Digitimes: "nVidia to Quit Chipset Business" Rumor or?

[Scotteq]

Source: http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080801VL203.html

Nvidia has decided to throw in the towel and quit the chipset business, sources close to the situation at one of Taiwan's top motherboard makers have revealed. As the story is told, Nvidia called a meeting earlier this week with its motherboard partners to gauge support for it continuing to develop chipsets in the future.

The motherboard makers' response? Silence.

It is still early days and not all the facts are known at the time of writing, but it is believed Nvidia will transfer the chipset team to working on GPU projects. On the motherboard makers' side, some makers have already canceled upcoming high-end motherboard projects based on the nForce 7-series chipset.

The loss of its chipset business is expected to have a significant impact on Nvidia's GPU business in the short-term. Reception to the nForce 200 chip (BR04) which will enable SLI technology on Intel X58 motherboards has been lukewarm at best, with many makers saying they will not bother adding the chip on their boards. This means Nvidia needs to find a way of licensing and enabling multi-GPU support on motherboards using Intel and/or AMD chipsets fast. Otherwise it will have to cede the top-end of the graphics card market to AMD, which now has the benefit of Crossfire.

The news would also debunk any recent speculation that Apple will be adopting Nvidia chipsets for its upcoming notebook products. It would be unfortunate if Apple really has poured water on the close relationship it has built with Intel over the past few years, only to have its new best friend exit the market before products are even announced.

Categories: Mobo, chipset

Second Source: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/08/01/nvidia.may.exit.chipsets/

and a third: http://www.guru3d.com/news/nvidia-to-back-out-of-mainboard-chipsets/

 

[maximiza]

well thats it AMD, INTEL and via chipsets only for now on? Since they are fabless I guess it not a big deal to them but I did not expect this one.

 

[Scotteq]

Doing some poking around, it appears more rumor than actual fact... But it's certainly making the rounds!

 

[gamerk316]

Wow, does anyone even read this (insert word of choice here). I love the ATI fanboyism though.

 

[ZOldDude]

Let's see...one of the world largest chipset makers wants to -stop- earning income.
You still think Santa is real?

 

[njalterio]

Digitimes is a pretty reliable source.......I am not sure what to believe.

 

[njalterio]

Wow, does anyone even read this (insert word of choice here). I love the ATI fanboyism though.

I don't see how ATI fanboys are even remotely involved in this. It was a pretty objective looking article with no mention of ATI/AMD.

Correction: There is a tiny blurb about Crossfire at the end of the third paragraph.

 

[baddad]

NVIDIA Says They have no intention of quitting the chip set business and you will see some new produces that will prove it.

 

[njalterio]

NVIDIA Says They have no intention of quitting the chip set business and you will see some new produces that will prove it.

Did Nvidia release a statement? Links?

 

[aevm]

It could be true. What with the recent product recalls, the chipset business is expected to reduce their profits rather than increase them. If this move reduces their income but increases their profits they should do it IMO.

If it's true, does that mean no more SLI? Maybe they'll just make cards like 9800GX2 instead.

 

[DXRick]

With the upcoming Intel X58 chipset supporting SLI and AMD on the verge of bankruptcy, it does make sense that Nvidia would see no real benefit in continuing to make mobos.

 

[baddad]

However, Berraondo from Nvidia described the story as ‘complete fabrication,’ adding that ‘Nvidia is still very much in the chipset business and has no plans to exit, as several exciting new products on the horizon will show.’

http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/604554/foxconn-drops-nforce-790i-saying-chipset-is-unreliable/page2.html

 

[njalterio]

However, Berraondo from Nvidia described the story as ‘complete fabrication,’ adding that ‘Nvidia is still very much in the chipset business and has no plans to exit, as several exciting new products on the horizon will show.’

http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/604554/foxconn-drops-nforce-790i-saying-chipset-is-unreliable/page2.html

Interesting....well I guess we will see what happens.

 

[rubix_1011]

Hmmmm...let's turn this into a regular forum, like is done with CPU/GPU releases.

Everything is 110% true, and often understated...

Speculation becomes common knowledge and rumor-> truth.

--We should all be politicians or meteorologists

 

[sailer]

I wonder if there is confusion about Nvidia possibly ending its chipset production. Perhaps it is ending production of the 7xx series boards, or just the 790i boards, but that one action is being played out as being for all chipsets. Don't know, can't say, but we will find out in the coming months.

I do know that I bought an Intel board the last time instead of a Nvidia board in part because of all the troubles I was reading concerning the 790i boards. This was the first non-Nvidia board that I bought in the past five years, so it was quite a break for me. But my thought was that Nvidia has had a major drop in its quality control, so why pay for headaches.

 

[njalterio]

I wonder how these kinds of statements (rumor or fact) will affect stock prices.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well thats what they get for not licensing to intel, and saying the GPU was better then the CPU.

