Posted on Tuesday, December 12 2006 @ 16:01 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
NVIDIA's next IGP chipset will be the MCP73 and it's slated to be released in the second quarter of 2007. The MCP73 chipset is based on the GeForce 7300 and features support for DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 3.0. It has build-in HDMI and HDCP and features 720p H.264 decoding.
It is surprised that MCP73 defined a new revolution for IGP chipset, in which 1066MHz FSB, Gigabit Ethernet, High Definition Audio, 4 SATA, 1 PATA, 3 PCI-E x1 and 10 USB 2.0 would be the least confirmed specification, according to a close friend from the industry. Additionally, our source also revealed NVIDIA’s plan for next IGP chipset, which probably be nominated as MCP79. MCP79 would base on MCP73 pluses Direct X 10 and 1080i H.264 decode capability. Its FSB may probably also be enhanced to 1333MHz FSB for Intel’s next-generation processors.
However, the unified design also has its sacrifices. Our source stated that MCP73 most likely has Single Channel memory controller and PCI-E x8 only for cost saving. It should not be the competitor of Intel’s Bearlake in mainstream market. Instead, it would be a strong rival for entry-level market and targets at the market share of SiS and VIA.
The MCP73 will be made at the 80nm process by TSMC
and HKEPC reports NVIDIA will start trails on the 55nm in 2007. The first mass production of 55nm is expected in Q1 2008.
