Dual Core Intel Platform Shootout - NVIDIA nForce4 vs. Intel 955X
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 14, 2005 1:01 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
NVIDIA's nForce4 SLI Intel Edition Chipset
As we've indicated in the past, NVIDIA's first Intel chipset is very similar to their nForce4 AMD chipset, with a couple of exceptions. For starters, the Intel Edition chipset is made up of two chips, compared to the AMD chipset's one. The reasoning is simple: with AMD's architecture, NVIDIA needn't include a memory controller in their chipset, which cuts down on overall die size quite a bit. With the Intel Edition, we see the first new memory controller that NVIDIA has introduced since nForce2.
Remember DASP? NVIDIA's Dynamic Adaptive Speculative Pre-Processor is back in nForce4 Intel Edition, but this time around, the competition is much stronger. DASP is a hardware pre-fetch engine that resides within the memory controller and attempts to pre-fetch data into a small amount of cache on the chipset, which NVIDIA's algorithms determine will be used by the CPU in the future. Intel has a similar technology in their 955X chipset, although it's not something they have branded or marketed. Depending on how aggressive NVIDIA's DASP is, it could make good use of the extra memory bandwidth offered by its dual channel DDR2-533/667 memory bus.
NVIDIA also boasts a dedicated address bus per DIMM slot with the nForce4; however, this seems to be a feature also supported by Intel, so there isn't much advantage over the competition here.
In their final memory controller optimization, NVIDIA's QuickSync claims to be able to reduce memory latency when operating in multiple clock domains (e.g. 800MHz FSB, but 533MHz memory bus). Later in this article, we'll find out exactly how aggressive NVIDIA's memory controller truly is.
The nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset supports both 800 and 1066MHz FSBs, just like the 955X - however, NVIDIA also indicated that if Intel were to increase the FSB frequency, they would be ready.
Unlike the 955X, NVIDIA only supports 3 PCI Express x1 slots. However, NVIDIA does offer two PATA channels, compared to Intel's single PATA channel. NVIDIA also offers more USB 2.0 ports (10 vs 8). NVIDIA does not support Intel's HD Audio spec, so you're stuck with AC'97 on the nForce4 SLI.
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xsilver - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
oh and before when you were arguing about heat --- if you didnt understand... let me translate the graph segagenesis providedamd 64 3500 at load = 114w
intel 550, 3.4ghz /load = 207w
that's close to DOUBLE power consumption with similar performance/price characteristics.
xsilver - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#54I remember reading amd's 3 year roadmap right here on AT.... maybe you missed it
3 year roadmaps aren't very good anyways, they provide no real hard information.... what are you worried that amd isn't going to exist in 3 years???
what AT people here are arguing is about performance... now you have jumped from heat output to spelling to performance and now to company profile... please be concise
Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
"The only defense I imagine he could possibly conjure up right now is currently in the market there is the "Nobody got fired for buying Intel" mentality where companies and such are wary of trying non-Intel products mainly because... Dell and other major manufacturers wont offer it in any quantity."Actually there are two reasons:
1) Qualification costs. it can be easy to drop $150k to qualify a new platform.
2) Product longevity. Change is very expensive to large corporations. Anything we make a commitment to buy must have a lifespan of at least 18 months from the date we qualify the product. We also must be comfortable with the companies 3 year product roadmap. So far there are no teir one vendors that have AMD product lines that meet these requirements.
Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
NVIDIA changed the spelling of their name from nVidia to NVIDIA a few years ago, have a look at NVIDIA's home page for confirmation - http://www.nvidia.com/page/companyinfo.htmlQuestar: NVIDIA is the correct corporate capitalization of the company. I actually don't think I've ever seen it spelled "nVidia".
I stand corrected. Thank you.
glennpratt - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
I think you mean you disagree with his first statement, since his last statement was about DDR2. Personally, I assume reviews on this site are talking to me (PC enthusiast) and not businesses (except reviews which explicitly state otherwise which are few and far between here). In that context, Anand has a point.KristopherKubicki - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
Questar: NVIDIA is the correct corporate capitalization of the company. I actually don't think I've ever seen it spelled "nVidia".Kristopher
Motley - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
Perhaps it should have been worded differently like... offered performance benefits that have only yet to be realized. But as worded, it is misleading and incorrect. Obviously, I read your site often, and I have come to expect technical correctness in what you write ;-)That said, I still would have to disagree with your last statement. Where companies purchase and keep PC's around for 3+ years (OMG, I wish we got rid of PC's in 3 years), the ability to purchase PCI-E when it came out knowing that we could upgrade them to iSCSI, etc in the future *IS* a very tangable benefit. At home, it's a different story, where my motherboard changes with every major change (or every other as money permits).
BaronVonAwesome - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
You have to be leery of anyone who resorts to juvenile symantics in an argument. When Questar derided another person for using the word "worthless" to describe Intel, you had to ignore him. Obviously, "worthless" wasn't meant literally. That's one of the wonders of the English language, the way it evolves, with words taking on more subtle meanings through the gradual societal acceptance of colloquialisms and slang. Words like "worthless" also lose their qualitative and quantitative qualities through this evolution...depending on how the word is used of course. Generally, when people resort to literal symantics, they feel like they are losing the argument. Reminds me of when Bill Clinton questioned the definition of the word "is." Questar's back was against the wall, I guess.glennpratt - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
On another note will there be a non-SLI version of the nF4 Intel Ed.?glennpratt - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
Questar - This may have been said before, but I didn't read this whole thread.Reviews are generally filled with opinion, it's the nature of the beast. If you wanted an Intel white paper well this isn't the place for it. If you've taken a high school level english class then you should be quite capable of determining opinion from fact in common english.