CP Technology, who is well-known for their graphics cards under “PowerColor” brand-name, again said on a press conference a week ago that the company plans to unveil their mainboards based on the i865 (aka Springdale) series of core-logic sets and new versions of ATI’s RADEON IGP chipsets in the second quarter 2003.

As far as I remember it is not the first, but obviously the third try of CP Technology to start producing mainboards. The first time they wanted to establish their positions on this market was almost four years ago in the middle 1999, when they launched their PowerColor DREAMCODE GAMEboard. Although their solution was rather interesting, it did not become popular due to lack of upgrade opportunities and very limited availability. The second time CP Technology tried to enter the market was almost a year ago, when at CeBIT 2002 it was announced that there would be ATI RADEON 320/340 IGP powered mainboards from PowerColor. The latter have never appeared. For the year that has passed since then integrated core-logic products gained popularity tremendously (see this news-story) and there is much more sense to sell the products of this kind just now. Furthermore, there is another reason for CP Technology to expand their portfolio of products: several customers of CP Technology who purchase graphics cards from them now also want to sell mainboards, but have to get them from the rivals of CP Technology. Seeing that there is some market space for mainboards, CP Technology now fully understands the importance of producing them.

In case PowerColor is serious about their mainboards, they may have great chances to offer competitive and quality solutions for their clients. Both Springdale series as well as ATI’s new RADEON IGP series have enough potential to become very popular on the market, hence, every company who will offer their mainboards based on these chipsets will benefit.