NVIDIA Signs Intel Bus Licence Deal - nForce For P4?

Nvidia has finally won a frontside bus licence from Intel, paving the way at long last for the graphics chip specialist to release versions of its nForce chipset family for Pentium 4 processors. Intel’s permission comes on the back of a “broad, multi-year patent cross-license agreement spanning multiple product lines and product generations”, the two companies announced today. While Nvidia gets to use Intel’s frontside bus technology, the chip giant can now make use of elements of the nForce platform and - interestingly - Nvidia’s SLI system, which allows two graphics cards to co-operate on the rendering of a single image.

Nvidia has been offering nForce chipsets for AMD processors since 2001, and while rival chipset makers have targeted both Intel and AMD platforms, Nvidia has steadfastly refused to do so until now. It’s certainly had access to some Intel bus patents - Microsoft’s Xbox console is based on a Pentium III processor connected to an nForce-derived chipset - but presumably that license wasn’t sufficient to allow Nvidia to ship a P4-compatible nForce.

Maybe it has never wanted to, preferring to focus on the AMD platform where it has a better chance of building market share. Maybe it simply could not get Intel to lower its price. Either way, it now can offer nForce for P4, and will presumably be announcing a compatible version of its nForce 4 PCI Express product shortly.

Nvidia signs Intel bus licence deal @ the Register