With all of the badass mobos with Intel chipsets setting OC records, its no wonder they want to quit since their mobos are notorious for not getting much overclock at all.

I look for Intel and ATI to do a joint venture and hit Nvidia while they are down.

Well Nvidia next time dont burn all of your bridges until you have your imagineary supreme proucts on the market.

 

[gamerk316]

Well thats what they get for not licensing to intel, and saying the GPU was better then the CPU.

With all of the badass mobos with Intel chipsets setting OC records, its no wonder they want to quit since their mobos are notorious for not getting much overclock at all.

I look for Intel and ATI to do a joint venture and hit Nvidia while they are down.

Well Nvidia next time dont burn all of your bridges until you have your imagineary supreme proucts on the market.

Here's the flaw in your argument though: If what you say happens, NVIDIA has no choice but to release a chipset in order to protect its own brand (SLI = more GFX cards sold). Even a loss on the board itself is preferable to losing profits on its GFX cards.

Also note, I haven't had any issues with the 790i i use. I have a conservative overclock on a QX9650 of 3.45, put I could get 3.6 or so if I invested in a decent cooler, so I don't see what the problem is. Also note, that the XFX 790i preformed almost as well as the ASUS Striker II in the recent 790i benchmark test. And everyone agrees that the 780i was a great board, so now doesn't seem like the time to leave the board business.

 

[themyrmidon]

nVidia has the rights to socket 1166, but not 1366, and I bet their going to use them.

 

[njalterio]

Here's the flaw in your argument though: If what you say happens, NVIDIA has no choice but to release a chipset in order to protect its own brand (SLI = more GFX cards sold). Even a loss on the board itself is preferable to losing profits on its GFX cards.

Also note, I haven't had any issues with the 790i i use. I have a conservative overclock on a QX9650 of 3.45, put I could get 3.6 or so if I invested in a decent cooler, so I don't see what the problem is. Also note, that the XFX 790i preformed almost as well as the ASUS Striker II in the recent 790i benchmark test. And everyone agrees that the 780i was a great board, so now doesn't seem like the time to leave the board business.

I never really understood why Nvidia restricted SLI to it's own chipset. They could probably sell a lot more graphics cards if they opened SLI up to more motherboard manufactuers. Maybe they thought SLI is that popular that they could also rake people in on a motherboard too? If so, I think they may have overestimated the market's interest/ability in buying two graphic cards.

As for the 790i, that's great if you have your board stable but that is hardly the consensus. Simply look at all the threads with people having 790i issues. I will accept that there is plenty of user error, but there always is a disproportionately high amount of Nvidia chipset issues compared to other chipsets. Also in the article baddad posted it mentioned Foxconn is rejecting the latest Nvidia chipset as requiring too much troubleshooting to be worth their time.

 

[sailer]

Also note, I haven't had any issues with the 790i i use. I have a conservative overclock on a QX9650 of 3.45, put I could get 3.6 or so if I invested in a decent cooler, so I don't see what the problem is. Also note, that the XFX 790i preformed almost as well as the ASUS Striker II in the recent 790i benchmark test. And everyone agrees that the 780i was a great board, so now doesn't seem like the time to leave the board business.

I don't think I'd make a point of an overclock of 3.45ghz with a QX9650, with a possibility of 3.6ghz on a 790i board. That's more like an admission of failure. I keep my QX9650 a little over 3.7ghz on my X48 Rampage board with no problem at all, and have gone to a stable 4.1ghz with a temp of 65c. A Q9550 should run at 3.45ghz without problem, and save a whole lot of money.

 

[Scotteq]

At Anandtech - nVidia deny the rumor: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=12563

 

[eklipz330]

nVidia has the rights to socket 1166, but not 1366, and I bet their going to use them.

i second that

and never in this article did they say nvidia was going outta business, they will obviously do something about this, in no way am i concerned

 

[gamerk316]

I don't think I'd make a point of an overclock of 3.45ghz with a QX9650, with a possibility of 3.6ghz on a 790i board. That's more like an admission of failure. I keep my QX9650 a little over 3.7ghz on my X48 Rampage board with no problem at all, and have gone to a stable 4.1ghz with a temp of 65c. A Q9550 should run at 3.45ghz without problem, and save a whole lot of money.

Only because of my stock cooler (don't ask, thats getting fixed ). 3.6 I what I feel I'm guaranteed to get, higher is always a possibility (i'll let you know over the weekend). Besides, I'm the only one here even using the board for what it's meant for: PCI 2.0 and DDR3.

 

[StevieD]

My mother is making chips. Mmmmmmm Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Oh gosh darn, she ran out of chips, no more Chocolate Chip Cookies.


What I just wrote is about as meaningful as the rumours posted about MotherBoards.