Conclusion

Although we were not given much time to prepare for the launch, we are still very grateful to NVIDIA for inviting us to the press briefing. We were especially glad to have Jean-Marc fly down all the way to meet and speak with us. It was a great opportunity for us as he is the Product Line Manager for the nForce chipsets.

With the release of the new nForce4 SLI XE and nForce4 Ultra chipsets, NVIDIA has finally have a complete range of chipsets for the Intel platform. Virtually all segments of the market are covered by at least one NVIDIA chipset.

For those who are looking for the ultimate SLI motherboard for the Intel platform, the nForce4 SLI X16 is exactly what they need. But if you are an enthusiast who can live with SLI at 8X, then the nForce4 SLI would be a good fit.

The new chipsets though are designed to bring NVIDIA core logic technology into the mainstream market. Hence, the emphasis on reduced cost. The nForce4 SLI XE offers an SLI solution at less than $99 while the nForce4 Ultra allows motherboard manufacturers to develop non-SLI motherboards for less than $89.

Yet, these new chipsets are not low-cost throwaways. If NVIDIA benchmark results are to be believed, they are faster than equivalent Intel chipsets - the i975X and the i945P. They also come with many additional value-added features like the ActiveArmor, nTune and dual hard drive controllers.

The new chipsets will definitely allow motherboard manufacturers to offer better value and features. Hopefully, that will drive greater innovation and price reductions in the Intel platform.

We hope you've enjoyed this report on the newly released nForce4 chipsets. Watch out for our reviews of motherboards based on these new chipsets!

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