NVIDIA nForce4
CPU support	AMD64 Pentium 4
Socket support	Socket 939 Socket AM2 Socket 754 Socket T
Predecessor	nForce3
Successor	nForce 500

The nForce4 is a computer chipset released by NVIDIA in October, 2004. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors (Socket 939, AM2 and 754) and Intel Pentium 4 LGA775 processors. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) (pronounced ) is an American corporation specializing in the manufacture of GPU technologies for video cards, graphics cards, workstations, desktop computers, handhelds and more. ... Image File history File links nVidia nForce 4 logo File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... AMD64 Logo AMD64 (also x86-64 or x64) is a 64-bit microprocessor architecture and corresponding instruction set designed by Advanced Micro Devices. ... The Pentium 4[1] brand refers to Intels mainstream desktop and mobile single-core CPUs (introduced on November 20, 2000[2]) with the seventh-generation NetBurst architecture, which was the companys first all-new design since the Intel P6 of the Pentium Pro branded CPUs of 1995. ... Socket 939 was introduced by AMD in June 2004 to supersede the previous Socket 754 for Athlon 64 processors. ... The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 (to prevent using the same name as Cyrix MII processors), is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments. ... Socket 754 is a CPU socket originally developed by AMD to succeed its powerful Athlon XP platform (Socket 462, also referred to as Socket A). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... nVidia nForce3 logo The correct title of this article is nForce3. ... The nForce 500 computer chipset series, successor to the nForce4, was revealed by NVIDIA on 2006-03-07. ... Scheme of a chipset A chipset is a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together, and are usually marketed as a single product. ... NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) (pronounced ) is an American corporation specializing in the manufacture of GPU technologies for video cards, graphics cards, workstations, desktop computers, handhelds and more. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... AMD64 Logo AMD64 (also x86-64 or x64) is a 64-bit microprocessor architecture and corresponding instruction set designed by Advanced Micro Devices. ... Socket 939 was introduced by AMD in June 2004 to supersede the previous Socket 754 for Athlon 64 processors. ... The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 (to prevent using the same name as Cyrix MII processors), is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments. ... Socket 754 is a CPU socket originally developed by AMD to succeed its powerful Athlon XP platform (Socket 462, also referred to as Socket A). ... Intel redirects here. ... The Pentium 4[1] brand refers to Intels mainstream desktop and mobile single-core CPUs (introduced on November 20, 2000[2]) with the seventh-generation NetBurst architecture, which was the companys first all-new design since the Intel P6 of the Pentium Pro branded CPUs of 1995. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Models

nForce4/nForce4-4x

nForce4 is the second evolutional Northbridge/Southbridge (first is nForce3) Integrated chipset for AMD K8 CPUs. The Socket 754 version of the board has the HyperTransport link clocked to 800 MHz (6,4 GB/s transfer rate). Motherboards based on early revisions are mostly referred to as "nForce4-4x" (relating with their ability to handle HT speeds of 4x). Northbridge may refer to: Northbridge, Massachusetts Northbridge, New South Wales is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Northbridge, Western Australia is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, Australia. ... Southbridge may refer to: Southbridge, Massachusetts Southbridge (computing) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... nVidia nForce3 logo The correct title of this article is nForce3. ... Socket 754 is a CPU socket originally developed by AMD to succeed its powerful Athlon XP platform (Socket 462, also referred to as Socket A). ... HyperTransport logo HyperTransport (HT), formerly known as Lightning Data Transport (LDT), is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point to point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001. ... This article is about the SI unit of frequency. ...

Features

• Support for up to 20 PCI Express (PCIe) lanes (up to 38-40 lanes for the nForce4 SLI x16). Reference boards are setup with one x16 slot and three x1 slots, leaving 1 lane unused.
• Support for up to 10 USB 2.0 ports.
• Support for 4 SATA and 4 PATA drives, which can be linked together in any combination of SATA and PATA to form a RAID 0, 1, or 0+1.
• NVIDIA RAID Morphing, which allows conversion from one RAID type to another on the fly.
• NVIDIA nTune, a tool for easy overclocking and timing configurations.
• Eight-channel AC97 audio.
• Onboard Gigabit Ethernet.
• NVIDIA ActiveArmor, an onboard firewall solution. (Not available on regular nForce 4)
• Does not support Windows 98 or Windows Me.^[1]

