the nforce4 chipsets

[MjM2]

What's the difference between the 3 differnt Nvidia nforce4 chipsets used on motherboards?
I've read reviews on them, and i dont understand all the differnt parts and options like SATA 2.

Curiosity was framed. Stupidity killed the cat.
(i know it has nothing to do with comps, but i think its funny ^^")

 

[Rugger]

The performance of the chipsets will be nearly identical, the difference among the chipsets is features that are available. If you have specific questions about features then ask those questions and we can answer them.

BTW SATA 2 is a standard for higher transfer speeds on HDD. Since the transfer speed of SATA (150MB/S) isn't achievable right now, SATA 2 is a nearly useless feature. Choose a board that has the features, performance, stability, manufacturer support and price that you want. Don't get suckered into buying a lot of whiz-bang, that you'll never need or use.

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[MjM2]

what is the SN Engine? becuase the ultra and sli version have this, but the standard one doesnt.

Curiosity was framed. Stupidity killed the cat.
(i know it has nothing to do with comps, but i think its funny ^^")

 

[Rugger]

<A HREF="http://nvidia.com/page/mobo.html" target="_new">nVidia</A> desriptions of the different chipsets. SN (Secure Network) engine is a part of ActiveArmor. Take a look at the descriptions for ActiveArmor in both the plain nForce4 and nForce4 Ultra and you will see the differences.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[TheRod]

nForce4 basic offers everythings that Ultra/SLI offers except for a few things. nForce4 is also known as nForce4 4x. I personnaly own a nForce4 4x MoBo, I have all features, including hardware firewall. The only limitation I have is that the HTT is "limited" to 4x instead of 5x (800MHz instead of 1GHz), but this is not a limiting factor when comes to performance. In fact 600MHz is enough for HTT in nearly all situation. Regarding the SATA2 supports... I would presume that nForce4 are software limited, because all AMD nForce4 use the same Silicon. nForce4 basic are nForce4 Ultra/SLI that didn't pass internal test (or they use Rev. A2 instead of A3).

New nForce4 board are all made of Rev. A3 chips. So, I'm 99% sure that nForce4 limitations are set via software, BIOS or brigde on the chip itself.

nForce4 Ultra and SLI are identical, except for the SLI support. If you plan to use a SLI setup in a near future, get a SLI based MoBo or if the price difference is not significant get a SLI mobo already. But nForce4 basic mobos offers an incredible price/features&performance ratio (if you don't consider SLI).

Hope this help!

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[endyen]

Great sig