<s>
The	O
nForce2	B-Device
chipset	B-Device
was	O
released	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
in	O
July	O
2002	O
as	O
a	O
refresh	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
nForce	B-Device
product	O
offering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
nForce2	B-Device
chipset	B-Device
was	O
a	O
platform	O
for	O
motherboards	B-Device
supporting	O
AMD	O
's	O
Socket	O
A	O
CPUs	O
along	O
with	O
DDR	O
SDRAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
were	O
multiple	O
variations	O
of	O
the	O
chipset	B-Device
including	O
one	O
with	O
an	O
integrated	O
GeForce4	O
MX	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
(	O
IGP	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
one	O
without	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
nForce2	B-Device
features	O
two	O
different	O
southbridges	B-Device
,	O
the	O
MCP	O
and	O
the	O
MCP-T	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
latter	O
is	O
equipped	O
with	O
two	O
100	O
Mbit	O
Ethernet	B-Protocol
NICs	I-Protocol
(	O
nV	O
and	O
3Com	O
3C905	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
NVAPU	O
(	O
SoundStorm	O
)	O
with	O
hardware	O
accelerated	O
3D	O
audio	O
and	O
real-time	O
5.1-channel	O
Dolby	O
Digital	O
encoding	O
,	O
whereas	O
the	O
first	O
features	O
one	O
100	O
Mbit	O
NIC	B-Protocol
and	O
an	O
AC'97	O
audio	O
controller	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
audio	O
,	O
both	O
MCP	O
units	O
were	O
connected	O
to	O
an	O
external	O
codec	B-General_Concept
chip	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
Realtek	O
ALC650	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
MCP	O
,	O
this	O
codec	B-General_Concept
provided	O
all	O
software-driven	O
audio	O
duties	O
,	O
while	O
with	O
the	O
MCP-T	O
it	O
performed	O
the	O
DAC	O
duties	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unfortunately	O
,	O
the	O
external	O
codec	B-General_Concept
and	O
unavoidably	O
noisy	O
motherboard	B-Device
circuitry	O
(	O
EMI/RFI	O
)	O
were	O
detrimental	O
to	O
audio	O
quality	O
on	O
even	O
the	O
MCP-T	O
equipped	O
boards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
the	O
nForce	B-Device
audio	O
solutions	O
were	O
never	O
of	O
high	O
fidelity	O
unless	O
the	O
S/PDIF	O
output	O
(	O
TOSLINK	O
or	O
coaxial	O
)	O
was	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
nForce2	B-Device
chipset	B-Device
was	O
noteworthy	O
for	O
its	O
advanced	O
memory	O
controller	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
deemed	O
necessary	O
for	O
the	O
nForce2	B-Device
IGP	O
,	O
with	O
its	O
GeForce4	O
MX-class	O
integrated	O
graphics	O
,	O
to	O
be	O
performance	O
competitive	O
budget	O
solution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Athlon	B-Architecture
XP	O
's	O
front-side	B-Architecture
bus	I-Architecture
capped	O
out	O
at	O
400	O
mhz	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
only	O
enough	O
to	O
handle	O
the	O
memory	O
bandwidth	O
provided	O
by	O
dual-channel	O
DDR-200	O
or	O
single-channel	O
DDR-400	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
one	O
memory	O
channel	O
was	O
reserved	O
for	O
the	O
CPU	O
while	O
the	O
other	O
was	O
almost	O
exclusively	O
available	O
for	O
the	O
GPU	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
dual-channel	O
configurations	O
of	O
the	O
nForce2	B-Device
without	O
IGP	O
,	O
the	O
Athlon	B-Architecture
XP	O
only	O
showed	O
gains	O
of	O
5%	O
at	O
most	O
in	O
memory	O
bandwidth	O
intensive	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
various	O
fixes	O
and	O
