Nvidia schemes to get in on the Atom platform

We all know that you can't trick someone into falling in love with you (unless in you're in a movie with Kate Hudson -- in which case the results are sure to be hilarious), but it looks like the kids at NVIDIA are looking to do just that. It's been previously rumored that NVIDIA's been working on Atom support in its MCP79 chipset, and now the company's in Taiwan, trying to rally support for a crazy scheme whereby PC makers will demand that Intel begin selling them Atom CPUs without bundling in their own graphics chipsets. And if that weren't enough, the GPU maker releases their Ion platform today, designed to replace Intel's graphics chipset on Atom systems. There's no word on how Intel will react to these saucy moves, but we're guessing that at the very least the chipmaker is a little flattered.

Read - Nvidia working with PC makers to force Intel to open the Atom platform
Read - Nvidia Goes Netbooks: Releases Ion Graphics Platform for Intel Atom

[eggothewaffle @ Dec 17th 2008 10:47AM]

I don't care if it can play Crysis.

But Left4Dead? Come on, Nvidia. You know you want to.

[Techie @ Dec 17th 2008 11:10AM]

Looks like NVidia has to spread those L3 Cache pretty wide just to get into the actions "wink."

[eggothewaffle @ Dec 17th 2008 11:11AM]

wait what

[OneLove @ Dec 17th 2008 11:19AM]

"Nvidia working with PC makers to force Intel to open the Atom platform"

....shouldnt nvidia be the guy?

[OSnix*-geek @ Dec 17th 2008 11:29AM]

@OneLove who said there was a female in this equation.... but love FTW!

[Patriks7 @ Dec 17th 2008 11:41AM]

@OSnix*-geek
I believe he is talking about the picture..

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Dec 17th 2008 2:40PM]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3478

[chispito @ Dec 17th 2008 3:51PM]

L4D is probably out of any current Atom processor's league.

[Professor STFU @ Dec 17th 2008 10:50AM]

nVidia to Intel "We're going to open a can of whoop ass"

[Flashpoint @ Dec 17th 2008 10:51AM]

CRYSIS: Netbook Edition

[Kris120890 @ Dec 17th 2008 10:54AM]

This is brilliant but bad for early adopters. Ion is bound to be better than the intel chipset. Play games on a small machinh is pointless unless its dedicated but the HDMI.

Intel atom + Nvidia 9400m sounds cool though maybe a tad too much.

ION, Atom I see what they did there.

[rock99rock @ Dec 17th 2008 11:27AM]

Agreed. If the N10 is any indication with Atom + 9300m

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220385

Atom + nVidia graphics already doubles the price.. but is ohhh so tempting for that HD lovin.

[m-p{3} @ Dec 17th 2008 12:44PM]

@rock99rock

Me want!

[Boarderwoot @ Dec 17th 2008 3:15PM]

If you haven't noticed, early adopters get screwed pretty much everyday in the technology world.

[fnuky @ Dec 17th 2008 10:59AM]

Intel will fight tooth and nail to block this combination as it will cannibalise sales from their more expensive CPUs.

The entire reason that Atom's been tied to their out of date or expensive mobile chipsets is to artifically cripple the platform and try to keep a clear distinction between Atom / Centrino product lines!

[rock99rock @ Dec 17th 2008 11:45AM]

"Intel will fight tooth and nail to block this combination"

Then what of the Asus N10?

[Fnuky @ Dec 17th 2008 12:25PM]

"Then what of the Asus N10?"

Well, the N10's an oddity, for sure. I can't imagine it has Intel's official endorsement!

But it does have an Intel chipset, not an nVidia one - exactly the same mdoel as all the rest of the netbooks; Asus have just bodged a discrete nVidia GPU + some RAM onto the side of it somehow.

I say "somehow" because this is something that Intel doesn't want to allow: the 945GSE is supposed to have its PCI express x16 port disabled! Asus have either found a way around this (I can't imagine Intel letting them ship this) or connected it to the much slower PCI express x1 ports on the ICH-7m.

Regardless, it's much more expensive as a combination, as you pointed out, worse featured and lower performance than the nVidia chipset would be, so they probably don't mind too much.

