NForce 4 or NForce 500?

[UnheardEcho]

I'm looking to build a new socket AM2 system and I don't know whether to go with the NForce 4 or NForce 500 chipset. I'm looking at ASUS models and aside from costing a bit more, I can't see any obvious must have features of the 500. I'm looking to maintain upgrade potential, but if it's all the same (I don't plan on overclocking) I'd just as soon get the NForce 4. Is the nbrand new 500 the way to go for the future? Thanks for any advice.

 

[River Side]

u'd have to wait and see.. like i'm doing right now.. reviewers everywhere are just too damn busy with Conroe and it's boards.. no one's giving AM2 any review time.. we desperately need an AM2 buying guide to see the differences between the AM2 chipsets, the mobos and their overclockability etc..

 

[OBCT]

The nForce 500 series is a piece of crap. It's the same exact thing as nForce 4, with a few extra meaningless features to lure people into going for the pricier motherboards. If you aren't planning on using SLI, then an nForce 4 Ultra is all you need. Epox makes a nice board with it for AM2.

 

[UnheardEcho]

Thanks for the advice so far. Unfortunately my main computer crapped out on me so I can't really afford to wait and see how things develop. I don't plan on running SLI immediately, but I'd like to have it as an option to upgrade in the future. Wouldn't nF4 be suitable for SLI in this capacity?

The two choices I've been looking at are these:
ASUS nForce 4 SLI
ASUS nForce 500

 

[OBCT]

Yeah, the nForce SLI X16 is about the same as the nForce 590, but without the extra crap for extra money. The dual gigabit LAN is completely overrated. What network, short of NASA, runs at 2gb/s?

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: OBCT
Yeah, the nForce SLI X16 is about the same as the nForce 590, but without the extra crap for extra money. The dual gigabit LAN is completely overrated. What network, short of NASA, runs at 2gb/s?

Depends on what you are doing with that system. I personally have a gigabit lan up and running and use the dual gigabit truncation features. I am sure anyone who has this in a network shared system running high speed raid disk arrays will get a boost from using the 2x gigabit.

 

[UnheardEcho]

Disregarding the price factor, if it were pick one or the other, with no other factors involved, it would be more wise to buy the newer part right? I'm beginning to think that $50 is relatively small in order to get a newer generation part.

 

[Captante]

I'd go with an NForce 4 at this point because most of the 500 seris boards are very immature & from what Ive read only the high-end models are having their problems attended to in a timely manner...if the M2N-E I've been messing with for 2 weeks is any example, this is 100% true.

 

[gobucks]

to be fair, nforce5 boards have HD audio, which is a big selling point for me - it means you don't have to shell out extra for an x-fi.