nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on October 19, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
ActiveArmor: nVidia Secure Networking Engine
nVidia's on-chip Gigabit Ethernet is a popular feature of the nForce3-250 chipset. This was combined with the hardware based nVidia Firewall on all but the basic 250 chipset. On-chip Gigabit Ethernet and the hardware firewall are still a significant part of the nForce4 chipset, and all of the nForce4 chipsets feature both. However, nVidia has expanded the Network Security features in the Ultra and SLI chipsets to provide further protection against network attacks.The new network security features are called ActiveArmor, which are implemented as a dedicated hardware engine for the nVidia hardware Firewall.
nVidia's ActiveArmor enhances nVidia Firewall performance in several ways to protect from network attacks:
- Dedicated hardware engine enhances networking security while reducing CPU overhead
- Specialized features defend against hacker attacks
- User-friendly interface offers advanced management features
- Supports new Microsoft TCP Chimney Architecture for fast and secure networking
This compares to about 10% CPU overhead with the nVidia ActiveArmor hardware solution, which handles most of the network security management in the nForce4 chipset.
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tc2k04 - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
I'm going to back people up on the annoyance of not having soundstorm or atleast something about the audio system. Any nforce2 owner knows how good sounstorm is, i've got an audigy2, and any non EAX source goes through soundstorm for me.I can't believe for enthusiast motherboards, they are touting features like firewalls, 90% of us use routers, its just not that exciting anymore.
Disapointed.
Wonga - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
I think I read somewhere (probably The Inquirer) that nVidia isn't including Soundstorm cos they don't want to pay for a Dolby Digital licence or something.If people don't like the onboard solution, they can just slap an old Sound Blaster Live in the system for peanuts. I do that and it keeps me happy.
don - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
NDA breaker ....knitecrow - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
there is this online petitionhttp://www.petitiononline.com/NVAPU/petition.html
knitecrow - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
dude, where is my soundstorm?This is a rip off to the general consumer, and would have hoped that Anandtech would have picked up on it and made a mention of the problem --
What doesn't nvidia get? there is a huge demand for soundstorm.
Nforce4 is a step back from all the other chipsets in terms of audio.
Intel is pushing hi-def audio, via has got its ENVY series, why would nvidia leave out soundstorm
boooo nforce4
booo Anandtech for not pickup on this
mrdudesir - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
One more thing,Would all the monitor hookups on the cards be active. That would be great cause you could put to gether quite a nice 4 monitor workstation for pretty cheap. you could get those 2 6600GT's and 4 Viewsonic VP171's for about ~$2200. No more expensive then a high end 20"-23" display, and a lot better picture and performance and space (564 square inches vs only 373 for an apple 23" HD Cinema).
Just wondering.
mrdudesir - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
holy crap i want one so bad.BTW, if any one wants a nice big tax write off, my college TV station is looking to replace our PII and PIII video editing and station machines. So if anyone has some extra hardware laying about.....
(No joke, we really, really need new gear).
zhena - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
wait a min,I've seen benchmarks on the web for NVIDIA SLI cards. I don't remember which exact cards were used, but I do remember that one ran in a 16x slot and the other ran in an 4x slot with a 16x connector.
The point, the 4x slot has more than enough bandwidth because it worked perfectly. With no perfomance loss.
Wish I had the link somewhere.
So any chipset that supports pci-e should handle sli just fine, as long as the mobo maker puts two physical 16x slot connectors, regardless of their actual bandwidth.
stelleg151 - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Will mobo manufacturers increase the possible Bus speeds? Please say yes, I would love one but I want to get to 290... Page 7 says max is 250, that is not ok..plewis00 - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Can you run, say a 6600GT and 6800 Ultra in SLI? Seeing as they are both Nvidia and the SLI connector should be in the same place?