GPU in disguise
We wrote
about ION 2 last year and back then it was quite clear that ION 2 is not
chipset, but actually a GPU that will interconnect with Intel's Pine Trail M platform.
Since Intel
has important parts of its chipset inside of the Pine View M processor, Nvidia
simply didn’t see any sense in putting the replacement chipset next to Intel’s
own. ION 2 will take care of graphics subsystem and it should work together
with Intel’s IGP in the so-called Optimus technology mode.
Many vendors
are expected to embrace ION 2, but the fact that ION 2 makes netbooks with latest
N4x0 generation Atoms more expensive doesn’t really help. The performance in
this case comes at a price and Nvidia will also play the compute and Cuda
card, as this is definitely going to run better on ION 2 than on Intel’s CPU
integrated IGP.
If you didn't get this by now, the ION brand will remain reserved exclusively for Nvidia GPUs and chipsets that support Atom CPUs.
