Introduction
AMD's AM2 processors have been with us for a number of weeks now, as have NVIDIA's nForce 500-series chipsets. Thus far we've explored a few systems featuring different socket AM2 motherboards, along with a look at Foxconn's reference-cum-retail board, the C51XEM2AA.
There wasn't actually a need for a new chipset when AM2 came along. AMD implements a dual-channel memory controller on the CPU, rather than the northbridge. Thus, when AMD made the switch to DDR2, technically, all that was required was a motherboard with a new socket, new RAM modules, and the supporting circuitry; with nForce 4 and friends, in theory at least, able to carry on through the change.
Still, NVIDIA seized the launch of AM2 as an opportunity to raise its chipset game with a boost to the capabilities and feature-set of its nForce range. This review, if you hadn't caught on already, is of an nForce 500-series-based AM2-supporting board; the MSI K9N SLI Platinum, no less. However, rather than being based on the highest-performing nForce 590 SLI chipset, it utilises the nForce 570 SLI, which NVIDIA categorise as being best-suited to "performance gaming" rather than "enthusiast" usage.
In this review, then, we'll take a little look at what differentiates the nForce 570 and 590 SLI chipsets, and then see what MSI has managed to create with the nForce 570 SLI at the helm.