NVIDIA'S FIRST FORAY into the PC chipset market was quite a ride. The company sauntered into town on a sterling reputation based on its dominance of the graphics market, announced the product, and unveiled a features list a mile long. nForce would hit the scene with dual banks of DDR memory, NVIDIA's own integrated graphics, a high-speed HyperTransport link, and Dolby digital audio. Folks looked at the situation and said, "Wow. NVIDIA is going to take over chipsets, too." It was, they said, inevitable.

Things didn't quite work out like that, but now it's time for a second attempt. Clearly, NVIDIA has learned some lessons from nForce, and the nForce2 looks likely to make deeper inroads into the Socket A market. With upgraded graphics, dual banks of DDR400 memory, AGP 8X, and a host of other new features, nForce2 looks ready to run with the big dogs. Read on to see exactly what NVIDIA has in store.