Nforce 4 Motherboards

[Omega65]

The Inquirer
EPoX (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19108)
Asus (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19087)
MSI (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19026)

[Omega65]

Msi

[primesuspect]

When we find out which board is going to be the "NF7-S v2" of the 939/64 platform, I'm moving to 64bit :D

[Cyclonite]

I'm with prime. :)

[Gobbles]

I to am with Prime..

[Thrax]

Ditto. I've been holding out for the nForce4 for a long time. The K8T800/K8T800 Pro/nForce3 ULTRA/nForce3 250GB business is shady. If it's a good chipset, nobody I like is making it, or it's s754.

[lemonlime]

Looks like there should be some exciting products based on this chipset. I'm happy that Soundstorm is returning. :thumbsup:

[Justin]

Where is the Abit offering anyway?

[TheSmJ]

The guy who designed the NF7-S moved over to DFI, which may or may not mean they will have the next "killer board".

I'm waiting for the next gen NF7-S equiv. myself, and only after it's been through a few revisions.

And as far as I know, the NForce4 doesn't have Soundstorm. Isn't this the case?

It'd also be f*ing awesome if the NForce5 chipset has AGP support, as I would rather not replace my motherboard, CPU, memory, AND video card all in one bite. Though, I'm not holding my breath...

[Thrax]

nForce4 has soundstorm.

[paroxym]

I don't know how soon we'll be seeing these nForce4 boards but I'm kind of worried about the lack of AGP slots on those pictures there. Things arent looking so hot for a person like myself who not to long ago upgraded to a 6800GT of the AGP variety. :wtf:

[EQuito]

Where is the Abit offering anyway?These were shown at Comdex early this year.

[danball1976]

These were shown at Comdex early this year.

Hmm, a nice looking board, ABIT does always seem to do a little overkill on their first generation boards, and its SATA only. BTW, I saw a Western Digital SATA 10000RPM 74GB Raptor at the BX for sale.

Thats odd, only once chip between the PCI, AGP, memory and CPU. Does that have anything to do with the fact that the AMD 64bit CPU's have the memory controller integrated into them?

[lemonlime]

Is it just me or is the placement of the nforce chip on that abit pretty bad? I think aftermarket chipset coolers are pretty much out of the question on that board unless you have a really short graphics card :(

[Omega65]

Hmm, a nice looking board, ABIT does always seem to do a little overkill on their first generation boards, and its SATA only.

I doubt that it's SATA only. There's about a inch of real estate missing from the bottom of the board. The SATA ports are half obscured in the photo, you cant see any Front panel connectors, Front mounted 3 pin fan connectors, and in it's latest mobos, Abit has the IDE ports mounted on the front of the boards facing forward/sideways.

And most important the POWER connector is Missing! :D

Example
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=12007&stc=1

[danball1976]

Now that you mention it, I did notice the edge of the board being hidden by the thing with the name of the board on it.

[paroxym]

Is it just me or is the placement of the nforce chip on that abit pretty bad? I think aftermarket chipset coolers are pretty much out of the question on that board unless you have a really short graphics card :(

It's not just you... I took a look and thought "theres no way thats the final board layout."
After a little eye-balling it looks to me like even an orb style cooler couldn't squeeze into the little gap that been left there. I could be wrong but I think this board will be subject to a layout revision.

[Bud]

Is it just me or is the placement of the nforce chip on that abit pretty bad? I think aftermarket chipset coolers are pretty much out of the question on that board unless you have a really short graphics card :(

the epox board has the same thing, thats wierd

[Omega65]

Is it just me or is the placement of the nforce chip on that abit pretty bad? I think aftermarket chipset coolers are pretty much out of the question on that board unless you have a really short graphics card :(

You dont need extra cooling for the chipset. The NF3-250 or K8T800 Pro series can do 300mhz HTT & >275mhz Mem without aftermarket coolers.

[EQuito]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44016

Here are some new pictures. Notice the DFI LanParty SLI-D dual 16x PCIe... :eek: sweeeet :D

[Omega65]

The Lanparty.... WOW! :respect:

[Shorty]

I agree with you two ... wow :wow:

[primesuspect]

errr. i may revise my statement. perhaps I can't be bothered to wait until ALL the testing is done...... that motherboard looks ****ing sweet.

