Nforce4 SLI

[schuy1]

Well, I gave into temptation and decided to replace my "old" Nforce3 Ultra board from Giga-byte with a brand new shiny Nforce 4 SLI board from Giga-Byte. Theres good, and then theres bad, the good is that the board has had no problems (besides a raid driver utility that will not start if the active armor firewall is on) and it comes loaded to the hilt with goodies, the downside is, after leaving my 9700pro, and gak8ns 939 ultra board, I was expecting to see some nice leaps in benches. I was thoroughly let down, maybe a few humdred points in pcmark04, and even less in 3dmark. I just wanted people to think twice if they get the upgrade bug. I should have saved my cash. Not bashing the board, its a great board, just didnt give the results. - TySky

 

[tweebel]

What exactly are your current specs?

 

[schuy1]

Giga-byte K8NXP-SLI Nforce 4
A64 3000+
2xHitachi Deskstar 80gb sata raid 0
16xdual layer dvdrw
SB Audigy2zs
1gb(512x2) PQI Turbo Series ddr400 2.5-3-3-8
PEG-MSI-Geforce6600GT
nothing oc'd, all on stock cooling.
all serial/parallel ports off.

 

[pat]

only games that have their profils for SLI programmed in drivers will actually beneficiate from SLI. So, you just get nothing more if there were no profile for the game or benchmark you play, you wont see speed increase... just that.

Look at hardocp web site, or at nvidia, they have a list of the few games that benefit from SLI.



-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[schuy1]

I do not have the setup in sli as of yet, I am waaayyy to poor for that, I was speaking soley based on going from one generation of chipset to the "new-improved" nforce4. I figured there would be some increase in performance. Thats all.

 

[tweebel]

You shouldn't expect a difference in chipsets with the A64. The main reason why newer chipsets are faster is because of a new memory controller. Because the memory controller is on the chip with the A64 a new chipset doesn't have much room for performance increasement. The only thing that'll help is memory-fine tuning and a good lay-out with short connections.

 

[schuy1]

Ok, well thanks for your input tweeble. I guess on the bright side, I have some sort of "future proofing" with SLI, if game manu's keep making games that support it.

 

[pat]

nforce4 is just nforce3 with PCIe. So, your 9700 was a good card, and that is why you dont see that much difference with the PCIe 6600 card.

But at least, you'll be ready for future card when needed.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[schuy1]

Oh dont get me wrong, the board is great. Solid, fast, and packed fulla goodies in the box. I guess I should have done some homework before dishin out the cash, but what the heck. Its a nice board, and I have pcie. If anyone is looking at getting a sli board, they should seriously consider the giga-byte board, I got it for $185, alot cheaper than the asus equivalant, and its packed with goodies. Im happy just was expecting a gain.

 

[Cybercraig]

Would you do me a favor? Run Aquamark3 and post your score. I am thinking about getting the AGP version of that vid-card.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[schuy1]

Hey Craig, here ya go.
Aquamark3 test ran with 1024x768x32 //AA-off// Aniso-4x//
Detail-Very High// the GFX score was 7,248, Cpu, 8,398 and Tri Scpre of 50,630

 

[Cybercraig]

Not bad! Stick some Vdimm to that pig and pop it up to 2.2ghz. You should get there easily.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot