NVIDIA Charges Manufacturers $120 for nForce 680i Chipset - Report

NVIDIA is shipping its high-end nForce 680i SLI core-logic for an ‘unprecedented’ price of $120 - that’s twice as much as Intel’s most expensive desktop chipset, reports Xbit labs:

Nvidia nForce 680i SLI chipset apparently costs mainboards makers about $120 per two chips – the Nvidia 680i SLI media and communication processor (MCP) and the Nvidia 680i SLI system performance processor (SPP), according to a news-story by Clubic.com web-site. By contrast, Intel Corp.’s most advanced performance-minded customer-oriented Intel 975X core-logic costs mainboard makers $50 when paired with appropriate I/O controller, whereas such core-logic sets as Intel P965 are priced for even less amount of money.

Currently there are no mainboards based on less expensive Nvidia nForce 650i SLI and 650i Ultra mainboards and it is unclear how much Nvidia plans to charge manufacturers for such chipsets. Since Nvidia has not announced plans to outsource production of nForce 650i SLI and 650i Ultra-based motherboards, those are expected to be available later from Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, Jetway and MSI. Until then, enthusiasts wishing to have premium gaming platform should pay $250 - $300 for a mainboard and $599 - $649 for a graphics card.

X-bit labs