After being delayed for what seems an eternity, nVidia finally took the wraps of its 'next-gen' integrated graphics for Intel S775 processors (except 1,600MHz FSB models). A badly kept secret,
nVidia will be launching a couple of 9-series SKUs which feature the fastest IGP the company has ever released. Delving into a modicum of detail, two new GPUs will be rolled out: GeForce 9300 and GeForce 9400 -
codenamed MCP7A.
MCP7A represents a discrete GeForce 8400 GS amalgamated on to the single-bridge chipset, bringing 16 stream processors to the fore. The IGP derives its bandwidth from system memory, and
nVidia's designed an all-new memory-controller that can interface with either DDR2 or DDR3, although not both concurrently. We expect the majority of initial boards to ship with ultra-cheap DDR2 compatibility. Interestingly, nVidia has eschewed the SidePort memory technology inherent on AMD's 790GX boards, which adds around 10 per cent extra performance by having a DRAM device integrated on to the motherboard.
Chewing through a
maximum TDP of 32W for chipset, MCP7A will harness Hybrid SLi, where a discrete card can be added to improve performance. On first glance the multimedia feature-set looks strong, natively supporting DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.3a), DVI, VGA, and 7.1-channel LPCM sound.
nVidia's VP3 engine is integrated to help decode of high-definition codecs. nVidia also brought the inevitable PhysX and CUDA to our attention.
Cutting to details,
GeForce 9300 will ship with a
450MHz core and shaders running at
1,200MHz whilst the range-topping
GeForce 9400, using the same guts, will clock in at
580MHz core and
1,400MHz shaders. The chipset provides a single x16 Gen 2.0 graphics connection, but it doesn't support Hybrid Power, where a discrete card can be switched off and video routed through the IGP in instances where big-bore 3D power isn't needed. It all looks promising on paper, as many things do, and nVidia reckons that GeForce 9300 boards will etail for comfortably less than $100 (£55) and GeForce 9400 for not much more.
Asus P5N7A-VM
Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H
ECS GF9300T-A
Izvor:
Hexus