The Competitors
NVIDIA nForce3 150
Gigabyte GA-8KNNXP
A Gigabyte GA-8KNNXP served as our representative nForce3 150. Its equipment is extraordinary. Only the aggressive speed specifications from Gigabyte are irritating: when "Top performance" is enabled in the BIOS, the 8KNNXP works with a full 208 MHz system speed and thus the CPU runs at 2,080 MHz. The lowest setting is 200 MHz, although they still prompt 202 MHz system speed and 202 MHz processor speed.
When the system speed is set at 201 MHz, the CPU runs with 2,010.2 MHz. Not great, but reasonable.
The nForce3 150 has been around since last fall. Despite the minimal deficit of only 8 bits and 600 MHz HyperTransport-Upstream, this chipset has held its own and, as far as we know, is the best-selling Athlon64 chip.
