nVidia and ATI both announced, this week, great victories for their respective integrated graphics chipsets. It is not uncommon for the two companies to go head to head in the same market at the same time. First it was desktop graphics boards then it was mobile chips and now the OEM market. nVidia's market lead is widely recognized and accepted but ATI has shown that they are willing to make nVidia fight for that lead. Of the two deals, nVidia's looks the most significant since it involves a direct deal with one of the biggest system makers.
nVidia
nVidia announced that NEC and NEC Corporation, the sixth bigger suppliers of mainstream PCs in Europe and Japan respectively, have chosen nVidia nForce Platform Processors as the core technology foundation for all of its AMD Athlon XP processor-based consumer desktop PC systems.
nVidia's nForce Platform Processors, the nForce Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP) and the nForce Media and Communications Processor (MCP), combine for the industryfs most innovative PC platform design, integrating core graphics, communications and audio technologies to deliver unmatched system performance for the mainstream desktop PC market.
The first systems based on the nForce Platform Processors include NEC Corporation's VALUESTAR G Type A and NEC CIfs POWERMATE i-Select XL4. The NEC CI POWERMATE i-Select XL4 will also feature the power and performance of nVidia's latest graphics technology, the GeForce4 Ti 4600 GPU. The VALUESTAR G Type A will be sold primarily in Japan; the POWERMATE i-Select XL4 in Europe.
nVidia nForce integrates high technology innovations for the direct benefits of NEC users, said Fabrice Vincenty, desktop manager Europe for NEC CI. Offering GeForce4 in mainstream and in high-end solutions highlights NEC CI's policy of offering the best of technology to its customers.
The nForce architecture's combination of impressive performance and unbeatable value allows NEC Corporation and NEC CI to continue to do what it does best—offer innovative and cost-effective solutions to its customers, without compromising on performance, says Alain Tiquet, marketing director EMEA for NVIDIA. We look forward to working with both companies to deliver the power of nForce to the widest possible range of European and Asian desktops.
By combining the strength of the AMD Athlon XP processor with nVidia's nForce platform, NEC will bring a powerful multimedia computing experience to its customers, said Sam Rogan, Director of Marketing, North Asia, Computation Products Group, at AMD. This is a great example of AMD's commitment to work with industry-leading partners to deliver powerful solutions that meet the needs of todays PC consumers on a global scale.
Although the deal sounds really sweet for nVidia there are still some questions to be answered. Firstly and most importantly, the press release does not specify what percentage of NEC systems carry an AMD processor. Then there is the strange lack of mention of Packard - Bell, NEC's European retail brand, does the deal cover systems produced under that name?
