I noticed a discussion on AMDmb forums on this and I thought I'd ask the same question here. Basically, what would you think of a non-Video IGP? Would it be worth buying over 266A and 735? Here's what I think. I think nForce is a great product overall. It's performance, no matter what anyone says, is at worst 3% slower than KT266A. The main place where nForce loses to KT266A is in Gaming. Their AGP controller just can't beat VIA's mature one. True, it does have issues. The memory issue, I think would be easily solved if mobo makers would ditch the 3rd slot so it's simpler to end users (Abit's allready done it on their mATX board) and also if mobo makers added a SuperStability option in the BIOS, everything would be fine. The overclocking, with a AGP Card, is definately an issue, and is very unfortunate and it for some users may be worth ditching nForce because of it. Now on price. I think that the main thing is that it just needs to come down a tad more. I think that unless a user needs RAID, it would be very difficult for a user to take a A7V266-E over an A7N266-E if the A7N266-E was around $160 or so (where the K7N420 Pro is now) while the A7V266-E and Dragon+ are cheapest at $150.
Is nForce for everyone? NO! I think that one main thing must happen, and that is overclocking with an AGP card must be improved, or Abit pull a trick out of their bag, and make an nForce board that has the same feature that SD7 has (PCI locking, which in turn would lock the AGP bus as well). If that were to happen, and a nForce 220 or 420 board were to hit $150 or so, it would be very much worth it. nForce will definately get better, and even if it were to keep the integrated stuff, I think that a new giant has been born with nForce. nVidia is definately here to stay, and one day they may just take VIA's place in the chipset market. We'll now, enough of that.
About a new nForce. It would definately be popular. The removal of the Integrated video should make it handle fsb overclocking better because Ace Hardware's conclusion was that the Int. Video was degrading the signal integrity of the AGP slot and that was the culprit. So, a nForce without video, could be a massive hit, and would considering that it would be an IGP 64(no need for Dual Channels without a vid card to power) based, it would start at KT266a board prices($150 or so), and eventually make its way down to $110-130, and still with the better than Audigy sound and NIC, and overclocking friendly. It would be great, and I would DEFINATELY buy such a chipset for someone that needs a GeForce3 (of course, I'm planning on buying a 420-D anyway), seriously, that could be a big success for the enthusiast. Would nVidia do it?
Probably no. Their whole philosphy is that with all the on-board stuff, it decreases the workload of the CPU (not that we need more CPU power), and not only that, but OEM's aren't dumb. MicronPC is shipping a nForce 420-D system with a GF3 Ti500, and they wouldn't stick with 420-D if a non-video nForce were avialable. They would still be able to market it as nForce, but sales on 420-D would drop even lower. It would be great, and would be a killer.
Now for something I noticed at this thread. This guy posted a link to a store in the uk called VGI Computers. Take a look under Hot news, 5th of January.
<< We have been told about a new version of the Asus A7N266 board that should be available at the end of the month. Known as the A7N266C, it will have Dolby digital 5.1 sound, on board LAN but NO onboard graphics. We have added it to our on line catalog. >>
Now that really intrigued me. nVidia has not given any indication that they allready took the initiative to make a non-video IGP. Asus may or may not have had help. I dunno. As I said in that thread, Asus may be just taking an IGP 64, and simply not running the traces to the back for a Video Port and probably selling it at the price of a non-video IGP. Sure they'll lose money, but Asus will be able to take it. What do you guys think of this? It's kinda sketchy, but that sounds very intriuging and II'd keep an eye out for it. Sorry for rambling on, to sum up. nForce is definately a winner for a good amount of people, but not for everyone. If nVidia makes a couple changes, it will be a hit among the enthusiasts as well.
So what do you think?
Is nForce for everyone? NO! I think that one main thing must happen, and that is overclocking with an AGP card must be improved, or Abit pull a trick out of their bag, and make an nForce board that has the same feature that SD7 has (PCI locking, which in turn would lock the AGP bus as well). If that were to happen, and a nForce 220 or 420 board were to hit $150 or so, it would be very much worth it. nForce will definately get better, and even if it were to keep the integrated stuff, I think that a new giant has been born with nForce. nVidia is definately here to stay, and one day they may just take VIA's place in the chipset market. We'll now, enough of that.
About a new nForce. It would definately be popular. The removal of the Integrated video should make it handle fsb overclocking better because Ace Hardware's conclusion was that the Int. Video was degrading the signal integrity of the AGP slot and that was the culprit. So, a nForce without video, could be a massive hit, and would considering that it would be an IGP 64(no need for Dual Channels without a vid card to power) based, it would start at KT266a board prices($150 or so), and eventually make its way down to $110-130, and still with the better than Audigy sound and NIC, and overclocking friendly. It would be great, and I would DEFINATELY buy such a chipset for someone that needs a GeForce3 (of course, I'm planning on buying a 420-D anyway), seriously, that could be a big success for the enthusiast. Would nVidia do it?
Probably no. Their whole philosphy is that with all the on-board stuff, it decreases the workload of the CPU (not that we need more CPU power), and not only that, but OEM's aren't dumb. MicronPC is shipping a nForce 420-D system with a GF3 Ti500, and they wouldn't stick with 420-D if a non-video nForce were avialable. They would still be able to market it as nForce, but sales on 420-D would drop even lower. It would be great, and would be a killer.
Now for something I noticed at this thread. This guy posted a link to a store in the uk called VGI Computers. Take a look under Hot news, 5th of January.
<< We have been told about a new version of the Asus A7N266 board that should be available at the end of the month. Known as the A7N266C, it will have Dolby digital 5.1 sound, on board LAN but NO onboard graphics. We have added it to our on line catalog. >>
Now that really intrigued me. nVidia has not given any indication that they allready took the initiative to make a non-video IGP. Asus may or may not have had help. I dunno. As I said in that thread, Asus may be just taking an IGP 64, and simply not running the traces to the back for a Video Port and probably selling it at the price of a non-video IGP. Sure they'll lose money, but Asus will be able to take it. What do you guys think of this? It's kinda sketchy, but that sounds very intriuging and II'd keep an eye out for it. Sorry for rambling on, to sum up. nForce is definately a winner for a good amount of people, but not for everyone. If nVidia makes a couple changes, it will be a hit among the enthusiasts as well.
So what do you think?
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