs to preserve optimal performance.

There's loads of clearance around the LANParty KT400A's AGP slot for longer graphics cards like NVIDIA's massive GeForce FX 5800 Ultra cards. Since the LANParty line is geared towards LAN gamers who often lift, move, or otherwise jostle their PCs, a sturdy graphics card retention mechanism is essential. DFI uses a smallish AGP card retention clip that has quite a solid feel, despite its almost flimsy appearance.

Also note that, perhaps because it has five PCI slots as opposed to six, there's plenty of clearance between the DIMM retention tabs and AGP slot. Memory modules can easily be swapped out without having to remove the graphics card, which is a less common attribute than one might think.

In a throwback to motherboards of old, the LANParty KT400A's CPU compatibility is controlled with a series of dip switches. Before booting up a system, the switches must be set for either a 100, 133, 166, or 200MHz front-side bus, which is a little crude by today's standards. The LANParty KT400A is the first Socket A motherboard I've seen in a while that even has dip switches. Most manufacturers use BIOS settings exclusively to control a board's front-side bus speed.

Even with an unlocked "Thoroughbred" Athlon XP and a BIOS multiplier setting of five, the LANParty KT400A wouldn't boot with the dip switches set for a 400MHz front-side bus. Since the board's KT400A chipset doesn't officially support a 400MHz front-side bus, it's not a big deal. The Lanparty KT400A does offer a wealth of BIOS-adjustable front-side bus speeds with the 166MHz bus dip switch setting, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the dip switches also control the board's PCI divisor. If that's the case, being limited to a PCI divisor suitable for a 166MHz front-side bus could potentially hamper overclocking endeavors. I'll be getting into some overclocking tests momentarily, so keep these dip switches in mind.

The LANParty KT400A's port cluster is packed with standard serial and parallel ports, dual Ethernet ports, four USB 2.0 ports, and three audio ports. PCI expansion brackets are also included that offer a game port and digital S/PDIF input and output ports. Unfortunately, the game port and digital audio brackets are separate, so they'll each eat up a PCI slot opening when installed in a case.

Although the LANParty KT400A offers only three analog audio ports in the rear port cluster, two additional ports are offered through a front drive bay connector. An extra two USB 2.0 ports are also available through the front drive bay connector, as is the board's Firewire port.