And if this is true, what will the high end Powermac chipsets comprised of? IBM's proprietary chipsets that they designed for their own 970-based systems?
"First up, the board has AGP 8x. You can effectively count that as a Northbridge function. On the Southbridge side of things there's two channel SATA, RealTek Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire and audio."
Remember that the PC world has two x86 platforms: x86-64 (AMD's Opteron) and IA 64 (Intel's Itanium).
Maybe you could argue that Opteron/Hammer is x86, but Itanium is defintely NOT. Even Intel is desperately trying to leave that creaky old ship of x86. AMD is only sticking with it because backwards compatibility is very important to the PC world.
High end solutions don't use integrated chipsets like the nForce. That sort of integration is a cost-cutting measure.
Quote:
does ATI have anything in this class?
As far as I know, ATi doesn't design motherboards.
I'll take this ball and run with it, just because the implications are interesting:
First, Apple has the option of getting boards from PC board makers -> lower production costs due to competition and volume, and the lack of a substantial initial design cost.
Second, Apple has the option of using Opterons and their successors.
Third, if true this would be the first ATX motherboard Apple has released in how long? That has a few implications as well, especially if Apple decides to let companies like Core Computer continue to exist...
Its not completely inconceivable that Apple or IBM could get nVidia to build an nForce3 variation that uses the 970 FSB in place of the Opteron's HT FSB... but its quite a stretch to make on the basis of no evidence. And it only supports DDR266, not DDR333.
I expect Apple to use their existing chipset as the basis for a new design which has a 970 FSB port (or two) in place of the MPX interface. Hopefully they snazz it up a little too with things like AGP 8x, USB2, FW1600, dual channel DDR333, PCI-X (or whatever the next PCI bus is), etc.
Its not completely inconceivable that Apple or IBM could get nVidia to build an nForce3 variation that uses the 970 FSB in place of the Opteron's HT FSB... but its quite a stretch to make on the basis of no evidence. And it only supports DDR266, not DDR333.
One small step for users, one big step for Apple...
High end solutions don't use integrated chipsets like the nForce. That sort of integration is a cost-cutting measure.
.
Not necessary. There is differents type of nforce 2 : one with integrated video, one without. The nforce 2 is the more efficient chipset for athlon, far superior to the via KT 400 even in is A revision.
The main advantage of the nforce 2 is his dual channel, something that do not exist in other mobo for athlon.
However, even if i doubt that there will be a nforce 3 mobo, i have no doubt that the new mobo will be dual channel DDR memory : dual 333 mhz memory.
Comments
Originally posted by Producer
Any questions?
8)
yes...
more details please!
And if this is true, what will the high end Powermac chipsets comprised of? IBM's proprietary chipsets that they designed for their own 970-based systems?
is this it?
hmmm... looks like a press release came out today (see bottom)....
edit....drunker by day...
The Inquirer
"Nvidia Nforce 3 is Opteron workstation chipset"
"First up, the board has AGP 8x. You can effectively count that as a Northbridge function. On the Southbridge side of things there's two channel SATA, RealTek Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire and audio."
Screed
Then again, maybe not...
Single-Chip Solution
"Unmatched performance from the industry's first single-chip core logic solution for 64-bit platforms." (My emphasis)
Originally posted by Stoo
Remember that the PC world has two x86 platforms: x86-64 (AMD's Opteron) and IA 64 (Intel's Itanium).
Maybe you could argue that Opteron/Hammer is x86, but Itanium is defintely NOT. Even Intel is desperately trying to leave that creaky old ship of x86. AMD is only sticking with it because backwards compatibility is very important to the PC world.
is there a nforce 4 coming out?
does ATI have anything in this class?
or is all custom vector GPU altivecy goodness?
Originally posted by keyboardf12
lower end?
High end solutions don't use integrated chipsets like the nForce. That sort of integration is a cost-cutting measure.
does ATI have anything in this class?
As far as I know, ATi doesn't design motherboards.
I'll take this ball and run with it, just because the implications are interesting:
First, Apple has the option of getting boards from PC board makers -> lower production costs due to competition and volume, and the lack of a substantial initial design cost.
Second, Apple has the option of using Opterons and their successors.
Third, if true this would be the first ATX motherboard Apple has released in how long? That has a few implications as well, especially if Apple decides to let companies like Core Computer continue to exist...
Originally posted by Amorph
High end solutions don't use integrated chipsets like the nForce. That sort of integration is a cost-cutting measure.
But low-end boards don't use Quadro's either.
Unless Apple is about to start using the Athlon or Alpha, the nforce will be of absolutly no use to them.
Originally posted by xmoger
But low-end boards don't use Quadro's either.
Where's the Quadro here?
I expect Apple to use their existing chipset as the basis for a new design which has a 970 FSB port (or two) in place of the MPX interface. Hopefully they snazz it up a little too with things like AGP 8x, USB2, FW1600, dual channel DDR333, PCI-X (or whatever the next PCI bus is), etc.
Originally posted by Programmer
Its not completely inconceivable that Apple or IBM could get nVidia to build an nForce3 variation that uses the 970 FSB in place of the Opteron's HT FSB... but its quite a stretch to make on the basis of no evidence. And it only supports DDR266, not DDR333.
One small step for users, one big step for Apple...
Originally posted by Amorph
High end solutions don't use integrated chipsets like the nForce. That sort of integration is a cost-cutting measure.
.
Not necessary. There is differents type of nforce 2 : one with integrated video, one without. The nforce 2 is the more efficient chipset for athlon, far superior to the via KT 400 even in is A revision.
The main advantage of the nforce 2 is his dual channel, something that do not exist in other mobo for athlon.
However, even if i doubt that there will be a nforce 3 mobo, i have no doubt that the new mobo will be dual channel DDR memory : dual 333 mhz memory.