NVIDIA Announces AMD Integrated Graphics
by Wesley Fink on September 20, 2005 1:08 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Our Take
NVIDIA C51 has been expected for quite a while. Without a real integrated graphics solution for the AMD market, NVIDIA had allowed that market segment to be controlled by ATI on the higher end and SiS on the lower end. Now that NVIDIA is introducing its own AMD Integrated Graphics solution, you can expect this market segment to heat up even more.
NVIDIA tells us that boards will be available in early October, but we have already seen at least one motherboard available online. Priced at just $80, the Biostar Tforce-6100 is a value oriented board. If you're interested in the more feature-rich 6150+430 configuration you will have to wait a bit longer. We should see more products hit the retail market in the near future.
Some of the options on NVIDIA's new chipsets are unique and promising, like the support for high definition Azalia audio and HDTV output in 1080i format. These features look very promising for multimedia PCs, a market also targeted by ATI with their Integrated Graphics.
There are also some disappointments in the 6100. No one expects the GeForce 6100 to be the choice of a gamer, but there was hope that nVidia would improve performance by using 4 pixel pipelines in the 6100. Instead, the shipping 6100 is only 2 pixel pipelines, the same as the ATI Radeon Xpress200. NVIDIA passed on the opportunity to bring 6200 level Graphics to integrated video. They have promised that most "mainstream" games will be playable on the 6100 series, but we are skeptical with just 2 pipelines.
We will be talking more about the GeForce 6100 when we get our hands on actual motherboards and systems. At this point, it looks as if the 6100 is stiff competition for ATI. In the end, competition brings value and even more innovation. It looks as if AMD Integrated Graphics will now be a hotly contested market, and that's good news for buyers of mainstream Athlon64 systems.
NVIDIA C51 has been expected for quite a while. Without a real integrated graphics solution for the AMD market, NVIDIA had allowed that market segment to be controlled by ATI on the higher end and SiS on the lower end. Now that NVIDIA is introducing its own AMD Integrated Graphics solution, you can expect this market segment to heat up even more.
NVIDIA tells us that boards will be available in early October, but we have already seen at least one motherboard available online. Priced at just $80, the Biostar Tforce-6100 is a value oriented board. If you're interested in the more feature-rich 6150+430 configuration you will have to wait a bit longer. We should see more products hit the retail market in the near future.
Some of the options on NVIDIA's new chipsets are unique and promising, like the support for high definition Azalia audio and HDTV output in 1080i format. These features look very promising for multimedia PCs, a market also targeted by ATI with their Integrated Graphics.
There are also some disappointments in the 6100. No one expects the GeForce 6100 to be the choice of a gamer, but there was hope that nVidia would improve performance by using 4 pixel pipelines in the 6100. Instead, the shipping 6100 is only 2 pixel pipelines, the same as the ATI Radeon Xpress200. NVIDIA passed on the opportunity to bring 6200 level Graphics to integrated video. They have promised that most "mainstream" games will be playable on the 6100 series, but we are skeptical with just 2 pipelines.
We will be talking more about the GeForce 6100 when we get our hands on actual motherboards and systems. At this point, it looks as if the 6100 is stiff competition for ATI. In the end, competition brings value and even more innovation. It looks as if AMD Integrated Graphics will now be a hotly contested market, and that's good news for buyers of mainstream Athlon64 systems.
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R3MF - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
nor me, AA works fine with the 5.10's.Live - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - link
Cant say nothing about your situation. But start stressing the system with long multiple downloads and updating drivers seem to cause a lot of problems for a lot of people. So many as to cast serious doubt about the condition of AA and NAM.Live - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
Anandtech forums are full of posts about Active Armor not working.http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
Tons more but I think you get the picture. Something is broken with it. Or there is some non obvious way to set it up that only Nvidia and you know about :)
Tanclearas - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
Great links!Further to that, a simple experiment is to simply install one of the previous nForce Platform driver sets (6.39, 6.53) and get the firewall up and running. Once you're comfortable, install any newer driver and activate AA/NAM. Chances are very good that you'll encounter instabilities and BSOD's before too long.
Just to head off people with "helpful" suggestions, I have uninstalled previous drivers, used Driver Cleaner Pro, etc all to no avail. I had 6.39 up and running without any problems, but every attempt to upgrade (using any method, to any newer driver set) results in BSOD's. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to do a fresh install of Windows every time there is a new driver. I would have stayed with 6.39, but I was trying to resolve crashing issues in BF2, and part of their resolution steps include updating drivers. I can't really bitch about BF2 if I don't at least attempt their solutions.
yacoub - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
This is essentially nForce5 then? Or still using nForce4 for the southbridge chip?Josh7289 - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
No, not at all. This is like nForce4 for the mainstream/integrated GPU market, with no SLI support and the like.
This Nvidia integrated GPU platform does definitely look much better than ATI's Radeon Xpress 200 (RS480), which I have and use for gaming on integrated video. I'm getting a 6600 GT soon, though.
Man, Nvidia is absolutey crushing ATI in almost every department these days.
segagenesis - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
Article summary says it all... this has potential for being the all inclusive HTPC mainboard of choice. Anyone have info on what the HD audio will offer? Dolby Digital Live yes/no? If the integrated video has as good HDTV support as ATI (in my experience, nvidia cards on HDTV = suckage) then im sold on one.tayhimself - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
No soudnstorm or Dolby Digital Encoding support. I hope nforce5 has it. :(R3MF - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
about time nVidia implemented HD audio. :)two questions:
> "mATX only"?
> will there be triple screen support like the Xpress200 + ATI GPU combination?
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
nVidia says that installing a PCIe video card will NOT automatically disable on-board video. That sounds like the 3 monitor setup is an available option.