NVIDIA nForce Professional

[Megatomic]

I was performing my daily ritual of looking for new nForce drivers when I came across this:

NVIDIA nForce Professional
NVIDIA nForce Pro Technical Specifications

Have you all heard about this? I'm more about the workstation than the gaming rig these days. I am really intrigued by this chipset, I might even go for a single opteron workstation board based on the 2200 chipset. I could then get a 2xx chip and leave myself open to expanding into a dual opteron system later.

Any thoughts?

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I was performing my daily ritual of looking for new nForce drivers when I came across this:

NVIDIA nForce Professional
NVIDIA nForce Pro Technical Specifications

Have you all heard about this? I'm more about the workstation than the gaming rig these days. I am really intrigued by this chipset, I might even go for a single opteron workstation board based on the 2200 chipset. I could then get a 2xx chip and leave myself open to expanding into a dual opteron system later.

Any thoughts?

No! I never heard of this! Maybe anadtech should put it on the front page! :roll:

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: aeternitas

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I was performing my daily ritual of looking for new nForce drivers when I came across this:

NVIDIA nForce Professional
NVIDIA nForce Pro Technical Specifications

Have you all heard about this? I'm more about the workstation than the gaming rig these days. I am really intrigued by this chipset, I might even go for a single opteron workstation board based on the 2200 chipset. I could then get a 2xx chip and leave myself open to expanding into a dual opteron system later.

Any thoughts?

No! I never heard of this! Maybe anadtech should put it on the front page! :roll:

By front page maybe you meant:

THIS?

I'm sure everyone here checks the front page of AnandTech before they check the forums, too. Everyone but me that is. Foolish me. Be all that as it may, I see no discussions here regarding the new chipsets. Let's get something going.

 

[SunSamurai]

YES thats the one

Indeed I wouldent mind a quad setup. I just dont know how well XP can handle it. Maybe Linux? Though, no motherboard made right now fits what I want. They all have weaknessess. I guess thats how they make money.

 

[RAINFIRE]

Tyan's offerings:

http://www.tyan.com/html/pr05_s2891s2891.html



Iwill's offering in the nForce4 Pro:

http://www.iwill.net/sppage/2004_10/2004_10.htm



I got the 2 spec sheets from Foxconn on their Winfast NF4PIK8AA-8EKRS Socket 940 motherboard. It is nForce4 Pro board that is dual-core ready. Check them out here. They are PDF files:

http://www.fx-55.com/NF4PIK8AA...aunch_Kit_Jan_2005.pdf

http://www.fx-55.com/NF4PIK8AA-8EKRS.pdf

For sale here: http://www.3gplaza.com/estore/...roductdetails?id=34096

Enjoy!

 

[nemiAMD]

Looks like a pretty amazing development. I think you have to hand it to AMD for going with Hypertransport. Looks like it is really working out well in the long run.

At this rate there will be Hypertransport LEGO(TM) - just get your hypertransport CPU and hypertransport I/O controllers and Memory "blocks" and mesh them in any arangement you like.

 

[Peter]

... and here we go. HyperTransport LEGO, stage two: Dual Opterons, NForce4pro twin set, AMD 8131 PCI-X tunnel.

http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8we.html

 

[Megatomic]

Regarding the "LEGO" idea, wasn't that a part of the big picture from the get go? I seem to remember hearing that as a purported feature and I'm glad they're finally doing it.

 

[Megatomic]

I think I'll enumerate what I think I'm waiting for:

1x Opteron CPU socket
1x PCI-E x16 slot
5 PCI slots
4x DIMM slots that will run DDR400 when fully loaded
4x SATA ports (w/ RAID5)
2x IDE ports
Both firewire and USB2.0 onboard
GbE
Quality onboard sound codec (yeah, right)

What are my chances of seeing such a board based on the nForce Professional chipsets?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

This could seriously assist AMD to capture a significantly larger share of the server market, and with nV being far better at spinning and promoting it bodes well. The article alludes to Intel being unable to match it short-term so they should hire M.C. Hammer on the cheap and go with a "Can't touch this!" ad campaign :laugh:

 

[Peter]

Megatomic: Opterons with "Registered" DIMMs have always been doing DDR400 even with four double sided DIMMs. That's what the register chiplets are about - reduce load on the common bus.

Five PCI slots? Obsoleeeeeeeete. Besides, you can stick your PCI stuff into PCI-X slots alright. As long as it isn't really old PCI gear that is 5V-only.

 

[Megatomic]

Thanks Peter. I'm very uninformed regarding workstation motherboards. So PCI-X is compatible with standard PCI eh? That's very good to know. So will there be boards that have both PCI-E and PCI-X in a standard ATX format (ie will fit in my Antec Sonata)?

And LOL to DAPUNISHER.

 

[Megatomic]

Ahhh, something I didn't consider: a dual cored Opteron in the above board I'm dreaming of. That would be pretty damn cool and really powerful.

 

[Megatomic]

I'm surprised this topic is generating more discussion than it is.

 

[Megatomic]

It's a sad day when a man has to bump a thread in the Motherboards forum.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It will probably be my next upgrade. I have a dual opteron system and I will be adding a RAID5 array next week so by the time I am ready/need SCSI I will go for a nF Pro+ a couple of whatever the low-end of dual cores is. Just need to see confirmation you can use the nV utility or bios to overclock and I'll be allocating funds for the pruchase.