What is the difference between nforce 4 standard and nforce 4 ultra

[leigh6]

Thanks in advance, Leigh

 

[WildHorse]

...............................SLI....Sil3114...FrontX....Diagnostic LED
.........................................................................Connector
[*]nF4 SLI-DR...........Yes...Yes........Yes.........Yes
[*]UT nF4 SLI-DR......Yes....Yes........No..........No
[*]UT nF4 SLI-D........Yes....No.........No..........No
[*]UT nF4 Ultra-D.......No....No.........No..........No

This is out of my DFI User's Manual.

 

[leigh6]

Sorry,

l must be missing something. That looks like all of them have nforce 4 ultra chipsets.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Yeah.

Here goes:
NF4 (Standard) doesn't have SATA II, ActiveArmor (firewall), Firewire
NF4 Ultra has those features.
NF4 SLi means 2 nVIdia graphics cards.

-The Penitum Guy

 

[leigh6]

Thanks,

So the performance of the 2 chipsets are equal. It is just "options" that are different?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Yep. Performance is definately on par with each other.

 

[M0RPH]

The Ultra chipset gives you 1000MHz HyperTransport versus 800MHz for the non Ultra version. I'm not sure how this affects performance though.

 

[leigh6]

Here are the specs for an Abit AN8: I think it does support 1000mhz transport, but it is a non ultra n-force 4 chipset.

Supported CPU: AMD Athlon 64/64FX 939-pin K8 CPU
Chipset: NVIDIA NF4 single chip
FSB: 2000MHz
RAM: 4x 184-pin DIMM for Dual channel DDR 400/333/266 (Max. 4GB)
IDE: 2x Ultra ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x PCI-E X16, 2x PCI-E X1, 3x PCI, 1x Abit Audio Slot
Ports: 2x PS/2, 1x IEEE1394a, SPDIF In/Out, 10x USB2.0(Rear 4), 1x LAN, Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: 6 Channel Audio
Onboard LAN: Gigabit Ethernet
Onboard 1394: 2x IEEE1394a(Rear 1)
Onboard SATA/RAID: 4x SATA150, RAID 0/1/0+1 JBOD
Form Factor: ATX

So confused, but it means it is just another day.

 

[ExpertNovice]

This may also help.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/05/16/nvidia_sli_pt1/1.html

 

[The Pentium Guy]

800mhz vsz 1000mhz FSB makes *NO* difference

 

[M0RPH]

Read Anandtech's overview below. Notice where it says "The big disadvantage of the vanilla nF4 chipset is that it only supports 800 Hyper Transport." If it doesn't make any difference to performance, then why is Anand citing it as a disadvantage? I'd really like to know.

The following is from here:

nForce4 - the basic value chipset for 939 and754. This is the chipset that you will likely find in Socket 754 and low-end Socket 939 boards selling for less than $100. The nF4 is targeted at value boards, but it still includes on-chip gigabit Ethernet capabilities, support for 10 USB, full nVidia "any drive" Raid capabilities, support for nVidia Firewall 2.0, and support for the nTune Performance Utility. Four SATA drives are supported at current 1.5GB/s speeds plus four PATA (IDE) devices. The big disadvantage of the vanilla nF4 chipset is that it only supports 800 Hyper Transport. In addition, the HT bus is locked on the basic nF4 to prevent overclocking of the Hyper Transport. This means that the basic nForce4 is not a good choice for the enthusiast, who is better served by the Ultra and SLI chipsets.

nForce4 Ultra - the mainstream nF4 designed for boards that will sell in the $100 to $150 price range. In addition to nF4 features, you will find full support for an unlocked 1000 Hyper Transport, support for 3Gb/s SATA drives, and nVidia's secure networking engine, which is called ActiveArmor.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

For the enthusiast/overclocker, you're right. Higher FSB could help you out in getting better clocks. But in terms of 'raw speed' @ stock, the performance difference is minimal. Hope that clarifies it.

-TPG

 

[M0RPH]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
For the enthusiast/overclocker, you're right. Higher FSB could help you out in getting better clocks. But in terms of 'raw speed' @ stock, the performance difference is minimal. Hope that clarifies it.

-TPG

First you say "*NO* difference" and then you say "the performance difference is minimal." So which is it? You don't really know, do you?

And we're talking about HyperTransport speed, not FSB. They are two different things.

 

[hans007]

nforce 4x 939 boards have 1000 bus.

they usually refer to the 800 bus since the nforce4 4x was originally designed to be used on socket 754 where all chips have 800bus.


the sata150/sata300 thing there is no difference since drives only put out about 70 mbps max for the fastest drives. and the firewall thing is not really performance related.

 

[ExpertNovice]

Originally posted by: M0RPH

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
For the enthusiast/overclocker, you're right. Higher FSB could help you out in getting better clocks. But in terms of 'raw speed' @ stock, the performance difference is minimal. Hope that clarifies it.

-TPG

First you say "*NO* difference" and then you say "the performance difference is minimal." So which is it? You don't really know, do you?

And we're talking about HyperTransport speed, not FSB. They are two different things.

I would suggest that most people here are trying to give practical and friendly advice rather than trying to write an exacting white paper. Thus, "no difference" would suggest "no noticible difference" or possibly "no practical difference" or something along those lines.

Similar to when someone says "everyone was there" they don't really mean everyone on the planet showed up.

 

[grooge]

Originally posted by: M0RPH
Read Anandtech's overview below. Notice where it says "The big disadvantage of the vanilla nF4 chipset is that it only supports 800 Hyper Transport." If it doesn't make any difference to performance, then why is Anand citing it as a disadvantage? I'd really like to know.

The following is from here:

www.neoseeker.com ha an article where they compare the HT bus and differences started to appear at 600 (3x) MHz.. higher than that, difference where unoticable.

Neoseeker test

 

[Concillian]

The other issue with the plain NF4 chipset is that there are no motherboard manufacturers that make a motherboard with the plain NF4 that has the overclocking options we're used to.

A regular NF4 chipset is great if you want stock speeds and no frills.

As has been covered by previous observations and more recently the Neoseeker comparison, differences in HT speed are completely negligible.

 

[Chode Messiah]

get an ultra, it's worth the $$$$. Get a DFI if you are gonna overclock. I heard Abit Fatal1tys are good overclcokers as well.

 

[Amplifier]

The Pentium Guy's post count is at 666, coincidence?