Nvidia gives PC builders shot at netbook market

Graphics card maker claims latest GPU will help system builders take on A-brands in mini-notebook space

Nvidia marketing manager Ben Barraondo

Nvidia has claimed a trio of coups against its nemesis ATI in its constant struggle for supremacy in the graphics card market.

The chipset maker unveiled a chipset at CES that it says snatches back its leadership in graphics processing. But its release of a new range of graphics processing units (GPUs) suitable for netbooks and mini-notebooks may have more
resonance with beleaguered UK system builders and PC resellers.

As part of its Ion platform, Intel and Nvidia have conspired to integrate GPUs and CPUs more economically in the limited space of a notebook board. As part of that strategy, Nvidia’s new GeForce 100M series of GPUs should enable system builders to produce laptops and notebooks that can handle high-definition games and media.

If they can do that, they will have a product that makes them stand out from the crowd in a market that has become muddied and has disappointed customers, said Nvidia marketing manager Ben Berraondo.

“Netbooks have been sold as all-singing, all-dancing machines. People have bought them thinking they could run high-definition media or watch catch-up TV on their BBC iPlayer. But they could not,” he said.

The new, more powerful range of GPUs and more tightly integrated boards available to system builders, mean they can build platforms that deliver on the promise of the first rush of products from the branded PC makers. “System builders will have something that has an obvious performance advantage that stands out from the crowd,” he said.

It will get even better by the time CeBIT arrives, he claimed. By March, Nvidia hopes to offer 3D Vision technology to its channel partners.

In a third announcement, Nvidia launched two graphics solutions for gamers: the GeForce GTX 295 and the GeForce GTX 285.

It claimed the former is the world’s fastest dual GPU solution. To graphics card maker Zotac, which uses the Nvidia chipset, the status of being the world’s faster card maker is hugely important.

“Stealing back the top spot in graphics performance is fantastic news for Zotac. Now we can keep our record for being the highest overclocked performer in the card market,” said Zotac’s Darren Roberts.