February 26^th, 2002 (12:00am) - I’m not sure how reliable this source is, so I won’t post it as hard news, but I read this article by Eva Glass at TheInquirer.org, and thought it was pretty interesting:


THOSE IN THE KNOW have seen Microsoft’s final reference platform for the X-Box 2 and say that the plan appears to be to cut Nvidia out of the new equation.

That has driven Via to heights of unparalleled ecstasy because the plucky little company now reckons it could get the whole deal - graphics chipset and CPU.

It would have to offer Microsoft a fantastic deal to swing that particular miracle off, but Via is in the business of swinging such fantastic deals, my best friends at Vole Centrale tell me.

Y’know what the problem is? Nvidia charges Microsoft just a little bit too much for its technology and Microsoft wants to lose just that little bit less on each X-Box it sells. More. While Via reckons it could scoop the opposition and get the graphics chipset and the CPU business, it has one major competitor in the final running and that happens to be little Canadian company ATI.

My boy said: "That would really make Nvidia gnash its teeth - imagine the schadenfreude at ATI if it swept away with the chipset for the X-Box 2 design."

It’s always possible that Nvidia might cut its prices sufficiently to make it worth Microsoft’s while. But unlikely, says the lad.

One must never forget that La Intella can always rush in at the last minute... µ

Hrm, this could be big news, if it is factual and not just another rumor. GM will have more info on this as it comes.