NVIDIA nForce2 Preview

[Dave Baumann]

http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/nforce2/lg_nforce2.jpg (http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/nforce2/)Today NVIDIA launches 'nForce2', their latest chipset platform for AMD processors. Beyond3D were granted a preview of the chipset to check out its capabilities and we're now inviting you to to take a look.

So, read on (http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/nforce2/) to learn all about nForce2's 'IGP', 'SPP' and new 'Media Communications Processor' abilities and what they can achieve in the increasingly media rich environment that the PC has to operate in.

[no_way]

Lack of DX8, or primarily pixel shader capable graphics core is such a disappointment... NV isnt raising the bar for LCD of consumer graphics very effectively as such.
BTW, does anyone have info on sales figures or market penetration of current crop of AMD chipsets ? Somehow i got the feeling that nForce ( 1) wasnt very much of a success for NV at all ... Are any major OEM's selling nForce as part of their PC production lines for example ?

[Brent]

I would think it would prolly be to much to put on the chip in it's current manufacturing process if it were to be a full dx8 pixel/vertex graphics chip, though it would raise the bar of integrated graphics increadibly well. I think we'll have to wait for another product that might be able to fill those shoes ;)

NVIDIA wants to sell their video cards too, so it stands to reason they wouldn't put a real powerfull 'shader' capable chip on this chipset. I do like they are making a non gpu core chip, and at the same time the GF4 MX is perfect for some people just looking for a good fast all integrated board.

Dual DDR 400 has me excited, but yet I am still worried about the AXP's 133FSB being the bottleneck here. AMD really needs to get that bus up.

I see this chip as evolutionary, nothing real revolutionary here.

[LittlePenny]

I would think it would prolly be to much to put on the chip in it's current manufacturing process if it were to be a full dx8 pixel/vertex graphics chip
Wonder how much extra it would have been just to include the pixel shaders?

[Anonymous]

lots of nForce previews are listed at http://amdboard.com/nforce2.html

[mboeller]

hmmm...

IMHO AMDBoard forgot the best Preview. It's from pcwatch. Well the text is useless (at least for me ) but Nvidia's slides show the performance of the nForce2 in comparison with the KT333 on normal benchmarks too, which the other previews lack.

Link : http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0717/nvidia.htm

[Dave Baumann]

It also has pictures of the little Shuttle box

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0717/nvi218.jpg

I wouldn't mind one of those to make a mini server / internet gateway out of.

[mboeller]

It also has pictures of the little Shuttle box

I wouldn't mind one of those to make a mini server / internet gateway out of.

Why no gaming PC? According to the slides the nForce2 gets around 4200 points in 3DMark 2001. Not so great for "real" gamers, but better than most normal PC's out there. This box is really small and nice. I wonder how long it will take to unite consoles and PC's with PC's getting smaller and smaller and consoles bigger and bigger (at least the xbox). And with an DX8.1 or better nForce3 (using NV31) just around the corner (6-9months away :) ) you have even an high performance system then to play all Xbox games.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0717/nvi217.jpg

[mboeller]

The slides from PCWatch got ge thinking.

What if the high Barton-Rating has something to do with this chipset?

The 512KB L2-Cache increases speed only 5-10%

the rumoured 166MHz FSB another 5-10%

and now the nForce2 increased the speed another 5-10% compared to
other motherboards.

So all in all we have an speed increase of 15-30% if all the different
improvements can be added together. This would easily explain the
high speed rating of the new Barton-core.

1800MHz x 1,5 -500MHz = 2200 x 1,15 - 1,3 = 2500 - 2800 !

[pascal]

Look at the Asus A7N8X mobo: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0717/nvi219.jpg

It has a Silicon Image´s Sata Link chip with two serial ATA conectors in the top right :)

edited: correction of the conectors placement :oops:

[BenM]

The Shuttle miniPC would be perfect for LANs, small desks, etc.

*drool*

I can't wait for something like that. My wallet probably could though :lol:

-EDIT

Looking at the slides from NV's presentation, the Chaintech board would be really cool for a window case mod.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0717/nvi223.jpg

[Freon]

Somehow i got the feeling that nForce ( 1) wasnt very much of a success for NV at all ... Are any major OEM's selling nForce as part of their PC production lines for example ?

Compaq uses Nforce exclusively for their AMD systems, and has been for a few months now. I would take a stab that they will be using Nforce 2 in the future.