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THE 16 by one pipeline Nvidia NV40 3D graphics accelerator is believed to be the product that will dig Nvidia out of the mire and allow it to recover from the slough of despond that ATI has consigned it to over the last 18 months.
Wandering around the Messe at CeBIT it was evident that Nvidia did indeed fail to launch this eagerly anticipated product on the opening day of CeBIT.
No real surprises there, but what was entertaining was watching the extraordinary lengths they went to, to enforce the policing of the few working samples it had brought. We found a friendly Nvidia partner who told us that there are three working NV40 demo systems in the back rooms on Nvidia's own booth.
However, as we try to serve you guys with the news and truth when it?s as hot as we get it ? this means we?re not in a position to sign Nvidia?s gagging agreements.
Consequently, whilst we weren?t frog marched off Nvidia?s booth our requests to have a gander at what was suggested to be a working NV40, were politely refused.
Therefore we can?t confirm whether any product Nvidia might have claimed was NV40 was just that, or even worked at all.
Sure makes me wonder about the ethics of hackettes that post news, but then sign their rights away to tell the story.
Despite Nvidia officials confirming that NV40 was "done and dusted", it seems that if this was true, then it wasn?t able to produce more than a handful to show off.
And those samples that were about, seemed to be punted from vendor to vendor by a little crew of Nvidia spinning minders ? that?s as opposed to the normal Nvidia mind spinners.
These NV40 GPU Guards were apparently under instructions to not even leave their ?trusted? partners alone with the prized little jewel!
We watched as the GPU Guards secreted an NV40 sample into a back room on a partners stand.
This was apparently to allow these preferred manufacturing partners to present ? with Nvidia policing the fun of course - a reassurance to its larger customers that Nvidia could be back in the game.
This privilege was also rather time limited, as the manufacturing partners were apparently expected to cram all their customers into a 1½ hour time slot, before the NV40 was scheduled to be whisked away from them to the next partner.
This whole rigmarole seems to have come as a surprise to each Nvidia partner, so they weren?t even able to plan out a schedule to invite their preferred customers.
Other stuff Nvidia seem not to be telling all its partners is the launch date, or even the retail name of the product, though some partners have speculated that FX 6000 would show consistency.
Regarding the launch date, Nvidia have said that everything will be clear within a few weeks. This fits in with some partners seeming to be under the impression that a launch in the second week of April is on the cards so to speak
Source:
The INQ!
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