nForce2 is Now in Production. Finally!

[ecperez]

NVIDIA announced that the long-awaited nForce2 core-logic solution is now in production and mainboards based on this highly integrated chipset will be available later this month. NVIDIA stated that they spent a lot of time testing and validating the nForce2 to ensure that the end-users will get rock-stable and reliable products.

I will remind you the most important features of the nForce2 core-logic. As usual, there are two versions of the chipset North Bridge: one with the integrated graphics core (SPP) and the one without it (IGP). The chipsets are called nForce2-ST and nForce2-GT respectively. NVIDIA also revealed a new South Bridge MCP-T this Summer, though the mainboard makers may stick to the old MCP-D (with DD decoder) if they wish. The chipset specs have been already discussed many times, so we will simply list them briefly for your reference:

North Bridge (840-pin BGA): Socket A platform, dual PC2100/PC2100/DDR400 memory channel, integrated GeForce4 MX graphics core (only in nForce2-GT, in nForce2-GT the core is disabled), AGP 8x.
South Bridge (484-pin BGA): ATA/133, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Ethernet MAC inherited from nForce 4xx, new 10/100 Ethernet MAC from 3Com (i.e. there are two 10/100 Ethernet MAC chips), 3 IEEE1394 ports, Dolby Digital decoder, ACR.
It should be especially noted that NVIDIA decided to declare DDR400 support for their new IGP. The company asked two validation laboratories (AVL, Advanced Validation Labs and CMTL, Computer Memory Test Labs) to perform compatibility tests with DDR400, moreover, the GPU developer started its own internal DDR400 compatibility program, and is testing memory from leading memory manufacturers and module suppliers including, but not limited to: Samsung Semiconductor, Hynix Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Infineon Technologies, Nanya Technology, Kingston Technology, Smart Modular Technologies, and PNY Technologies. nForce2-compatible memory modules will be listed on the NVIDIA, CMTL and AVL Web sites to allow customers easy access to the list of DDR memory modules tested specifically on the nForce2 platform.

Unfortunately, there is no word about DDR400 performance and configurations that were used for testing. It may appear that DDR400 will work slower compared to DDR333 (PC2700) memory on the final products, as it happened with the P4X400.

The NVIDIA nForce2 platform processors are currently in the labs of NVIDIA?s extensive list of motherboard and system builder partners, including: Abit, ABS, Alienware, Aopen, ASUSTeK, Atlas Micro, Chaintech, Epox, Falcon Northwest, HyperSonic, Leadtek, MSI, Shuttle Computer, Soltech, Totally Awesome, and Vicious PC. Retail products based on the nForce2 platform processors are expected to become available later this month.


Source: Xbitlabs