NVIDIA nForce 730i / GeForce 9300 Chipset for Desktop Processor

When it comes to the king of desktop processors, Intel has it all. Core 2 has given Intel the performance crown all to itself, with AMD flapping like a dying fish on the beach. Intel keeps bringing bigger and better products these days, a far cry from four years ago when Pentium 4 was bleeding Intel dry.

Now Intel has the CPU of choice and with that comes support left, right and centre. While Intel has a huge array of chipsets for its own processor, support also comes from another source, that being from the biggest 3D chipset maker, NVIDIA.

While Intel has the best enthusiast chipsets out for the platform, Intel’s integrated graphics platforms simply can’t compete with the likes of NVIDIA’s IGP based setups. This is simply because NVIDIA has all of its 3D chip technology to call on for integration into its chipsets, keeping it ahead of chipzilla.

nForce 730i / GeForce 9300 Up Close

http://gallery.techarena.in/data/519/nv9300_block.jpg

First off, before we get into our test board today, we wanted to give a bit of info on the new features of the GeForce 9300 and 9400 chipsets compared to the previous generation NVIDIA chipsets for the Intel platform.

CPU and Bus Support

The 9x00 series all support the same CPU and bus speeds, where the older GF7 had different speeds for its varying models. Both chipsets support up to 1333MHz FSB along with all current Core 2, Pentium D, Pentium 4 and Celeron D processors. So whatever CPU you have, its supported across this family.


Boost in Memory

Compared to the GeForce 7 series chipsets, the 9x00 gives the Intel platform a boost in memory performance. GF7 used only a single channel memory controller, limiting the bandwidth to the CPU. This is extremely detrimental when you also consider that the IGP uses some of this bandwidth when it’s stealing system memory for the graphics card.
The 9x00 series uses a dual channel arrangement and either supports DDR2 or DDR3 memory, depending on the manufacturer as to what they prefer to support. DDR2 is cheaper, however DDR3 offers a higher max bandwidth, especially when using 1333MHz and above modules. One thing is evident, however. If DDR3 is supported, NVIDIA’s own SLI ready memory support is not included; this is a bit of a shame as SLI 2.0 memory allows for clock speeds of up to 2GHz.


PCI Express 2.0

In order to keep today’s hungry devices fed with bandwidth, NVIDIA has included 20 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 connectivity into both chipsets. With this amount of lanes you can expect to see 9x00 boards supporting a discrete GPU slot as well as a couple extra PCIe slots and onboard devices.


Media Connectivity

The GF7 series of IGPs only allowed for four SATA and two PATA devices as well as only 10 USB 2.0 spec’d ports. The 9x00 series boosts this to six SATA devices, two PATA devices and 12 USB 2.0 devices. As normal, the SATA/PATA supports Mediasheild technology so that you have the option of setting the SATA drives in RAID function if this is your wish.

is it worth to buy 750 i???and how is 630 i???

The nForce 650i SLI and 750i SLI are essentially stripped down versions of their bigger 680i and 780i brothers, the latter overclocking better and having 6 SATA and 2 PATA instead of 4 and 4 like the former. Their appeal is to the gamer oriented OEM or the gamer that is looking for something that runs two GeForces as cheaply as possible, even if they each only get an x8 PCI-E lane. The 650i Ultra doesn't even have multiple GPU support, making it a real question mark in nVidia's line up. The 750i's advantages over the 650i include PCI-E 2.0 support and full Penryn compatibility (the 650i only runs 45nm Core 2 Duo's (Wolfdales). Available for under $150, boards based on the 750i are a solid option for a midrange gaming rig.