Nvidia

Anyone with a low-end desktop in need of a 3D boost should be happy to hear that Nvidia updated its budget 3D card lineup yesterday. The 512MB GeForce 9500, which fared very well in reviews at Hot Hardware and PC Perspective, turns in faster performance than AMD's competing ATI Radeon HD 3650 card. Nvidia priced the 9500 GT at around $100, but cards available at Newegg are coming in between $70 and $90.

If you have modest ambitions toward playing 3D PC games (say, on a 17-inch LCD), if you'd like to build an HD-capable home theater PC, … Read more

Hewlett-Packard lists 24 laptop model variations affected by a widely reported Nvidia graphics chip defect. HP said the flaw has been a warranty issue since November of last year.

Dell made a statement Friday regarding the same graphics chip issue. Nvidia published a "Business Update" on July 2 that addressed the problem. The Nvidia defect is centered on a "weak die/packaging material" in certain versions of Nvidia graphics silicon used in laptops. The die refers to the chip itself and the packaging is what encases the chip.

HP has published a list of potentially affected … Read more

Update on July 27 at 10:00 a.m. with additional information

Dell has issued a system update for a well-publicized problem with Nvidia chips.

The company said Friday it has posted BIOS updates for an Nvidia graphics chip glitch affecting laptop computers. Citing Nvidia information, Dell said the "affected GPUs (graphics processing units) are experiencing higher than expected failure rates causing video problems."

"The issue is a weak die/packaging material set, which may fail with GPU temperature fluctuations. If your GPU fails, you may see intermittent symptoms," the Dell blog said.

Dell said the … Read more

A colleague recently asked if I knew why semiconductor stocks significantly underperformed the market over the past five years, even though chip sales have seen double-digit growth during the same period. Being a veteran of the industry, I surprised both of us by not knowing the answer. So I decided to find out.

First, the facts. The PHLX semiconductor sector index (SOX) declined at a rate of 2.9 percent per year over the past five years, while Merrill Lynch's semiconductor index exchange-traded fund (SMH) declined 1.0 percent per year.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, experienced a 4.8 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the same period. Likewise, the Dow and S&P 500 respectively grew 3.7 percent and 3.9 percent annually.

Indeed, the semiconductor sector has significantly underperformed the broad market. … Read more

Update at July 15, 3:00 a.m. PDT with additional information and corrections concerning the Intel-Nvidia dispute.

Nvidia said Monday that its multichip technology will be architected to work on Intel's upcoming Nehalem chip platform.

This announcement may help Nvidia to work around a standoff with Intel over whether Nvidia can make chipsets that work with Intel's next-generation Nehalem platform, due later this year. And also demonstrates that despite Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang' s rhetoric, Nvidia must cooperate with Intel in order to thrive.

Monday's announcement has no relation to separate licensing negotiations, according to sources … Read more

Nvidia has slashed the price of products with its newest GTX 260 and 280 graphics processors only a few weeks after it launched the chips, in response to stiffer competition from Advanced Micro Devices' ATI unit.

Nvidia said Sunday night that the GeForce GTX 280 is now available for $499 and the GTX 260 for $299. The high-end GTX 280 was originally $649, while the 260 was priced previously at $399. Both products were rolled out less than a month ago.

Nvidia's graphics boards are now more in line with ATI's newest offerings. At $299, the GTX 260 … Read more

Nvidia is in the throes of a minor meltdown. Its share price is collapsing as it grapples with widespread product defects, a resurgent Advanced Micro Devices, and a weak market.

It all started when Nvidia released a statement on July 2 saying it would take a $150 million to $200 million charge to cover the costs for repair and replacement of defective graphics silicon in notebook PCs. Though Nvidia didn't name any names, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, and Lenovo, among others, use Nvidia graphics chips in their notebooks.

Then on Thursday, July 3, shares plunged $5.54, or just over 30 … Read more

Rambus is suing Nvidia, accusing the company of violating 17 Rambus-held patents on memory controllers. The suit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Los Altos, Calif.-based company says that chipsets, graphics processers, and media communication processors across six different Nvidia product lines are illegally infringing. The patents held concern memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM.

Rambus is asking the court for an injunction (which would stop Nvidia from selling the products at issue), as well as monetary damages.

In a prepared statement, Rambus' head … Read more

Nvidia's second quarter business update, released Wednesday, was mostly bad news for the company. But there's potentially bad news for consumers, too. Nvidia revealed plans to take a $150 million to $200 million charge to cover anticipated repair and return costs arising from a "weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of its previous generation GPU and MCP products used in notebook systems."

The release goes on to explain that the cards aren't faulty on their own, but that the materials have demonstrated higher-than-normal failure rates in combination with other components in certain laptop … Read more