NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra and GeForce 9800 GX2

by Guest Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:48 am

Way back in late 2006, NVIDIA simultaneously unveiled a new flagship GPU and desktop chipset that became the foundation of what NVIDIA was calling the "ultimate gaming platform". At the time, the combination of a pair of GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards and an nForce 680i SLI-based motherboard was clearly the most powerful hardware combo available for gamers. And here we are, nearly a year and a half later in early 2008, and still that combo is tough to beat; truly a testament to NVIDIA's engineering abilities and execution.

Since the introduction of that version of NVIDIA's ultimate gaming platform, the company's product stack has changed quite a bit. New GPUs have hit the scene in all segments of the market and desktop chipsets for both Intel and AMD platforms have been released as well. But NVIDIA never went all out and released a full-on update to their proposed ultimate gaming platform, complete with a new flagship graphics card and nForce chipset - until today that is.

Rumors abound for the last few months regarding the GeForce 9800 GX2 and nForce 790i SLI Ultra, and today we can finally show you what all the fuss has been about. This is a big day for NVIDIA. A new desktop chipset complete with a DDR3-based memory controller is here, along with a dual-GPU powered monolith of a graphics card that is NVIDIA's most powerful to date. Together, the combination of a GeForce 9800 GX2 (or GX2s), with the nForce 790i SLI Ultra chipset, redefine the high-end of desktop PC gaming hardware. Read on for the details and to see just what 2008's version of the ultimate gaming platform can do...

NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra and GeForce 9800 GX2 790i_SLI_9800_GX2

Quad-SLI is Coming: The nForce 790i SLI Ultra with a pair of GeForce 9800 GX2 cards

<table cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><tr><td bgColor=#f0f0f0 height=22>NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra
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<tr><td bgColor=#000066 height=22>Specifications and Features
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NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra and GeForce 9800 GX2 Nforce_specs

about the nForce 790i SLI Ultra. Although the main focus of this article will revolve around this chipset, NVIDIA is actually releasing a few others as well. The nForce 790i SLI and 750i SLI will also be debuting soon, with similar capabilities and feature sets. As has historically been the case with NVIDIA's desktop chipsets, as you move further down the product stack, prices go down, and a few high-end features are stripped away. In this case, the 750i SLI is a DDR2-based chipset, capable of 2-way SLI, with a single Gigabit Ethernet connector and PCI Express 2.0 support by way of the NF200 chip.

The nForce 790i SLI and 790i SLI Ultra, however, are more difficult to differentiate. Essentially, the two chipsets are identical. The Ultra version of the chipset is more vigorously binned and is capable of DDR3 memory speeds in excess of 2GHz. The non-Ultra 790i SLI is officially supports DDR3 memory speeds as high as 1333MHz. Other notable features to the 790i SLI chipset include 60 lanes of PCI Express connectivity with native gen 2 support, with 10 USB ports, ESA, Media Shield, and First Packet support, in addition to three-way and Quad-SLI support.

by Guest Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:49 am

the illustration shows, the 790i SLI Ultra (and non-Ultra version of the chipset) is a two chip solution consisting of the nForce 790i Ultra SLI SPP in the traditional Northbridge position and the 790i SLI Ultra MCP in the Southbridge position.

NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra and GeForce 9800 GX2 790i_block

NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra Chipset Diagram

The chipset has full support for all Intel desktop processors with front side bus speeds as high as 1600MHz. The DDR3 memory controller in the SPP is compatible with EPP 2.0 and officially capable of speeds up to 2000MHz, although higher speeds are possible with overclocking. 32 of the chipset's PCI Express lanes reside in the SPP, with the remainder coming by way of the MCP. And the two chips are linked via HyperTransport. We should note that the SPP's lanes are gen 2, while the rest are gen 1. What NVIDIA has done here is essentially bring the NF200 chip present on the 780i SLI and 750i SLI chipsets and brought it right onto the SPP.

Although the nForce 790i Ultra SLI MCP has a new name here in the block diagram, it is still the NF570 chip used on motherboards dating back to the introduction of the nForce 500 series. It would be nice if NVIDIA revamped this chip and produced it on a more advanced process node to bring power consumption down, but from a feature standpoint it's still as robust as any other solution currently on the market.

NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI Ultra and GeForce 9800 GX2 750_block

NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI Chipset Diagram

The nForce 750i SLI's feature set is similar to its high-end counterpart in some respects. Both chipsets support all current Intel processors and both are linked via HyperTransport. The nForce 750i SLI, however, utilizes a third chip - the NF200 - for its PCI Express 2.0 connectivity and the chipset has fewer PCI Express lanes overall. The nForce 750i SLI's MCP is also pared down a bit with fewer USB and SATA ports, and only a single Gigabit Ethernet controller.