nforce2

[BanditXL 0]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this but I'm gonna anyway.

 

I got a few questions about the nvidia nforce2 igp and I hoped that I could use some of you're expertice on this.

 

I have read some reviews on this board, but every one of them tests with a third party videocard, or with a higher clocked CPU on the nforce2 board to compensate for the loss in graphics performence over a ti4600 on the board with non integrated vidcard. I want to know what the performence of the on-board geforce4 mx is compared to a regular board (KT400 or KT333 or anything similar) with an geforce4 mx in the AGP slot using the same memory speed and the same processor.

 

My other question is what would be the performence hit if I use 400 MHZ ddr RAM with a 333 MHZ processor (Barton I believe it is). I've read there is some performence hit because of the latency (the mem bus has to wait for the processor). As 400 MHZ modules are more costly then a 333 MHZ module, I'd like to know the advantages and disadtvantages of using 400 MHZ instead of 333 MHZ. Will there be a performence hit on the videocard because of slower ddr memory? etc.

 

Thanks in advance

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

For the memory

 

if there is a loss, i HIGHLY doubt it will be anything you notice. using 400mhz will allow for nice overclocking though if u want to go that way.

 

the hit i think (if it exists) would be like million's of a second type of thing, or maybe a few fps. - nothing that would make u want to run out and return your 400mhz ddr.

[ConQueso 0]

Check this page for synthetic results, and this and subsequent pages for gaming performance results.

 

Basically, the IGP falls between a GF4MX420 and a GF4MX440 in games.

 

There is no completely equal way to compare the IGP perfomance to a KT400 mobo with a GF4MX card, because the IGP makes use of and is affected by system RAM. It isn't exactly a 420 or 440 chip. Only way for straight number comparison is either to stick an nForce2 IGP on a KT400 mobo (ya, right ) or use an nForce SPP setup with a seperate graphics card and a KT400 with the same. And odds are the nForce would outperform the KT400, given the same GFX card, as many benchmarks indicate. As the nForce2 outperforms the KT400 chipset on almost every level, I'd go with it over KT400. If video performance is so important, I'd suggest a GF4 Ti4200 with 128MB of memory for the new games sporting huge texture sizes. So the question becomes one less of NF2 or KT400, but more of NF2 with SPP or IGP?

[BanditXL 0]

Thanx for the answers.