[Omega65]

4 Nvidia SATA II ports & 4 more SATA Raid (probably also SATA II) sweet! :thumbsup:

Also check out that Molex connector by the 1st PCIe 1x slot.... :scratch:

[Josh-]

Is there any estimated price on the boards when they are available?

[Thrax]

Entry level nForce4: Less than 100.
Middle nForce4: 100-150
nForce4 ULTRA: 150+

[TheLostSwede]

No Soundstorm on NF4 unfortunatly. Bad old AC-97. Rumour says though that Nvidia is releasing a soundcard based on Soundstorm 2 to sell separately, but it's just a rumour though. And no manufacturer so far that offer AGP on their NF4. Time to sell our new x800/6800 series me thinks.

[Josh-]

Thats not too bad pricing, I suppose. BTW, Hello rob :p

[Bud]

none of them show agp are they gonna hve them? or am i just crazy?

[Omega65]

AGP is going the way of the Dodo.

[Bud]

so no agp on nforce 4 mobo's

[Geeky1]

When we find out which board is going to be the "NF7-S v2" of the 939/64 platform, I'm moving to 64bit :D

I'll wait for a real 64-bit mobo, tyvm. ;)

Something like this:
http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20164

Single CPU system? Pffffffffffffft. Single CPU systems are toys. ;D ;D

Although I DO think I may have to pick up that DFI LanParty SLI board to replace the NF7-S...

[EQuito]

I'll wait for a real 64-bit mobo, tyvm. ;)Looks like you didn't click the link I posted... :rolleyes:

[Geeky1]

I was responding to prime actually, but... I wouldn't touch that board most likely either. It's a tyan. $5 says it won't even have the ability to overclock.

[Shorty]

No Soundstorm on NF4 unfortunatly. Bad old AC-97. Rumour says though that Nvidia is releasing a soundcard based on Soundstorm 2 to sell separately, but it's just a rumour though. And no manufacturer so far that offer AGP on their NF4. Time to sell our new x800/6800 series me thinks.
The last I heard from nVidia on SoundStorm was that they pulled it and the development group within NV that were working on it have moved onto other projects not involving sound.

The reasoning was that not enough manufacturers used soundstorm and so it was not commercially viable :(

Edit:// found a link...

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19123

[EQuito]

I was responding to prime actually, but... I wouldn't touch that board most likely either. It's a tyan. $5 says it won't even have the ability to overclock.oh that's right I forgot, you're the dual cpu "guru" around here. :rolleyes:
If you're so high on those type of boards why do you even bother posting here? you don't see me posting demeaning comments about dual cpu boards in your threads, do you? :shakehead

[EQuito]

Also check out that Molex connector by the 1st PCIe 1x slot.... :scratch:Look closely at the AN8, it's there too although in a totally different location... ;)

[Geeky1]

oh that's right I forgot, you're the dual cpu "guru" around here. :rolleyes:
If you're so high on those type of boards why do you even bother posting here? you don't see me posting demeaning comments about dual cpu boards in your threads, do you? :shakehead

You have no sense of humor, you know that?

I've got 5 desktops, of which only 3 are dual cpu systems. And of course, by necessity, both of my laptops are single CPU systems. It was a joke, hence the smilies. :rolleyes:

[fatcat]

Oh them mobo's lookin nice. :thumbsup:

When the new SATA II HD's gonna be availible? be time to get rid of these ATA100 drives come then.

[drasnor]

You have no sense of humor, you know that?

