NVIDIA Could Dump VIA for Intel Atom

Relations between NVIDIA and Intel have not been at their best of late, with each trying to take every opportunity to take pot-shots at each other. There is still uncertainty about NVIDIA getting the technology assistance to devise a motherboard chipset for Intel’s next generation desktop processors.

However, the Ultra Low-Cost PC (ULPC) market has been an overnight success for several companies, be the likes of ASUS and their dozens and dozens of laptops and upcoming desktops for the ULPC market or others like MSI and ECS trying to bring ULPC to the desktop with their motherboard solutions.

At the heart of the ULPC lies the processor, currently there are two competing processors, the Intel Atom and VIA Nano, with both competing at a decent level. While Intel brought back revisions of the i945G + ICH7 as the core logic (chipset) for Atom and its derivatives, VIA has its own chipset division to take care of platform support for the Nano. NVIDIA needed its slice of this ‘ULPizza’ and hence announced a team-up with VIA so they could work out a chipset for the Nano, attempting to give it an edge over Atom thanks to the MCP73 IGP chipset which is supposed to outperform the Intel GMA 950 to a level that brings VIA Nano based solutions as worthy a buy as those with Intel Atom. Why? Because Intel wouldn’t let them make a chipset for the Atom.

There however is a fresh development now, with NVIDIA hinting to Intel that if it allows NVIDIA to make chipset for the Atom, it will break its alliance with VIA. This is sugarcoated by NVIDIA saying the MCP73 only supports single channel memory with VIA Nano and is not performing to its fullest potential. NVIDIA has used the alliance as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Intel, demanding Intel allow NVIDIA's IGP chipsets to enter the Atom platform ecosystem, according to sources at PC makers, reports the Taiwanese industry observer, DigiTimes. Well, what can we say? Friends turn foes, turn friends.

With inputs from DigiTimes.