nVidia zal naast de grafische processor ook een derde chip ontwikkelen voor de Xbox console van Microsoft. Wat het precies gaat worden werd niet verteld, maar waarschijnlijk een chip voor extra video of audio effecten. Hieronder een hap uit dit artikel van C|NET:
Graphics chipmaker Nvidia, already selected to provide the graphics processor for Microsoft's Xbox, also is working on a second, unannounced chip for the gaming console.
Nvidia chief executive Jen Hsun Huang said recently that there are three main chips for the Xbox: the microprocessor, the graphics processor and an unannounced third chip Nvidia will provide, possibly handling advanced sound or video functions.
"Nvidia is developing two of the devices," Huang said during a presentation at the Robertson Stephens Semiconductor Conference in San Francisco last week. Intel's Pentium III has already been chosen as the microprocessor.
Microsoft would not comment on the mystery chip. The Xbox, slated to arrive next fall, offers game playing, Internet access and a DVD drive. Analysts said there are several possibilities for what Nvidia's other chip might do.
Microsoft has already listed a "custom 3D audio processor" in its list of specifications for the console.
If Nvidia were doing the audio, it would be a whole new area for the company and something it might not want to advertise to the industry. Analyst Peter Glaskowsky of MicroDesign Resources said it's within the company's ability level.
"It's supposed to require a whole lot of math," Glaskowsky said of the audio chip. "Nvidia certainly has a whole lot of know-how to do that."
Nvidia also is doing the core logic for the Xbox--the technology that allows the Pentium III microprocessor to talk to the graphics chip and other components--although Huang indicated that the unknown chip goes beyond that function. The chip might provide additional power for video processing, Glaskowsky hypothesized.
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