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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mja28 - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...Visual - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
on page 2 you mention that "the most feature-laden combination" has a tv tuner.i can see in the table above it has something called "tv encoder", i thought its something to do with tv-out though, certainly not a tuner.
i'd really like a cheap mobo with integrated tuner or atleast a video-in option, but i very much doubt anyone would release such a thing soon.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
I have changed "Tuner" to "Encoder" so there is no potential for misunderstanding. Thank you for pointing this out.Questar - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - link
Proof reader on vacation again?Wesley Fink - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - link
Proffreaders don't catch errors like Tuner instead of Encoder ot 2 instead of 4. These two were all me.Leper Messiah - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
Seems like a good board for a HTPC or a DC computer, as long as its cheap and OC's okay. Don't need L33t video for F@H.toyota - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
why does it sat Nvidia has 2 pipelines and ATI has 4????????? the following is from the article about the ATI chipsets here on Anandtech a few months ago:"Radeon Express 200G adds ATI's first DirectX 9 integrated graphics, which can be supported by both DVI (digital) and VGA (analog) outputs. The graphics core is a modified version of the discrete Radeon X300 core with only two rendering pipelines instead of four." so am i lost or does the ATI also just have 2? why has nobody else noticed this?Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
We have corrected the review to reflect the fact that BOTH the new nVidia 6100 and the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 use 2 pixel pipelines. We apologize for any confusion we created, but the article now reflects the fact that both chipsets use 2 pipelines.Johnmcl7 - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
Nice one Wes, reads perfectly now, I agree four pipelines would have been a good move from Nvidia but I guess price is of the highest importance here...I remember with the RS300 with the IGP Radeon 9000, the whole motherboard was the same cost as a discrete GF4MX440/R9000.Let's see if this gets rid of bold...
John
Phiro - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
And we're still in bold!