When rumors
began circulating regarding
NVIDIA's entrance into the motherboard chipset market,
both enthusiasts and OEMs eagerly anticipated details on
the 3D Graphics Giant's new offering. Then in June 2001,
the "official" information hit and the excitement
really began. NVIDIA claimed their Integrated Graphics
Processor (IGP) would be up to 10X faster than any other
integrated PC graphics accelerator. They incorporated
AMD's HyperTransport technology, to provide approximately
6X the amount of bandwidth, between the Northbridge and
Southbridge, than any other chipsets available at the time
of the announcement. The nForce would also have
integrated high-performance DSPs to handle real-time 3D
Audio and Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding. The impressive
feature list went on and on.
NVIDIA's
nForce also incorporated some very interesting underlying
technology like their "DASP" (Dynamic Adaptive Speculative
Pre-Processor), "TwinBank" memory architecture and the
"StreamThru" data transport system. The DASP technology
is, in essence, a data pre-fetch / caching technology that
should provide a performance boost to any x86 processor by
retrieving anticipated data before it is requested by the
CPU, and storing that data for faster access. We suspect
CPUs based on the Thunderbird core will experience greater
performance gains than CPUs based on the Palomino core
however, due to the fact that Thunderbirds lack data
pre-fetch circuitry altogether. The TwinBank memory
architecture offers up to a 128-Bit interface to the CPU,
Graphics Processor and Media Processor, and a maximum of
4.2GB of bandwidth. Finally, their StreamThru data
transport system was to provide uninterrupted data
streaming for improved network and broadband
communications. If, when the nForce arrived, all this
technology worked as well as NVIDIA proposed, they would
no doubt have a killer product on their hands.
Well, we've
got one of NVIDIA's reference nForce boards in the lab
today and we're going to find out just how good it really
is. Let's jump right in and see what the nForce can
really do...
Specifications / Features of the
Reference NVIDIA nForce System!
Plenty of Goodies...
Click any Image for an Enlarged view...
SPECIFICATIONS & FEATURES TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM NVIDIA'S
PAGE
NVIDIA nForce System Platform Processor
(SPP)/Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP)
The nForce SPP/IGP redefines system and
graphics performance for the PC platform. The SPP/IGP
features the TwinBank? Memory Architecture for
efficient memory processing, a Dynamic Adaptive
Speculative Pre-processor? (DASP) to help boost CPU
performance, and the AMD HyperTransport, a
high-performance I/O bus interface.
NVIDIA nForce Platform
Processing Architecture
Comprised of the SPP/IGP and the MCP, the
revolutionary NVIDIA nForce Platform Processing
Architecture includes: a distributed platform
processing design that frees up the CPU for other
tasks; patent-pending system, memory, and networking
technologies for the most efficient processing and
performance; integrated 3D graphics and 3D audio.
TwinBank Memory Architecture
NVIDIA?s revolutionary memory architecture. TwinBank
allows the CPU, GPU, and MCP simultaneous access to
the system?s memory bandwidth, guaranteeing continuous
access for all applications, all the time.
Dynamic Adaptive Speculative
Pre-processor (DASP)
DASP applies a patent-pending, intelligent,
pre-processing technology that stores application
instructions and data before they are needed. This
reduces the bottlenecks that occur between memory and
the CPU, and graphics and audio sub-systems, thereby
boosting overall system performance.
NVIDIA nForce Media and
Communications Processor (MCP)
The nForce MCP redefines the audio and communications
experience for the PC platform. The integrated Audio
Processing Unit (APU) brings unprecedented 3D
positional audio and Microsoft® DirectX®
8.0-compatible performance to the PC, and a Dolby?
Digital 5.1 encoder for truly cinematic-quality audio
experiences. On the communications front is StreamThru?,
an innovative technology providing an optimized
pipeline enhancing networking and broadband; and the
most complete suite of integrated networking and
communications devices including Ethernet, HomePNA 2.0
and six USB ports.
NVIDIA nForce Platform
Processing Architecture
Comprised of the SPP/IGP and the MCP, the
revolutionary NVIDIA nForce Platform Processing
Architecture includes: a distributed platform
processing design that frees up the CPU for other
tasks; patent-pending system, memory, and networking
technologies for the most efficient processing and
performance; integrated 3D graphics and 3D audio.
Integrated Audio Processing Unit
(APU)
Delivers unprecedented 3D positional audio and DirectX
8.0-compatible performance to the PC platform.
Provides real-time processing of up to
256-simultaneous stereo audio streams, or 64 3D and
192 simultaneous audio streams.
StreamThru
NVIDIA's patent-pending isochronous data transport
system, providing uninterrupted data streaming for
superior networking and broadband communications.
StreamThru assists in making streaming video and audio
smoother and jitter-free.
NVIDIA nForce & Windows XP: A
Perfect Match
nForce supports a robust new feature set designed
specifically for the new capabilities of Windows XP,
including: digital music, DVD playback, 3D graphics,
Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, networking, and more. The
pairing of nForce and Windows XP is a perfect
match--the world's best platform processor powering
the world's most advanced operating system.
Music, Video, games, and Photos
World's best graphics/video technology
Industry's fastest Windows XP 3D
First and only DirectX® 8 audio hardware support with
NVIDIA nForceTM
Full DirectX 8, DirectX VA, and OpenGL® 1.3 support
Full acceleration for Windows Media Player for Windows
XP
New User Interface
Windows XP Dualview multi-monitor support
Industry's fastest Windows XP 2D
Full hardware acceleration of new XP features
Networking/Communication
Industry's highest networking performance with NVIDIA
nForce StreamThruTM technology
Safe and secure networking for remote connections
Full acceleration for Windows Messenger, instant
messaging, and teleconferencing for Windows XP
Reliable, Compatible, and Easy
Exclusive NVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL)
Certification guarantees stability
Mobility
Award-winning GeForce2TM Go and QuadroTM2 Go with
complete Windows XP support.
The above specification /
feature list may be a bit long, but we suggest you
take some time to read through each section and
acquaint yourself with the nForce.
There are now three
different nForce chipsets in the works. The one
we are looking at today is the 420D which incorporates
GeForce 2 class video, a 128-Bit DDR memory interface
and 3D / Dolby Digital audio. The recently
announced 415D is basically the same as the 420D,
minus the integrated video, and the 220 has a 64-Bit
DDR memory interface and less sophisticated audio.
Because this particular nForce board is not a retail
product, we won't be spending too much time
scrutinizing the layout and commenting on build
quality.
In these first three
pictures, you can see the MCP (Media and Communication
Processor) or Southbridge, connectors for
the case header and the Audio and Communications riser
card. Aside from the chipset itself, there isn't
anything too interesting in the first shot, but take a
close look at the external plate and the ACR card
itself. On the card, you'll see the 10/100
Ethernet connector, the line-in for the 56K modem,
some audio outputs and a Digital Audio output.
In these next shots, you can
clearly see the 3-Phase power array (with passive
cooling), the Northbridge and the slot configuration.
I'm sure you'll notice that the Northbridge does not have
any sort of cooling. You'd think that with an
integrated GeForce 2, this chip would get rather hot, but
it does not. After prolonged use, the Northbridge
did get warm, but nothing to be concerned about. If
you're overclocking you may want to add some sort of
cooling, but for general use, heat shouldn't be an issue.
This micro-ATX board we're looking at today even has an
AGP and two PCI slots open for further expansion.
