With Nehalem on the Horizon...

[ricleo2]

Will Intel let Nvidia make a chipset supporting Nehalem? I would guess no, but I can't give a reason why I think that.

This has very little to do with video cards, I'm punting it to motherboards

-ViRGE

 

[SlowSpyder]

It was reported on Fudzilla yesterday that Intel will not allow Nvidia to create a chipset for Nehalem. So, essentially no one knows yet.

But seriously, if they don't allow Nvidia to make chipsets I don't see how SLI will live. Most enthusiasts will be building Intel based machines it looks like (unless AMD can pull a rabbit out of it's hat) and even if someone builds an AMD enthusiast machine it'll more then likely be Spider platform. Maybe Nvidia will start pushing the X2 cards harder...

 

[solofly]

Who really cares, (besides NV Salesman) NV's mobos are garbage anyway. If you want a multi GPU setup I'm sure Intel will have an offering of their own. Nvidia should focus on what they do best and that's video cards. I wish them luck cause they'll need it going against Intel, MS and AMD this round. I even heard NV will be joining forces with Via for that occasion, what a joke.lol

 

[Bateluer]

Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

 

[SniperDaws]

i hope it is the end of SLI then Nvidia can get off there overpriced arses and make a faster single card instead of relying on multi cards to play the latest games.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

I'll go with this answer. Otherwise NVIDIA needs to purchase VIA for their x86 license and begin another front in the business war.

 

[HOOfan 1]

I certainoly don't get the articles berating Intel for feuding with nVidia *cough* Fuad (apparently an nVidia fanboy) *cough*.

If nVidia wants to hold exclusivity for SLi capability then Intel should be able to hold exclusivity for Intel CPU chipsets. If nVidia wants to make chipsets for Nehalem then they need to play ball and let Intel make SLi capable chipsets.

There problem is, they know their chipsets are inferior and if Intel is allowed SLi, their entire chipset business is in jeopardy.

 

[Blazer7]

I don't think that it will be that easy for nVidia to aquire VIA. Intel has the upper hand on this for sure. They can muscle their way to get the SLI license from nVidia or make them suffer. I think that they'll choose to go for the license. Intel has cf but not SLI. If they get a license for SLI they'll have the best of both worlds instead of having just cf that belongs to their rivals. If they kill nVidia then they'll be stuck with cf for good and I can't see that happening. I expect Intel and nVidia to strike a deal with Intel getting the lion's share.

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

I'll go with this answer. Otherwise NVIDIA needs to purchase VIA for their x86 license and begin another front in the business war.

Isn't this funny. There was a time when NV was stealing business away from Via with nForce mobos and today they need their help possibly to survive. Funny as hell...

 

[Genx87]

Dual slot single cards is their answer I am sure.

 

[Foxery]

It's a weird rumor, and probably a false one - unless you can explain to me why eliminating enthusiast products (and customers) is somehow profitable for Intel. More motherboard choices = more CPUs sold. Intel earns a licensing fee instead of producing physical chipsets.

I suspect it's just a misunderstanding due to there being 2 variants of Nehalem: LGA1366 for Servers, which has no earthly reason to care about graphics support, and LGA1160 for the rest of us, which is due much later and has not yet been previewed in any way. nVidia will certainly have a way to get SLI products into the latter.

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
It was reported on Fudzilla yesterday that Intel will not allow Nvidia to create a chipset for Nehalem. So, essentially no one knows yet.

I doubt it because it does not come under fair business practices, nv could sue intel. In fact only technical limitations may prevent nv from creating a chipset.. but I don't give a dam..their boards are crap.

 

[golem]

If Nvidia isn't allowed to do Nehalem chipsets, it is sort of funny.

Intel will try to kill off AMD's CPU business but needs ATI to stay competitive with Nvidia's GPUs.
Nvidia will try to kill off ATI's GPU business, but needs AMDs CPU business to be competitive with Intel's CPUs.

I think Intel, has a better chance since AMD's GPUs seem to be more competitive with Nvidia's GPUS than their CPUS are competitive with Intels CPU.
But I don't think AMD can survive on just GPU sales.

 

[golem]

Originally posted by: SniperDaws
i hope it is the end of SLI then Nvidia can get off there overpriced arses and make a faster single card instead of relying on multi cards to play the latest games.

