Dual Core Intel Platform Shootout - NVIDIA nForce4 vs. Intel 955X
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 14, 2005 1:01 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Motherboards
For this comparison, we used production boards. From Intel, we have the Intel D955XBK and representing NVIDIA, we have the ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe.
While NVIDIA's nForce4 reference board still doesn't seem to have dual core support, ASUS' board does, so it looks like the chipset will have no problem supporting the Pentium D. One problem that we have seen, however, is that neither NVIDIA's reference board nor ASUS' board support Intel's Thermal Monitor 2 specification at this time. While NVIDIA insists that support for TM2 is coming, we are hearing from motherboard manufacturers that support for TM2 will only be there for single core processors. If that ends up being true, that will be a huge downside for the nForce4 platform - TM2 significantly reduces heat output as well as fan noise on Intel platforms, both features that are much appreciated.
Despite having numerous problems with their AMD SLI motherboard, the ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe was flawless during our testing. We had one problem with the system not POSTing, but a later BIOS revision fixed that issue.
The Test
Note that this is a comparison of Intel platform chipsets. For a comparison of AMD and Intel CPUs, have a look at our latest CPU reviews.
Intel Pentium 4 Configuration
LGA-775 Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840
2 x 512MB Crucial DDR-II 667 Dual Channel DIMMs 4-4-4-15
Intel D955XBK 955X Motherboard
ASUS P5ND2-SLI nForce4 SLI Intel Edition Motherboard
ATI Radeon X800 XL PCI Express
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT PCI Express
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus (with NCQ)
Maxtor MaXLine III (with NCQ) for NCQ tests
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Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
Oh! A link to Tom's....Can I link to Tom's article about Athlons that burn themselves up?
Please, no respecting Anandtech reader should be siting Tom.
Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#21,Let me explain it to you:
Intel get's a cut of the money from every chipset nVidia sells. What part of that don't you get?
But that's okay that you don't understand that, after all your post implies that AMD is going to put Intel out of business: "You are pretty stupid if you think Intel has a chance against AMD".
Ummm...yeah right, go right on thinking that.
overclockingoodness - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#23 segagenesis: I don't it's worth to post links here. It's quite apparent that Questar is an idiot himself, so why bother. :)We are only wasting our energy on ignorant people like him.
segagenesis - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#20 - Sorry to rain on your parade but http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041114/index.htm...Quit calling people idiots when you dont even keep up on current events.
overclockingoodness - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#20 QUESTAR: "Too Hot" is merely a figurative comment. Don't try and be a smart ass. We all can clearly see through your Intel favoritism. You are definitely not as knowledgable as Anand or some of the people here, so get lost.If you don't like what AnandTech has to say, stop reading the site. People like you only waste valuable bandwidth, plus, it will be one less troll on the Internet.
overclockingoodness - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
Questar: Please, you're comments are quite stupid. You are not the only one with Power, Intel and AMD CPUs, you know.Just to let you know, AnandTech has a reputation of being the best of the best, and Anand is the pioneer of reviewing hardware, so he has been in this business for a long time. Therefore, it means that he has seen quite a bit of hardware in these 8 years running AnandTech. It's pretty ignorant of you to question him.
I agree with everyone. You are pretty stupid if you think Intel has a chance against AMD. Prescotts are illogical and rather poorly designed CPUs.
"Intel probably makes as much net profit off the licensing of the nVidia chipset as they do selling thier own - after all thay don't have to design, build, ship or sell anything. So why would they be worried?"
Once again, your opinion. Can you please get Intel to leak these numbers to you, so we can have a reason to believe you?
Licensing prices are fixed. Sure, Intel could be making more money from licensing their technologies to NVIDIA, but what will happen in the future when PCIe and DDR2 will start to pick up the pace. Then, Intel would want to sell as much of their chipsets as possible for maximum revenue and when you have a strong chipset maker like NVIDIA, it would be pretty hard, don't you think? In the future, NVIDIA's licensing fee wouldn't cut it.
It's pretty logical: If company A makes chipsets and company B makes the chipset with same technologies, the market will surely divide between the two.
I guess your brain is sealed somewhere, which is why you probably can't think straight. I hate stupid people and I think you are one of them.
Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
Yes Prescott CPU's are hotter than some other CPU's. Stating they are "too hot" is opinion. Please provide your quanitative proof that they are "too hot".segagenesis - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
So are you avoiding having to make sense? Quit making up stories when you call for proof yet provide none yourself. I gave you proof, now its your turn.Here, I'll help you decipher it because you seem to be ignoring posts in favor of your own flawed logic. Here is a snippet of one of your own.
> "Honestly, Intel processors and even the platform haven’t been interesting since the introduction of Prescott. They have been too hot and poor performers, not to mention that the latest Intel platforms forced a transition to technologies that basically offered no performance benefits (DDR2, PCI Express)."
> Your opinion only, don't make this out to be fact.
The link I provided shows that in *fact* there is more heat output by modern Intel processors. Yes, this is a quantitative analysis. If it was qualitative you could have called it opinion, but its not eh? Try again.
Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#16,So are you changing the argument? I never argued about heat. Please have somebody that is capable of actual cognitive thought explain to you what post #8 says.
Questar - Thursday, April 14, 2005 - link
#14,Actually I'm rather agnostic between CPU makers. I own systems based upon Power, Intel and AMD cpu's.