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DDR400: Can the Nforce 2 do it better than the KT400?

One question that's just begging to be answered is whether the Nforce2 can bring something new to the table as far as DDR400 RAM is concerned. In our first KT400 board review we did some DDR400 testing and found that when put into DDR400 mode, the KT4 Ultra scored LOWER in tests. This isn't to say that RAM running at 400Mhz is slower than RAM running at 333Mhz because later, our OCZ PC2700 review showed that there is a measurable and constant increase in memory bandwidth and system performance as you increase the memory clock speed - provided you're not setting the motherboard into DDR400 mode.

During our SOYO KT400 Dragon Ultra review period, I had a chance to speak with Soyo techs, and they confirmed that in their own labs, DDR400 mode performed at a disadvantage compared to DDR333 mode. So now the question is whether the Nforce 2 will do any better.

And this question is made interesting due to the Nforce 2's different approach to memory and their Dual DDR Memory Architecture that Nvidia claims will increase bandwidth and reduce or "hide" latencies. Now our tests do not include 2 sticks of memory to take advantage of 128bit DualDDR, so here we intend only to demonstrate a straight, single stick comparison of DDR333 vs DDR400 in the nforce2 and KT400 chipsets.

First let's look at memory bandwidth in DDR333 and DDR400 modes:

Both the KT400 and NForce2 chipsets have an increased memory bandwidth when put into DDR400 mode. So far so good.

But what about performance tests?

In PCMark2002, both chipsets show an increase in performance going from DDR333 to DDR400 mode. Looking at the SysMark 2002 results, we can see that the two chipsets are fairly balanced, with one gaining greater performance in two different aspects of the Sysmark tests.

These don't give us much in the way of conclusive evidence, but they do suggest that going into DDR400 mode can lead consistently to higher performance. This performance is very very slight however, and as such there's still no premise upon which we can suggest that you run in DDR400 mode. Instead, as many users have been doing for a while, you're better off clocking your RAM speed without regard to the "mode", and by focussing instead on the final speed of the RAM and the CPU:RAM ratio.

Conclusion

Well the K7N2 is certainly a very nice board, and the Nforce2 chipset a superb second effort by Nvidia. Technically, Nvidia has been going through a LOT of revisions since the initial announcement of the first Nforce chipset, and from the long delay between initial announcement and actual boards like the K7N2 you can guess that they've done something similar for the Nforce 2.

A quick search finds the K7N2 selling for around $97-110, which places it about the same level as MSI's KT 4 Ultra (with most retailers selling it at just under $100). More full featured KT400 boards are barely more expensive, including the SOYO KT400 Ultra Dragon, but the K7N2 has a performance advantage over all of those other KT400 offerings. If you're looking for a no frills Nforce2 board, you might find what you want in the K7N2, but for those looking for more features, you might have to wait for other Nforce 2 boards, or just go for the tried and true fully featured KT400 boards.

One thing to keep in mind, if you're overclock inclined, is the PCI/AGP frequency lock: this will be a huge boon in overclocking without the risk of your PCI devices becoming unstable.