Nvidia Unveils Desktop Version Of MacBook Graphics ChipNvidia Unveils Desktop Version Of MacBook Graphics Chip

Nvidia on Monday launched two motherboard graphics processors, including the desktop version of the integrated GPU in the latest Apple MacBooks.

The GeForce 9400 and 9300 processors are built for the Intel platform. The 16-core chips enable mainstream PC users to play the latest PC games and play high-definition Blu-ray video, Nvidia said. The 9400 is the desktop version of the 9400m, which was spotlighted last week in the MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

The desktop chipset integrates full system input/output in half the size of previous integrated graphics from Nvidia, the company said. At the same time, Nvidia has boosted the performance of its motherboard product.

"You can now have the performance of a discrete GPU in a small form factor PC," Drew Henry, general manager of media and communications processors at Nvidia, said in a statement.

Nvidia says software developers and system manufacturers have only recently begun taking advantage of parallel processing to deliver a higher level of performance for visual computing applications. Nvidia last week launched a graphics accelerator for Adobe Creative Suite 4, which comprises several content creation tools, such as Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro.

Nvidia's 9-Series motherboard GPUs feature the company's PureVideo technology, which offloads 100% of video processing from the CPU to the GPU. In addition, the products support Microsoft's DirectX 10 graphics technology in Vista and Nvidia's SLI Technology, which uses the integrated graphics to boost the performance of an Nvidia discrete graphics card added to the system.

Motherboards featuring GeForce 9-Series motherboard GPUs are scheduled to ship this month from Asustek, ECS, EVGA, Foxconn, Galaxy, Gigabyte, J&W, MSI, Onda, XFX, and Zotac.