Nvidia Dropping out of Chipset Business... maybe from Taking a Huge Hit?

So yeah Nvidia might be thinking about exiting the motherboard making business as many manufacturers are dropping them. Perhaps due to all the complainers on the GPU situation? Could it be the money they are spending for compensation for manufacturers is causing them to lose quality on Chipset making? Who knows. But the fact remains that they are struggling.

It doesn't seem too bad of a thing when you think about how it would shift their focus more onto the quality of their graphics cards instead of making chipsets/motherboards that could probably ensure something like the G84/G86 defect to not happen again.

 

If they drop their motherboards, that would mean HybridPower is no longer possible, as currently it requires a Nvidia motherboard, and Nvidia discrete card.

Incidentally, this might be a better post in the Hardware forums.

 

That would suck . . . they've made a lot of good chipsets, and SLI has generally been more successful than Crossfire at this point. Why focus on GPU's when that has been the one thing you currently suck the most at? : D

 

ATI is overtaking them fast, maybe they are sinking faster then we thought and are just trying to keep themselves afloat.

would be a shame, but i think we would survive.

 

I don't know how much of an impact this is, but ATI is starting to release more open source drivers for their cards and are cooperating with the OpenSource community like crazy lately. nVidia still refuses to make an opensource driver and refuses to release some critical information regarding their 3D acceleration so that developers can make their own driver. As more and more people are using Linux, I think this can have an impact.

 

As much as Nvidia has such a tarnished name at this point, we do need them to stay in the chipset business. Developments in the SLI technology can lead to even more inexpensive solutions for creating a graphical behemoth without breaking the bank. Not to mention while ATI has an opportunity to come out on top, they are moving slowly, so if I forecast anything, it will be an equal distribution in power in the near future.

 

My understanding is this is a business strategy for them to gain a larger share in processor sales for their server lines, especially where integrated graphics are concerned.

 

Taken from a notebook perspective, it would not really be any great loss if nVidia departed the chipset market. Intel cpu notebooks primarily use Intel chipsets for the Centrino compliance, while AMD has ATi. With that in mind, nVidia really has no place in the market other than uber-budget & boutique models, either of which can readily be served by the AMD/ATi or Intel chipset portfolios (SLI aside).

 

The much-maligned Inquirer has speculated that nVidia might be busy doing work for Apple. Perhaps that will be the focus of their efforts.

Maybe everything will be clearer in a month or two.

John

 

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