Nvidia nForce3
The nForce3 (code name CK8 ) is a family of PC chipsets from Nvidia for AMD's K8 and AMD's K9 processors , which came onto the market in mid-2003.
development
In contrast to its predecessors, the nForce3 only consists of a single chip, which is mainly due to the fact that AMD has integrated the memory controller directly into the processor in the K8 series . This means that an important function of the former Northbridge has been omitted and actually only the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) remains, which was then combined with the Southbridge functions to form a chip. Nvidia therefore also calls the nForce3 MCP (Media and Communication Processor).
Models
There are the following variants:
- nForce3 150
- nForce3 250
- nForce3 250Gb
- nForce3 Ultra
The nForce3 150 is the first variant and came onto the market in mid-2003. The MCP functions were based on the MCP-S of the nForce2, but there are some problems with the chipset: A Serial ATA controller is integrated, but it is not functional. In addition, the nForce3 150 operates the HT link to the processor only with 600 MHz instead of the 800 MHz provided by AMD. Otherwise it offers the usual features such as AGP 8x, Ultra-DMA / 133 controller with two channels, integrated 10/100 Mbit / s Ethernet, eight USB 2.0 ports and an AC97 audio interface. The nForce3 250 was then basically a bug-fixed version of the nForce3 150 and also offers two SATA ports and the full 800 MHz of the HT link to the processor. A little later, the nForce3 250 Gb followed with Gigabit Ethernet and an integrated firewall . With the introduction of the Socket 939 , Nvidia then presented the nForce3 Ultra , which supplements the nForce3 250Gb with an accelerated HT link to the processor (1000 MHz).
Furnishing
- Northbridge
| model |
Front side bus |
AGP | P-ATA (ATA-133) |
S-ATA (SATA-1) |
RAID modes |
USB 2.0 | PCI slots |
Ethernet | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nForce3 150 | 600 MHz HT 1.0 | AGP 3.0 (4 ×, 8 ×) |
4th | - | 0, 1, 0 + 1 | 8th | ? | 100 Mbit / s | AC97 |
| nForce3 250 | 800 MHz HT 1.0 | 2 | 5 | ||||||
| nForce3 250 Gb | 800 MHz HT 1.0 | 2 | ? | Gigabit | |||||
| nForce3 Ultra | 1000 MHz HT 2.0 | 2 | ? |