Nvidia to make chipsets for Transmeta

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It has been reported that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nvidia.com"&gt;Nvidia<a> is to produce chipsets for Transmeta's Efficeon processor.

The Nvidia C8000 will essentially connect the processor to other components inside a computer and likely significantly enhance the speed at which data flows inside a Transmeta-based PC.

The C8000 will contain an AGP port for connecting the processor to the graphics chip, a standard feature in Intel-based PCs but a new one for Transmeta computers. Along with speeding up graphics performance, incorporating an AGP port will allow manufacturers to insert Transmeta chips inside of notebooks with larger 13- and 14-inch screens, a market the company hopes to penetrate, said Dave Ditzel, Transmeta's chief technical officer.

The C8000 will also connect to the processor through a HyperTransport link.

The chip in many ways will be similar to the chipset Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia will produce for the Athlon64 chip that Advanced Micro Devices will release Sept. 23. Although called a chipset, the upcoming Nvidia parts for AMD and Transmeta actually consist only of a single chip. Both Transmeta and AMD have integrated the traditional second half of the chipset, the memory controller, into their processors.

The Efficeon processor, formerly code-named Astro, comes after a difficult two years for Transmeta. The company has endured a spate of layoffs, management changes, financial losses and delays since 2001. Recently, however, Hewlett-Packard incorporated chips from the company into thin-client terminals and Web tablets.

Efficeon is based on a new design that the company says will use less power and provide more performance than its previous chips. Both characteristics should, ideally, let the company land design wins in normal-size notebooks and a delayed crop of supermini PCs.

"You are going to start to see smaller form factors," Ditzel said.

Source - CNET