Is this Nvidia nForce3 Professional the latest and greatest from Nvidia?

[jack]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce3.html

Just wondering, because I would like to build a new platform sometime
this year (mostly to do video editing, Photoshop work, and audio
ripping) and heard the current mobos/chipsets for the new Athlon64 just
aren't up to snuff as compared to say, the Intel 875. I don't have
anything against Inter per se, I just like what I see with the new AMD
technology.

Thoughts anyone? TIA.

J.

 

[jack]

: http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce3.html
:
I forgot to add that I really don't want a mobo with a VIA solution
(chipset), and as far as SIS is concerned well, fuhgettaboutit. Guess
that pretty much leaves Nvidia, right?

J.

 

[Tony Hill]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce3.html

Just wondering, because I would like to build a new platform sometime
this year (mostly to do video editing, Photoshop work, and audio
ripping) and heard the current mobos/chipsets for the new Athlon64 just
aren't up to snuff as compared to say, the Intel 875. I don't have
anything against Inter per se, I just like what I see with the new AMD
technology.

There are two models of the nVidia nForce3 chipset. The first is the
nForce3 150, released back in August or September. The newest is the
nForce3 250 that should start appearing in the next month or so. The
main difference between the two is that the 150 uses a slower
hypertransport speed to connect the processor to the chipset. The
newer 250 model runs this hypertransport link at full speed (1600MT/s
and 16-bits in either direction). The 250 also adds support for
Serial ATA natively, while with the 150 this had to be added through a
third-party chip hanging off the PCI bus.

Unfortunately nVidia doesn't exactly go to great lengths to
differentiate the two chipsets, you have to read the small print on
their product brochure to find the differences. However most
motherboard companies should specify what version of the chipset they
are using. I have yet to see any boards shipping with the newer 250
chipset, but they should be on their way before too long. Mind you,
the same thing was being said about these boards 3+ months ago...

Now, mind you, there is a question of just how much difference the new
chipset will make, and that's kind of tough to say. For some
applications it makes no difference at all, for others it seems to
make up to a 10% difference. Given that you're applications are
rather I/O intensive, I would guess that it would make about a 5%
difference on average, or about the same as one processor speed grade.

 

[jack]

:: http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce3.html
::
:: Just wondering, because I would like to build a new platform sometime
:: this year (mostly to do video editing, Photoshop work, and audio
:: ripping) and heard the current mobos/chipsets for the new Athlon64
:: just aren't up to snuff as compared to say, the Intel 875. I don't
:: have anything against Inter per se, I just like what I see with the
:: new AMD technology.
:
: There are two models of the nVidia nForce3 chipset. The first is the
: nForce3 150, released back in August or September. The newest is the
: nForce3 250 that should start appearing in the next month or so. The
: main difference between the two is that the 150 uses a slower
: hypertransport speed to connect the processor to the chipset. The
: newer 250 model runs this hypertransport link at full speed (1600MT/s
: and 16-bits in either direction). The 250 also adds support for
: Serial ATA natively, while with the 150 this had to be added through a
: third-party chip hanging off the PCI bus.
:
: Unfortunately nVidia doesn't exactly go to great lengths to
: differentiate the two chipsets, you have to read the small print on
: their product brochure to find the differences. However most
: motherboard companies should specify what version of the chipset they
: are using. I have yet to see any boards shipping with the newer 250
: chipset, but they should be on their way before too long. Mind you,
: the same thing was being said about these boards 3+ months ago...
:
: Now, mind you, there is a question of just how much difference the new
: chipset will make, and that's kind of tough to say. For some
: applications it makes no difference at all, for others it seems to
: make up to a 10% difference. Given that you're applications are
: rather I/O intensive, I would guess that it would make about a 5%
: difference on average, or about the same as one processor speed grade.
:
Thank you once again for your thorough (as usual) response, Tony. Where
are you getting this "5%" number (I realize you're shooting from the hip
here), and are you saying that when all is said in done, a new mobo
based on this chipset running an Athlon64 will only be "5%" faster (or
better) than the aforementioned Intel 875? Ack!!

J.

 

[Tony Hill]

: Now, mind you, there is a question of just how much difference the new
: chipset will make, and that's kind of tough to say. For some
: applications it makes no difference at all, for others it seems to
: make up to a 10% difference. Given that you're applications are
: rather I/O intensive, I would guess that it would make about a 5%
: difference on average, or about the same as one processor speed grade.
:
Thank you once again for your thorough (as usual) response, Tony. Where
are you getting this "5%" number (I realize you're shooting from the hip
here), and are you saying that when all is said in done, a new mobo
based on this chipset running an Athlon64 will only be "5%" faster (or
better) than the aforementioned Intel 875? Ack!!

Sorry about the confusion! I was saying that the nForce3 250 will
probably be "about 5%" faster than the nForce3 150 for the sort of
work you're likely to do, though you are correct in that I'm very much
shooting from the hip here. I haven't actually seen much in the way
of direct comparisons between the two, so about the best I've had to
go on is looking how the two chipsets do relative to VIA's K8 chipset.

Generally speaking, the 250 is pretty much equal to VIA's K8T800 while
the 150 is a bit slower in I/O and graphics intensive operations.
Since most of the stuff you mentioned is reasonably I/O and graphics
intensive, I threw out that 5% number.

In comparison to the i875 it's REALLY tough to judge, since you've got
a LOT of variables involved. The P4/i875 platform could easily be 30%
faster on one task and 30% slower on another task relative to the
Athlon64/nForce3 combo. In general they are pretty darn close, but
different applications can show noticeable variations. There are
quite a number of reviews of these two chips up on the web, you might
want to have a look at a few of them to try and see which is likely to
be faster for your applications.