nForce 4 SLI X16: Full Speed PCI Express
by Derek Wilson on August 8, 2005 1:56 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The New AMD and Intel Chipsets
The upgrade to nForce4 SLI X16 is more of an upgrade than an overhaul. This solution expands NVIDIA's core logic solution to two chips rather than one. The current nForce4 MCP will act as the southbridge and will be connected to the new AMD nForce4 System Platform Processor (SPP) via its HyperTransport link (usually connected to the processor). This gives 8GB/s bandwidth between the AMD MCP and SPP. Added latency over the HT link shouldn't be very high and we don't suspect that it will have an impact on anything. The SPP and MCP each provide x16 PCI Express links along with a few other choice features.As the Intel core logic solution already incorporates an SPP, the upgrade for the Intel nForce4 SLI X16 is even simpler. Since the MCP included on the current Intel chipsets simply has its PCI Express lanes disabled; enabling them is all that NVIDIA needs to do. The total number of available PCI Express lanes on Intel nForce4 SLI X16 based systems comes to 40 after the SPP and MCP are added together. These lanes can be divided up into 9 different slots. AMD based systems will offer 38 lanes over up to 7 slots. This means that we could see a bunch of x1 or x2 slots, but since PCI Express cards can plug into larger slots and this solution has lanes to spare, we'd like to see some larger connectors on these consumer motherboards. There aren't any widely available parts to make full use of the bandwidth now, but motherboards that cost upwards of $200 should be somewhat future proof and flexible.
NVIDIA states that motherboards shipping with the nForce4 SLI X16 chipset will generally have all the enthusiast bells and whistles like dual gigabit network connections and 6 to 8 SATA ports. Supporting all these options alongside up to 40 PCI Express lanes (38 for AMD systems) and 5 PCI slots, these new motherboards will cater to almost workstation level I/O needs. For example configurations of Intel and AMD solutions, take a look at these block diagrams provided by NVIDIA.
These configurations can vary depending on the manufacturer of the motherboard.
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DerekWilson - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
I'm sure they'll be coming along at some point. We'll try to look around and see if we hear anything on that front.R3MF - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
cheers. :)i'm sure my next PC will be a Silverstone SG01, i just need a decent M/B!
KenRico - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
Think we will see a ASUS A8N32-SLI sooner rather than later !Some cards like MATROX QID series (supporting 8 Displays with a pair of cards) REQUIRE individual x16 slots...they are not SLI, but you can only load one card without going to Opteron nFORCE Pro currently.
Kudos to nVIDIA to bring the advantages of professional chipset to the desktop...at current price point and driving down current SLI based mainboard's prices accordingly!
Last note...having two PCI-ex x16 slots will also allow single card user to pick slot to use without having to drop down to x2 or x4 slot like currently shipping solutions...hopefully allowing the use of aftermarket chipset cooler like Zalman or Water cooling without having to go to a shorter video card.
Fluppeteer - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Re. the QID boards - really? How rude. I thought the PCI-e spec required cards to be able to negotiate down to a lower number of lanes.It *would* be nice if more manufacturers would put longer slots on their motherboards, even if the lanes aren't hooked up, though. (Otherwise it's a case of taking a hacksaw to the bottom of the card and hoping it doesn't pull too much power for the socket.)
Calin - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Now this is a great reason to buy such boards. However, the people that will buy dual PCI-E x16 mainboards for this reason will be much lower than the number of people that buy the mainboards for their "speed" advantage.The reason to buy such mainboards? Better/more slots/connectors (PCI-E, SATA, USB, Ethernet), having the flagship board, bragging, better support for the flagship boards than for the mainstream ones. There are reasons enough for people to buy (even if very few of the reasons are justified from an economic standpoint)
bob661 - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
If this offers more performance over current SLI, I may just upgrade to this or wait till next year and do DDR2.shoRunner - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
this will offer absolutely no performance increase, since cards aren't anywhere near using 8x bandwidth, yet another worthless upgrade.bob661 - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
How do you know? Do you have one of these sitting in front of you?MrSmurf - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
Did you read the article?Rock Hydra - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
Yeah. I don't think this will have a very big impact. The increase in performance from 4x AGP to 8x was minimal. So, I think this one on't be that great.