nForce4 & SLI article

ImJacksAmygdala said:
I think its just too late for the Nforce4 and I could care less what Drew Henry has to say. I sent a letter to him through the Inq aswell. He will just feed us some bullshit marketing line, but the message is already crystal clear. Nvidia is nerfing the nforce line of chipsets for the OEMs to cut down on costs and increase sales while offering enthusiasts SLI which is a Nvidia brand dual graphics solution ONLY which will also increase Nvidia sales. No thanks, there are other dual graphic card solutions aimed at the enthusiast market.

I'm seriusly considering the K8T890pro if its dual graphics solution is not video card brand specific and allows ATI or any other PCIexpress video card. What happens if we see another FX line in the future?

So where does this leave AMD64 users or other gamers that want to go AMD64?

Well I just hope that Intel's HD Audio (aka Azalia) causes Creative Labs to rethink the competition. Many users will stick with Intels onboard sound solution and Creative Labs will hopefully have no choice but to respond with a sound card that can compete with the feature set including DDlive 5.1 encoding, atleast Tom's Hardware believes that an audio war could be in the making.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20040813/index.html

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/hdaudio.htm

Despite how many HTPC enthusiasts feel about Creative Labs, I'm more interested in using it more for gaming than for movies. I think Creative could make a more dedicated solution with less of a CPU performance hit for gaming than Intels HD Audio. I plan on using the SPDIF out to a home theater audio amplifier and speakers so I'm not as concerned about the crappy DACs although I think Creative could do a better job than Intel's HD audio. I really think Creative labs has no choice but to repond due to the fact it is Intel pushing this.

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=572

Ironically this competition would finally give AMD64 users a simular solution should Creative Labs repond with a simular sound card that provides DDlive 5.1 encoding. When that happens I will seriously consider the K8T890pro or maybe the Nforce4 SLI chipsets.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=459434&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

Anyone hear anything about Audigy3 HD Audio?
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the main thing is why would he be adressing a dead issue there is a small light of hope that the soundstorm apu might arise like a phenox form the ashes so to speak then again mabe not the thing is we dont yet know soo stay tuned
 
If Drew henry has anything to say at all about Sound Storm, my guess is that he will maybe mention that the SS apu might migrate to a PCIexpress sound card in the near future. I'm not sure if it will be a Nvidia branded incarnation but it could be feesible that Nvidia licensed out the SS apu to someone else to compete with Intels HD audio...

I don't know but I hope for AMD64 users sake we soon see sound cards like the SS apu and Intel's Azalia. Competition is exactly what the PC sound market needs right now.

But yes your right.... Stayed tuned.
 
I think the problem with soundstorm could be that Nvidia licensed it for Nforce2, yet many (MANY) boards did not opt for it, yet sold very well. Nvidia being a business, and also taking pressure from the Motherboard makers for cheaper chips may have assumed that there is not enough demand for the SS. While devoted SS users do make up part of the user-base, it is obviously not enough to warrant Dolby Licensing on all chipsets. It's not like Nvidia is just throwing around ideas for fun, I'm sure if they thought that they could make money from it AND the motherboard makers commited to buying/building with the SS enabled, they would have it.

It's not like Nvidia sat down one day and said "Hey, let's give the users Dolby Digital encoding and optical out, just because we're nice guys." I'm sure it was more like: "Hey, let's cut into creative's market by giving the users something extra for onboard sound, they'll pay the extra $ for it. (evil laugh) MWHAHAHAHAHAH... hahahahahah....hehehe... excellent."

Now they probably had a similiar discussion, but the Nforce2 numbers obviously weren't impressive enough to warrant another edition. Additionally, SS2 may have been a concern as far as die-size/transistor count, again compiling the cost per chipset.

Unfortunately for all you DD-encode guys, the average enthusiast user (Read: ME) just wants sound quality and compatibility, both of which were somewhat lacking in Soundstorm. Many chose Audigy 2 for the gaming support and superior analog out quality. So Nvidia didn't make as much money as they would have liked, you guys suffer for it. It's not fair, but thems the breaks.

I agree with many people in saying that Audio is a distinctly lacking area in modern computing, and an "Audio War" is in order. While CPU's, GPU's, Chipsets, Memory, virtually everything has advanced exponentially, PC sound still remains at level barely evolved above a Soundblaster 16. We've gained 1000x the calcuation processing power, and much less sound processing power (10X? 20X?)

A revolution is in order.
 
DrJacob said:
A revolution is in order.
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Too bad Creative bought out all of its main competitors and their IP. It's like the Intel dominance of yesteryear, except that instead of AMD for a competitor, they only have Cyrix.
 
ImJacksAmygdala said:
I would buy a Nvidia PCIexpress SoundStorm2 sound card in a heartbeat. Although I doubt Nvidia has the foresight to actually make such a product nor do they have the balls to go against Creative Labs. That alone might be the real reason SS was dropped...

--SNIP--..
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Actully more likely it was DRM. Think about it, more & more the manipulation of data while it is still in the digital realm is becoming verboten. Real-time DD coding indeed. I'm surprised that they got it out in the 1st place (as a consumer product, you can, of course, get that capability in pro sound boards).
 
Ya, I thought DRM was part of the behind the scenes crap that pounded the last nail in the coffin for SS... Wouldn't surprise me one bit. If you read the latest DRM rant at the Inquirer, you'll understand the latest initiative to control all presentation of consumer content being nerfed and restricted into usefulness at a higher cost to the consumer. Total bullshit...

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19265

Like I predicted Drew Henry is just blowing smoke and putting a happy face a sour response to the nforce4. He doesn't really care and he continues to dangle the carrot..

"While we have chosen to not include the SoundStorm APU in our current nForce4 MCP, we look forward to including our audio technology in future NVIDIA products."
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Really? I thought Creative owned that IP now...

What I expect in an enthusiast level chipset is a Sound Storm apu in the MCP and at the very least on the non-enthusiast line a solution with the performance of Intels Azalia using the C-Media chip. Software for the non-enthusiast and hardware for the enthusiast is the bottom line. I understand many people don't want integrated sound either for cost, but PC audio is going no where right now as a result.Now that Intel has created Azalia HD audio hopefully Creative will have to respond in kind and break this stagnation. Offer the OEMs the choice, but get rid of AC97 its crap, and we won't get anywhere if we don't vote with our dollars. What we say doesn't matter.. Look at Dell deny that there is a consumer demand for AMD systems... Untill people vote with their dollars nothing will change.
 
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