Nvidia will soon launch new chipsets for Intel and AMD

MCP89 and MCP99 are for Intel-based notebooks while MCP85 is for AMD-based notebooks

 According to a report by Digitimes, Nvidia is planning on releasing three new chipsets the MCP89 and MCP99 for Intel-based notebooks, and the MCP85 for AMD-based notebooks. It is believed that these chipsets will be available in Q1 2010. The MCP89 chipset will be the successor to the existing MCP79 (known as GeForce 9400M or Nvidia Ion) and will be used with Intel Core2 mobile processors. It will also supports future notebook chips that use a faster 1,333MHz system bus and matching DDR3 memory. MCP89 is expected to ship first and is believed to be sampling for vendors this summer with production in the first quarter of 2010.

Moving on to the MCP99 chipset, it will be targeted at Nehalem-based Core i5/i7 processors and the 32 nanometer Westmere architecture. Nehalem and Westmere architectures don't use a conventional front side bus as they include a memory controller. The use of the MCP99 chipset is surrounded by doubt as according to a contract (2004) between Intel and Nvidia, the later doesn't have rights to produce any chipset for a processor with a built-in memory controller and by extension would ban any chipsets that support Nehalem or Westmere. Nvidia has opposed and criticized this move saying that Intel is attempting to stifle better competition by either rejecting outside hardware or forcing Nvidia to renegotiate a new contract. Thus, the future of the MCP99 chipset hangs in the balance but, even if it makes to the market, users won’t be able to see it till March 2010.

There is also speculation about a third chipset named MCP85 which will be used with AMD-based notebooks. Apple will be a major customer of Nvidia when it comes to the MCP89 and MCP99 chipsets.