Graphics and media processors designer NVIDIA Corp. will talk about its forthcoming high-end gaming platform for Intel Corp.’s microprocessors at the upcoming Intel Developer Forum (IDF) Spring 2004, according to Intel’s web-site. The presentation is expected to take place on the very first day of the show.

nForce for Intel Pentium 4 Approaches

The session entitled “Bringing NVIDIA nForce SLI to the Intel Platform” will be performed by Drew Henry, NVIDIA’s General Manager, Platform Products, on the 1^st of March, 2005.

“Be one of the first to experience this public technology demonstration and get a glimpse of what NVIDIA has in mind for nForce on the Intel Platform. Drew Henry, General Manager of NVIDIA's MCP group, will preview this stunning new technology,” a statement over Intel’s web-site reads.

NVIDIA Corp.’s upcoming core-logic for Intel Pentium 4 processors code-named Crush 19, or C19, has already been certified by PCI Special Interest Group and is currently in the PCI-SIG’s Integrator’s List, according to the organization’s web-site. The certification confirms NVIDIA’s plans to release a high-quality core-logic product supporting Intel’s chips in the short-term.

This PCI-SIG Integrators List includes all products that have a complete and satisfactory PCI Compliance Checklist on file at PCI-SIG, have passed the test criteria set forth at the PCI Compliance Workshops and are production ready.

Crush 19 to be Branded nForce 4 Intel Edition?

The Crush 19 chipset from NVIDIA is currently expected to support various Intel processors, including the most powerful and innovative in LGA775 form-factor with 1066MHz processor system bus as well as EM64T, XD and EIST technologies. Currently unofficial sources state that the only memory configuration to be supported will be dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz or 667MHz, but no dual-channel DDR memory. NVIDIA is also expected to incorporate special enhancements for Multi-GPU SLI configurations, which will allow installing two PCI Express x16 graphics slots and cards.

Given that due to external memory controller on Intel-based platforms, NVIDIA is expected to bring dual-chip core-logic for mainboards intended for Intel chips. The MCP04 I/O controller that is proclaimed to be paired with Crush 19 MCH is projected to inherit many features from the nForce4 core-logic, NVIDIA RAID, NVIDIA ActiveArmor firewall, NVIDIA Gigabit Ethernet, Serial ATA-300 and other important technologies, like USB 2.0, FireWire, 8-channel AC’97 audio and so on.

Currently it is unclear, how many versions of the Crush 19 chipset NVIDIA may offer. The Santa Clara, California-based NVIDIA usually preps numerous flavours of its chipsets seeking to target various markets with various demands for functionality and pricing.

It is currently unclear what the official brand-name for the Crush 19 will be, but German web-site ComputerBase believes the core-logic will be branded as NVIDIA nForce4 Intel Edition.