With last week’s announcement of its GeForce 9300 and 9400 motherboard graphic processing units (mGPUs), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is hoping to gain more ground in the desktop PC space by targeting mainstream consumer users.
David Ragones, a senior product manager for Nvidia, explains the new chipsets are designed for use in desktop PCs which are built on the Intel platform.
“Integrated graphics are no longer good enough,” Ragones said. “As PCs become more and more visual and with the availability of larger displays, it’s important to have a powerful GPU as part of the whole computing experience.”
For Nvidia system integrators and value-added resellers, Ragones said there are plenty of opportunities in the consumer space, especially for those end-users who want mGPUs at an entry-level price that don’t want to sacrifice performance.
Partners who are part of Nvidia’s Partner Force channel program receive training and can also take advantage of the general incentives the company has across all of its product lines. Margin-wise, Ragones said because these are premium motherboard offerings, margins will be improved and there are always other opportunities to make additional margins depending on each build.
The GeForce 9400 and 9300 mGPUs utilize a single-chip design, which make them ideal to use in small-form factor PCs. Ragones said consumers that are looking for quality graphics, power, performance and an affordable price points should consider motherboards with these chips in them.
Some features of the GeForce 9-Series of mGPUs include 16-cores for processing DirectX 10 games and CUDA-accelerated applications, which enable applications to run faster on the GPU, and Nvidia’s PureVideoR HD technology, which allows for video processing from the CPU to the GPU and high-quality video playback.
Home entertainment, gaming and digital signage are just some of the other opportunities Ragones suggests for the GeForce 9-Series.
“Anywhere where discrete GPUs are required at lower price points, there’s always opportunities,” Ragones said. “The chips start at about US$80 and the boards run maybe about $90 to $100 retail.”
The chipsets are now shipping in North America and the first motherboards featuring them are expected to arrive in the channel sometime this week. Nvidia motherboard partners include companies such as Asus, EVGA, Galaxy, MSI and Zotac.
