Sander,

I wanted to give you a hard time for changing your tune, but I wont. The target market for this chipset is a good topic of debate. I think clearly gamers are gonna love this board and flock to it in droves if it comes out the gate with good reviews. I also think enthusiasts will love it if it OCs well. And then theres the slew of 1 man OEMs ( such as myself) that build computers for people. Over all system price, is of course, the bottom line.

If nForce machines toatl price tag is less than a similar machine with grfx, sound and NIC/modem add in cards, and performs as well, would that not be incentive for OEMs to go with it? I see alot of machines configured w/ a g2 mx and SBLive etc at stores, and perhaps the fact that it is an integrated solution will be irrelevant. Perhaps the overall price of the computer in relation to its features will be its selling point.

Mirkin,

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not making an about face. Just looking at the potential of the nForce chipset and the problems it might be able to solve. My other editorial discussed the ability of nVidia to engineer the chipset and uphold the prospective performance claims they've been boasting. These are actually two different things.

As I mentioned I'm still skeptical about whether they can pull it off, as they have an awfull lot on their plate right now. Xbox, next gen of GeForce and the nForce chipset. If you want my expert opinion, I think they'll skip a new GeForce design but rather pull another 'Ultra' on us by releasing a GeForce3 Ultra with 128Mb in the 3rd Quarter.

As for the nForce, I asked nVidia to 'show-me-the-money' and basically asked them whether I could swing on by their offices and take a look at the real thing. I haven't heard back from them yet, but if they do, and invite us to come on over, you can be sure we'll be taking a good, hard look at the nForce chipset.

Have a good weekend,

Sander Sassen

CEO, Hardware Analysis
Email: ssassen@hardwareanalysis.com
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