The nForce is a computer chipset created by NVIDIA for AMD Athlon and Duron microprocessors. The nForce offers several features not found on other Athlon chipsets, including optional integrated video based on the GeForce4 MX core, dual-channel DDR SDRAM support, and integrated sound based on nVidia's own sound chip. The successor to the nForce was the nForce2, which was one of the top performance chipsets in the Athlon motherboard market of the day. Currently the nForce3 is being phased out by the nForce4, which features PCI Express.

Although the later nForce2 revision won many plaudits, most of the notable features were present in the original spec. However, it was patchy driver support that let the first board down in many respects, with optimised IDE support introduced then withdrawn, and until version 3.13, the much heralded SoundStorm audio was seen to crackle under heavily loaded scenarios.

The nForce chipset was remarkable for several reasons. It introduced dual channel memory to the mainstream market, doubling theoretical throughput, offering excellent performance most especially in workstation class benchmarks. This was deemed necessary largely because NVIDIA expected with integrated GeForce 4 MX class video hardware, the era of high performance onboard graphics had finally arrived. Fast high bandwidth DDR based main memory was required, to make sure the video hardware was not constantly stalled waiting for the main memory.

Apart from excellent sound quality, one of the most notable characteristics of the integrated SoundStorm chip was extremely low CPU usage. Compared to other onboard audio solutions of the day, the difference in CPU usage when running popular multimedia applications was as much as 10-20%. While the Creative Audigy offers similar performance, it does so at a much higher price point, and only as a discrete add in solution. For this reason, SoundStorm achieved significant popularity in the hardware enthusiast community, offering high quality for a bargain price.

External Links

• Anandtech: NVIDIA nForce Computex 2001 Preview
• Anandtech: NVIDIA's nForce 420/220: It's finally here