I've got 5 desktops, of which only 3 are dual cpu systems.
I win. I have 4 dual processor systems and possibly a 5th in the near future (just need another dual Athlon board). On top of that, I have 2 single-processor machines. :mullet:

None of mine are Itaniums either. :headbange:

-drasnor :fold:

[Geeky1]

lol. I wasn't counting any of the systems I've got in pieces that I need to build... or the Itaniums :p Just the Atlons, the Xeons, and one of the P3s. There are two more dual P3 machines in a drawer around here that I need to get around to assembling :p :D

[EQuito]

:thumbsup: Originally posted by OPPAINTER at http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49361&page=4&pp=60

DFI® Answers to the Enthusiasts with Launch of LANParty™ NF4 SLI-DR and LANPartyUT™ NF4 Ultra-D Motherboards

-- The new nForce™ 4 chipset based motherboards support dual PCI-Express video cards and boast the industry’s most powerful performance enhancing options to deliver the ultimate user experience --

For further information, contact:

Vivian Lien
DFI San Jose
510.274.8000 x 121
vivian@dfiweb.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Hayward, CA (January 4, 2005) – DFI®, a worldwide leader in industrial computing solutions and maker of the LANParty™ series of motherboards, today launched the new LANParty NF4 SLI-DR and LANPartyUT NF4 Ultra-D motherboards for the socket 939 AMD® Athlon™ 64 platform. Taking full advantage of the rich feature set the NVIDIA® nForce4 chipsets have to offer, the new DFI UV-sensitive motherboards bring more performance lead to high-end desktop computing than others.

SLI™ (Scalable Link Interface) and DXG™ (Dual Xpress Graphics) Technologies

Based on the nForce 4 SLI chipset, the new LANParty NF4 SLI-DR motherboard is DFI’s first to fully support NVIDIA’s new SLI technology in the signature LANParty package. Delivering almost twice the performance of a single GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) configuration, SLI brings more graphics realism to desktop PCs than any other technologies. The multiple GPU support of SLI takes advantage of the increased PCI-Express bandwidth and enables DFI’s new motherboard to support two identical PCI-Express video cards simultaneously using a bridge connector. Seamlessly operating in parallel, the new LANParty motherboard provides the perfect solution for real time rendering, complex video processing or intensive game play.

Similarly, the nForce 4 Ultra chipset based LANPartyUT NF4 Ultra-D motherboard supports dual display cards to deliver the ultimate graphics experience. DFI’s proprietary DXG (Dual Xpress Graphics) Technology benefits from the multiple PCI-Express lanes the chipset supports, using the 16x and 2x configurations, to allow for versatile graphics support and utmost future-proof upgrade ability.

New Storage Standard

The new LANParty NF4 SLI-DR and LANPartyUT NF4 Ultra-D motherboards bring several important technological breakthroughs to the AMD socket 939 platform. Designed for users to run multiple applications without bottlenecks, both motherboards support Serial ATA II hard drives and Native Command Queuing (NCQ). Serial ATA II delivers a high-speed transfer rate of 3GB/second, more than twice as fast as traditional ATA133. NCQ introduces asynchronous I/O and increases drive reliability in heavy workloads by eliminating much of the mechanical wear and tear.

To provide a reliable and scalable data environment, the motherboards support RAID through NVIDIA’s new NV RAID Utility software. NV RAID allows for both Serial ATA and IDE 0, 1, 0+1 RAID configurations. Through its Window’s based utility suite, users can now easily partition hard drives and configure RAID.

In addition to the multiple RAID functions, the SLI version brings RAID 5 to the desktop with its integrated Silicon Image 3114 chip. RAID 5 is one of the most popular RAID levels, where it stripes both data and parity information across three or more drives, removing the bottleneck that the dedicated parity drive presents and improving write performance.

Performance and Stability Enhancement Features

Boasting the industry’s most complete and advanced BIOS options, the new LANParty and LANPartyUT motherboards raise the bar even further with new additions. For the overclocking minded enthusiasts, both motherboards now support memory voltage from 2.5V to 4.0V, CPU core voltage up to 2.1V, chipset voltage from 1.5V to 1.8V, HTT ranging from 1.2 to 1.5, adjustable multiplier control up to 20x and a large range of Async settings. Combined with DFI’s CMOS Reloaded™ technology, both motherboards enable users to maximize performance potentials while enjoy the convenience of saving all the BIOS settings on the fly, renaming to customize CMOS settings, and recalling using a user-defined hot key.