refinements	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
nForce	B-Device
,	O
nForce2	B-Device
featured	O
a	O
fixed	O
PCI/AGP	O
clock	O
,	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
PCI	B-Protocol
and	O
AGP	B-Architecture
frequencies	O
will	O
not	O
change	O
when	O
changing	O
the	O
FSB	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
the	O
nForce2	B-Device
platform	O
was	O
known	O
for	O
its	O
ease	O
in	O
overclocking	B-Application
AMD	O
processors	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
used	O
frequently	O
in	O
the	O
overclocking	B-Application
community	O
for	O
a	O
few	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
also	O
known	O
that	O
the	O
chipset	B-Device
gave	O
best	O
performance	O
with	O
FSB	B-Architecture
and	O
memory	O
running	O
synchronized	O
,	O
asynchronous	O
operation	O
delivered	O
an	O
unusual	O
high	O
performance	O
loss	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2003	O
,	O
Nvidia	O
released	O
a	O
refreshed	O
nForce2	B-Device
,	O
called	O
"	O
nForce2	B-Device
Ultra	O
400	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
nForce2	B-Device
Ultra	O
400	O
and	O
nForce2	B-Device
400	O
represented	O
official	O
support	O
for	O
a	O
200MHz	O
FSB	B-Architecture
and	O
PC-3200	O
DDR	O
SDRAM	O
,	O
whereas	O
the	O
older	O
nForce2	B-Device
had	O
only	O
supported	O
a	O
maximum	O
of	O
166MHz	O
FSB	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
performed	O
very	O
similarly	O
because	O
neither	O
had	O
the	O
IGP	O
and	O
again	O
Athlon	B-Architecture
XP	O
did	O
not	O
benefit	O
significantly	O
from	O
the	O
added	O
bandwidth	O
because	O
the	O
Athlon	B-Architecture
XP	O
's	O
bus	O
was	O
only	O
capable	O
of	O
bandwidth	O
matching	O
a	O
single	O
channel	O
of	O
PC-3200	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
new	O
chipset	B-Device
again	O
was	O
partnered	O
with	O
several	O
different	O
southbridges	B-Device
,	O
including	O
one	O
with	O
(	O
MCP-T	O
)	O
and	O
one	O
without	O
(	O
MCP	O
)	O
SoundStorm	O
and	O
dual	O
Ethernet	B-Protocol
NICs	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2004	O
three	O
new	O
southbridges	B-Device
were	O
introduced	O
:	O
MCP-S	O
integrated	O
Serial	O
ATA	O
,	O
MCP-RAID	O
had	O
additional	O
RAID-functions	O
and	O
MCP-Gb	O
featured	O
Gigabit	O
Ethernet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
newer	O
southbridges	B-Device
did	O
not	O
integrate	O
the	O
SoundStorm	O
unit	O
nor	O
the	O
dual-Ethernet	O
capabilities	O
of	O
the	O
MCP-T	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
computer	O
owners	O
also	O
had	O
their	O
own	O
discrete	O
audio	O
solutions	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
popular	O
Creative	O
Audigy	B-Device
series	O
,	O
the	O
VIA	O
Envy24	O
,	O
or	O
various	O
Turtle	O
Beach	O
boards	O
,	O
among	O
other	O
high	O
end	O
solutions	O
offering	O
superior	O
analog	O
quality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SoundStorm/NVAPU	O
'	O
s	O
existence	O
was	O
a	O
direct	O
result	O
of	O
Xbox	B-Application
development	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
APU	O
being	O
directly	O
related	O
to	O
the	O
technology	O
used	O
in	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
console	O
,	O
(	O
which	O
incorporated	O
Sensaura	O
's	O
HRTF	O
3D	O
audio	O
technology	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
technology	O
aged	O
and	O
consumers	O
and	O
OEMs	O
showed	O
a	O
lack	O
of	O
interest	O
in	O
purchasing	O
the	O
more	O
expensive	O
but	O
higher	O
quality	O
chipsets	B-Device
,	O
Nvidia	O
did	O
not	O
see	O
reason	O
to	O
justify	O
further	O
R&D	O
expenditures	O
.	O
</s>
