nForce4 Motherboard Chipset

Jesse PrintzBryant Newby

CIS 4622/22/05

Outline

● Socket 939● What is a Chipset?● nForce 4 Chipset● nForce 4 Features Explination● Compeditors● Recommendation

What is Socket 939

● CPU Specification● Supports AMD Athlon 64 Processors● 64-Bit

Why Socket 939?

● 90 nm design● 64-Bit● Future Expansion

What is a Chipset?

● Architecture● Microchips that support the CPU, usually several

controllers that govern how information travels between the processor and other components.

● Tom's Hardware Guide:– If the CPU is the brain of the PC, the chipset is the

heart● Standard Given to Motherboard Manufactures

Chipset Example

What is nForce4?

● Chipset Optimized for Graphics and Video● Standard for Motherboard Manufactures● nVidia's Fourth Installment of Graphics Chipsets

nForce4 Specifications

● One x16 PCI Express Slot● Three x1 PCI Express Slots● 4 Serial ATA Hard Drives● RAID Across SATA & IDE● ActiveArmor Firewall● 10 USB 2.0 Ports

nForce4 Ultra Added Specifications

● nTune for Overclocking● 3.0 Gb/s SATA Transfers● 20 PCI Express Lanes

nTune

● On the fly– Clock Speed Changing

● Monitoring– Temperatures– Voltages

● Automated Troubleshooting● One Place

nTune

nForce4 SLI Added Specifications

● Scalable Link Interface● 2 PCI Express Video Cards Working Together

– Distributed Load Balancing– Automatic Split

● Future Expansion

SLI Diagram

SLI Demonstration

nForce Ultra Modification to SLI

Native Command Queuing

Other 939 Competitors

● Uli● SiS● ATI Radeon XPRESS● VIA K8T800● nForce3

Comparison of 939 MotherboardsGA-K8N Ultra-9 GA-K8VT890-9 GA-K8NS Ultra-939

CPU Type Socket 939 Socket 939 Socket 939

FSB / Hyper Transport2000MHz 2000MHz 2000 Mhz

Chipset Nforce4 Ultra Via K8T800 Pro Nforce3 Ultra

Memory type Dual Channel DDR400/333/266 Dual Channel DDR400/333/266 Dual Channel DDR400/333/266

Memory socket DDR*4 DDR*4 DDR*4

Max. Memory 4 GB 4 GB 4 GB

Graphics interface PCI Express X16 PCI Express X16 AGP 8X

PCI Express 3 (1 x16, 2x1) 3 (1 x16, 2x1) 0

PCI 3 3 5

RAID Function Yes Yes Yes

LAN Marvell Gigabit, 10/100 Lan Marvell Gigabit, 10/100 Lan Marvell Gigabit, 10/100 Lan

Audio ALC 850 ALC 850 ALC 850

Codec Channel 8 8 8

IDE ATA 2*PATA133 / 4*SATA / 4*SATA 2*PATA133 / 2*SATA 2*PATA133 / 4*SATA

USB 1.1 Same as USB 2.0 Same as USB 2.0 Same as USB 2.0

USB 2.0 10 8 (4 by cable) 8 (4 by cable)

DualBIOS Yes No Yes

Form Factor ATX ATX ATX

IEEE 1294 2 x 1294b No 3 x 1394bLowest Price 109 and up Not Avaible in US Yet 113

Reccomendation

● nForce 4 SLI chipset– Advantages

● More Features● From Anandtech: On Average 3% faster than ATI Radeon

XPRESS● Future Upgrades● More Control

– Disadvantages● Cost

Sources

● Anandtech - www.anandtech.com● nVidia - www.nvidia.com● TheTechReport - www.thetechreport.com● Tom's Hardware Guide - www.tomshardware.com● ATI - http://www.ati.com/● PriceWatch - www.pricewatch.com