Analysis - NVIDIA thinks Intel is scared of Atom

[HEXUS]

The public spat continues as NVIDIA exec, Ujesh Desai, questions the motivation behind Intel?s legal action.

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[Icanseestars]

Notice how Nvidia goes on the PR offensive whenever they are scared. Which is also a really stupid thing to do against a company like Intel which obviously doesn't care about such small & petty things.

As for his laughable comments about Ion & Atom, yeah right like anyone is going to buy a chipset that costs $100 more than the Intel chipsets (which Intel is already updating with video hardware acceleration) in a market with razor think margins (& performance is not a priority).

[Tweaker]

I cant see how Nvidia are going to come out of this looking good, currently they have the most expencive graphics card, but they also expect people to buy the low cost chipset with Atom. I cant see a 3 way SLI system with Atom at the core. Nvidia need to get themselves sorted here, either they come out and say either ION is for HD playback and perhaps older games, or just HD video and fancy Vista effects. You cant say you can play games on a $200 system when you charge 3 times that for a graphics card and claim putting 2 or 3 together is the way its meant to be played.

[Aragorn1024]

I believe nVidia is absolutely correct here. After all the atom is currently plugged into a old 965 from the p4 days and nVidia definately had competing cipsets then too. There is no way that intel can tell me that this not covered.

As for how nVidia can say that all that many poeple need is an atom chip in an ION platform; The magority of people never even play games (certainly not hard core ones). For all the people out there who use their computer to look at pictures from family trips, send e-mails, watch a few DVD's (portable systems), use MS office, and browse the web the Atom + Ion combo is plenty. The rest will need and want something more but there is a huge swath of the world that could be fine with just the Atom+Ion platform although since many will want the latest os and HD capabilities (maybe some gaming) the graphics intel provides just wont cut it.

[nichomach]

I believe nVidia is absolutely correct here...

Believe that was the sound of a hammer achieving nailhead interface. The ONLY thing holding back Atom from being very competent at what the majority of people would like to use their PCs for has been a shonky old chipset - that uses the same architecture that nVidia already have a license to compete with.

[scaryjim]

The ONLY thing holding back Atom ... has been a shonky old chipset - that ... nVidia already have a license to compete with.

So, reading between the lines, Intel is planning a low-end Atom refresh incorporating an on-board memory controller (Core i3?). Given the bulk nature of that market and the low margins you can see why they'd want to squeeze every cent out of it, and forcing people into buying their own chipset would do that...

[nichomach]

It would, but they may well not be able to if nVidia already have a license.

[miniyazz]

If "Core i3" had an integrated memory controller, nVidia wouldn't have a license..

[3dcandy]

Is Intel scared of the Atom - of course, it's cheap as chips (Hmmph) and reduces how much people spend on Intel products. However, in my experience so far, the majority of people are distinctly unimpressed with their Atom based netbooks because they simply don't perform adequately. This, of course would be improved by a better chipset, but I think nVidia's offering could be a little too much for the current market to bear unless it was vastly superior than Intels. However, the legal spats that are going on seem to be Intel wanting to stay on top at any cost and not lose any ground whatsoever to their rivals...all's fair in love and war as they say!

The only netbook I've been impressed with so far is the NC-10, and that's because of the larger keyboard, but then the trackpad is miniscule....so, let's see what an NC-20 brings to the table, and no Atom in sight with that model...