A Look at NVIDIA's nForce 4 SLI X16

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Since its entry into the market last year, NVIDIA's nForce 4 SLI chipset has been the chipset of choice for enthusiasts and hardcore gamers. The SLI chipsets feature two x16 PCI-Express slots capable of handling full sized graphics cards. The downfall to this setup is the splitting of bandwidth between the two cards. While two cards were in use, each x16 slot was effectively split into an x8 in order to provide bandwidth to each. Following the announcement of NVIDIA's new nForce 4 SLI X16 chipset this is no longer an issue. The new chipset will provide extra PCI-E bandwidth as well as advanced I/O options.

So what does this mean for the consumer? First and foremost, it means that existing nForce 4 products will see their prices reduced into a mainstream/entry level market. The SLI X16 will become the enthusiast level part, while the existing nForce 4 Ultra and nForce 4 SLI products will become mid-range parts, leaving the nForce 4 and nForce 3 to cover the entry-level segment. With the introduction of SLI for the Geforce 6200 and 6600 standard, SLI will be hitting on all cylinders up and down NVIDIA's product line. The SLI X16 will also be available in Dell XPS systems, marking the first time a non-Intel chipset will be available for the world's largest PC maker. It is important to note that this does not mean Dell will be using AMD processors, as NVIDIA introduced its nForce 4 for Intel systems earlier this year.

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(2 replies) #1 SFalcon on 09 Aug 2005 - 17:33

Finally, this is how it should've been designed from the beginning. Does this mean that having 2x videocards will finally mean 2x the performance?

QUOTE

NVIDIA is touting the added bandwidth as a performance increasing factor for the future. They acknowledge that current games don't see much benefit from the added bandwidth, but stand firmly behind the assertion that future games designed for PCI Express and SLI will take advantage of the increased bandwidth offered. We certainly aren't expecting to see any major gains under current titles, but we will have to wait until we get our hands on a board to play with before we can say for sure what we think of the performance.

Guess not. But it looks promising as a future proof upgrade.

#1.1 Martog on 09 Aug 2005 - 18:06

Can't have twice the performance if the cards are not even using the bandwidth. I don't think current video cards even take a performance hit when going from x16 down to x8 for PCIe, they just don't use the bandwidth.

On professional workstation solutions involving Opterons, there were two nForce 4 Pro chipsets, which would provide full x16 on both slots, but you had to have two Opertons installed to do that.

I'm currently happy with my 6800GT with my SLI board, I'll get a second 6800GT later on, all I play is WoW and wouldn't mind a FPS bump since 1680x1050 rez, and like to have everything cranked up. Really the only game I forsee me playing for awhile on PC, next gen consoles will have me when they come out.

#1.2 Shining Arcanine on 10 Aug 2005 - 13:45

SLI configurations that aren't using the SLI bridge should see a speed increase.

#2 L3thal on 09 Aug 2005 - 18:28

When will it reach vendors like Newegg? Looks like I may wait a little longer for these rather than get the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium board.

(2 replies) #3 Beastage on 09 Aug 2005 - 18:36

I never though that hardware will surpass software needs by this far

#3.1 SFalcon on 09 Aug 2005 - 19:43

That's not necessarily true. Is there a card out that can play all the latest games at say 1920*1200 with full AA and AF, and still have playable fps?

#3.2 LTD on 09 Aug 2005 - 20:16

The ATI Radeon X55 "Hayabusa", with 1 gig RAM, and clock speeds in the 2 gig range.

(2 replies) #4 jimbo11883 on 09 Aug 2005 - 23:25

**** Dell, they're retarded. AMD processors are less expensive, better x64 implementation, and better dual core implementation. Intel should die.

#4.1 DaveXT on 10 Aug 2005 - 05:03

Intel will never die so long as their chips are easier to use than AMDs

AMD is less expensive and better, but say Intel left and all their processors were withdrawn from the store shelves, then AMD would be able to jack up prices for their processors since they'd more or less have a monopoly in the PC Processor Market. I'd say they should get more competition and drop the prices even lower, 'cause even if they did, I'd still buy chips from AMD anyway.

#4.2 MrCobra on 10 Aug 2005 - 14:22

LMAO.

#5 mentalindustries on 10 Aug 2005 - 06:29

Dito this

When will it reach vendors like Newegg? Looks like I may wait a little longer for these rather than get the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium board.X

except im in NZ so have to wait even longer

was thinking of getting the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium in the next few weeks thanks for saving me a major stuff up

Last edited by 57637 on 10 Aug 2005 - 07:08

#6 Sclomp on 11 Aug 2005 - 01:15

Does this mean you can have multiple displays with SLI enabled or just double the current bandwidth? The display thing was the only thing that was really holding me off ...

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