NVIDIA Announces Intel nForce Chipsets Coming

ruiner5000 writes "NVIDIA has just made a surprise announcement about their cross license agreement with Intel to make chipsets. This means that the bragging rights AMD users have had about having the superior nForce chipsets is about to end, and it will also bring NVIDIA's superior Linux support to Intel users. We have a statement and press release from NVIDIA about planned shipment dates, and expected products NVIDIA will be aiming their chipsets at. With the nForce 4 NVIDIA is aiming for desktops, laptops, workstations, and servers."

Comments

Superior Linux Support?

[Taladar]

Does this mean Intel Mainboards will require proprietary, closed source drivers like nvidia graphics cards that are a total maintenance nightmare because they break with every other kernel version in the near future?

Re:Superior Linux Support?

[marsu_k]

I take it you don't have a nForce motherboard? Because they work quite fine out of the box with 2.6 .x kernels. As for the display drivers, yes, they take some extra fiddling upon install every now and then. While this is not ideal, at least you get good 3D performance (not like "that other manufacturer" in Linux ;-). And you can use the default X driver if you don't need 3d acceleration, which is open source.

Re:Superior Linux Support?

[Richard_at_work]

Im sick of this (and will probably get modded down) but this isnt the sole fault of the vendors, now is it. For whatever reason, they will not release their driver set under opensource licenses, and thats agreeable because its their code and their decision. On the other hand, the linux kernel devs wont supply a stable module API, because they dont like binary modules, which is also agreeable because its also their code and their decision. This does leave the end user in the unenviable position of recompilations, but IMHO nvidea seems to have found a suitable halfway point for this, only requiring a stub recompile. But from where Im standing, its not just nvideas fault, both sides are posturing and trying to make a good situation out of a less than good one, but the majority of people on slashdot seem to blame vendors for supplying closed drivers when they have no real need to.

Re:Superior Linux Support?

[EvilGrin666]

Intel publishes specs for its hardware where as nvidia does not. This means we get a closed source driver from nvidia thats often out of date and doesn't work where as with Intel hardware we have open source drivers written by 3rd parties (often the kernel devs) in the kernel tree itself.

The Linux kernel devs have no interest in a stable module API because they have no interest in backwards compatability. If they see a problem, they go in and fix it. Next kernel release all the open source modules in the kernel tree are using the new fixed api.

Its true Nvidia might not have a choice in the matter though. They might have cross licensing deals or patent royalities on some of the technology they are employing in their motherboard chipsets that prevents them using an opensource license or publishing open specs.

Re:Superior Linux Support?

[ImpTech]

Nforce boards do work OOB, its true... but AFAIK not any better than an Intel board. And up until relatively recently, the nForce's didn't work at all. Furthermore, since Nvidia's dumped soundstorm, I can't imagine why an Intel user would buy a nForce board over one of Intel's own.

Good News for Nvidia and Intel

[blueZhift]

I guess this is good news for both Nvidia and Intel. This should help Nvidia make up for being shut out of the Xbox 2 graphics game, though they may have lost money on the original Xbox deal anyway. And this should bring some gamer cred back to Intel who may have been using some gamer sales to AMD because of the nForce chipset. Of the two though, I think Nvidia gets the best part of the deal since they will now have an easier entry into the wider PC market which is dominated by Intel based systems. Intel will only see marginal gains since gamers are not a big part of the market, though they do buy a good proportion of high end systems I would guess.

Re:Good News for Nvidia and Intel

[blueZhift]

Nvidia provided the graphics chipset for the original Xbox. Then they had some sort of falling out with Microsoft over how much they were supposed to be paid. This probably contributed to the Xbox 2 graphics chipset being done by ATI. So Nvidia will be missing the Xbox 2 party, but given that the Xbox deal probably wasn't good for them anyway, it may not be a big loss.

Superior ?

[matt-larose]

What the hell makes commercial closed source drivers superior ?.

I agree that nForce is supported well on linux, but its mostly because the sound and ethernet are handled by opensoure projects now. The stupid AGP gart is another issue. /me curses nVidia.

Nvidia's Linux support superior to Intel

[EvilGrin666]

Since when? AFAIK Intel publishes its sepcs and Nvidia doesn't. Hows that superior exactly? Granted Nvidia release drivers, but there performance and features pale in comparison to the windows version or indeed similar Intel hardware with open source drivers written from the published specs.

Re:Nvidia's Linux support superior to Intel

[AstroDrabb]

but there performance and features pale in comparison to the windows version

Just making things up to try to prove a point? The NVidia chipsets work out-of-the-box under Linux with Open Source drivers, no binary drivers required. For NVidia graphics cards, NVidia uses a unified driver that shares most code cross-platform. The Linux and Windows NVidia drivers are feature for feature compatible. The performance numbers are all about the same. I get just as good FPS under Linux with NVidia that I do on the same hardware under MS Windows. Even the installation is about the same. For Windows you run the executable and reboot. For Linux you just log out of X and run the executable without a reboot.

Not too hot for AMD.

[SnowCrashed]

The NForce boards were really one of the best things about AMD's chips for people who wanted a good all in one mobo for a basic system (esp. the NForce2 with the onboard GF4mx which totally rocked Intel's "extreme" garbage). While AMD rigs will still probably be cheaper, this is quite a low blow. However, maybe it won't make much difference with ATI's XPress chipsets coming out. They like they will be the ultimate solution for a while, at least until newer things come.

Eh?

[MiniChaz]

"NVIDIA's superior Linux support"

Are you on drugs? Since when did binary only modules constitute "superior Linux support"?

Re:Way to go NVIDIA...

[BCW2]

Some of us refuse to take the hit in the wallet for Intel. AMD is still the best bang for the buck. I know that my reasons are strictly money. Intel is overpriced for what you get.

So...

[Dragoon412]

It's fairly well-understood that these days, the Athlon 64 is utterly dominant in terms of sheer performance and price/performance. At least in the gaming market, which is the nForce boards' target market. It seems the only reason Intel is even still competetive in the high-end home PC market is due to uneducated users buying from the likes of Dell and Alienware, and their success at branding themselves, which, as of late, seems to be falling by the wayside.

So while I don't think this is a bad thing at all, I think the gaming community, specifically the enthusiast builders as a whole (who actually care what chipset their system uses) will have a reaction along the lines of "Meh..."

So, I doubt this'll have much of an effect on anything. Enthusiasts are buying AMD, and the uninformed will keep spending money on Dells and the like regardless of who made the mainboard.