Chipset: nForce2 400GB Review :: Features

The nForce2 Ultra 400GB adds a slew of new features to an already feature-rich chipset. The new features natively supported are: Gigabit Ethernet (hence the GB moniker), native Serial ATA, the new on-chip Firewall that's also present on the nForce3 250 GB, and NVIDIA RAID also found on the nForce3 250 GB. For those following computers, these are the features that many thought were missing from nForce2 Ultra 400 and nForce3 when the respective chipsets were released.

Gigabit Ethernet is the replacement for the 10/100 Mbps standard Ethernet found on virtually every computer from the last few years. While NVIDIA and other chipset companies like VIA SIS and Intel have integrated 10/100 in their boards for some time, it's only been within the last year that Gigabit Ethernet has become a standard. Transfers with 10/100/1000 Mbps standard can be up to 125 MB/second which can nearly saturate the PCI bus. A PCI Gigabit Ethernet card has access to 133 MB/second of memory bandwidth, so if you're transferring at 125 MB/second that leaves you with a mere 8 MB of bandwidth/second for other things including USB, sound etc.

NVIDIA provides an on-chip Gigabit Ethernet port with the MCP of the nForce2 Ultra 400 Gb. This provides a dedicated 1Gbps of bandwidth outside of the PCI bus. What this means is that instead of saturating the PCI bus as you would with a PCI controller based Gigabit Ethernet controller this bandwidth is available for other devices on the PCI bus such as SCSI hard drives, Firewire and ATA133 PCI controllers. Other companies also have taken off the PCI bus from the Gigabit Ethernet, but NVIDIA claims it has the most bandwidth.

The nForce2 Ultra 400GB adds a on-chip Firewall to the MCP on the Ultra 400Gb. Computer security is an ever-increasing concern for everyone including the normal end user. With worms such as Sasser, My Doom and other viruses on the Net, it's becoming more and more important to view security as a number one priority. Windows is notorious for the security holes in the Operating System. Hackers, Worms and Viruses seek to take advantage of these holes and that's where a Firewall comes in.

A Firewall only allows those items that are permissible in. It makes intrusion by an outside source much harder on your system. NVIDIA's MCP on the nForce2 Ultra 400 integrates the Firewall on the chip. There are 4 main types of Firewall, Stateless, Stateful, Application-Level, and Firewalls as a Hacker Defense. Stateless Firewall is the most basic type and only allows the packets which match a permissible type through. The rules can filter out inbound or outbound traffic based on Ethernet Type, IP Source or Destination Address, IP options, IP Protocol, ICMP Type and or Code values, TCP or UDP Source or Destination port and TCP options.

The Stateful Firewall type is a variant of the Stateless Firewall. This varies from the Stateless Firewall in that the Firewall only examines the packet flow when a connection begins. This is useful because instead of examining all of the packets for permissible ones under the rules, it can examine those of a certain group that have been permitted before thus lessening the workload on the CPU.

The Application-Level Firewall permits certain types of programs to go through a proxy server. The benefit of this is that for the protocols it supports, there is an added layer of protection. However the disadvantage of this type of Firewall is that if a protocol is not supported, the proxy may not be available. The last type of Firewall is for those that want protection from other computers to spoof your IP. NVIDIA's Anti-Hack Firewall prevents the PC from using an IP other than its statically assigned address or its DHCP-assigned address.

NVIDIA's RAID support arrives natively with the nForce2 400 Ultra GB. NVIDIA supports RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives) 0, 1, or 0+1. In RAID 0, the data is "striped" across multiple drives in the array in parallel, thus improving performance. In RAID 1, the data is "mirrored" across two drives providing redundant data backup in case of a hardware failure. The third RAID method combines 0 and 1. This method allows striping across multiple drives and mirroring of the drives' data at the same time.

The nForce2 Ultra 400 Gb introduces native support for Serial ATA hard disk drives to NVIDIA's Athlon chipset. While many manufacturers have used Silicon Image or Promise SATA controllers, the nForce2 400 Ultra does away with the need for a separate controller. NVIDIA's SATA controller offers up to 4 device connectivity standard.