nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on October 19, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
nForce4 Reference Board: Basic Features
| nForce 4 Reference Board Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | nForce4 Ultra single-chip |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 250MHz |
| PCI Express Speeds | Synchronous or Asynchronous PCIe FIX at 100MHz to 145MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| Core Voltage | None available on Reference Board |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | 4x-25.5x |
| CPU Auto Tuning | Off to 15% |
| HyperTransport Frequency | 1000MHz (1GHz) |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 1x-5x |
| DRAM Voltage | None available on Reference Board |
| Memory Async Latency | 10ns-4ns |
| AGP Voltage | None available on Reference Board |
| HyperTransport Voltage | None available on Reference Board |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x16 PCIe Slot 4 PCI Slots 2 x1 PCIe Slots |
| Onboard Serial ATA RAID | nForce4 (4 Drives, 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD) 2 SATA Controllers to 3Gb/s |
| Onboard IDE/IDE RAID | Two Standard ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) Drives may be configured as IDE RAID |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 10 USB 2.0 ports supported by nForce4 No Firewire - Must use additional chip |
| Onboard LAN | 1Gigabit Ethernet on-chip by nForce4 |
| Onboard Audio | AC '97 2.3 8-Channel Realtek ALC850 supported by nForce4 |
| BIOS Revision | Reference Board NF-CK804 10/05/2004 |
Reference Boards are normally quite different from the production boards that will later appear with the Reference Board chipset. While certain component arrangements may be retained from a Reference Board, the board is designed for testing and qualification, and generally not for production. They are also normally designed to be tested on the bench, out of any case.
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The introduction of the nForce3-250 chipset family moved nVidia to a leading position for Athlon 64 chipsets. nForce4 builds upon the nForce3-250 update with the addition of PCI Express. The rearrangement includes an x16 PCI Express graphics slot, 2 x1 PCIe, two SATA controllers capable of 3Gb/s speeds, and 10 USB ports.
nVidia has not had SoundStorm on any nForce3 chipset, so for the past year+ SoundStorm has been "missing" on any nVidia chipset for Athlon 64. We raised this issue for nForce3-150, then for nForce3-250 in nForce3-250 - Part 2. This has not changed with nF4. The nForce4 Reference board uses the AC'97 2.3 compliant 8-channel Realtek ALC850 codec. More information on the ALC850 can be found at Realtek ALC850 Product information.
Click to enlarge.
Fully decked out, nForce4 provides features currently available nowhere else, like on-chip 1GB Ethernet, on-chip firewall, 4-drive SATA RAID, and both SATA and IDE RAID that can be combined. The nForce4 SLI adds the option to combine two nVidia video cards in two x8 PCIe slots for a huge increase in video performance.
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Zac42 - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
I think that it has to be two Nvidia cards with an SLI connector. You are thinking of the alienware video array, which theoretically can use two different branded cards.GhandiInstinct - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Wesley,So in SLI, I can put any two video cards together? No matter the spec difference or maker difference? New and old? Future and past?
microAmp - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
I take it the SLI benchmarks from nVidia were done at about 1600 x 1200 resoultion?Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Kris -Anand and I got some hands-on time with the SLI system while we were visiting nVidia. The benchmarks we ran confirmed the numbers reported for the 6800 Ultra single and SLI. The test system was an Asus SLI motherboard with a 4000+ CPU. While we did not personally run benchmarks with the 6600GT SLI or the 6800GT SLI we have no reson to doubt nVidia's numbers based on what we did confirm.
The Reference board is NOT SLI, which is why SLI testing was limited to our time with nVidia.
KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
#6 those are NVIDIA's benchmarks, not actual 3rd party confirmed benchmarks.Kristopher
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
#2 and #4 -SLI Performance tests are in a table on page 3. Two 6600GTs don't outperform a 6800 Ultra, but they do outperform a 6800 GT.
ksherman - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
#4, from what ive heard, it is probablyh likely that two 6600GTs would definetly cream the 6800 ultra. I do agree that we need some SLI benchies!!!ariafrost - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
*Drool* Anyone know how much of a performance boost would come from SLI yet? I'm wondering if two 6600GTs would outperform a 6800 ultra.glennpratt - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Page 2"While nVidia was not ready to ship nForce4 SLI reference boards for review, they were demonstrating a major manufacturer's nF4 SLI board with a pair of nVidia 6800 Ultra video cards. We also got to play with the SLI system with an Athlon 64 4000+ CPU, confirming benchmarks that were supplied by nVidia."
Jincuteguy - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
why didn't anand did any SLI performance test? i thoguht this board suppose to have SLI.