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Nvidia still considering Lynnfield & Havendale chipset

by on29 August 2008

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Comfortable using DMI

Although it's quite clear by now that Nvidia won't be doing a chipset for Core i7/Bloomfield, the company is apparently still considering making a chipset for the upcoming Lynnfield and Havendale processors, although how much of a chipset this would be is a different matter.

As these two processors will rely on Intel's DMI (Direct Media Interface) as chipset interconnect, Nvidia does technically still have a license to make a chipset for both processors. However, considering that Intel has moved both the memory and PCIe controller into the CPU package, as well as the integrated graphics when it comes to the Havendale processors, it's hard to see what Nvidia has to bring to the table.

It's also questionable if Nvidia will make an IGP chipset for either of these processors, as Havendale already has integrated graphics and Lynnfield might be considered too powerful to be paired up with an IGP solution. It would also take something of an engineering feat for Nvidia to interface the graphics with the CPU, the only way we can think of that it would work, would be to use the PCIe bus, but then there might be some other issues when you want to add a graphics card.

With Intel's PCH taking over from a chipset, there's still the possibility of Nvidia coming up with their own version, but it does seem somewhat pointless, as all the PCH is, is a renamed Southbridge, or ICH in Intel speak, with a few extra bells and whistles, such as a display interface for the IGP part of the Havendale processors.

Still, Digitimes seem to think that Nvidia is set to launch a chipset for socket 1160 and the site also claims that Nvidia somehow scored a QPI license, but this has yet to be verified by any other sources.

You can find the Digitimes article here.
Last modified on 30 August 2008
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