To provide rock solid stability, both nForce4 chipset based motherboards feature Japanese aluminum electrolytic capacitors, magnetic levitation north bridge cooling fan with fan speed control, and all aluminum heat sink on mosfets. The conductive polymer (electrolytic) aluminum solid capacitors provide high resistance to over-voltage and reverse voltage as compared with other capacitors, making them the ideal choice for overclocking and mission critical motherboards. To further provide maximum cooling on-board, both motherboards feature DFI’s first magnetic levitation chipset cooling fan that moves almost twice the air compared to standard chipset fans while producing extremely little noise. Thanks to magnetic levitation technology, the spinning fan blades “float” in a magnetic field and thereby dramatically reduces friction, wear and tear, and heat generation. All of these hardware implementations directly contribute to cooler, quieter and longer lasting motherboards.

Most Extensive Integrated Features

Designed to lead in most features per value, both LANParty NF4 SLI-DR and LANPartyUT NF4 Ultra-D motherboards comprise of DFI’s proprietary EZ On and Reset buttons to make testing and installation easy, dual Gigabit LAN (PCI and PCI Express based) for blazing fast network connection, and NV Active Armor Firewall to protect clients from security attacks at a decreased CPU utilization rate. Audiophiles are entertained with the proprietary Karajan 8-channel audio solution. With its independent audio riser card, unwanted static noise and other audio interference are eliminated to produce a superior sound quality.

Availability and Package Details

The LANParty NF4 SLI-DR package includes matching colour UV reactive round and SATA cables, PC Transpo computer carrying case, FrontX break out box, SLI bridge and on-board SLI switch caps. The LANPartyUT NF4 Ultra-D motherboard is bundled with matching colour UV reactive round and SATA cables and SLI bridge. Both LANParty NF4 SLI-DR and LANPartyUT NF4 Ultra-D motherboards are currently available in limited quantities through DFI’s authorized resellers worldwide. For more information on where to buy and the complete specifications, please visit http://www.dfi.com.tw or email sales@dfiweb.com.

About DFI® (San Jose), Inc.

Founded in 1981 in the heart of Asia, DFI, Inc. is a worldwide leader in motherboard design and manufacturing. Headquartered in Taiwan, DFI’s international presence includes the United States, the Netherlands, China and Japan. Dedicated to manufacturing the highest quality solutions for the expanding IT market, DFI’s product lines include a complete line-up of advanced motherboards, graphics solutions, and Applied Computing Platforms. The company sells its products through a selected group of distributors, system builders, VARs, retailers and e-tailers internationally.

DFI’s US branch office is located at 30991 San Clemente Street, Hayward, CA 94545. For more information on the company, please visit www.dfi.com.tw or email Vivian@dfiweb.com.

DFI and LANParty are registered trademarks. Other product names are either trademarks or trade names of their respective holders.

[EQuito]

http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=3449&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=NA

:respect:

[Omega65]

Dammit! I just bought a S939 Mobo :)

Note the 24pin PSU Socket..... :cool: (20pin PSUs should work though)

[lemonlime]

:eek: .. For the love of all things good! Sign me up! :D.. Anyone hear of an ETA on this board. Last I heard on DFI-street was late february, but by the looks of the pics, it may be sooner..

Is that a 4X pci-e slot above the first 16x slot? or is that an 8X pci-e slot..?

[EQuito]

It's an 8x slot. The first batch of boards should arrive to the US in a couple of weeks.

[SimGuy]

NCIX.com will have them in just after the US launch.

Look @ Canada Computers to have them within a month after that.

That DFI NF4 board is looking very tasty...

[EQuito]

NCIX.com will have them in just after the US launch.The US launch was earlier today when I posted... :D

According to an email I got from Vivian (DFI PR), NewEgg will probably be the first vendor in the US to have'em in stock.

[SimGuy]

The US launch was earlier today when I posted... :D

According to an email I got from Vivian (DFI PR), NewEgg will probably be the first vendor in the US to have'em in stock.

NCIX usually is about 7-10 days behind the US Launch. At least they were on the DFI LanParty 250GB.

Glad to know the board is available! Thanks for the update! :)