PCI Express (formerly known as 3GIO for 3rd Generation I/O, not to be mistaken with PCI-X) is an implementation of the PCI computer bus that uses existing PCI programming concepts and communications standards, but bases it on a much faster serial communications system. ... “USB” redirects here. ... First generation (1. ... ATA connector on the left, with two motherboard ATA connectors on the right. ... For other uses, see Raid. ... In relation to computer technology, on the fly describes activities that develop or occur dynamically rather than as the result of something that is statically predefined. ... NVIDIA® nTune 5 is the utility for accessing, monitoring, and adjusting your system components, including temperature and voltages with clear, user-friendly control panels. ... AMD Athlon XP Overclocking BIOS Setup on ABIT NF7-S. FSB frequency (External clock) has increased from 133 MHz to 148 MHz, and clock multiplier factor has changed from 13. ... AC97 (short for Audio Codec 97) is Intel Corporations Audio Codec standard developed by the Intel Architecture Labs in 1997, and used mainly in motherboards (also known as on-board or integrated), modems, and sound cards. ... Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second, as defined by the IEEE 802. ... ActiveArmor is a hardware firewall designed by nVidia thats built in in their higher range nForce4 Ultra chipset motherboards. ... Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis and formerly known as Windows 97[2]) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. ... Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (IPA pronunciation: [miː], [ɛm iː]), is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft. ...

nForce4 Ultra

The Ultra version contains all of the features of the nForce4-4x version with the addition of:^[2]

• Hardware processing for the ActiveArmor to reduce CPU load.
• Full 1000 MHz speed on HyperTransport (8 GB/s transfer rate).
• 300MB/s transfer speeds for Serial-ATA II drives (SATA II interface).

Enthusiasts discovered early after the release of nForce4 Ultra that the chipset was identical to nForce4 SLI other than a single resistor on the chip package itself. By modifying this resistor as the SLI is configured, an Ultra can be turned into a SLI.^[3] ActiveArmor is a hardware firewall designed by nVidia thats built in in their higher range nForce4 Ultra chipset motherboards. ... HyperTransport logo HyperTransport (HT), formerly known as Lightning Data Transport (LDT), is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point to point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001. ... First generation (1. ...

nForce4 SLI

The SLI version has all the features of the Ultra version, in addition to SLI (Scalable Link Interface). This interface allows two video cards to be connected together to produce a single output. This can theoretically double framerates by splitting work between the two GPUs. For other meanings of SLI, please see SLI. NVIDIA SLI Logo Scalable Link Interface (SLI) is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by NVIDIA for linking two (or more) video cards together to produce a single output. ... For other meanings of SLI, please see SLI. NVIDIA SLI Logo Scalable Link Interface (SLI) is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by NVIDIA for linking two (or more) video cards together to produce a single output. ... “GPU” redirects here. ...

On a standard (non x16) nForce4 SLI motherboard, the system can be configured to provide an x16 slot for one graphics board or twin x8 slots for the SLI configuration. A jumper bank must be altered to set these options.^[4]

nForce4 SLI Intel Edition

Unlike its AMD Athlon64 brethren, the Intel Edition is an older chipset as it has both a northbridge and southbridge. As with the older nForce2 chipsets, NVIDIA calls the northbridge the "System Platform Processor" (SPP) and the southbridge the "Media and Communications Processor" (MCP). This change in design was necessitated because, unlike the Athlon64/Opteron, the Pentium 4 does not have an on-board memory controller thus requiring NVIDIA to include one in the chipset like in older nForce2. In addition to supporting Pentium 4 processors (with up to a 1066 MHz FSB) the chipset includes support for DDR2 SDRAM. Also like NVIDIA's older chipsets, the MCP and SPP communicate through a Hypertransport link, in this case only at (1.6 GB/s. transfer rate) Apart from these differences, the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition shares the same features as the regular nForce4 SLI.^[5] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The nForce2 Chipset was released by NVIDIA in July of 2002 as a refresh to the original nForce product offering. ... The Pentium 4[1] brand refers to Intels mainstream desktop and mobile single-core CPUs (introduced on November 20, 2000[2]) with the seventh-generation NetBurst architecture, which was the companys first all-new design since the Intel P6 of the Pentium Pro branded CPUs of 1995. ... In computers, the front side bus (FSB) or system bus is the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all electronic signal information between the central processing unit (CPU) and the northbridge. ... “DDR2” redirects here. ...

An oddity of the Intel Edition is the fact that while it works with the Pentium D 830 (3.0 GHz) and 840 (3.2 GHz), as well as the Extreme Edition of the 840, it does not work with the Pentium D 820 (2.8 GHz) because the 820 has a much lower current draw than the 830 and 840. Attempting to boot an Intel Edition board with an 820 will cause it to shut down so as to avoid damaging the processor. NVIDIA have stated that they do not consider the 820 to be an enthusiast (because it is older) processor, and as such will not be enabling support for it.^[6] However, the nForce4 SLI X16 supports it. Pentium D logo as of 2006. ... Pentium Extreme Edition brand logo // Smithfield Pentium Extreme Edition is the brand name given to a series of Intel microprocessors introduced during the 2nd Quarter 2005 Intel Developers Forum, not to be confused with the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (an earlier, single-core processor occupying the same niche). ...

nForce4 SLI x16

The nForce4 SLI x16 has similar features to the nForce4 SLI, except it now provides 16 PCI-Express lanes to both graphics cards in a SLI configuration (as opposed to only 8 lanes per graphics card with the original SLI chipset). This is the only version of the nForce4 for AMD processors that has a separate northbridge and southbridge. It comprises the existing nForce4 MCP for the southbridge and a new AMD nForce4 System Platform Processor (SPP). The two chips are connected via the HyperTransport link. This solution provides 38 PCI-Express lanes in total, and can be divided over 7 slots. It is also available for Intel processors, whereby it provides 40 PCI-Express lanes, which can be divided over 9 slots.

