My thoughts on NF3 vs. NF4, from a buyer's perspective

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skritch

2[H]4U
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Apr 16, 2001
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After seeing actual benchmark comparisons (both artificial and game) between the existing NF3 boards and the reference NF4 board, I'm convinced that the only two reasons I might consider the NF4 board are:

1) PCI-E
2) SLI

SLI boards will be around $200 (and up). Given that I'd have to use identical cards (same model, not necessarily same make), and given that I'm going to have a top-of-the-line video card that I'd have to match, the only way that becomes reasonable is to wait until my video card becomes cheap so I can pick up a second card. I'm also not too thrilled with halving the number of pipes for both cards in SLI mode, or only providing 4 pipes to the second card.

So, SLI isn't a motivating factor for me. By the time I'm able to get a matching 2nd card, I'd be ready to upgrade my system anyway, and I can just pick up a much more mature PCI-E motherboard and videocard then, rather than doing it now.

As for PCI-E, the only benefit would be future-proofing. Since I won't need SLI for the card I'm going to buy in a month (no obvious speed/performance increase between the AGP and PCI-E models of the same card), and since I intend to keep the system I'm about to build for 12-18 months at a minimum without core hardware upgrades (video card, motherboard), there's no need for me to get PCI-E immediately.

I'm not suggesting that the new NF4 boards aren't right for anyone. I'm just explaining why they're not right for me, right now. The system I put together after this one will definitely be PCI-E (in fact, I don't expect to be able to avoid it!). I just don't seem to be able to justify it to myself, today. If I had $1200 to spend just on two video cards immediately, along with the $2000 I'm spending on the rest of the system, then it might be worth considering.

But I don't. And that's really the only way I could see justifying to myself the purchase of an NF4 board as soon as one with SLI is available, in my opinion.
 
I agree with you. I'm ordering parts for a new computer within a week, and I did consider nForce4 for a bit. But as I already have an AGP card, I decided to halt on upgrading the video card for now. So nForce3 it is for me as well. I'm sure the next upgrade will be PCI-Express, but AGP is not going to immediately disappear off the face of the earth, so until there's a big enough benefit of going to it, I'm sticking with it.

But one could say the same about how I'm going to Athlon64. Sure I could stay with AthlonXP and be perfectly happy, I just need that extra....
 
yeah people who are building ground up systems the NF4 is the right choice, for people upgrading the NF3 is a better choice.
 
Don't forget SATA2 and the better nvidia firewall. And it was my understanding that both PCIe slots roll to 8x to total 16x, not 4x and 12x.
 
Current SATA bus isn't saturated by HDs at all... If the SATA2 on nForce4 supports NCQ that'd be a marginable improvement in multi-tasking enviroments with the appropiate NCQ HD tho. Are 6600GTs selling at all so far or even listed as coming in anywhere? Gonna be kinda hard for anyone to run nForce4 boards without a video card that's halfway decent...
 
are there any NF4 boards out yet? even if waiting for a first build with NF4, it may be of use to wait a while. However, i agree that upgraders should go for the NF3, instead of forking out for a new graphics card.
 
skritch said:
I'm also not too thrilled with halving the number of pipes for both cards in SLI mode, or only providing 4 pipes to the second card.
Click to expand...

can you provide a link that explains how SLI is implemented in the NF4?
 
needmorecarnitine said:
can you provide a link that explains how SLI is implemented in the NF4?
Click to expand...

I believe that came from the Anandtech review of the reference board. The NF4 reference board halves the pipes, 8 to each card. Other boards may well just provide 16 to the first, and 4 to the second card, however.
 
dual 6600GT PCIE is cheaper than a single 6800U PCIE by a $150+, but dual 6600GTs are like 9% more powerful.
SLI seems the right way to go, the motherboard is going to be about 50 bucks more, but you save like a few hundred on the graphics card.
 
By the time the NF4 mobos appear and a performance leader emerges I believe the PCI-X video cards should be abundant and starting to come down in price. I plan to get 2 6800GT cards, and I don't expect to pay more than $600 for the pair. I only paid $329 for my PNY 6800GT and I'll bet there will be some "buy two get the second at a discount", add in a rebate and a coupon or price match and .... well .... dang that's still a lot of money but I'll make it happen, cause I'm [H]ard like that. ;)
 
Let's not forget about the sound level, personally I like to do alot of reading while on my computer not just gaming though gaming is very important to me. I would rather have a single x800 xt pe running with a arctic silencer at 1,100rpms vs two arctic silencers running at 2000rpms each. Heck I spent a few hundred bucks on a SilenX power supply so you know I am very picky when it comes to noise level. I do have Logitech Z-680 Speakers for when I'm in the game mode.
 
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