NVidia has unveiled its PCI Express offering for AMD?s Athlon 64 range of 64bit processors.

The firm's nForce4 integrated, PCI Express-based media and communications processors (MCPs) are designed for the AMD Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64, and AMD Sempron processors, including the new AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 for gamers.

The nForce4 products boast support for nVidia Scaleable Link Interface, which allows two PCI Express graphics cards to be linked in the same system. They also feature ActiveArmour, a secure networking engine built into the silicon that offloads CPU processing while offering firewall protection.

The MCPs will support true wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet data transfers and offer support for the next generation of Serial ATA (SATA) 3Gbps - SATA II - hard-disk drives.

The nTune application facility for nForce4 chips is being promoted as the "safest and easiest" way for system builders to tweak the performance of the systems. It comes with certain modes already programmed, ranging from quiet running for DVD playback to 'extreme performance' mode for 3D applications.

Drew Henry, general manager of the platform business at nVidia, said: "With nForce4 MCPs, we are confident that we have designed products for those users that are as concerned about raw PC performance as they are about securing their PCs from online threats and hacker attacks, as well as finding easier ways to reliably archive their home movies, photos, and personal music libraries."

Marty Seyer, general manager of the microprocessor business unit at AMD, said: "NVidia is offering gamers an extremely fast, feature-rich PCI Express platform to pair with our AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processors.

"The innovation and performance from this potent pairing is something that gamers and enthusiasts will want to satisfy their demand for advanced features, stability, and unparalleled PC performance."

crn@vnu.co.uk