Performance gains from the extra 8 PCI-express lanes per graphics card have been proven to be marginal for the current generation of games. They are for now considered a "marketing point only", however professional graphics cards (Quadro) do show promise in professional applications for the extra lanes.^[7]

Southbridges

nForce410/430

The nForce410 and nForce430 refers to two nForce4 based southbridges which are used together with GeForce 6100/6150 series northbridges to form a chipset with integrated graphics. The combination is a follow-up to the popular nForce2 IGP chipset. The GeForce 6 Series is nVidias newest series of graphics processors. ... The nForce2 Chipset was released by NVIDIA in July of 2002 as a refresh to the original nForce product offering. ...

Flaws

NVIDIA's nForce4 chipset suffers from several unresolved issues. First and foremost, the ActiveArmor hardware firewall is nearly non-functional, with many unsolved bugs and potentially serious instability. Installing ActiveArmor can cause BSODs for users of certain software, especially peer-to-peer file sharing applications. Some programs, such as μTorrent, go so far as to have warning messages about using NVIDIA's firewall in combination with their software. ActiveArmor also has a high probability of causing corruption of file downloads. NVIDIA has been unable to solve these issues and points to hardware bugs within the chipset itself; problems which they are unable to work around. To resolve the corruption and instability problems, NVIDIA has disabled the chipset's much-touted TCP Offload Engine in later drivers.^[8] This effectively eliminates the firewall's performance advantage over other software-based solutions. Many users also continue to claim that ActiveArmor is simply non-functional as a firewall. Users refer to continued unpredictable stability issues. Communication between NVIDIA and enthusiasts continues to slowly address the problems.^[9] However, the ActiveArmor feature has been discontinued in future NVIDIA chipsets. ActiveArmor is a hardware firewall designed by nVidia thats built in in their higher range nForce4 Ultra chipset motherboards. ... ActiveArmor is a hardware firewall designed by nVidia thats built in in their higher range nForce4 Ultra chipset motherboards. ... A blue screen of death as seen in Windows XP and Vista. ... A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ... TCP Offload Engine or TOE is a technology for the acceleration of TCP/IP, specifically by moving TCP/IP processing to a separate dedicated sub-system from the main host CPU, the overall system TCP/IP performance is improved. ...

The nForce4 chipset has also been blamed for issues with PCI cards, related to NVIDIA's implementation of the PCI bus. RME Audio, a maker of professional audio equipment, has stated that the latency of the PCI bus is unreliable and that the chipset's PCI Express interface can "hog" system data transfer resources when intense video card usage is occurring. This has the effect of causing audible pops and clicks with PCI sound cards.^[10] Gamers have noticed this effect, especially with Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi and Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound cards. Compatibility issues between these sound cards and nForce4 motherboards have been ongoing, even following driver updates.^[11] Latency issues are more readily apparent with sound cards than other addon cards because of the direct user feedback the audio problems bring forward. 64-bit PCI expansion slots inside a Power Macintosh G4 The Peripheral Component Interconnect, or PCI Standard (in practice almost always shortened to PCI), specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. ... A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that can input and output sound under control of computer programs. ... Creative Technology Limited (SGX: C76, NASDAQ: CREAF) is a listed manufacturer of computer multimedia products based in Singapore where the firm was initially founded by Sim Wong Hoo (born 1955) on July 1, 1981. ... Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro 8-channel digital-to-analog converter Cirrus Logic CS4382 placed on Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty 4-channel stereo multiplexed analog-to-digital converter Wolfson Microelectronics WM8775SEDS placed on X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro 64 MB sound memory of Fatal1ty Pro brought by two... Sound Blaster Audigy 2 is a PCI sound card from Creative Technology. ...

The nForce4 chipset also has serious issues with RAID. There seems to be some sort of incompatibilty between the RAID controller's drivers and this chipset. The result is corrupt Windows XP boot up files. In forum after forum, end users complain of being unable to start their computers due to corrupt Windows XP boot up files if they have their computer in any sort of RAID configuration. While there are many entries on the internet on this matter, this problem is not publicly acknowledged in NVIDIA's knowledgebase.

References

External links

• NVIDIA: nForce4
• Anandtech: nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
• Techreport: NVIDIA's nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset