nForce 2 and Apple?

[arn]

NVidia launched nForce2 today:

nForce2 continues Nvidia's venture into the risky but potentially profitable business of chipsets, chips that bridge a PC's processor with key components such as memory. Nvidia last year signed a licensing agreement with AMD to create chipsets that work with the company's Athlon processors.

nForce was rumored (Aug 31, 2001) to be coming to other platforms.. but little details except for hints from NVidia about "exciting introductions" in the Mac area.

Vague rumors were also circulating about an Apple / NVidia alliance... but seemed to be more speculative.

Steve Mason noted this interesting blurb on NVidia's nForce 2 Features page:


Digital Vibrance Control (DVC)

Allows the user to adjust color controls digitally to compensate for the lighting conditions of their workspace, in order to achieve accurate, bright colors in all conditions.
Currently this feature is not available on Mac systems.

 

[SilvorX]

woo go steve , (steve is a good friend of mine whos really into macs)

this is what he also said will be featured in the chipset:
Dual channel DDR400, AGP 8x, ATA133, USB 2.0, Dual Ethernet, APU for nforce

i posted bout this on the windows forum i'm a newsposter/mod for...even tho most ppl there hate macs lol


http://www.ixcstudios.com/nforcemac.jpg
pic of the thing bout mac
thanx to for telling me steve

 

[foniks2020]

So this means the rest IS available. If they are singling out one feature to say it isn't available for Macs, doesn't that mean the rest are?

 

[arn]

Originally posted by foniks2020
So this means the rest IS available. If they are singling out one feature to say it isn't available for Macs, doesn't that mean the rest are?

That was actually the whole point of the original post.

arn

 

[M_T_Air]

Wahooo!!!

Ahh..finally..only 8 hours 'til the keynote and we finally have a decent lead... boy that was a long dry spell without any decent rumors. Now I won't be able to sleep tonight... I'll be too excited about the upcoming powermacs to be announced tomorow!

 

[fitzg2md05]

wow

I would **** my pants (in a good way) if Nvidia produced the Mac motherboard. With that amazing memory and controllers etc, i think the real benefit of slightly faster processors would be huge! Nvidia graphic cards, motherboard, etc. Maybe we might have to start saying Nvidia Inside™? as long as apple keeps up its standards in terms of quality, this would kick arse. Drooling....

 

[Cappy]

Whee! Now the disappointment will set in if this is not what Apple is going to use.

People must have thought I was nuts when I posted this early this morning as my guess for it to be used on the new systems since no one ever responded to it. Now I have new rumors to support my rumors.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/7713/

 

[imacman287]

nForce2 Flash Demo

Originally posted by Ensign Pulver on appleinsider:
Go to this page

http://nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=feature_dmg

Click on the nForce2 Flash Demo and then on Consumer Solutions and then on Home Office. This brings up a set of images. The second one on the left is clearly iPhoto.

Smoking gun?

Wow it sure is! hummmm....
(let the flash demo picture cycle through btw)

EDIT: fixed link

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

OK, but is this announced at MWNY, or we gotta wait until later? (If it's in 8 hours I'll be the first to order-- I got my credit cards, phone, and cable internet ready!)

 

[imacman287]

Re: nForce2 Flash Demo

Originally posted by imacman287


Wow it sure is! hummmm....
(let the flash demo picture cycle through btw)

EDIT: fixed link

The pictures that are shown at the apple iphoto site:
http://www.apple.com/iphoto/
are the same ones in the flash demo!

 

[rice_web]

Sweet! Please oh please be in the new iMac!

Okay, so I'm setting myself up for disappointment. But, it's a dream worthy of dreaming. * Dream progress, price tag floats around in imagination. Only $99. Aaaah. * Dream abruptly ends as another minute until MWNY passes by.

 

[Heinrich-X]

Well in light of my story getting posted I signed up

I think it only makes sense for nForce to be on the mac platform.

It's integrated features are perfect for the iMac and its robust performance give the Powermac a much needed boost.

Anyway if Apple does infact use nForce and maybe IBM POWER4 down the line you won't have to wish for OS X on x86, x86 will be obsolete!

Anyway kinda bummed I couldn't get a plug for my website http://www.ixcstudios.com

 

[Cappy]

I'd still try to keep feet planted in reality. Pictures don't really mean anything or we'd already see x86 laptops and desktops running Mac OS. Plenty of ads by marketing departments have used Mac screenshots and overlayed them over photos.

Of course, I'm all for seeing the nforce 2 make it to the Macs and I think it's favorable if there's any gleam of truth to previous rumors.

Reading what I'm typing though I have to laugh at the fact I'm recommending to ignore photos for proof but consider the rumors that have circulated. There's just something kinda ironic or something about that.

 

[SilvorX]

Originally posted by Heinrich-X
Well in light of my story getting posted I signed up

I think it only makes sense for nForce to be on the mac platform.

It's integrated features are perfect for the iMac and its robust performance give the Powermac a much needed boost.

Anyway if Apple does infact use nForce and maybe IBM POWER4 down the line you won't have to wish for OS X on x86, x86 will be obsolete!

Anyway kinda bummed I couldn't get a plug for my website http://www.ixcstudios.com

yo bud!
welcome to mac rumors
i hope u actually post on this forum unlike the "other" forum that u hate so much now
now u dont have to worry bout getting flamed bout macs cuz everyone here is a mac fan just like u n me
-enjoy
G01D

 

[Choppaface]

nice, but I wouldnt buy until DVC was released for mac. it could be VERY handy

 

[sparkleytone]

if this motherboard is used it will most likely be a less powerful version with 4x agp instead of 8x. it would be smartest to use an integrated solution like this in something like an iMac, not a PMac. Dedicated video cards with no chance of conflict with integrated hardware are the pros way to go.

 

[ultranoia]

Dumb question

Pardon my ignorance, but if PowerMacs were to go with the nforce2 as the motherboard, would that mean that the G4 chip would not be needed in those machines? Or is the G4 chip necessary for other sorts of processing tasks, which aren't necessarily graphical?

 

[imacman287]

Re: Dumb question

Originally posted by ultranoia
Pardon my ignorance, but if PowerMacs were to go with the nforce2 as the motherboard, would that mean that the G4 chip would not be needed in those machines? Or is the G4 chip necessary for other sorts of processing tasks, which aren't necessarily graphical?

The nForce motherboard has built in sound, built in video (on some models), DDR support and more.

Just drop in a cpu (such as a Athlon XP, or G4), DDR Memory and the usual standard parts and you have a full computer.

A CPU is needed, just as it is needed on the current G4,iMac, ect motherboards.

 

[szark]

Re: Dumb question

Originally posted by ultranoia
Pardon my ignorance, but if PowerMacs were to go with the nforce2 as the motherboard, would that mean that the G4 chip would not be needed in those machines? Or is the G4 chip necessary for other sorts of processing tasks, which aren't necessarily graphical?

The G4 is the main CPU, so it is definitely necessary...

Are you a PC user who is looking to switch?

 

[imacman287]

AMD also?

Also the nForce2 was built to work with Hypertransport, Apple and AMD are two companies that support it. Could Apple be working with AMD on a PPC compatible processor to use in a new nForce2 motherboard?

 

[Cappy]

Originally posted by Heinrich-X
Well in light of my story getting posted I signed up

I think it only makes sense for nForce to be on the mac platform.

It's integrated features are perfect for the iMac and its robust performance give the Powermac a much needed boost.

Anyway if Apple does infact use nForce and maybe IBM POWER4 down the line you won't have to wish for OS X on x86, x86 will be obsolete!

Anyway kinda bummed I couldn't get a plug for my website http://www.ixcstudios.com

Welcome to macrumors and thanks for spotting that blurb that was posted from their site. I merely had a guess early this morning that nforce 2 was going to be used but you may have found the actual proof. Congrats! If all else fails, you've got people pretty excited here right now.

 

[Cappy]

People keep in mind that you shouldn't take everything literally. Nothing says that Apple won't just use some of the technology like the chipset and bus with their own motherboard design. That's what I would expect from Apple quite honestly based on their past history.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Originally posted by Cappy


If all else fails, you've got people pretty excited here right now.

I can't sleep either... I'm stoked! Hopefully new Powermacs, new Powermacs, new Powermacs (If I keep saying it, it will come true).

 

[jethro421]

Originally posted by sparkleytone
Dedicated video cards with no chance of conflict with integrated hardware are the pros way to go.

Having an original nForce board in my PC, AND a geForce Ti 200 as well , I can tell you that this won't be an issue. The mobo searches the AGP bus first and if a card is present, disables the onboard gpu. Also, when using the onboard gpu, the system's memory is allocated as video memory.

One more thing... With two identical RAM stix installed, the data path increases from 64-bit to 128 . These boards scream!!! Please let this be true.

 

[Catfish_Man]

If this is true...

...everybody had better quit whining about the pro line for a long time. Dual channel DDR 400..... mmmm..... 6.4GB/sec ......