As it was with some versions of the nForce chipset, Gigabit Ethernet is built right into the nForce 4. Unlike the nForce 3 though, it will be available in all versions of the nForce 4. Good stuff.

Audio support

Nothing exciting to report here, as the nForce 4 will use exactly the same AC ’97 integrated audio configuration as the previous generation of nForce 3 boards. It looks like nVidia’s Soundstorm will never return, as manufacturers saw little motivation to implement it due to the fact consumers apparently couldn't care less about higher quality integrated audio.

New software: nTune application

nVidia's nTune software is the latest version of nVidia’s system utility software for its nForce motherboards. Forsaking the useful but marginal approach of the previous versions of this utility, nVidia has set out to make nTune a comprehensive control panel for nForce 4-based systems.

Like previous versions, nTune will serve as a full system overclocking utility, allowing users to accelerate their system and video cards (Geforce FX and later series cards only) on the fly. It will also allow many BIOS configuration options to be set from the operating system, monitor motherboard and CPU temperatures, and even voltage levels.

What’s new is the ability to create and set custom profiles for overclocking, and the various BIOS settings. These profiles can be made permanent or set to trigger at a preset event or system condition.

nVidia’s example of this is a ‘quiet’ mode where overclocking is disabled and system fans reduced in speed when a DVD is inserted, to make for a better viewing experience. The possibilities of this system are endless though. You could have a ‘safe’ option which disables overclocking when system temperatures reach a certain point, or even set different speed settings for different games. More innovation shown here by nVidia.

USB 2.0 support

All versions of the nForce 4 chipset will support 10 USB 2.0 ports. With USB devices growing like wild-fire, it is always nice to have a few extra ports to spare.