NVIDIA nForce Professional Brings Huge I/O to Opteron
by Derek Wilson on January 24, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
We can't wait to get our hands on a board. Now that NVIDIA has announced this type of scaling I/O with HyperTransport connections, we wonder why we haven't been pushing it all along. It seems rather obvious in hindsight that using the extra HT connections processors would be advantageous and relatively simple in an Opteron environment. This is especially true when all the core logic fits on a single chip. Kudos to NVIDIA for bringing the 2200 and 2050 combination to market.
Though much of the nForce Professional series is very similar to the nForce 4, NVIDIA has likely made good use of those two million extra transistors. Though, we can't be exactly sure what went in there - it's likely the TCP/IP offload Engine, and possibly some server level error reporting routines. But for this, nForce Pro is exactly the same as the nForce 4.
The creativity that the nForce Pro 2050 MCP will offer vendors is unfathomable. We've already seen what everyone has tried with the NF4 Ultra and SLI chipsets, and now that we have something made for scalability and multiple configurations, we are sure to see some ingenious designs spring forth.
NVIDIA mentioned that many of their partners wanted a launch in December. NVIDIA also told us that IWill and Tyan are already shipping boards, but we aren't sure how widespread availability is yet. We will have to speak with IWill and Tyan about these matters. As far as we are concerned, the faster that NVIDIA can get nForce Professional out the door, the better.
The last thing to look at is how the new NVIDIA solution compares to its competition from Intel. Well, here's a handy comparison chart for those who wish to know what they can get in terms of I/O from NVIDIA and from Intel on their server and workstation boards.
| Server/Worstation Platform Comparison | |||
| NVIDIA nForce Pro (single) | NVIDIA nForce Pro (quad) | Intel E7525/E7520 | |
| PCI Express Lanes | 20 Lanes | 80 lanes | 24 |
| SATA | 4 SATA II | 16 SATA II | 2 SATA 1.0 |
| Gigabit Ethernet MAC | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| USB 2.0 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
| PCI-X Support | No | No | Yes |
| DDR/DDR2 | DDR | DDR | DDR2 |
Opteron boards with NFPro can have PCI-X support when combined with the proper AMD-8000 series chips, but NVIDIA didn't build in PCI-X support. It's obvious how well beyond Lindenhurst and Tumwater (E7520 and E7525) that the nForce Pro will scale with dual and quad Opteron solutions. Even in a single MCP configuration, NVIDIA has a lot of flexibility with its configurable PCI Express controller. Intel's solutions are locked into either 1 x16 slot + 1 x8 (E7525) or 3 x8 (E7520). The x8 connections to the MCH can run 2 physical devices instead (up to 2 x4). Also, if the motherboard vendor includes Intel's additional PCI hub for more PCI-X slots, either 4 or 8 of those PCI Express lanes go away.
Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot more that we can say until we get our hands on it for testing. Professional series products can take longer to get into our lab, so it may be some time before we can get a review out, but we will try our best to get product as soon as possible. Of course, boards will cost a lot, and the more exciting the board, the less affordable it will be. But that won't stop us from reviewing them. On paper, this is definitely one of the most intriguing advancements that we've seen in AMD-centered core logic, and could be one of the best things ever to happen to high end AMD servers.
On the workstation side, we are very interested in testing a full 2 x16 PCI Express SLI setup, as well as the multiple display possibilities of such a system. It's an exciting time for the AMD workstation market, and we're really looking forward to getting our hands on systems.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
55 Comments
View All Comments
Dubb - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
You should probably specify that the Iwill DK8ES is NOT a dual x16 board. it's x16+x2, with the x2 on a x16 connector. the DK8EW that will be released in a few months is x8 + x8.the tyan is the only x16 + x16 I know of so far...
feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but the folks at 2cpu.com are pretty sure of this.
henry - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
> #32 ... heh ... that's only 4 x1 lanes not 5 ;-) the config i mentioned is not possible.Check this: 1x16 + 3x1 / 1x4 + 2x1 (+ 1x8 for the fun ;-)
DerekWilson - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#32 ... heh ... that's only 4 x1 lanes not 5 ;-) the config i mentioned is not possible.And the Intel PCI-X idea is definitely funky :-) I suppose that would work. Rather than use an HT link for AMD's tunnel, that could interesting in a pinch. No matter how unlikely :-)
henry - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Hi DerekJust two remarks:
> On the flip side, it's not possible to put 1 x16, 1 x4, and 5 x1 PCIe slots on a dual processor workstation.
Why shouldnt this be possible: Just partition the PCIe lanes in this way: 1x16 + 3x1 on first nForce (one lane wasted) and 1x4 + 1x1 on second chip (still 15 lanes and two controllers left)
Regarding PCI-X: As you said mainboard makers can choose the obvious way and directly attach AMD's PCI-X tunnel chips.
Nevertheless there is a more insane option: Use a spare x4 or x8 PCIe link to hook up a PCI-X bridge chip (e.g. Intel 41210).
DerekWilson - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
NCQ is native tagged command queuing for SATA ... TCQ is tagged command queuign for SCSI. WD called the Raptors initial support TCQ because they just pulled their SCSI solution over. This served to confuse people. SATA command queuing is NCQ. People call TCQ sometimes, and maybe that's fine. Really, they may as well be the same thing except that one is for SCSI.#25, SDA
I meant PCI-X -- NVIDIA didn't build in legacy PCI-X support to their MCPs. In order to support it it must be paired with AMD-8000 series. Intel has PCI-X support off MCH. If many PCI-X slots are required, the Intel solution must sacrifice some of its PCIe lanes for the 6700PXH 64-bit PCI Hub. This hub hooks into the E75xx though either a x4 or x8 PCIe lane to provide additional PCI/PCI-X buses. I know, it's a lot of PCI/PCIe/PCI-X ... sorry for the confusion.
Cygni - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
btw, i was kidding about the windows thing...Cygni - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Nvidia is also releasing a new videocard that does all of that, plus the GPU can run windows!Countdown to the point where the video card becomes everything and the motherboard is a tiny piece of plastic that holds everything in place....
tumbleweed - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#26 - rumour has it that SS will be showing up in future NV 'video' cards, rather than on motherboards. With the ridiculous bandwidth overkill that is PCIe x16, that's a good place to put it, IMO. Save a slot, save mobo space, and put unused bandwidth to use.tumbleweed - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Derek - Dissonance over at TR says he specifically asked NV about it, and was told it supported TCQ as well as NCQ, so somebody is confused. :)AbRASiON - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
I've made myself a little saying which I now apply to nvidia motherboards,...It's "no soundstorm, no sale"
Until they re-impliment it, I'm not buying one, period.