I don't think either Nvidia or AMD are particularly sitting on their assess regarding single chip R&D. Sometimes you just hit a wall with current technology and process capabilities and have to have something like SLI/Crossfire until process tech improves or R&D comes through with a new idea.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: Aberforth

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
It was reported on Fudzilla yesterday that Intel will not allow Nvidia to create a chipset for Nehalem. So, essentially no one knows yet.

I doubt it because it does not come under fair business practices, nv could sue intel. In fact only technical limitations may prevent nv from creating a chipset.. but I don't give a dam..their boards are crap.

Fair practice would be a tough call with that one. Nvidia's single-card solutions still will work just fine.

 

[Sable]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

Does the x86 licence transfer? I'm sure I read on here somewhere that even if they DID buy VIA there's some sort of clause in the licence that prevents it being transferred. Could be complete bollocks of course.

edit:

And I say jolly good anyway. It means NV will have to go back to making seriously fast single chips and forget all this multi card/chip crap.

 

[Baroo]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

i think that is what Intel wants. i'm sure ATI/AMD is keeping a close watch of this situation.

 

[Baroo]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

i think that is what Intel wants. i'm sure ATI/AMD is keeping a close watch of this situation.

 

[Baroo]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Odds are Nvidia will open SLI up to Intel chipsets and in exchange Intel will grant them the license for Nehalem.

i think that is what Intel wants. i'm sure ATI/AMD is keeping a close watch of this situation.

 

[Sable]

Do you think that is what intel wants?

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Doesn't Intel want to get into the high-end graphics card business?

Wouldn't it be something if Nvidia joined forces with AMD and they together tried to take on Intel?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: angry hampster

Originally posted by: Aberforth

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
It was reported on Fudzilla yesterday that Intel will not allow Nvidia to create a chipset for Nehalem. So, essentially no one knows yet.

I doubt it because it does not come under fair business practices, nv could sue intel. In fact only technical limitations may prevent nv from creating a chipset.. but I don't give a dam..their boards are crap.

Fair practice would be a tough call with that one. Nvidia's single-card solutions still will work just fine.

NVIDIA's dual card setups would work fine on Intel and AMD chipsets as well if NVIDIA didn't synthetically disable that functionality via the drivers.

IMO, Intel has every right to prevent NVIDIA from making Nehelam chips, and I hope they do force NVIDIA to open up SLI compatibility. Personally, I don't think either AMD or Intel should allow NVIDA to make chipsets for their cpu's if they don't reciprocate by allowing their chipsets to run SLI. You still need TWO NVIDIA cards to do it, it's not as if they would exactly lose out in the deal.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Do single slot Nvidia discrete solutions run on Intel mobo chipsets like the p35 or x38?

 

[dv8silencer]

Yes that's exactly what he thinks

 

[semisonic9]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
Do single slot Nvidia discrete solutions run on Intel mobo chipsets like the p35 or x38?

Of course. The idea is to get their cards in as many systems as possible.

nVidia holding back SLI for mobos was intended to leverage their mobo business and help the company diversify. The problem is, it wasn't a big enough lever and their mobo development hasn't come forward far enough. It also depended on their being able to continuously generate superior cards to ATI, thus making the enthusiast community that wanted high graphics pay not only for more cards, but also pay an additional premium to support their developing mobo business.

IMO, Intel is on the side of the angels on this one. Their greed and muscle tactics will eventually benefit the consumer, especially in the 2-5 year timeframe, though it may ultimately have a negative effect on price/performance as they drive more competitors out of the business.

I was really agonizing over mobo/gpu choices a month or so ago, when ATI/Crossfire wasn't stacking up very well vs SLI options in graphics. Going with SLI forced me into ridiculously high-priced mobos that performed poorly next to much more affordable Intel offerings.

Crossfire/SLI tech has been out for a good 4-5 years now. NV pitched a fit when ATI had inside information on dx10, claiming insider information hurt the free market. I think it's sweet poetic justice if they get their little BS mobo/SLI racket busted up by a bigger, badder company, and we once again return to a world where mobos, graphics cards, etc, compete with each other in their given areas, not across a spiderwork of alliances and intellectual property platforming.

~Semi