The Nforce2 chipset to be announced in the middle of next week has a claimed advantage over Via"s DDR 400 chipsets of around 20 per cent, according to information from a Taiwanese mobo manufacturer who wishes to remain nameless.
The Nforce2 will support dual DDR memory, 64-bit and 128-bit buses, and 266, 333 and 400 flavours of the memory type. There will apparently be support for asynchronous FSB clocks and memory clocks, an AGP 8X interface, and Hypertransport support at 800MB/s.
In addition Nforce 2 will come with embedded Geforce 4MX graphics code, supporting 2D and 3D 256-bit displays, at resolutions of up to 1920 x 1440. Nforce 2 will also include a so-called Nvidia Communication suite, which includes Home PNA, FireWire up to 400MB/s, and USB 2.0 up to 480MB/s, as well as 10/100T Ethernet.
Nvdia is expected to use the occasion of the launch of ATI"s R300 to introduce the Athlon chipset and act as a bit of a spoiler for the Canadian company"s latest wheeze.