NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition

For a long time, it looked like NVIDIA was only going to have AMD chipsets, but last November, NVIDIA and Intel announced a partnership that enabled NVIDIA to release a motherboard chipset that supports Intel processors. For Intel fans wanting the great performance of nForce, the wait is now over. So what is the name of this new chipset? It is the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition.

"Why not call it nForce5?" you ask. Well, NVIDIA feels that this set of platform processors (or chipset) are not different enough from the AMD version to warrant a new name. Once you start looking at the details, it's easy to understand why NVIDIA made this decision. There are only several major differences in the AMD and Intel nForce4 platforms. One of these differences is the use of two chips, an MCP and an SPP (much like nForce2 and synonymous with a traditional northbridge and southbridge), for the Intel Edition instead of a single chip as seen on the nForce3 and nForce4 AMD boards. Unlike AMD Athlon 64 processors, Intel's latest LGA775 Prescott processors do not feature an integrated memory controller. Hence, the need for a second platform processor, the SPP, with a memory controller.

Like the Intel 925XE chipset, the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition will support a 1066MHz front side bus (FSB) and dual channel DDR2. As you would expect, the socket is Intel's latest, the LGA775. Additionally, the board supports NVIDIA's RAID and ActiveArmor firewall. One of the biggest impacts of this announcement and launch is the availability of SLI to Intel users. Now, AMD and Intel fans can enjoy the highest gaming performance available.

A couple of other nForce improvements that NVIDIA is promoting with this launch are MediaShield and the new version of nTune. MediaShield basically refers to NVIDIA's RAID storage solutions and its ease of use. Version 2.5 of nTune is aimed at making consumers' lives a little easier by automating some system tweaking. I'll go into more detail on all of this stuff in the following pages so be sure to read on to learn more about nForce4 SLI Intel Edition.