First nForce Review

by Maarten Goldstein, Sep 24, 2001 10:42am PDT

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29 Threads | 92 Comments

#88

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By: belzebutt x Show Full Post

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Why didn't anybody notice before that the Athlon is limited by the FSB, and that this twinbank business isn't able to provide any benefit? It seem like it's easy enough to figure out, why does this only come up now, after all the hype?

Sep 24, 2001 5:30pm PDT

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Why didn't anybody notice before that the Athlon is limited by the FSB, and that this twinbank business i... : belzebutt
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  cause nobody had tested it yet on a stable platform yet. Plus, I'm still betting we'll see a versio... : Syclone
  - it's already been stated on a couple hardware sites that Nvidia is working on an Nforce for the Northwoo... : .spanky.
- people did, many people have said it a looooong time ago. but i wonder if you overclock the fsb how mu... : Turd Ferguson

#89

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By: grandmasterlee x Show Full Post

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Anyone know when/if there will be an Athlon with a FSB that handles 128-bit?

Sep 24, 2001 7:02pm PDT

Anyone know when/if there will be an Athlon with a FSB that handles 128-bit? : grandmasterlee

#62

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By: belzebutt x Show Full Post

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Is anyone else disappointed by this? I thought the 440 would be noticably faster than the Via chipset with the twinbank gizmo, but it looks like twinbank is basically useless except for the faster integrated video. I thought an nForce 440 Athlon would finally beat a Pentium-4 in memory bandwidth, but it was not to be...

Having said that, I think I will still buy this for my next box because of the features, even if it's not nearly as hot as I hoped it would be... :(

Sep 24, 2001 2:07pm PDT

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Is anyone else disappointed by this? I thought the 440 would be noticably faster than the Via chipset wit... : belzebutt
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  the question is, if the FSB on an Nforce is overclocked, can an Althon make better use of the bandwidth ... : Toraz Chryx
  - Yeah, will we be overclocking the modem / nic / soundcard / internal video card - just by exceeding 133m... : abrasion
- I believe it IS noticably faster than the chipsets that were around when it was announced. It's just sl... : Hmmm

#12

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By: TheTick x Show Full Post

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I want the next gen one (with better video)

integrated LAN, audio and anything else i can get...slap on 2 128 meg dimms and repeat 2 or 3 times...then put them in the basement and have people over

Sep 24, 2001 10:59am PDT

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I want the next gen one (with better video) integrated LAN, audio and anything else i can get...slap ... : TheTick
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  this one has integrated lan : Raziel
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    a whole network integrated into a motherboard? Cool! ;) LAN=Local Area Network : Syclone
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      yeah we know...they just say it and it sticks...so baah...yes its an integrated 10/100 NIC...you are the... : TheTick
      
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      In my mind, it sounds just as wrong as the people that call the PC box their "hard drive". Also just as... : Syclone
      
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      what about calling the PC box your CPU? :) That's what we were told in grade school. Although the tea... : dodob
      
      I call it "My box of l33tn355" : Toraz Chryx
      
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      I just call it my "box". *shrug* I guess you could say that that is only part of it too, but Hard Driv... : Syclone
      
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      Wanna see a real argument over nomenclature? Just ask people how to pronounce the company name "id" :) ... : Toraz Chryx
      
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      we always called it EYE DEEE back at high school - how we were to know they prefer it id : abrasion
      
      should have taken psych class :) : Syclone
    - i'm aware of that.. obviously he meant NIC as did I.. Put it back in your pants. : Raziel

#85

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By: project13 x Show Full Post

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I admit that the CPU usage of that APU is damn sweet.

Sep 24, 2001 5:00pm PDT

I admit that the CPU usage of that APU is damn sweet. : project13

#70

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By: abrasion x Show Full Post

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I like it, but I expected to see figures anywhere from 5-30% higher (about 15% to be realistic)

If my KT7A is dead and I can't get someone to replace it, I'm going to be really wondering what to do :(

Nforce is nice, but "full" boards (not this micro atx faggotry!) won't be cheap, plus they won't be out for at least a month or 2 in "full factor" size, PLUS it's revision 1 of the nforce :( I really wanted to wait for 2.0

Sep 24, 2001 3:08pm PDT

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I like it, but I expected to see figures anywhere from 5-30% higher (about 15% to be realistic) If my ... : abrasion
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  You could get one of those SiS 725's for now (around 70 bucks and they outperform the 760 if you use DDR... : Vorlonesque
  - I may as well get "the whole hog" and go the KT266A or Nforce for the board replacement if the warranty ... : abrasion

#41

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By: .spanky. x Show Full Post

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http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/chipsets/nvidia/nforce/image030.gif

well, apparently Nvidia didn't cripple it if you put a Radeon in it. I halway expected that to happen.

