Mod NForce4 to NForce4 Ultra?

[Rave]

Originally posted this at Hexus, thought I'd bung it here too as there are probably a lot more tweakers here.

As any fule kno, Anandtech figured out how to mod an NForce4 Ultra into an NForce SLI chipset some time ago. It occurs to me though that there's no good reason why you couldn't mod the base model NForce4 non-ultra into an ultra to enable the SATA-II and Active Armor functionality. Compare the chipset photos here:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/foxc...8mc-ers/g3.htm

and here:

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache...rce4+mod&hl=en

It seems that the difference is the bridge at the very top right. Anyone got an NForce4 board and fancy trying this?

Rich :¬)

[Anakin_Skywalke]

The difference in nforce4 and nforce4 ultra is much more than that. It came out in the market considerably earlier than the latest incarnations, and it also restricted in HT at 1.6.

In other words it is a lesser chip, focused on the low budget market and does not have the functionality enabled. The nforce4 ultra and the sli is the same chip though.

[Rave]

I'm saying that the functionality could be enabled with a bridge mod. Why do you say it came to market considerably earlier? That's not what I saw.

[texuspete00]

Could work but they usually have rev A02 instead of A03 nb's. I think the only one remotely popular is the gigabyte.... could be wrong. But maybe that's why no one has tried.

[Rave]

The Foxconn in the OCworkbench review has A03 silicon. It seems (bizarrely) that it doesn't have a gigabit PHY though