Nvidia's nForce platform for Intel-based systems was was shown for the first time at the Intel Developer Forum. The company did not say when actual systems would be shipping, but after receiving PCI Express certification it is certainly just a matter of a few weeks until the Intel nForce will appear on the market.

Since Intel announced that its 955X chipset for the single- and dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition will support dual graphics cards within one system, nForce will have lost its unique status for gaming platforms when Intel will introduce its dual-core processors in the second quarter of this year.

Michael Diamond, director of strategic marketing at Nvidia however said that his company was little surprised that Intel offers its own dual graphics card approach. Nvidia believes that the nForce chipset will keep at lead in performance over the Intel solution. (THG)