Nvidia releases Nforce 5 chipset

Today Nvidia comes out with its Nforce 5 chipet, targetting overclockers and SLI PC owners.

The new series comprises four motherboards the 550, 570, 570 SLI and 590 SLI – increasing in both performance and price as you go up the range. 

The Nforce 590 SLI takes full advantage of Corsair's XMS DDR2 RAM, dubbed 'SLI memory', because it is optimised for users running twin Nvidia graphics cards in their PC.

The enhanced performance profiles (EPP) of these memory modules (released last week) allows users greater control over their motherboard's settings via Ntune version 5.0. It means they can alter variables such as fan speeds, bus speeds and voltages.

Ntune will run via Windows, but can directly access Bios settings for easier overcloking. Nvidia said it was aimed at the 'wannabe overclocker'.

Although a slightly disparaging term, it refers to users with an interest in overclocking but who don’t necessarily want to get their hands dirty risking damage to the motherboard. 

Ntune features a wizard which automatically configures the chipset to provide a 25 per cent performance boost. Systems can be pushed further, but this will need to be done by people confident in their overclocking skills, and any damage will not be covered by Nvidia.

Also launching in conjunction with the Nforce 500 series today is AMD’s 940 pin AM2 socket.

Although developed primarily with AMD-based motherboards in mind, an Intel version of the Nforce 5 chipset will support the forthcoming desktop version of the Core 2 Duo CPU (codenamed Conroe), which comes out this summer.

Nvidia claimed it had listened to feedback from users and production partners when designing its new chipset, and had subsequently improved space problems on the motherboards, especially SLI versions.

Novel features supported by this chipset include Nvidia's LinkBoost technology and FirstPacket.

LinkBoost will streamline the interaction between the chipset and the graphics processing unit, just so long as the GPU is Nvidia based. FirstPacket is of interest to online gamers, as its use will enable a motherboard to be configured to prioritise network packets at hardware level.

End users who want to benefit from all of the motherboard's new design features will have to buy Foxconn's model, as Nvidia believes that the Taiwanese manufacturer has most faithfully replicated the Nforce 500 architecture from the original reference designs.