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NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition Launched

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the coming-to-you-live-from-the-third-dimension dept.

Spinnerbait writes "NVIDIA took the wraps off their nForce 4 SLI chipset platform for Intel Processors today and there's a full review and showcase with benchmarks up at HotHardware. As with NVIDIA's AMD version of this chipset, motherboards based on the technology will support dual PCI Express graphics cards for load sharing in 3D Gaming applications. What's perhaps even more interesting is how the new NVIDIA memory controller actually allows the platform to out-pace Intel's own i925XE in virtually all of the benchmarks."

13 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. nVidia better than Intel by SoloFlyer2 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    that nVidia were able to create a memory controller which out performed Intel comes as no great surprise when you look at the history of both companies Intel of course has the inside information on their cpu's but they have always been trying for a performance reliability compromise or the other hand nVidia try for cutting edge 300 miles per hour or nothing technology and thats why we love em of course nVidia have always pulled off this speed with stability anyway so you may not see where i am coming from

    --
    "I reject your reality, and substitute my own" - Adam Savage
  2. What is AMD thinking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Doesn't this move undercut AMD processor sales? Do they get a better margin on motherboards? I don't see the logic to this move.

  3. And what of... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All the motherboard manufacturers who dumped R&D into having to build alternative SLI solutions? One example being the Tyan S2895 which uses dual nForce4 chipsets to achieve true 16x pci-e in SLI mode. I'm hoping that nVidia didn't try to hold this information back from motherboard manufacturers otherwise we may see a lashback against nVidia. And considering I spent months hunting and waiting for a true 16x pci-e SLI solution I am a little disappointed in nVidia for waiting so long.

  4. multi-everything by Cruithne · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seems like we're trending towards multiple everything recently.. multicore CPUs, SLI.. how long before this propagates to everything?

    As a sys admin, I love the prospect of redundancy, but are there any benefits to bringing this multiplicity to anything else from a consumers perspective? Or does it stop here?

    1. Re:multi-everything by kannibal_klown · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Seems like we're trending towards multiple everything recently.. multicore CPUs, SLI.. how long before this propagates to everything?


      Wouldn't doubt it.

      You can only improve on things so long before you need a complete redesign. Adding more to the mix is a great stopgap that extends the usefulness of technology.

      At some point AMD and Intel are going to have to perform a MAJOR redesign (even bigger than the dual-core). Granted this might not be until we reach the 7GHz mark, but there is an invisible line somewhere.

      There is one big downside for the consumer though: increased prices. Dual-Core CPU's will be more expensive than regular ones. SLI graphics will require buying 2 cards. RAID storage requires multiple hard drives.

      Personally I think it would be cool if my next computer were dual-core with SLI video ports and a RAID setup. Whether or not I can afford it, that's another story.

      With the obvious effects of distributed and grid computing Sony's supposed cell tech might actually prove to be interesting (though I'd prefer it on a more local scale).
  5. Nice motherboard, but... by supremebob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will it work with the new dual core P4 CPU's? It doesn't make much sense to buy a high-end motherboard if you can't get the high-end CPU to go with it.

    1. Re:Nice motherboard, but... by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually people who would buy such systems with dual cpu's and video cards would be video production profesionals (the parent poster), cad and 3d modelers, and engineers. Such systems are not cheap for the average user.

      At Liz Claiborne in the 90's when I worked there, the merhcandising team used dual vodoo's for studioMax when I worked there over the more pro video cards. They were very fast.

      All these apps fly on Intel cpu's if you look at any benchmark. This is because they contain hand written assembly optimized for intel chips. They are multithreaded and designed to be smp ready.

      But games it would be silly since they are not optimized for any one chip and are not smp ready.

      My guess is these units for AMD might appeal to the gamer but the Intel ones will be used by the professionals. An SMP core as well would make it a kick ass workstation.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
  6. Another Intel-funded CPU comparison? by hirschma · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hmm, let's see. Let's take an Intel processor with these characteristics:

    * Fastest consumer CPU they offer,
    * Priced at about $1100, street

    And compare it to the AMD offering, with these characteristics:

    * Second fastest CPU they offer,
    * Price of about half of the Intel offering.

    Yes, that is a most fair review. It makes perfect sense to conclude that, on mostly identical chipsets, that Intel is faster.

    How much are these sites paid under the table?

  7. Re:EM emissions by tehcrazybob · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since computer components run at extremely low power, the radiation shouldn't be an issue.

    At the moment, computers do cause some harmful radio interference if you leave the side of the case off. Since this is Slashdot, I assume there are several people reading this who have theirs off. However, even acrylic cases or case windows are enough to stop that radio interference.

    Even if the frequency picks up enough that we were getting microwave radiation, an aluminum case would still be able to block it. Even with the case open, the output would be so low that the worst it could do would be to ruin your cell phone reception if you were trying to talk with your head inside the case.

    --
    Computers need to explode more often.
  8. Re:Humbug! by UWC · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Voodoo 2 came in 8MB and 12MB versions, the latter having an extra 4MB of texture memory. They were pass-through cards, requiring a separate, primary video card for non-3D stuff. They could be connected to do SLI (which at that time I think was Scan-Line Interleaving, the cards handling alternate lines of monitor resolution). I think with SLI, you could play your games at an astonishing 1024x768 in glorious 16-bit color. Single cards were limited to 800x600.

    I had a single 12MB one that I bought used on eBay. It wasn't much in 2000, but boy did Unreal Tournament and Counter-Strike play smooth as butter on that and a 450MHz K6-2. I didn't get back to that level of performance on a 32MB GeForce2 MX until I upgraded to a 1GHz Athlon Thunderbird. Wow. I have no idea where that K6-2 box is. I guess the Voodoo 2 is probably still in it, too.

    My best card at the moment is a 128MB GeForce 3 Ti200. I'm so behind the times.

    There was a 6MB 2D/3D combo variant of the original Voodoo called Voodoo Rush. I recall various claims that it wasn't very good. The original Voodoo cards had 4MB of memory.

    --
    Honor Among Slackers. A veri
  9. Re:EM emissions by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since computer components run at extremely low power, the radiation shouldn't be an issue.

    You joke, but I gather there were minor problems at Jodrell Bank when PCs' clock frequencies (and/or harmonics) happened to coincide with important radio frequencies used for radio astronomy.

    As you say, though it's hardly dangerous - but having done an undergraduate experiment there some years ago in which an FFT of pulsar data detected nasty big peaks at 50Hz, 100Hz, 150Hz etc. (mains power...) I'm wondering if all man-made alternating currents should be banned, for aesthetic and scientific reasons... ;-)

    --
    Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
  10. Nvidia RAID... not so good. by hirschma · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wouldn't consider Nvida RAID a feature worth buying into at this point.

    I have one box under Windows using Nvraid, and it is just terrible. It drops drives from the RAIDs seemingly for fun, and configuring a bootable RAID is difficult under XP, and impossible under Win2k (even with an SP4 slipstream install, in case anyone was going to point that out).

    The management software is crude at best. It cannot, for example, email alerts when a drive drops off.

    My $.02.

    jh

  11. How is the nforce4 Linux support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I just bought an SLI board (AMD) and was wondering how well the raid and SLI video configuration is supported under Linux.

    I've booted my machine into it and to my suprise the ethernet devices worked out of the box with Xandros (based on debian sid). I still do not know about the raid or SLI video, however. I'm using a crappy old S3 PCI video card right now, but am about to receive two GeForce 6800 GTs in the mail. Can I use these bad boys in linux? Anybody know?