nForce4
Socket supported | Socket 939 Socket AM2 Socket 754 LGA 775 |
---|---|
Miscellaneous | |
Release date(s) | October 2004 |
Predecessor | nForce3 |
Successor | nForce 500 |
The nForce4 is a motherboard
processors.Models
nForce4/nForce4-4x
nForce4 is the second evolution of the
The Socket 754 version of the board has the HyperTransport link clocked to 800 MHz (6.4 GB/s transfer rate). Motherboards based on early revisions are mostly referred to as "nForce4-4x" (relating with their ability to handle HT speeds of 4x).
- Support for up to 20 PCI Express (PCIe) lanes (up to 38-40 lanes for the nForce4 SLI x16). Reference boards are set up with one x16 slot and three x1 slots, leaving 1 lane unused.
- Support for up to 10 USB2.0 ports.
- Support for 4 PATA drives, which can be linked together in any combination of SATA and PATA to form a RAID0, 1, or 0+1.
- Nvidia RAID Morphing, which allows conversion from one RAID type to another on the fly.
- Nvidia nTune, a tool for easy overclockingand timing configurations.
- Full 1000 MHz speed on HyperTransport (8 GB/s transfer rate).
- Eight-channel AC'97 audio.
- Onboard Gigabit Ethernet.
- Nvidia ActiveArmor, an onboard firewall solution. (Not available on regular nForce 4)
- Does not support Windows 98 or Windows Me.[1]
nForce4 Ultra
The Ultra version contains all of the features of the nForce4-4x version with the addition of:[2]
- Hardware processing for the ActiveArmorto reduce CPU load.
- Serial ATA3 Gbit/s interface with 300 MB/s transfer speeds for SATA 3 Gbit/s drives.
Enthusiasts discovered early after the release of nForce4 Ultra that the chipset was identical to nForce4 SLI other than a single resistor on the chip package itself. By modifying this resistor as the SLI is configured, an Ultra can be turned into an SLI.[3]
nForce4 SLI
The SLI version has all the features of the Ultra version, in addition to SLI (Scalable Link Interface). This interface allows two video cards to be connected to produce a single output. This can theoretically double framerates by splitting work between the two GPUs.
On a standard (non x16) nForce4 SLI motherboard, the system can be configured to provide an x16 slot for one graphics board or twin x8 slots for the SLI configuration. A jumper bank must be altered to set these options.[4]
nForce4 SLI Intel Edition
Unlike its AMD Athlon 64 sibling, the Intel Edition is an older chipset as it has both a
An oddity of the Intel Edition is the fact that while it works with the
nForce4 SLI x16
The nForce4 SLI x16 has similar features to the nForce4 SLI, except it now provides 16 PCI-Express lanes to both graphics cards in an SLI configuration (as opposed to only 8 lanes per graphics card with the original SLI chipset). This is the only version of the nForce4 for AMD processors that has a separate northbridge and southbridge. It comprises the existing nForce4 MCP for the southbridge and a new AMD nForce4 System Platform Processor (SPP). The two chips are connected via the HyperTransport link. This solution provides 38 PCI-Express lanes in total, and can be divided over 7 slots. It is also available for Intel processors, whereby it provides 40 PCI-Express lanes, which can be divided over 9 slots.
Southbridges
nForce400/405/410/430
The nForce400/405/410/430 refer to nForce4 based southbridges which are used together with
Driver Availability
Nvidia offers nForce4 chipset driver downloads for NT-based Windows versions from 2000 up to and including Vista in the "Legacy" product type category on their download page. However, there is no official support for Windows 7 or newer, but Windows 7 has a built-in driver for the nForce 6 chipset, which is very similar.[7]
Flaws
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2009) |
Nvidia's nForce4 chipset suffers from several unresolved issues.
The
There have also been data corruption issues associated with certain SATA 3 Gbit/s hard drives. The issues can often be resolved with a firmware update for the hard drive from the manufacturer.
The nForce4 chipset has also been blamed for issues with PCI cards, relating to Nvidia's implementation of the
See also
- Comparison of Nvidia chipsets
- NForce 500
References
- ^ Nvidia nForce4, Nvidia, accessed September 4, 2006.
- ^ Wasson, Scott. Nvidia's nForce4 Ultra chipset Archived 2007-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, Tech Report, November 22, 2004.
- ^ Fink, Wesley. Morphing nForce4 Ultra into nForce4 SLI, Anandtech, January 18, 2005.
- ^ Fink, Wesley. DFI nForce4: SLI and Ultra for Mad Overclockers, Anandtech, February 5, 2005.
- ^ Wasson, Scott. Nvidia's nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset Archived 2006-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, Tech Report, April 8, 2005.
- ^ Shilov, Anton. Intel Pentium D 820 May Be Incompatible with Third Party Chipsets Archived 2006-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, X-bit labs, May 24, 2005.
- ^ NVIDIA Driver Downloads, August 20, 2009
- ^ Fahlén, Anders. nForce4 Single CPU Chipset - DAW Stress Test Reports Archived 2010-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, RME Audio, March 9, 2005.
- ^ Creative Sound Blaster Forum, accessed September 5, 2006.