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Nvidia Crush chipset named nForce?

That's what looks like leaked info suggests

What will Nvidia call its upcoming Crush chipset? Only the company knows for sure, but nForce - broadly matching the company GeForce brand for its graphics technology - appears to be the most likely candidate, according to documentation seen by The Register.

If it's accurate, it suggests Nvidia will release Crush as the nForce Platform Processing Architecture comprising an Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP) and a Media and Communications Processor (MCP).

Both parts are PC-oriented versions of the Northbridge and Southbridge chips Nvidia developed for Microsoft's Xbox.

The documentation appears to confirm reports the nForce will be offered in two forms, each using one of two IGP variants. The two versions of the IGP support a 64-bit and 128-bit graphics bus, respectively.

However, it turns out there may be up to four nForce chipsets, thanks two different MCP chips, one supporting Dolby Digital sound, one not.

The 64-bit chipset will be called the nForce 220 or the nForce 220-D, if it has the Dolby version of the MCP. The 128-bit versions will be dubbed the nForce 420 and nForce 420-D.

The documentation says nothing of the nForce's memory support, but sources cited by other Web sites claim the 220 will support single-channel DDR SDRAM while the 420 will handle two parallel DDR channels.

We also hear, from other sources, that the MCP will support six-channel Dolby Digital, including Dolby's system for dealing with occlusions and obstructions. The basic chip provides AC97 sound with 256 voices in hardware. It's said to be the first sound chip to fully support DirectX 8's audio API.

The IGP is based on an updated version of Nvidia's GeForce 2 MX core, called the GeForce 2 MX Plus. It's said to be as fast as the current GeForce 2 GTS chip.

nForce - or whatever Crush ends up being called - is expected to be launched next Monday, 4 June. ®

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