NVIDIA has announced
its new
nForce 500 series core logic chipsets, sporting a wide array of new features
and goodies for mainstream and enthusiast users alike. After appearing on
roadmaps in months past as MCE55, the new chipsets are officially known as the
590, 570, and 550.
nForce 590 SLI is a two chipset configuration using an nForce 590 SPP and
MCP. The MCP and SPP are connected by via a 1GHz, 16-bit HyperTransport
link, to which the SPP is connected to the AM2 processor. One x16 PCIe interface
is linked to the SPP, and another to the MCP. The total setup allows for 10Gbps
transfers from one graphics adaptor to the other, with the ability to overclock
the bus on the fly.
nForce 590 features all of the goodies we already
reported on: LinkBoost, MetaSheild, FirstPacket and dual Gigabit Ethernet
controllers which can essentially team the controllers to function as a single 2Gbps
controller. Further networking improvements include hardware
TCP/IP acceleration which takes load off the CPU, and FirstPacket technology
which allows users to prioritize packets to their preference. For example, a
gamer may choose to push his game's packets through first to keep pings down
while simultaneously uploading to an FTP server. Interestingly enough, however,
ActiveArmor has actually been removed. The core logic still features a TCP/IP
offload engine but it is not compatible with third party firewalls.
Next is the 570, which appears in both SLI and Ultra versions. The SLI
version will run SLI setups in a 2x8 configuration much like standard nForce 4
SLI chipsets on Socket 939 and 754 platforms. With the exception of LinkBoost
and Max Overclocking, the 570 series includes all the new features mentioned
above at a lower price tag.
Last we have the 550, which is essentially the
standard nForce 4 chipset with the addition of 3.0Gbps SATA support.
Therefore this chipset does not have any of the extras included with the 590 and
570 series. This low-end chipset will handle the mainstream market, but still
requires a discrete graphics card.
