IBM To Stop Supplying NVIDIA with AGP Bridges

[Rob Williams]

NVIDIA could be in for a rocky summer thanks to IBM. It's been reported that IBM will no longer make the AGP bridge chip (http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400498&www.dailytech.com) that NVIDIA uses on its entry-level graphics cards.

While PCI-Express graphics cards have pretty much taken over in the graphics market, AGP-based solutions are still quite prevalent -- especially given the fact that Intel has been dumping 865 chipsets with AGP on the market. NVIDIA will likely find a new partner in due time to take over for IBM, but that's the least of the company's worries.

Is this just another nail in (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2824) the coffin, or is IBM just a sore ass to stop producing the bridges?

[Jakal]

I still think AGP has some life left in it. I'm surprised no one's worked on a 16x+ AGP port yet. Unless there's something in the architechture itself , limiting the port, I don't see why manufacturers haven't progressed AGP past 8x. ..no more ramblings *cough*

This shouldn't hurt NVidia much if at all. Most new systems rely on PCI-E anyway. If anything, this should push PCI-E further into the spotlight. I don't think it's a smart move by IBM. NVidia is the video graphics leader in today's market, and why would they want to lose that much business?

[werty316]

I consider AGP for budget users who don't want to buy a new board.

[sbrehm72255]

I was just reading today that Nvidia is planning on bringing out 2 differant 7600 AGP versions this summer, so the problem can't be all that bad.