| Nvidia nForce4 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| CPU support | AMD64 Pentium 4 |
| Socket support | Socket 939 Socket AM2 Socket 754 LGA 775 |
| Predecessor | nForce3 |
| Successor | nForce 500 |
nForce4 is the chipset for the motherboard released by Nvidia in October 2004. It supports AMD 64-bit processors ( Socket 939 , Socket AM2 and Socket 754 ) and Intel Pentium 4 LGA 775 .
Models
nForce4 / nForce4-4x
nForce4 is the second evolutionary Media Communication Processor (MCP) and combines the North and South bridges on one matrix (the first was nForce3 ).
The Socket 754 version of the board has a HyperTransport bus synchronized up to 800 MHz (data transfer speed is 6.4 GB / s). Motherboards based on earlier releases are mostly called “nForce4-4x” (due to their ability to handle 4x speed HT).
- Support for up to 20 PCI Express (PCIe) buses (up to 38-40 buses for nForce4 SLI x16). Test boards come with one x16 and three x1 slots, leaving 1 bus unused.
- Support up to 10 USB 2.0 ports.
- Support for 4 SATA and 4 PATA drives, which can be connected in any combination of SATA and PATA and form RAID 0, 1 or 0 + 1.
- Nvidia RAID Morphing, which allows conversion from one type of RAID to another on the fly .
- Nvidia nTune, a tool for easy overclocking and timing.
- Full speed 1000 MHz on HyperTransport (transfer speed 8 GB / s).
- Eight-channel AC97 audio.
- Built-in Gigabit Ethernet .
- Nvidia ActiveArmor , an integrated firewall solution. (Not available on serial nForce 4)
- Does not support Windows 98 and Windows Me . [one]
nForce4 Ultra
Ultra version contains all the features of nForce4-4x, in addition: [2]
- Hardware processing for ActiveArmor in order to reduce CPU load.
- 300MB / s data transfer rate for Serial-ATA II drives ( SATA II interface).
Soon after the release of nForce4 Ultra, enthusiasts found that the chipset is identical to nForce4 SLI, except for a separate resistor on the chip package itself. By modifying this resistor as SLI is configured, Ultra can be turned into SLI. [3]
nForce4 SLI
The SLI version (Scalable Link Interface) has all the features of the Ultra version, in addition to the SLI . This interface allows you to connect two video cards, which can theoretically double the performance, sharing work between the two processors .
On a standard (non x16) nForce4 SLI motherboard, the system can be configured to provide an x16 slot for a single graphics card or paired x8 slots for an SLI configuration. To set these options, you must change the position of the jumper. [four]
nForce4 SLI Intel Edition
Unlike its brother AMD Athlon64, Intel Edition is dual-chip, has north and south bridges . As with the old nForce2 chipsets, Nvidia calls the north bridge the “System Platform Processor” (SPP, System Platform Processor), and the south the bridge “the Media and Communications Processor” (MCP, Media and Communications Processor). This design change was required because, unlike the Athlon64 / Opteron, Pentium 4 does not have a built-in memory manager, so Nvidia needed to include it in the chipset, as in the old nForce2. In addition to supporting Pentium 4 processors (up to 1066 MHz FSB ), the chipset includes support for DDR2 SDRAM . Just like the old Nvidia, MCP, and SPP chipsets communicate via HyperTransport, in this case the transfer speed is only 1.6 GB / s. In addition to these differences, the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition has the same features as the serial nForce4 SLI. [five]
The strange thing about Intel Edition is that although it works with the Pentium D 830 (3.0 GHz) and 840 (3.2 GHz), as well as Extreme Edition 840, it is incompatible with the Pentium D 820 (2.8 GHz) - the Pentium D 820 will work just like a single core. Nvidia said they did not see the 820 as a promising processor, nor would they provide support for it. [6] However, the nForce4 SLI X16 supports it.
nForce4 SLI x16
nForce4 SLI x16 has similar features as nForce4 SLI, in addition, it now provides 16 PCI-Express buses for both graphics cards in SLI configuration (as opposed to only 8 buses per card with the original SLI chipset). This is the only nForce4 version for AMD processors that has separate north and south bridges. Includes the existing nForce4 MCP for southbridge and the new AMD nForce4 System Platform Processor (SPP). The two chips are connected via HyperTransmission. This solution provides a total of 38 PCI-Express buses and can be divided into over 7 slots. It is also available for Intel processors, whereby it provides 40 PCI-Express buses, which can be divided into over 9 slots.
South Bridges
nForce400 / 405/410/430
nForce400 / 405/410/430 belong to the nForce4-based south bridges, which are used together with the GeForce 6100/6150 series north bridges and form a chipset with integrated graphics. The combination continues the popular nForce2 IGP chipset. It should be noted that there are also single-chip bridges GeForce 6100/6150 , in which the north and south bridges are combined on the same chip.
Weaknesses
The nForce4 chipset suffers from several unresolved issues. First of all, the ActiveArmor hardware firewall is almost dysfunctional, has many uncorrected errors, and is potentially seriously unstable. Installing ActiveArmor can trigger BSODs for users of certain programs, especially peer- to -peer file sharing applications. Some programs, such as μTorrent , warn of the possible consequences of using the Nvidia firewall in combination with their software. ActiveArmor also has a high chance of corrupting file downloads. Nvidia is unable to solve these problems and focuses on hardware errors within the chipset itself; on problems that they cannot fix.
There have also been data integrity issues associated with certain SATA II hard drives. Problems can often be resolved with a firmware update for the hard drive from the manufacturer.
The nForce4 chipset has also been blamed for problems with PCI cards, namely the implementation of the PCI bus . RME Audio, a manufacturer of professional audio equipment, said that the PCI bus latency is unreliable and that the PCI Express chipset interface can “bend” system data transfer resources when the video card is heavily used. This creates the effect of audible pops and clicks with PCI sound cards . [7] Gamers noticed this effect, especially with Sound Blaster X-Fi from Creative and Sound Blaster Audigy 2 . The compatibility issues between these sound cards and nForce4 motherboards continued even after updating the drivers. [8] Latency problems are more obvious on sound cards than on other expansion cards, as there is direct user feedback that is detected by sound problems.
Notes
- ↑ Nvidia nForce4 , Nvidia, accessed September 4, 2006.
- ↑ Wasson, Scott. Nvidia's nForce4 Ultra chipset , Tech Report, November 22, 2004.
- ↑ Fink, Wesley. Morphing nForce4 Ultra into nForce4 SLI , Anandtech, January 18, 2005.
- ↑ Fink, Wesley. DFI nForce4: SLI and Ultra for Mad Overclockers , Anandtech, February 5, 2005.
- ↑ Wasson, Scott. Nvidia's nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset , Tech Report, April 8, 2005.
- ↑ Shilov, Anton. Intel Pentium D 820 May Be Incompatible with Third Party Chipsets Archived September 11, 2006. , X-bit labs, May 24, 2005.
- ↑ Fahlén, Anders. nForce4 Single CPU Chipset - DAW Stress Test Reports , RME Audio, March 9, 2005.
- ↑ Creative Sound Blaster Forum , accessed September 5, 2006.