NVIDIA's nForce2 Part II: Diving Deeper

Final Words

When we first looked at the nForce2 platform we held it in high regard, but after BIOS revisions, improved drivers and simple more time with the solution it's clear that the chipset is nothing short of amazing.

There's no question that nForce2 is the chipset to pair with AMD's Athlon XP. It is not only the clear performance leader in all situations, but it is also at the forefront of the race to integrate features into chipsets. The only thing NVIDIA is lacking with nForce2 is support for integrated wireless networking which is still at least a year away.

Motherboard manufacturers are also keen on taking advantage of the extensive nForce2 feature set. For example, a number of manufacturers will support on-board multimonitor configurations of their IGP boards - a configuration that no other integrated chipset offers. As you'll remember, TwinView functionality was not present in the original nForce chipset although it was in the discrete GeForce2 MX cards.

Our only performance complaint with nForce2 is the performance of the integrated GPU. Its performance is understandable, considering the limited memory bandwidth at its disposal; with that said, in order for the IGP to be taken seriously even as a gaming platform we'll need to see some serious improvements in performance. The nForce2 IGP is already the fastest integrated graphics solution out for any platform, AMD or Intel; but NVIDIA will have to continue to raise the bar in order to undo the impact of years of poor integrated graphics solutions on the minds of consumers and enthusiasts alike. We expect the first major step to come with the NV34 based nForce solution due out next year; with a NV30 derived core at its disposal, NVIDIA should have an even more compelling chipset a year from now.

With boards in production now, we're hoping to see retail availability of nForce2 solutions before Comdex. The nForce2 launch still left us with a sour taste but unlike the first nForce, this one looks like it'll be well worth the wait.