Sep 24, 2001 12:46pm PDT

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http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/chipsets/nvidia/nforce/image030.gif well, apparently Nvidia didn't... : .spanky.
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  ugh, the integrated video is 22% slower than a GF2MX. : .spanky.
  - Sounds like a TNT 2 Ultra : Ominous
  - Compared to the other integrated video options tho'.. it's MAXIMUM FAST i815 / i752 video = Riva 128 ... : Toraz Chryx
- They can't really do that easily - they want to optomise this thing to be a monster so they sell lots, s... : abrasion

#17

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By: LightningBoy x Show Full Post

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I'd buy one if I could get it without the integrated GF2MX.. put my GF3 in there and throw out my SBLive.

Sep 24, 2001 11:38am PDT

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I'd buy one if I could get it without the integrated GF2MX.. put my GF3 in there and throw out my SBLive. : LightningBoy
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  get one anyways...the integrated video wont hurt anything...put the geforce 3 and throw out out your sbl... : TheTick
  - no kidding... http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1535&p=16 : indeego
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  SBLive sucks ass. : Liquid
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    agreed.. fuck Creative.. I'm never buying one of their products again : LightningBoy
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      Same here. They have road the money boat for long enough. : project13
      
      Yeah, I'm sick of this shit the SB live does not do SFA for me over an SB 16 really without a true 3d au... : abrasion

#65

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By: abrasion x Show Full Post

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"The other problem is that in spite of the "-D" designation on the MCP, the motherboard features no digital output connector. The only audio ports are the conventional speaker out and the line/mic inputs. According to NVIDIA, a separate ACR card is necessary to gain the digital output necessary for outputting a Dolby Digital encoded signal. "

Sep 24, 2001 3:01pm PDT

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"The other problem is that in spite of the "-D" designation on the MCP, the motherboard features no digit... : abrasion
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  He continues to say that it's going to be up to the manufacturers to put in that feature. : project13
  - Manufacturer jim: Hey bob, wanna slap those audio headers on the board Manufacturer bob: fuck no Jim, w... : abrasion

#29

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By: the archvile x Show Full Post

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I think that outsourcing the APU chip to companies like Guillemot, Philips and Turtle Beach would be a very good move. Creative would be put to shame by true 5.1.

Sep 24, 2001 12:22pm PDT

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I think that outsourcing the APU chip to companies like Guillemot, Philips and Turtle Beach would be a ve... : the archvile
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- I doubt they will do it, the performance gain is lost by being in a PCI slot, but I spose they can consi... : abrasion

#36

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By: .spanky. x Show Full Post

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We had no compatibility issues with the drivers and versions will be available
for 9x, Me, NT/2000 and XP.Â

good, I had heard rumors that they were going to only support winXP

Sep 24, 2001 12:33pm PDT

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We had no compatibility issues with the drivers and versions will be available for 9x, Me, NT/2000 : .spanky.
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- Me too (well actually ME and XP only) : abrasion

#14

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By: Raziel x Show Full Post

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Looks nice.. nforce 440 does about 50fps max quality Max Payne at 640x480.

Obviously you're much better off buying a proper video card (there's even a slight improvement buying a GeForce 2 MX 400, according to the review)..

But the improvement in CPU usage for sound over an external SB Live! and the "good enough" 3d performance of this sucker makes me want to consider buying it.. can't be stuffed shelling out $300 for a video card and $100 for a sound card, why don't I just buy em both in one at slightly lower quality of video?

I think i'll definately be buying this mobo in my new pc.. (since my gf's pc here in Canada sucks :)

Sep 24, 2001 11:07am PDT

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Looks nice.. nforce 440 does about 50fps max quality Max Payne at 640x480. Obviously you're much bette... : Raziel
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#63

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By: -=kodiak=- x Show Full Post

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anand-nvidia worshiping-tech

Sep 24, 2001 2:14pm PDT

anand-nvidia worshiping-tech : -=kodiak=-

#40

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By: .spanky. x Show Full Post

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I wonder who Anand had to blow so his NDA ended sooner than everyone else's?

Sep 24, 2001 12:44pm PDT

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I wonder who Anand had to blow so his NDA ended sooner than everyone else's? : .spanky.
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  Maybe he had to go down on Diane Vanesse : Toraz Chryx
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    What does she look like? : Barbarian
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      Not good. Not good at all (Unless Anand is a chubby-chaser). : belzebutt
      
      pics plz k thnx ....... j/k : Barbarian

#54

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By: .spanky. x Show Full Post

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This may all be moot when the Northwood/Nforce combination comes out. 3ghz can probably use all that memory bandwidth.

Sep 24, 2001 1:08pm PDT

This may all be moot when the Northwood/Nforce combination comes out. 3ghz can probably use all that memo... : .spanky.

