Uli is Nvidias

[Pinnacle]

Completed the deal

http://www.nvidia.com/object/uli_02202006.html

[vapb400]

Now the question is how long will manufactures be able to use ULI SB w/ ATI NB

[Pinnacle]

I was thinking the same.

[nn_step]

About as long as it takes for the current chips to dry out.. unless nVidia is going to use ULi's licenses to compete with ATi on their own chipset...

[Marioace]

nVidias's XFire :O

[OmegaMerc]

ULI = the next nforce? :confused:

[nn_step]

ULI = the next nforce? :confused:
Yeah Budget nForce..:D

[OmegaMerc]

Yeah Budget nForce..:D

Doh, wheres the xtreme nForce then? :(

[Starscream]

will nvidia stop making ULi chips in future or will they go and use the ULi brand for budget chipsets?

[nn_step]

I heard it was budget line for now but after that I'm not sure..

[OmegaMerc]

looks like nvidia wants a larger market share of mobos, as they can produce their own lower end chips.

[Revv23]

i dont know, uli's chipset are more feature filled and every bit as able as nvidia's...


theyll even do SLI just fine.

I think nvidia made a good pickup here. I find it really unfortunate that one of the only off brand chipset makers that could compete is going to be gone now, its too bad an enthusiast board was never made based off of a uli chipset.

[Cobalt]

The ULi chipset was an underused gem. The only motherboard to use it properly was the Asrock Dual SATA2 which I have at the moment. Unfortunatly it isn't a great OCer. I'm running 2.4GHZ on my 3200. I'd try for higher but my ram isn't so good and going to dividers would mean running the RAM at less than 200. I can't get enough volts out of this thing and I'm too lazy to so the voltmod.

If only Asus had used it in a proper mobo instead of just the Asrock range. Then everyone would know the joys of ULi chipsets. Some real good engineers work there so at least the nForce should improve. I'll be getting the new RD580 Asus or maybe if there rumours of an RD600 for 939 I'll get that. Still its good that ULi got that recognition for a little while although it looks like nV may force the chipset off the ATi board if it can. Although it could always make money off the opposition if it wanted which would be a bit ironic.

[Revv23]

i used the ASrock board and it was a terrific budget board, the volt mod was one of the easiest mods ive ever done, and i rocked on OC.

unfortunatly the ram options were crap and with many modules you had to run 2T to get it stable (like bh-5)

however with my 2x1gb G.skill i had 250x10 1:1 with my 3800+ X2.

Going to an enthusiast mobo increased my overclock to 260x10... considering the enthusiast one cost 3x the money, the asrock didn't do so bad.

Like you said, a full featured board could have rocked this chipset.

[DilTech]

This means NVidia will make money on every RD580 sold if they continue to use the uli southbridge, NVidia can make cross-fire work on NF4 boards(that's right, uli had a deal, nvidia bought uli, that deal carries over to nvidia), or even worse... NVidia can kill the contract with ULi and we'll see the death of the RD580 before it can even release.

This move was very smart on NVidia's part, and could have very serious consequences for ATi.

[nn_step]

Actually what I am hoping for is the ULi contracts let nVidia create a board that supports both SLi and Crossfire

[Starscream]

nah Nvidia will let the contract be and will let the board makers use ULi chipsets in combo with ATI chips.

however they will change the ULi name on the chips to Nvidia
then theyl make a promo slogan like: ATI powered by Nvidia.

:banana: i know lame but i couldnt let it be.
im stil wondering why ATI didnt buy ULi.

[nn_step]

nah Nvidia will let the contract be and will let the board makers use ULi chipsets in combo with ATI chips.

however they will change the ULi name on the chips to Nvidia
then theyl make a promo slogan like: ATI powered by Nvidia.

:banana: i know lame but i couldnt let it be.
im stil wondering why ATI didnt buy ULi.
Easy insufficient Funds:fact:

[Bar81]

This means NVidia will make money on every RD580 sold if they continue to use the uli southbridge, NVidia can make cross-fire work on NF4 boards(that's right, uli had a deal, nvidia bought uli, that deal carries over to nvidia), or even worse... NVidia can kill the contract with ULi and we'll see the death of the RD580 before it can even release.

This move was very smart on NVidia's part, and could have very serious consequences for ATi.

Actually, no, ULi never had a license for crossfire. Just because their southbridges were used in conjunction with ATI northbridges on crossfire mobos has no relation to a license for crossfire.

[Bar81]

The ULi chipset was an underused gem. The only motherboard to use it properly was the Asrock Dual SATA2 which I have at the moment. Unfortunatly it isn't a great OCer. I'm running 2.4GHZ on my 3200. I'd try for higher but my ram isn't so good and going to dividers would mean running the RAM at less than 200. I can't get enough volts out of this thing and I'm too lazy to so the voltmod.

If only Asus had used it in a proper mobo instead of just the Asrock range. Then everyone would know the joys of ULi chipsets. Some real good engineers work there so at least the nForce should improve. I'll be getting the new RD580 Asus or maybe if there rumours of an RD600 for 939 I'll get that. Still its good that ULi got that recognition for a little while although it looks like nV may force the chipset off the ATi board if it can. Although it could always make money off the opposition if it wanted which would be a bit ironic.

It's a good overclocker if you select the right components knowing the limitations vcore wise or just do the mod. I'm running my 2GB of RAM at 255mhz CAS 2.5 with no issues and Opteron at 2.55Ghz (have yet to try higher as my rig is currently across the atlantic from me).

[Revv23]

[QUOTE=DilTech]NVidia can kill the contract with ULi and we'll see the death of the RD580 before it can even release.
[QUOTE]

ati has thier own southbridges, if uli broke the contract the RD580 would bew just fine.

Im using SB450 right now and its actually a very nice SB. the realtek 880 sounds about as good as my XF-i for music. in fact i have a hard time finding somewhere where this sb is lacking. i use 5 different usb devices and they all work just the same as on any other boards so dont give me that argument.

[Bar81]

There's nothing wrong with the 450 except if you transfer huge files over USB. Anyone who understands knows that all this crap about the 450 is just that in 99% of actual scenarios. But this site is full of benchmark whores so it is to be expected that people would grip at the thought of using he 450. Either way, 600 should be here soon enough such that even for the benchmark whores teh ULi acquisition will be of no consequence to ATI. For end users however, it'll be a shame if ULi is "nvidia-ized" and their top performing, properly working and most important, stable chipsets begin to resemble nvidia's

[Cobalt]

I rather hope the opposite happens. nV chipsets get "ULied". Well they better or ATi could take over the retail chipset market for AMD and then competition starts to go down the drain. Once The ATi NB-SB combo matures as nV's has had time to do, then those chipsets will start to dominate the market. Especially when ATi already have a good chunk of the OEM chipset market and are still leading in market share with GFX cards.

As I said the main problem in my system is the RAM. Its value stuff so its already on a divider and if I put it on another divider I'll go past my processor's limit on air cooling unless I run the RAM at less than 200 which is a shame. I'm not sure wether to buy 2GB HZ G.Skill or an X1900XT/X1800AIW.

EDIT: I forgot what I was originally going to say there :brick: . I though it was a shame the SB450 was abandoned just because of USB performance which only affect certain, very rare, situations. And the SATA 3Gbs as well I guess.