Liscensing Agreements Between nVidia and Intel Are Not Going Well.
 

This started out as a rumor today, but Intel has since more-or-less confirmed that licensing discussions between Intel and Nvidia for Intel's next-generation processors are not going well and the resulting conflict could have implications for high-end gaming PCs.


The story is that Intel and Nvidia are currently negotiating technology licenses for Nehalem, Intel's next-generation desktop CPU due out at the end of this year. As we were told from multiple desktop vendors who wish to remain nameless, Intel wants to license SLI from Nvidia for its Nehalem chipsets, and if Nvidia won't, Intel will withhold the license that would enable Nvidia to support Nehalem's memory controller, and thus Nehalem, on its own chipsets.


We have no official confirmation from Nvidia on this, and Intel's statement from PR Manager Dan Snyder is vague, but it lends credence to the story:


"There is a disagreement between Intel and Nvidia as to the scope of Nvidia's license from Intel to make chipsets compatible with Intel microprocessors. Intel is trying to resolve the disagreement privately with Nvidia and therefore we will not provide additional details. It is our hope that this dispute will be resolved amicably and that it will not impact other areas of our companies' working relationship."


Intel has been after SLI support for its chipsets for years, but has thus far only been able to build it into its ultra high-end Skulltrail motherboards, seemingly a one-off. With SLI available across all of its chipset lines, Intel would be able to sell motherboards that support both AMD's and Nvidia's multi-graphics card technologies. Right now Intel boards (with the exception of Skulltrail) only support AMD's CrossFire.


Nvidia, on the other hand, has kept SLI close, often citing compatibility and certification concerns as the reason why no other chipset vendor has been able to offer SLI-capability. But if Nvidia loses out on Nehalem for its next-generation chipsets, the high-end desktop market will become more fragmented that it's been in years. Nvidia has been able to offer SLI-supporting chipsets for both AMD and Intel processors, but if this split happens, on one side we'll have Nehalem and CrossFire-based systems, the other will offer SLI (and possibly CrossFire, if hacks used in the past continue to work) and AMD CPUs.


In light of this rumor, Nvidia's recent marketing push encouraging upgraders to pick a graphics card before a quad core CPU takes on new significance. If Nvidia knows high-end PC gamers will have to make a choice later this year, better to plant the seeds in its favor early. Intel probably has less to worry about, because gamers that demand SLI with a fast Intel procesor can still use Nvidia's NForce 790i chipset, which support the current generation of Intel Core 2 Extreme chips.

source: http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-995...tfd.blogs.item

OMG!! I hope nvidia eat a huge bag of dicks, the only reason i wont go skulltrail is intel paid that two-bit shitstain annoying marketing whore company nv to put an nvidia component on an otherwise perfect piece of hardware.

"OMG!! I hope nvidia eat a huge bag of dicks"

HAHA, LMAO

every time i turn on a game im hassled by the nvidia marketing machine.....they dont sell direct to the consumer they sell in volume substandard chips to third party manufacturers with thee worst software suppot ever...the way its meant to be plaayed my arse.

Nothing new here since you can't use SLI on any intel chipsets apart from skulltrail.

or a badaxe2 with mod driver...seen it with me own peepers..as for nothing new...dunno about that.

:laugh:

I think I pissed a-little after reading that.

:rockout:

Wow being a bit harsh there. The geforce boys have brought high end gaming a long way.

well its nice to see the two giants are playing nice

lol at nvidia now we woop ass you!

I totally agree but I dont necessarily always think NVidia are solely to blame here, it is after all the game developers/companies that are holding their hands out and taking the money and it's the game company that facilitates that marketing machine.

If we stand on principle and noone buys NVidia then shouldnt we not buy any game develped by Ubisoft.....blah....blah?

"The way it's meant to be paid" from the devs' point of view! :D

What a bunch of fanboy BS. I'll believe it when it actually comes true, but for right now I don't believe rumors.

Worst case is that nVidia won't have a chipset for Intel processors, not really a big loss considering they just started making Intel chipsets a few years ago. Not having an Intel chipset might hurt their pocket-books alittle, but their chipset business isn't where the money is.

SLI will still work on Intel's chipsets, nVidia will just have to enable it in the drivers, so it won't affect the video card industry in one bit.

Oh boo hoo, you are just pissed because ATi can't do the same and if ATi was doing the same thing it would magically be perfectly fine...Oh wait they do do the exact same thing...:nutkick:

Do your research and look up the "Get in the Game" program, it is identical to nVidia's TWIMTBP program, it just isn't nearly as popular because ATi just wanted to use it as a marketing program while nVidia actually helps game developers optimize the game.(Which is worse?)

If Intel can't have SLI, then I imagine we will start seeing nVidia partners rolling out multi-GPU cards to compensate... In a way, I hope nVidia shoots itself in the foot so AMD\ATI can gain new market share... Also, it'd be great to play a game that says "ATI, the way it's supposed to be played" for once, lol.

I'm no fan of either ATI or Nvidia, but hoping that Nvidia goes out of business would be detrimental for us gamers. ATI would have the monopoly, and no one to compete against would mean we have to pay higher prices... :(

no,im glad i dont see ati ads before my game,im not a fanboi at all,sure i have my preference and opinion just like you...do me a favour, go hit the intel site...come back with a chipset driver,that was easy huh?

now go hit the nv site to get a chipset driver...holy marketing to people you dont sell products directly to batman!

the amd site suffers a little bit of hipe...but they sell some products retail still and they do software and support properly.

What about the really cool companies that sit in the background and quietley achive without any bullshit (via) with nv gone maybe we could see some more innovation from the unsung hero.

There's nothing wrong with not selling chipsets directly it means that manufacturers like asus and such can compete to lower prices and offer a larger range of products to suit your budget and requirements. Also via is owned by Nvidia and if Nvidia go the gpu market will die and so will via and you are a fanboy stop saying your not.

nvidia goes ATI would make a huge profit you want to know wha else will happen?

the cards prices will go up just like nvidias $600 current gen....and products would get slower progression because their would be no need to add more than 3 shader units want to know why? because their the only company and if you dont want the high end one with 3 more shaders than you can get left behind.

Giving Intel SLI would result in nforce motherboards going the way of ati-intel motherboards.

About fukin time :roll:

I'm tired of seeing the stupid machine that nvidia has win big while sandbagging the good stuff from us. If they don't settle things, its too damn bad :toast:

If they want a win then give us the best that they possibly can't w/o charging a fortune for it - not the opposite :rolleyes:

VIA isn't owned by nVIDIA, where d'you hear that? I know that nVIDIA make core-logic dets for Via Isaiah microprocessors but I don't think they bought VIA.

I'd like t'see your source of information if you would be so kind.

I read it here somewhere :laugh:

nope,not a fanboy,yep,hate nvidia...imagane if every time you went for a drive you were confronted with huge billboards and radio adverts from a company that supplied a part to the car manufactures that you the consumer could not purchase.....how can you pronounce me a fanboy and yet trust a company that relies only on marketing and profiteering...nv = shady f*ckers

they were trying to buy Via to get a x86 license Via said no

I believe every company relies on marketing to get their products to the masses hence how they survive. If Ati did not advertise their products no one would know about them and they would have went bust years ago

As for the VIA thing my bad :laugh: I thought nvidia bought them in the end