NVIDIA is interested in expanding its footprint in the console space by supplying chips for Microsoft and Sony’s next-generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles, according to new statements that analyst Jon Peddie made on the heels of a report that suggests NVIDIA is developing a new business unit focused on custom chips, including advanced AI processors, for cloud computing firms and more. The PS3, which was released in November 2006, features a GeForce 7800-based GPU called the RSX (“Reality Synthesizer”), while the original Xbox leveraged the GeForce 3-based “XGPU.”
XGPU boasted:
- 233 MHz core clock
- 64 MB of DDR SDRAM
- 200 MHz memory clock
RSX boasted:
- 550 MHz pixel shader clock / 500 MHz vertex shader clock
- 256 MB GDDR3 RAM
- 650 MHz memory clock
Peddie mentioned:
- “NVIDIA is of course interested in expanding its footprint in consoles – right now they are supplying the biggest selling console supplier, and are calling on Microsoft and Sony every week to try and get back in.”
- “NVIDIA was in the first Xbox, and in PlayStation 3. But AMD has a cost-performance advantage with their APUs, which NVIDIA hopes to match with Grace. And since Windows runs on Arm, NVIDIA has a shot at Microsoft. Sony’s custom OS would not be much of a challenge for NVIDIA.”
Reuters on the reasoning behind NVIDIA’s new division:
The dominant global designer and supplier of AI chips aims to capture a portion of an exploding market for custom AI chips and shield itself from the growing number of companies pursuing alternatives to its products.
According to estimates from research firm 650 Group’s Alan Weckel, the data center custom chip market will grow to as much as $10 billion this year, and double that in 2025.
NVIDIA’s custom chip clients may include:
- Amazon
- Meta
- Microsoft
- OpenAI
Reuters added:
Nintendo’s current Switch handheld console already includes Nvidia’s Tegra X1 chip. A new version of the Switch console expected this year is likely to include a Nvidia custom design, one source said.
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →Well if Nvidia gets into the console market... they won't be cheaper than a ok PC for long.
I think AMD owns the APU and custom SOC market.... I don't know what Nvidia could bring to the console table that isn't there already.
Tegra has always had potential but I'm pretty sure that Sony and MS are quite happy with AMD's APUs and are not wanting to get locked into some other proprietary hardware spec. At least with AMD there's a possibility that should they walk away they could still retain some backwards compatibility but if they fully switch to Tegra or some other custom NV processor, they're committed. That's why neither were easily able to provide compatibility to games made on those older systems when they switched to AMD.
Now on the flip side, I'm a huge fan of both the PS2 (IBM) and PS3 and was really saddened when Sony switched but they've made it work over time. I never spent much time with Xbox beyond the 1st one but it seems like the Series X|S, and One have been okay for MS, it's just that Sony has done a more impressive job with its game studios and exclusives. Not that MS doesn't have them, I just think Sony has done better.
NV should be knocking on Sega's door.
The other flip side is that sticking with AMD makes multi platform game development much easier. There's a lot of incentive from the studios to stick with x86.
I don't know, there are a lot of swtiches around and soon a switch 2, they may have to dumb the games down a bit but still Nvidia based.
Pretty sure everyone that's ever got in bed with nVidia has regretted it.
I still recall the 8600m debacle and Apple just won't touch nVidia any more after that. Think Microsoft had a similar experience with the first Xbox. With a console, your goal is always to drive down costs as the console ages. nVidia just doesn't play that game though.
Lets be honest here Microsoft and Sony will want a vendor they can flex against. And they just can't do that to Nvidia. If anything Nvidia might just leave them high and dry.
I can see Microsoft going Intel but not Nvidia as their consoles (series X) are selling for $350 or less
Probably a chance with Sony, if they want to create a beast of a console
take this with a big grain of salt, but from the rumours, Sony already has a contract with AMD for their next gen console while MS supposedly has not which makes some think MS may have to launch later then Sony, so there might be an opening for Nvidia there (that is if the rumours for the next gen Xbox are untrue as that one sumpposedly launches in 2026)
but again, all rumours and speculation.
Actually, I can see nvidia releasing its own ARM based game console... no wait, didn't they try that twice already?
There's really no room left in the market for another console. There are already 2 big players for AAA titles and then there's Nintendo who rules the handheld market. Anyone else that tries to enter either market ultimately fails.
And honestly I'm surprised the Xbox has lasted as long as it has.
Wouldn't the steam deck be a AAA playing handheld console? And the variations on that?
Yeah, I was going to mention the same, Steam Deck and such.
nVidia's already had their chance. They had a version of their GeForce 3 in the original Xbox, and let's not forget that the original Xbox led to the nForce motherboard chipset, and some of the stuff on the first nForce (like the nVidia SoundStorm audio processor, which was never continued past the first nForce). I seem to recall hearing that things didn't work out so well between Microsoft and nVidia, and they had a falling out.
Then nVidia got another chance with the PS3 having a version of their GeForce 7. Something must have happened if Sony didn't care to team up with nVidia again. Sony and Microsoft have both been exclusively using AMD SoCs since then.
I don't know how nVidia got in bed with Nintendo, but I guess things finally worked out for nVidia there. Probably a better use of their Tegra SoCs than phones and tablets. But an SoC made for mobile sh1t is not the same as having big-boy hardware in your console. The Tegra in the Switch couldn't even compare to the AMD Jaguar-based consoles, let alone the Zen 2 + RDNA2 consoles.
I certainly recall hearing the same.
These things are still full-blown PCs, and I lump them in with the PC market, not consoles. You can certainly treat them like a console, but you can do the same with a laptop or desktop too, if you wanted to.
But yeah, no handheld PC so far has used nVidia hardware (that I know of). It's mostly been AMD, and Intel is getting some action there too.