Motherboard Confusion

[novacthall]

Firstly, please pardon my rather *ahem* strong language in the subtitle.

I may be in the market for a new computer, complements my moving company. (For the unabridged version of my tale, you may click here, though I would advise against it unless you have some time to kill.) The computer they broke is an Alienware, vintage late 2004, given to me as a graduation present. So I'm looking at my replacement options and I'm not entirely sure I understand what I see.

I see on several system configuration sites, Alienware included, that many of their high-end computers offer motherboards branded as "nForce", which I presume is constructed or at the very least approved by nVidia. On these same sites, I notice an odd absence of choice when it comes to putting graphics cards in. It's GeForce or it's nothing at all.

I'll be frank: I'm an old-skool 3DFX fan in the worst of ways. My hostility towards nVidia goes all the way back to their Riva 128 cards and is, for the most part neither rational nor open to compromise. So long as I'm able to do everything on this motherboard that I could otherwise do with someone else's board, I'm "all right" with having nVidia brand my very soul with their logo, lightly. If, however, I'm only able to use nVidia/GeForce graphics cards on an nForce motherboard, and cannot otherwise be convinced of the benefit of locking myself into one side (we'll call it the "Dark Side") of the GPU hardware coin, I see no compelling reasons to turn my back on Radeon cards entirely.

So, stupid question time. Can I slam a Radeon GPU into an nForce motherboard or am I forever bound to use GeForce hardware on a motherboard such as that?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: novacthall
I can slam a Radeon GPU into an nForce motherboard

fixed

 

[novacthall]

Intriguing. So they play nicely together? Is there anything I should be aware of in terms of compatibility or other such niceties that would cause me future headaches?

I suppose I should also add that the computers that show the nForce/GeForce combo include either an 8800GTX at Ridiculous Prices? or an 8800GTS with 320MB (?!) of on-board memory, which is fine and dandy no doubt, but nowhere near as futureproof as anything ATi comes out with mid-year, I suspect. I'm also not a fan of how nVidia's handling their Vista drivers, but since I've only read about that and not experienced any of it first-hand, I will reserve judgment.

 

[Pwnbroker]

The only "advantage" to using all Nvidia products is an alleged speed boost with coupled Nvidia components. As I understand it, married Nvidia products automatically overclock themselves to provide a faster experience. Somebody correct me if I'm confused about that.

I've been a Radeon fan for years, even when their drivers were labelled "crap". My newest build I decided to give Nvidia a try, only to read later that now Nvidia drivers are crap. I seem to be always rooting for the underdogs (Pittsburgh fan).

 

[Aluvus]

NVIDIA and ATI hardware (both companies now make motherboard chipsets as well as GPUs) will play fine together.

And if there is anything left of 3dfx, NVIDIA owns it.

 

[novacthall]

Originally posted by: Pwnbroker
The only "advantage" to using all Nvidia products is an alleged speed boost with coupled Nvidia components. As I understand it, married Nvidia products automatically overclock themselves to provide a faster experience. Somebody correct me if I'm confused about that.

That would be an excellent selling point, even to an ATi loyalist such as myself. Can anyone confirm this?

I've been a Radeon fan for years, even when their drivers were labelled "crap". My newest build I decided to give Nvidia a try, only to read later that now Nvidia drivers are crap. I seem to be always rooting for the underdogs (Pittsburgh fan).

A glutton for punishment, eh?

Originally posted by: Aluvus
NVIDIA and ATI hardware (both companies now make motherboard chipsets as well as GPUs) will play fine together.

Perfect. I think I'm so used to this Blu-Ray HD-DVD war nonsense that I've just started to expect things not to play nicely right off the bat. (Bad consumer! Bad, bad, BAD consumer!)

And if there is anything left of 3dfx, NVIDIA owns it.

For which I can never forgive them. Everything worthwhile nVidia's ever produced was based on 3DFX technologies but nowhere near the quality. After all, where do you think they got SLI?

 

[zagood]

The only negative to mixing mobo/vga would be if you wanted to go multi-card. nForce only takes SLi, no Crossfire.

-z

 

[novacthall]

Hmmm, no Crossfire, eh? I never much saw the point in the dual-GPU setups, at least not for the gaming I do on normal-sized monitors. I think I can do without.

Thanks, all!

 

[Pwnbroker]

Originally posted by: novacthallThat would be an excellent selling point, even to an ATi loyalist such as myself. Can anyone confirm this?

The linkboost technology is the feature I'm talking about.

 

[novacthall]

Ahhh, nutbunnies. Well that is a rather impressive piece of technology. Way to shake a guy's loyalties to the core, Pwnbroker.

I would assume it still works pretty decently in a single-card setup, or is the boost only available to SLI rigs?

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: novacthall
Ahhh, nutbunnies. Well that is a rather impressive piece of technology. Way to shake a guy's loyalties to the core, Pwnbroker.

I would assume it still works pretty decently in a single-card setup, or is the boost only available to SLI rigs?

Back in the day when this was a brand new thing, and hence got poked around by reviewers, I seem to remember it offering a rather minimal boost at best, so flash aside, I don't really think it's a very strong selling point.

You could always look up old reviews here on AT, they did look at LinkBoost, I can't remember any recent reviews where they mentioned it in any serious way, though my memory could simply be hazy