A lot of mainboards, based on the new non-announced NVIDIA chipset are presented at the Computex 2002 Show, which is being held at the moment. We find it necessary to give some specifications of the new chipset (Crush18D) for AMD Athlon (Socket A) processors and mainboards, based on it.

According to the numerous reports of mainboard manufacturers, the new chipset should have an embedded GeForce 4MX-class graphics core (with a frequency around the 250MHz), however, it turned out that first it will be released in a “D” version, without embedded graphics. It should be noted, that NVIDIA itself hasn’t announced any chipsets code-named Crush18D.

The North Bridge (IGP) will support new memory standards – DDR333 as well as DDR400.

The South Bridge (MCP) will come out in two versions: the basic one will support USB 1.1, ATA-133 and one Ethernet controller; the Plus-version will support USB 2.0, ATA-133, Dolby Digital, FireWire and two Ethernet controllers. The launch of serial production of the new chipset is scheduled by NVIDIA to July of this year, but products, based on it, will most likely appear in shops in the beginning of August.

At the moment, mainboards, based on Crush18D are presented by such companies as ASUS (A7N8X, photo), MSI (N18 Ultra-ABIL, photo), Chaintech (APOGEE 7NJS, photo), Leadtek (K7nCR18D, photo) and Shuttle (E7N820D, photo).

(Photos by PCWatch, Japan)