14 DAY TRIAL // As we mentioned in a number of previous articles, the Santa Clara-based chip manufacturer NVIDIA has seen better days. Partially responsible for this is the fact that AMD's graphics subsidiary, ATI, has succeeded in providing us with two of the best video cards currently available on the market. This has put enough pressure on the green company to make it slash the prices for its new GeForce cards, less than a month since the official release.
However, that's not all, as the future doesn't seem to be very bright for NVIDIA, if we are to believe an article posted on the HKEPC website. According to it, it appears that the manufacturer's upcoming chipsets will not support any of Intel's yet to be released processors. That includes the Bloomfield and even the Nehalem range of CPUs - which ultimately means that upcoming high-end computer systems will not be built on nForce-enabled motherboards. This, in turn, translates into NVIDIA losing an important share of the market.
But, even so, every cloud has its silver lining, and the same goes here too. According to the above-mentioned website, the X58-based platforms are probably going to support SLI configurations. That is, if motherboard manufacturers are willing to integrate the nForce 200 chip in their designs. This will enable upcoming systems to support NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce cards, but that will be the company's single contribution as far as high-end desktop computer systems go.
The only problem with this solution is that nForce 200-based mobos will end up a bit pricier than standard boards. That is because a single nForce chip costs about US$30 and the same PCB layout will probably not be suitable for both SLI and non-SLI-enabled X58 motherboards. So, even if motherboard makers decide to integrate the nForce chip in their products, it will be the users who will decide if upcoming SLI-motherboards are even worth it.