nForce nugget

[SammyBoy]

Well it seems, if this site is to be believed, there is an issue with the nForce chipset. It's a rather nebulous issue, but for us tweakers, it's a hell of a killer. It involved double-side DDR RAM (most of what the 256MB+ sticks are) and the #2 or #3 DIMM slot. Read <A HREF="http://www.gamepc.com/reviews/hardware_review.asp?review=nforceddr&page=1&mscssid=&tp=" target="_new">here</A> for more info and post your thoughts. This also might be a reason for the variety of scores we've seen with the nForce chipset (or I've seen at least).

-SammyBoy

 

[FatBurger]

HardOCP posted about that, saying they had the same problems but weren't able to pin it down. Somewhere (motherboard manual or nForce chipset info) they noticed that it actually says you're not supposed to do that.
Guess it's time people went back to reading manuals

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>

 

[MadCat]

A little disappointed nVidia didn't go public with this issue sooner. Will be putting in 2 sticks of Crucial 256 MB DDR PC2100 in the correct places on my MSI K7N420-D Pro when it arrives. Hasn't diminish my enthusiasm for the nForce.

 

[SammyBoy]

Well, according to the atricle, both Nvidia and MSI were quite willing to disclose this information, but it was of those "don't tell until someone says something" type of issues. Most OEM builder stick a single stick in of the cheapest POS they can find, so it doesn't affect them. Most people in the real world wouldn't be able to see a difference if they added a stick themselves at a later time into the "superstability" causing DIMM. So, the minority of us (or, have we become the majority) won't notice this, and in cases that the article posted, you really wouldn't see the difference in the FPS for Quake. But, it would kill your Sandra, 3DMark2001, and benchmarking programs. And, also the article mentioned that there was a reference to this issue buried deep within the MSI manual. That's why, even though I knew how, I read my Asus A7A266 manual, and I found some little bits here and there myself. Anywho, it's not really a platform killer, unless you need all three DIMM slots, which either means you're running a server of some type (in which case, this probably isn't the board for you anyway), or you have small capacity sticks, which can be remedied through the purchase of cheap DDR right now. Me, I have 512MB, more than enough (I think at most, I am using ~300MB) for most home gamers right now. So, it's really not that big of a deal... right now. The test will be to see Nvidia's top-notch (self-proclaimed) R&D and QA do their job and give credibility to Nvidia's entrance into the chipset business.

-SammyBoy

 

[SammyBoy]

Well, according to the atricle, both Nvidia and MSI were quite willing to disclose this information, but it was one of those "don't tell until someone says something" type of issues. Most OEM builders use a single stick of the cheapest POS they can find, so it doesn't affect them. Most people in the real world wouldn't be able to see a difference if they added a stick themselves at a later time into the "superstability" causing DIMM. So, the minority of us (or, have we become the majority) won't notice this, and in cases that the article posted, you really wouldn't see the difference in the FPS for Quake. But, it would kill your Sandra, 3DMark2001, and benchmarking programs. And, also the article mentioned that there was a reference to this issue buried deep within the MSI manual. That's why, even though I knew how, I read my Asus A7A266 manual, and I found some little bits here and there myself. Anywho, it's not really a platform killer, unless you need all three DIMM slots, which either means you're running a server of some type (in which case, this probably isn't the board for you anyway), or you have small capacity sticks, which can be remedied through the purchase of cheap DDR right now. Me, I have 512MB, more than enough (I think at most, I am using ~300MB) for most home gamers right now. So, it's really not that big of a deal... right now. The test will be to see Nvidia's top-notch (self-proclaimed) R&D and QA do their job and give credibility to Nvidia's entrance into the chipset business.

-SammyBoy

 

[Crashman]

Oh Sammy boy, your thoughts your thought repeating...
From post to post, across the forum side....

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[SammyBoy]

Hmm... my first double post ever. *cheer* Anywho, now I see how it's done. My post count will sky rocket!

-SammyBoy

 

[SammyBoy]

Hmm... my first double post ever. *cheer* Anyhow, now I see how it's done. My post count will sky rocket!

-SammyBoy

 

[MadCat]

"...Well, according to the atricle, both Nvidia and MSI were quite willing to disclose this information, but it was of those "don't tell until someone says something" type of issues..."

So the upshot was they probably didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Just waiting for someone technically proficient to ask the right questions. Kinda awkward to say "well on the other hand there is a small flaw if you try to use a DIMM in slot 2 that was double sided and ... blah blah blah" when trying to sell the product. It would look unprofessional and confuse the ordinary consumer. Not like they were really trying to hide the issues (after all, the recommended memory configuration is documented in the manual).