Hong Kong - A well-known Asian manufacturer of Nvidia-based graphics cards just pre-announced a new nForce 750a-based motherboard. The 750a is the first Nvidia chipset for AMD systems since the nForce 590, which was introduced in May 2006. It looks like that SNAP (Strategic Nvidia-AMD Partnership) isn’t dead after all.

The nForce 750a is the first Nvidia product offering Hybrid SLI, Hybrid Power and GeForce Boost features for the AMD platform. The integrated graphics chip comes out of the GeForce 8/9 family, while Hybrid SLI enables users to increase graphics performance by adding a discrete graphics card. If you're not interested in integrated graphics, the chipset can also run two 9800GX2 cards in Quad-SLI configuration. Tri-SLI is not supported, since there are only two PCIe x16 connectors.

The new chipset is compatible with past, current and future AMD processors. Yes, the AM2+ lineup is a bit confusing, which prompted us to compile a quick product list below: 

Present
90nm Single-Core Sempron for Socket AM2
90nm Dual-Core Sempron for Socket AM2
65nm, 90nm Single-Core Athlon 64 for Socket AM2
65nm, 90nm Dual-Core Athlon 64 for Socket AM2
65nm Quad-Core Phenom 9000 for AM2+ (Agena core)

2008
65nm Dual-Core Phenom 7000 for AM2+ (Kuma core)
65nm Tri-Core Phenom 8000 for AM2+ (Toliman core)
45nm Tri-Core Phenom for AM2+ (Propus core)
45nm Quad-Core Phenom for AM2+ (Deneb core)

2009
45nm Dual-Core Phenom for AM3 (Regor core)
45nm Tri-Core Phenom for AM3 (Heka core)
45nm Quad-Core Phenom for AM3 (Propus core)


Still confused? Don’t worry, there are very few others who can actually see through the confusion at this time. That said, the nForce 750a motherboard should support about 50 different current and future AMD CPUs, as long as AMD can maintain the compatibility between AM2+ and AM3.    

Zotac said that it will be offering the motherboard for less than $150, which makes us believe that this could actually be an attractive product when you want to use an AMD CPU and Nvidia graphics.

AMD recently announced its own Hybrid graphics solution, the 780G chipset.

Why is this confusing

Mar 26, 2008 05:45     

It seems very straightforward to me - the chipset is compatible with past, current and future AMD AM2 processors. This is in stark contrast to Intel, who seem to want to prevent you from upgrading the processor without also upgrading the motherboard - and event then you have to be careful to make sure that the two are compatible.
LachyJunior report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

last since nForce 590?

Mar 26, 2008 13:45     

Anybody ever heard of the 680a? That would be nVidia's post nForce 590 Pre 780a chipset, for socket 1207. Not a huge player, in fact, Im only aware of the one board from Asus, but the 590a was not the last chipset. Duh.
Scott report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0