Nvidia Halts Development of Nehalem Chipsets, Explains Why
Nvidia Halts Development of Nehalem Chipsets, Explains Why
Posted 10/09/2009 at 11:00am
| by Paul Lilly
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Nvidia's chipset business has taken a PR beating in the past 12+ months. It all started when Nvidia's notebook GPUs began failing at an "abnormal" rate, then there was the whole SLI licensing fiasco. Now Nvidia is saying it plans to halt development of future chipsets that might work with Intel's Core i5 and i7 architecture.
According to Nvidia, it doesn't have much choice in the matter.
"We will continue to innovate integrated solutions for Intel's FSB architecture," wrote Ken Brown, a spokesperson for Nvidia. "We firmly believe that this market has a long healthy life ahead. But because of Intel's improper claims to customers and the market that we aren't licensed to the new DMI bus and its unfair business tactics, it is effectively immposible for us to market chipsets for future CPUs. So, until we resolve this matter in court next year, we'll postpone further chipset investments for Intel DMI CPUs."
As Arstechnica explains it, Nvidia has a license to Intel's frontside bus protocol, but there is no frontside bus in the P55 platform. The CPU now talks to the I/O hub using the same DMI bus that in previous platforms was used by the MCH. Nvidia has so far been unable to get a DMI license from Intel that would allow them to continue to making chipsets, prompting Nvidia to take Intel to court.
Nvidia was a bit more dodgy when it came to setting the record straight with regards to future chipsets on the AMD platform. At least one report suggests Nvidia has also halted development on the AMD side, and Brown didn't confirm or deny the report, saying only "we continue to sell a higher quantity of chipsets than AMD itself."
Image Credit: Nvidia
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mesiah
October 09, 2009 at 9:16pm
This is what happens when you make enemies of the rest of the industry that you depend on. Nvidia has been taking shots at intel for a while now. I'm not saying it is right for intel to not give nvidia rights to make chipsets, but it can't come as a surprise. And now that AMD owns ATI, nvidia is in direct competition with them also, and manufacturing a chipset that will not allow crossfire support is bad for business from amds standpoint. I'm sure this is a real slap in the face to Nvidia, but they made their own bed, its time they sleep in it.
Deanjo
October 09, 2009 at 1:39pm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10371092-64.html
""We are not going to develop a DMI chipset for Intel. We're not
investing in that area," said Henry, adding that Nvidia will continue
to make chipsets for AMD processors."Seems to be some confusion on the AMD side. So there are a few possible scenarios. If nvidia wants to continue SLI support on the AMD systems they have to either:
a) continue to create chipsets for AMD procs
b) license the sli capability to AMD like they did with intel chipsets
c) just say screw it and remove sli chipset restrictions from the drivers
Spartacus
October 09, 2009 at 12:36pm
Nvidia's hording SLi to their chipsets was bad for the consumers. I don't see why people are bummed about this- they can now run either SLi or CrossFire on one chipset, and not be forced to go with a chipset with notoriously bad reliability and overclocking ability (yes, I know 790i was much better about this, but 790i boards were all more then $300) for SLi.
lancethepants
October 09, 2009 at 12:52pm
I've only had stellar performance using nvidia chipsets, back as far back as nforce2. Right now I've got a 1700fsb on a 750i.
True though that intel chipsets are more reliable and stable. I also have to agree that having an nvidia sli chipset does lock you to sli only like you said. It's really refreshing to see boards with both sli and crossfire support, no way you're getting that with and nvidia chipset. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all, as long as my board can oc good with a decent price, I'm happy. :)
Muerte
October 09, 2009 at 11:49am
Nvidia had been manufacturing motherboards specifically designed to take advantage of their GPU's.
GPU's themselves will work with any CPU that the drivers are designed to use.
So yes they still make graphics cards but motherboards are probably on hold unless they can contract out the stuff they are not allowed to use and still make a reasonable profit.
nekollx
October 09, 2009 at 11:28am
so wait? Nvidea isn't producing GPUS for Intel or AMD? So the desktop sector is all ATI now?
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lancethepants
October 09, 2009 at 11:51am
No, this has almost nothing to do with GPU's, they're talking strictly about nvida chipsets (ie, nforce). Intel is playing hard ball and not letting them make chipsets to go with the new i5 and i7 architectures, or anything in the future that doesn't have a front side bus. So until this is resolved in court you won't see nvidia boards, strictly intel chipsets. I personally like the nvida chipsets, and have always purchased them because they're generally better for overclocking (ftw series).
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