#37

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By: Carnivac x Show Full Post

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As I pointed out earlier in 'What up', Anand may have screwed up in this review by not putting in two DDR sticks. In the test system specs, he lists '256MB DDR266 Crucial DDR SDRAM'. This may have been in the form of 2x128MB, but he's usually pretty good about specifying that kind of thing. The improved memory transfer of the nForce only occurs with two sticks in. If Anand screwed up with this, we may see substantial gains over what is shown here.

Sep 24, 2001 12:35pm PDT

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As I pointed out earlier in 'What up', Anand may have screwed up in this review by not putting in two DDR... : Carnivac
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  I doubt he did that since he stated very clearly that the extra memory bandwidth applies only if you use... : .spanky.
  - #39 - Hmm you're right. Ah well I was giving him the benefit of the doubt anyway, just pointing out the ... : Carnivac
- Yes. All nForce 420-D benchmarks were run with 1 x 128MB DDR266 DIMM in the first bank and 1 x 128MB DDR2... : wr-fuzor

#31

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By: .spanky. x Show Full Post

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Jesus Christ Anand's is fucking slow as hell.

Sep 24, 2001 12:24pm PDT

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Jesus Christ Anand's is fucking slow as hell. : .spanky.
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  all his servers use AMD.. must be getting hot.. no wait.. then they burn :-) (he must be getting an a... : -TKF-
  - ugh, over 2 minutes for the pages to load for me. : .spanky.
- the story is on slashdot right now. : mattleexbox

#38

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By: Vorlonesque x Show Full Post

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Might have to check this thing out :).

Sep 24, 2001 12:36pm PDT

Might have to check this thing out :). : Vorlonesque

#33

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By: .spanky. x Show Full Post

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I'll most likely buy one of these for a LAN box.

Sep 24, 2001 12:27pm PDT

I'll most likely buy one of these for a LAN box. : .spanky.

#23

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By: DapperDan x Show Full Post

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Anyone know if the nforce has a 24/96 DAC? I'm guessing no, but hoping otherwise.

Sep 24, 2001 11:52am PDT

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Anyone know if the nforce has a 24/96 DAC? I'm guessing no, but hoping otherwise. : DapperDan
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- nope. http://www.nvidia.com/docs/IO/34/ATT/nForce_APU_Tech_Brief.pdf : drazz

#22

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By: veggie x Show Full Post

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raises the bar eh...glad to see some synergy and outside of teh box thinking. Looks like a win-win to me.

Sep 24, 2001 11:49am PDT

raises the bar eh...glad to see some synergy and outside of teh box thinking. Looks like a win-win to me. : veggie

#

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By: x Show Full Post

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Dec 31, 1969 4:00pm PST

:

#18

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By: NukeDukem x Show Full Post

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nForce = the cool stuff
booya

Sep 24, 2001 11:42am PDT

nForce = the cool stuff booya : NukeDukem

#3

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By: galvatron x Show Full Post

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nForce looks ludicrous, an integrated graphics solution is limiting.........

Sep 24, 2001 10:45am PDT

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nForce looks ludicrous, an integrated graphics solution is limiting......... : galvatron
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- Then use an external one. : Stormrider
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  thats why it has an external agp port : TheTick
  - Actually, I saved myself the wait and bought a KT266 w/ 1.4GHz Athy....fuck nForce : galvatron
- It's still better than any other integrated video solution out there. : her0d

#10

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By: her0d x Show Full Post

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Looks good for first outing for nVidia... doesn't blow anything away like they said it would... but it certainly doesn't suck

Sep 24, 2001 10:57am PDT

Looks good for first outing for nVidia... doesn't blow anything away like they said it would... but it ce... : her0d

#8

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By: crackerdaddy x Show Full Post

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Looks OK but isn't anything like what Nvidia was hyping it as, at least not at this point.

Sep 24, 2001 10:53am PDT

Looks OK but isn't anything like what Nvidia was hyping it as, at least not at this point. : crackerdaddy

#7

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By: *metal* x Show Full Post

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It ain't my Bitch..

This should help OEM type desktops for Corporates.
Nothing like playing a little Diablo II on the corp. network.

Sep 24, 2001 10:50am PDT

It ain't my Bitch.. This should help OEM type desktops for Corporates. Nothing like playing a little ... : *metal*

#2

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By: pastab0y x Show Full Post

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gay fag gay

Sep 24, 2001 10:45am PDT

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gay fag gay : pastab0y
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- Someone ban this guy! : piser

#1

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By: piser x Show Full Post

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FIRST..

whatup

Sep 24, 2001 10:44am PDT

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FIRST.. whatup : piser
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- man!!!! : TERATOGEN

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