The point here is whether Intel will allow the manufacturers to buy the Atom CPU on its own, allowing them to use the nVidia MCP79 or if they will keep insisting you buy it as a bundle with their chipset.

The manufacturers could always buy them and throw the Intel chipset away or use it for something else, but then I'd expect to see their supplies mysteriously suffering from shortages...

I really hope they do allow this but I think it will be a cold day in hell before they do, especially without any competition in the market from AMD who aren't bothering (hello, guys?!) and VIA who seem unable to ship their Nano in any volume to get any design wins...

I know it sounds stupid, but Intel internally see Atom as one of the biggest threats to their own sales! Why buy a mid-range Centrino laptop if a cheap Atom one will do pretty much everything it can, just with fractionally lower raw CPU performance?

[rock99rock @ Dec 17th 2008 1:05PM]

I didn't really think of it until you said it, but youre right about the n10 still using the Intel chipset. The N10 has a manual "switch" on the side of the notebook that will enable or disable the 9300m video card on the fly.

You are probably "unfortunately" right about Intel not allowing the 9400m, as you made very good points as to why not.

Junk.

[iofthestorm @ Dec 17th 2008 3:43PM]

Well, you have to remember that besides on power consumption, Atom sucks at just about everything else. The difference between an Atom and a Core 2 is huge, hell, the Atom can't even beat the old Celerons used in the original EEE, and that's using the same chipset. I wouldn't be surprised if the Atom actually holds an nVidia IGP back. But it will be interesting to see what nVidia can do with a nonshitty chipset, I imagine netbooks will become much more attractive after nVidia gets its way.

[substance90 @ Dec 17th 2008 11:00AM]

LoL! Seriously! One of the worst Engadget picture mock-ups!!!

[d503 @ Dec 17th 2008 11:56AM]

Just when you thought engadget couldn't get any worse with their XXXXX

[konshuss @ Dec 17th 2008 11:14AM]

nvidia sure has a small rack.

[Joshua Walters @ Dec 17th 2008 11:38AM]

And from the sounds of it, shes stubborn.

Looks like this date isnt going to go anywhere

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 17th 2008 11:48AM]

intel's about to ask nvidia's favorite sexual position. he'll be going home alone tonight.

[ByronGman @ Dec 17th 2008 12:09PM]

@ phanbouy fan fan

Intel would never ask such a thing!

We all know he's been trying to factor partners out of the equation entirely; he'll be more than happy to take care of himself!

[Jash Sayani @ Dec 17th 2008 11:20AM]

Their dinner is getting cold !!

[rems @ Dec 17th 2008 11:34AM]

Somehow the graphic card maker is represented by the girl and the chip maker is represented by the guy. Both make components that perform calculations, why not have 2 guys/gals ?

[Patriks7 @ Dec 17th 2008 11:42AM]

Cause Engadget doesn't want to promote gay/lesbian pictures on their blog..
jk btw, I really have no idea where I came up with that..

[skyward @ Dec 17th 2008 12:10PM]

Like most date, the guy alway have to pay..

[htd @ Dec 17th 2008 12:12PM]

the picture looks creepy

[crow610 @ Dec 17th 2008 1:13PM]

I DON'T WANT TO EAT FOOD, I WANT TO EAT YOU!!!

[shawnmos @ Dec 17th 2008 1:14PM]

The only thing really lacking on my MSI Wind is the crappy intel video. That's the main thing that's limiting gaming ability. Even being able to play the latest games at lowest detail would be a great improvement.

[scentedflame @ Dec 17th 2008 5:12PM]

Engadget, you have it all wrong. Nvidia is definitely the man in the relationship.

[loosely_coupled @ Dec 17th 2008 7:08PM]

Nvidia should just develop their own platform with a high-clocked ~1.0+Ghz ARM Cortex-A8 (and eventually multi-core A9)

[Cyrus @ Dec 19th 2008 11:09PM]

This is a big move for NVidia, whose been waiting for almost 8 years to make an industry shifting move. For continued coverage of netbooks and Nvidia's power play, go to http://www.netbookstation.com