Consumer Electronics Show 2005: AT's Coverage
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 10, 2005 3:49 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
The CPU and Chipset Marketplace
When given the opportunity to sit down with the leaders of the Taiwanese motherboard market we're always able to get a good idea of who's really leading in terms of industry marketshare. We asked our contacts at all of the motherboard makers we met with what they were seeing in terms of CPU marketshare and chipset marketshare in 2005.
We talked to one motherboard manufacturer whose motherboard shipments were 60% AMD and 40% Intel. The rest of the motherboard manufacturers in Taiwan are still shipping more Intel than AMD but we're seeing a continued shift towards a 50/50 AMD/Intel split when it comes to motherboard shipments. By the end of Q2 all Socket-478 CPUs will have dried up, meaning that anyone looking for an Intel platform will be forced to move to 915 or 925X(E), which should obviously increase shipments of those two platforms but may also increase the number of AMD platforms sold.
ATI's chipset penetration is basically nothing amongst the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers, despite ATI's efforts to brand the Radeon Xpress as an enthusiast solution. Part of the problem is ATI's previous history of chipsets and the other part of the problem is NVIDIA - the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers are quite happy with nForce4 on the AMD side and they'd rather not produce any more Intel motherboards that won't sell, so ATI loses out.
VIA's best ally among the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers is currently shipping around a 60/40 split when it comes to VIA vs. NVIDIA chipsets. The rest of Taiwan however appears to be more along the lines of 50/50 between VIA and NVIDIA. The manufacturers we talked too indicated that as soon as nForce4 was available on a more widespread basis that their AMD motherboard shipments would soon be much stronger in favor of NVIDIA.
VIA appears to be focusing on their Pentium 4 chipsets which we didn't hear or see much support for from the Taiwanese makers when we met with them at CES. Right now it seems like NVIDIA will be the chipset maker to watch out for in 2005, especially with the introduction of their upcoming Intel chipset.
NVIDIA's Intel chipset will support DDR2 and may actually bring some much needed excitement to the Intel platform. The entire Sound Storm division at NVIDIA has been shut down and thus NVIDIA's Intel solution will have HD Audio support, but we will not see the return of Dolby Digital Encoding support or NVIDIA's Sound Storm DSP.
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dderidex - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
About that SN25P....nice Envy24 chip on it - but do we know anything about the DAC used?24/192 internal precision is useless if they pair it with a 16/48 DAC. If their was a Wolfson chip on that motherboard by the Envy24 chip...I would be *drooling*.
Reflex - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
#36: I am not debating that. I am saying that you need to pay attention to his statement about 'a way that you won't expect'. For one, it won't be a nVidia developed solution. That I can guarantee you since there is NO DESIGN TEAM anymore. But you can choose to believe what you wish I suppose....shinotenshi - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
SAN JOSE — Here at NVIDIA's Editor's Day event today, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang addressed questions about the company's plans for a possible second spin of its popular but ill-fated SoundStorm audio solution. Apparently, a reprise of SoundStorm will happen. Huang told the assembled press types, "We're gonna build SoundStorm 2. It's gonna be awesome." He was less clear on what form the next SoundStorm would take, saying that NVIDIA was still trying to figure out how to deliver SoundStorm as a product. Huang said, cryptically, that the new SoundStorm "will come in a way that you won't expectshabby - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
14: the way our living room is arranged we needed a display that allowed viewing from an angle and needed to be thin, and this is where the dlp fell flat on its face. It was too dark and too thick, at least compared to a plasma.While plasma's do wear out over time, thraxes just proved that it takes a long long time.
Reflex - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
SoundStorm is completely dead. The group is disbanded and its members have found jobs in other parts of the company. This is a fact.Sound in nVidia's chipset solutions is not dead, however. From what I have heard though its just a license of Intel's Azalia spec. In other words: No different than the integrated sound that you get on any Intel chipset board nowadays.
The SoundStorm solution that you all know from the NF/NF2 days is completely gone however, and it will NOT be making a comeback.
shinotenshi - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
Well As i said, as being part of chipset its dead. but nvidia knows it can make a killing makeing add in sound boards. creative makes weak products let get real. The orginal soundstorm needed too much bandwidth to be done on pci. with PCI-E they have enough bandwidth to produce the card. Nvidia will be able to fund SS2 development becuase of its deal with the Ps3. The PS3 will need a high end sound chip because im sure sony is going to use it as means of spreading blu-ray introduction.bob661 - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
I think the CEO of Nvidia is just trying to keep customers. He would lose a few by announcing that SS is totally dead. I would string you guys along until it didn't make a difference whether you bailed or not.bob661 - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
The Inq isn't lying. They are reporting what's been told to them. That's they're job. Sometimes it's bum info.knitecrow - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
On the soundstorm issue, I personally wouldn't believe AMD, Intel, Nvidia, or ATI... they have been known to lie when it suits their interests.**cough** 6800GT/ultra hardware mpeg2/WMV decoding **cough**
There are conflicting reports to be sure, but I am more likey to believe those from close partners. I am sure the next soundstorm is going to be an intel azilla rehash to appease the masses.
shinotenshi - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
Soundstorm is not dead, the chairman of nvidia confirm this himself. however i think its dead as far as being apart of a chipset. the chairman remarked that it would return in a suprising form.this has to the belief that either it will return as a seperate chip sutitable for add in sound boards, or interagrated in graphics cards. my bet is that it will return as a PCI-e card capable of encoding some the advance audio codecs that are apart of the blu-ray spec. I don't think it was a coincidence that the chairman of nvidia made the announcement shortly after it was revealed that nvidia would be doing the PS3's GPU.