I don't know mow much the supposed trend toward 64-bit computing is really going to matter at this stage of the game. How many 64-bit desktops will be sold out of Dell and Gateway? How many consumers are demanding (or are even aware of) 64-bit? We won't see any chipsets based on what the Inquirer says. We'll see them when nVidia announces them. That may very well mean never. I just think 64-bit is not really a primary factor here. More money is to be gained from the 32-bit market. I just bought a $200 CPU and $135 nForce2 motherboard a few months ago. I can assure you I won't be upgrading every major component in my system for the "glory and honor" of being among the first in the near-useless (at this time) realm of 64-bit desktop computing.
And my point is that people aren't going to be running towards 64-bit in the quantities needed to sustain profitability at this time for nVidia. Enthusiats are willing to spend extra to be bleeding edge. There are likely plenty of people that would continue to purchase nForce2 boards. Not to mention (as someone did) that business desktop world can benefit from the platform (Socket A) for quite a while yet. There aren't a whole lot of businesses that are going to run out and buy a crap load of 64-bit desktops. Not to mention the current trend towards small form factor/HTPC. How many people need a 64-bit CPU for this when a lower end Athlon XP (heck, even Pentium II) will do the trick? Now, I did readily admit nVidia may never release an updated version, but I don't think nForce2 is going to go away that quickly either, there are still too many places that the platform is useful and that64-bit (even for $200) is excessive and unneeded.
That's a good point. But they still would likely be interested in Gigabit LAN 😉
