nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on October 19, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Performance Test Configuration
If you are interested in more information comparing the Athlon64, Athlon64 FX, Prescott, P4, and P4EE, please see our in-depth comparisons in the recent launch reviews:.09 Athlon 64: Value, Speed and Overclocking
AMD Sempron: A Fresh Take on Budget Computing
Intel's 925X & LGA-775: Are Prescott 3.6 and PCI Express Graphics any Faster?
Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2
Socket 939 Chipsets: Motherboard Performance & PCI/AGP Locks
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and FX-53: The First 939 CPUs
The Athlon 64 FX-53: AMD's Next Enthusiast Part
Intel's Pentium 4 E: Prescott Arrives with Luggage
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 FX55 (2.6GHz) Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (2.4GHz) Socket 939 |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 OR 2 x 512MB Corsair 3200XL XMS3208v1.1 |
| Hard Drive(s): | Maxtor 250GB 7200RPM SATA (16MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: | nVidia nForce 6.11 Beta (nForce4) nVidia nForce Platform Driver 4.24 (nForce3 Ultra) |
| Video Card(s): | nVidia 6800 Ultra (PCI Express) nVidia 6800 Ultra (AGP 8X) |
| Video Drivers: | nVidia nForce 61.81 Beta (nForce4) nVidia nForce 61.77 (nForce3 Ultra) |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | nVidia nForce4 Ultra Reference Board MSI K8N Neo2 (nVidia nForce3-250Gb) |
ALL PERFORMANCE COMPARISONS WERE MADE WITH THE FX53 (2.4GHz). Test results with the FX55 were included for comparison and are clearly identified as FX55.
Tests used either OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 or Corsair 3200XL XMS3208v1.1 memory modules. Both memories use Samsung TCCD chips and perform virtually the same in our benchmarks at stock speed. Since the nVidia 6800 Ultra AGP was used for testing in the 939 chipset launch, we used the PCI Express 6800 Ultra for all testing with the nForce4. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless otherwise noted.
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Viper96720 - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Hope a 754 version of the sli capable board is made. Woldn't mind getting the board and a 6600GT. Then getting the second 6600 later on. Since I got an 754pin cpu already. Guess I know what I want for Christmas.swatX - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
drool!!!!!!!!!!ViRGE - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
#17, there is no Soundstorm, it's a figment of everyone's imaginations. Nvidia has already stated with the nForce 3 that they really aren't interested in doing another advanced sound solution (in part due to Creative's purchase of Sensaura, I'm sure), so there's no reason to really harp on them.Rys - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
NDA has yet to expire on nForce4 (5.5 hours early at the time of posting this).Davediego - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
What happened to SoundStorm2? Why isn't audio even mentioned in this article other than 1 line in the basic feature table on pg7? This is a major feature many many enthusiasts have been waiting for, and if it doesnt exist in nforce4 why is anandtech not harping nvidia for it?allnighter - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Not trying to be rude, but there is an abundance of good articles on nVidia's SLi that will help better understanding and answer many of the questions asked here.#15 I believe each card will load textures for the part it will render and the driver will handle that load on the fly.
Kovie - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Probably a stupid question but does anyone know if in SLI mode the system has to keep two separate copies of textures in video memory (each card has the same textures loaded) or if they can just keep it on one card and make two 128mb cards into a 256mb?Doormat - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Is that SATA 3Gb/s real SATA II? I remember seeing something about switches that allow 4 drives to hook into 1 sata 2 port. Is that a feature NF4 supports?xsilver - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
A little off topic.. but why doesn't intel bring out 1066 products now? my year old northwood is already running 1000 fsb...GhandiInstinct - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Roger that, also can the SLI or Alienware have Agp also? Will the N4 have agp?