NForce 3-250

[shiner]

When are we going to see these start being available....my PC is dying a death that is rapidly speeding up. Going Athlon 64 when it finally croaks but from what I've been reading I think I'm going to wait for the 250. Yeah I know...the Via chipset is supposed to be nice but I've been down that road before and been burned.....bad!

 

[Crashman]

Me too, can't wait to see the nForce3 250, and hey, where are the SiS 755 chipset boards we were promised?

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: 1Crashman
Me too, can't wait to see the nForce3 250, and hey, where are the SiS 755 chipset boards we were promised?

Nowhere
:evil:

 

[Genx87]

Sounds like a march\april release for the NF3 250s. I am not sure if that means an actual product or if it will be released. If it is just released expect board in mid to late May.

I am also waiting on A64 to become afffordable. And I wanted to wait for the 939 chips and NF3 250.

 

[Peter]

After official chipset release, you'll have to give it about two months until mainboard product starts appearing on shelves.

If you dislike VIA's chipset although it's shown to be quite very OK (unlike NVidia's NF3-150), you still have AMD's own, ALi and SiS chipsets to choose from - on stuff that's available NOW.

 

[Markfw]

I am also waiting on A64 to become afffordable. And I wanted to wait for the 939 chips and NF3 250.

Affordable and socket 939 probably don't go together. If you want affordable, go now, ECS755-A, Athlon64 3000+. It won't get much cheaper for a while. those two together are only $300 !

 

[shiner]

Damn....I'm not sure my current system will live long enough to make it to the NForce 3-250 release.

 

[Boonesmi]

lots of people rip on via chipsets.... but since the kt266a they have been pretty dang solid, and have only gotten better with time (i did have problems with some kt133 and kt133a boards)

but if do want to stay away from via, then i would definately go with the sis 755


my next board will be a socket939 with either the sis755fx or via k8t800 pro chipset (but that wont be for a few months, about the same time the new athlonFX 53 is being released there should also be some plain old athlon64 cpu's that come on the 939 platform)

 

[Crashman]

Last I checked this was a forum for enthusiast, need ECS even be mentioned here?

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: 1Crashman
Last I checked this was a forum for enthusiast, need ECS even be mentioned here?

Or Biostar, Shuttle, FIC, Tyan, AOpen, or God-forbid the anti-tweaking Intel?

 

[txxxx]

nForce2 250 will be hype IMHO, unless they manage to produce an IDE controller as good as SIS. SIS have a long history of superb IDE performance (such as my Sis735 )
I dont think the nForce 250 will be anything holding out for, as most of us know, most the hard work (memory controller work) is now done at the CPU die, and the Southbridge will not show any noticeable real world difference.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: txxxx
nForce2 250 will be hype IMHO, unless they manage to produce an IDE controller as good as SIS. SIS have a long history of superb IDE performance (such as my Sis735 )
I dont think the nForce 250 will be anything holding out for, as most of us know, most the hard work (memory controller work) is now done at the CPU die, and the Southbridge will not show any noticeable real world difference.

Unless the NF3 250 is radically different from the NF3 150, there isn't going to be a south bridge chip.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: txxxx
nForce2 250 will be hype IMHO, unless they manage to produce an IDE controller as good as SIS. SIS have a long history of superb IDE performance (such as my Sis735 )
I dont think the nForce 250 will be anything holding out for, as most of us know, most the hard work (memory controller work) is now done at the CPU die, and the Southbridge will not show any noticeable real world difference.

What I think has potential is the fact that it's got native SATA RAID, integrated firewalling capabilities and optional gigabit LAN, and both the SATA and gigabit LAN are free of the PCI bus... they ride the huge Hypertransport link right from the nF250 chip to the CPU, leaving the PCI bus available for other stuff.

Take a look at the current "deluxe" Athlon64 boards that are loaded with features, and begin counting the different controllers that are all fighting over the teensy-weentsy PCI bus. Typical: Gigabit Ethernet (capable of consuming the whole PCI bus all by itself), Serial ATA RAID controller, Firewire controller, audio... and I would be wanting to plug two Ultra160 SCSI controllers into this PCI bus too. Can you say traffic jam? That might sound like hair-splitting, but at work I would be working that GigE controller for all it's worth at times, and I don't want a compromise solution.

 

[Peter]

If you want that much I/O, then get something with AMD's chipset. That'll give you twin PCI-X busses in addition to AGP and legacy PCI. Yes it comes at a price. Tyan's 2885 for example is your friend.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Peter
If you want that much I/O, then get something with AMD's chipset. That'll give you twin PCI-X busses in addition to AGP and legacy PCI. Yes it comes at a price. Tyan's 2885 for example is your friend.

I do want one!! My work system serves a specific set of files on the LAN, most of which it can cache in RAM (it has 1.5GB at the moment). Having the gigE controller free from the PCI bus would still be a very good start, since the system can then pump the data straight from RAM to the NIC without bogging down the (32-bit) PCI bus.

I'm afraid the Tyan 2885 will remain out of my financial reach for a while. I work at a non-profit agency and provide my own work computer at my own expense, and although I like my job, I'm not making a lot of money. Maybe I'll get a raise sometime this year... :sun:

 

[Peter]

On the AMD chipset, there are two PCI-X busses, typically used for two or three slots and two/one onboard device. PCI-X runs at 133 MHz/64-bit with one device per bus, 100 with two, 66 with three.

When you're not about a workstation but a server, you don't need to use the 2885. You can then use a board that does not have the AGP tunnel chip on, like the 2880 or 2882. They have basic PCI graphics as well as dual U320 SCSI and dual Gbit Ethernet straight out of the box.

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: txxxx
nForce2 250 will be hype IMHO, unless they manage to produce an IDE controller as good as SIS. SIS have a long history of superb IDE performance (such as my Sis735 )
I dont think the nForce 250 will be anything holding out for, as most of us know, most the hard work (memory controller work) is now done at the CPU die, and the Southbridge will not show any noticeable real world difference.

What I think has potential is the fact that it's got native SATA RAID, integrated firewalling capabilities and optional gigabit LAN, and both the SATA and gigabit LAN are free of the PCI bus... they ride the huge Hypertransport link right from the nF250 chip to the CPU, leaving the PCI bus available for other stuff.

Take a look at the current "deluxe" Athlon64 boards that are loaded with features, and begin counting the different controllers that are all fighting over the teensy-weentsy PCI bus. Typical: Gigabit Ethernet (capable of consuming the whole PCI bus all by itself), Serial ATA RAID controller, Firewire controller, audio... and I would be wanting to plug two Ultra160 SCSI controllers into this PCI bus too. Can you say traffic jam? That might sound like hair-splitting, but at work I would be working that GigE controller for all it's worth at times, and I don't want a compromise solution.

Ooooh in that case

Having said that, many people buy there systems for performance, rather than features, which is sad

 

[mechBgon]

Hey, why aren't you a Dragon anymore! Now I'm going to be confused!

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Hey, why aren't you a Dragon anymore! Now I'm going to be confused!

I'm a transexual - Just forgot to update my icon
(just kidding)

 

[mechBgon]

Ahh, one of those technician-by-day, dragon-by-night types

 

[pspada]

Ah, it's because now his system feels like it's.....dragon.....

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: pspada
Ah, it's because now his system feels like it's.....dragon.....

LOL! Well then I had better switch to Snail whenever I'm at home (1800+ @ stock speed now)

Ok, that does it... I'd better go play some Mechwarrior4 Mercs at the Elite difficulty level to sober me up a bit