X-bit labs

X-bit labs CeBIT 2005 Coverage: Day 5

Category: Editorial

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/15/2005 | 04:06 PM ]

The fifth day of CeBIT exhibition has passed and X-bit labs has managed to catch up with some unseen products, including a prototype mainboard based on NVIDIA’s first chipset with integrated graphics core for AMD64 processors; the first mainboards for the Athlon 64 processor in BTX form-factor; Leadtek’s dual-chip graphics card; and also about CoolerMaster’s, Thermaltake’s and Zalman’s plans to get into the living rooms.

Table of contents:

• NVIDIA’s Integrated Chipset for AMD64 Revealed
  
• Leadtek Releases Dual GeForce 6600 GT Graphics Card
  
• Makers of Chassis and Coolers Head to Your Living Room
  
• Zalman’s TNN300 Runs Cool, Quiet and Small
  
• Cool Masterpieces for Living Room from CoolerMaster
  
• Thermaltake’s Cooling Receives New Forms
  
• Concept AMD64 Mainboards in BTX Form-Factor Show Up
  

NVIDIA’s Integrated Chipset for AMD64 Revealed

FIC, who is today transforming into a maker of barebones from a manufacturer of mainboards, is demonstrating a prototype of its KTMC51G mainboard which is projected to be based on an unannounced NVIDIA’s chipset with integrated graphics core for AMD Athlon 64 processors.

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While NVIDIA is tight-lipped over the core-logic code-named C51, some details about the chipset are still available. The C51G is a two-chip value solution for AMD Athlon 64 market. It provides an integrated graphics core, PCI Express x16 slot for add-in graphics cards and can connect to the company’s forthcoming media and communication processors that feature Serial ATA-II, Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express x1, FireWire, USB 2.0 as well as other I/O features.

The chipsets are expected to support both Socket 939 and Socket 754 microprocessors with 800MHz and 1000MHz HyperTransort speeds.

FIC currently uses VIA K8M890-based mainboard to “emulate” NVIDIA’s C51 and little is known when NVIDIA manages to deliver a more or less final version of the chipset to its partners among mainboard makers.

It is very likely that the chipset features GeForce 6200-like graphics core which incorporates memory controller enhancements that can reduce the impact high latency memory access, which is a result of memory controller integrated into AMD Athlon 64-series processors. Still some sources suggested that the C51 sports GeForce 4-like integrated graphics unit.

Any official information was unavailable at press time.