Intel starts anti-Ion propaganda

[Fat.Clown]

Intel has just released a document titled Nvidia Ion Competitive Position Guide, and, of course, it didn't really want to help Nvidia sell its Ion chipset. This is a typical “if you sell Ion based products there might be some consequences” kind of document. Intel was, of course, attacking Nvidia's Ion with everything it had.

Some of Intel's key arguments against Ion is that Ion is not a newly designed chipset, but rather derived from Nvidia's MCP79M/NCP7A chipset family. The document also claims that some reviewers got different SKUs and some got MCP7A-U desktop versions, while some got the mobile version, MCP79MX SKU. The fact that Ion is derived from existing chipset is completely true, but Intel's 945GSE chipset is almost 4 years old.

Furthermore, Intel says that Nvidia's Ion is expected to consume more power and add unnecessary cost to system Bill of Material (BOM) and we believe Intel ought to be right about that. What Intel fails to mention, however, is that Ion can do 1080P HD and it can also take care of some basic gaming, and you can forget that with the 945GSE and the new GN40 chipset. On the other hand, we heard that GN40 should be able to cope with 720p HD but not 1080p.

The last argument against Ion was that new netbook and nettop platforms with CPU and graphics on the same die are expected in Q4 2009, so the window of opportunity for Ion is very short. Intel's new Atom with IGP on die, codenamed Pineview, will still have inferior graphics, at least compared to Ion.

Intel also quoted many magazines, including Fudzilla, about Nvidia's chipset problems, the fact that Ion machines will cost 50 to $100 more than a typical Atom, Power related issues with Ion, lousy gaming experience and lack of availability and designs.

Intel is definitely concerned about Ion, as MCP79M and the rest of the Ion platform are better than Intel's 945GSE and probably even than GN40, at least until Pineview CPU+GPU Atom comes in Q4 09.

source

 

[ricanflow]

lol, im not surprised.

 

[philbar71]

*sigh*

why must intel and nvidia fight all the time?

why cant they get along like AMD/ATI?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Because Intel hasn't bought Nvidia yet?

 

[Hussein19891]

*sigh*

why must intel and nvidia fight all the time?

why cant they get along like AMD/ATI?

LOL good one.

Intel will be happy when they are the only company producing CPU's and GPU's. Luckily for ATI and Nvidia; Intel GPU's are lacking.

 

[philbar71]

i swear it's like one lawsuit after another.

intel just needs to buy nvidia like charles said.

 

[zmatt]

I want to know why everyone makes a big deal about dedicated graphics on a netbook. netbook's should be about squeezing every little bit of battery life out of it. Low tdp's all around. Do you really want to play games on an 8inch screen? Nvidia should focus on making a better igp that has even lower power consumption than gma 500. It shouldn't be hard for nvidia to do that, they have much more experience with graphics in general.

 

[ricanflow]

I agree somewhat with you zmatt, but intel onboard stuff is teh suck

cant even do hd video playback...thats sad.

 

[zmatt]

Why does that matter when the screen is not hd? Sure the ability to output to an hd source is nice, but honestly how often will you do that? The machines don't have enough storage to make that practical. The gma 500 can do 720p which I think is more than enough. Let's get 24hour battery life in laptops first, then lets worry about performance. Like I said, I would be warmer to ion and the general concept of netbooks with dedicated graphics, as long as they provide better power consumption than existing integrated solutions. Otherwise I doubt there is a market.

 

[Nagasama]

basically no difference (unless you are a 'phile) between 780p and 1080i. i'd notice the difference...but thats just me.
i lol at charles' comment. exactly right.