NVIDIA INTRODUCES NEW ULTRA-LOW POWER MEDIA PROCESSORS

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NVIDIA INTRODUCES NEW ULTRA-LOW POWER MEDIA PROCESSORS FOR CELL PHONES

NVIDIA GoForce 4000 and 3000 with NVIDIA nPower Technology Enable Hours of Video and Image Processing without Compromising Talk Time

LONDON — FEBRUARY 25th, 2004 — NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today raised the bar for multimedia functionality and power consumption in the cell phone market with the introduction of the NVIDIA® GoForce™ 4000 and GoForce 3000 series of media processors. In addition, NVIDIA is proud to announce that Mitsubishi will be the first manufacturer to carry phones based on these new products.

“Mobile phone vendors and wireless carriers are now differentiating on multimedia capabilities like image capture and video processing,” said Allen Leibovitch, manager of wireless semiconductor research for IDC. “Successful semiconductor solutions will provide cutting-edge multimedia functionality while conserving handset battery life."

Targeted at advanced cellular phones and other handheld devices, the NVIDIA GoForce 4000 and 3000 media processors feature:

- NVIDIA nPower technology for ultra-low power consumption;  

- Advanced multimedia processing with CIF quality video capture and playback, including full JPEG and MPEG hardware encode and decode functionality;  

- Three megapixel (MP) digital still camera capabilities with 8x “smooth” zoom functionality  

- ForceWare™ software ensuring compatibility, stability and reliability.  

 

“Over the last two years, NVIDIA has taken great strides in advancing the state of mobile media processing by focusing on power, quality and performance,” stated Phil Carmack, vice president of handheld products at NVIDIA. “With our new nPower technology, we are able to deliver CIF-TV quality video and 3.1 MP camera support combined with low power consumption. These new products are ideal for manufacturers who need a true multimedia processor to help meet the demands of the photo and video hungry consumer without sacrificing talk time.”

“Through integrating advanced multimedia functionality, the new GoForce products enable Mitsubishi to bring a true multi-function device to market,” said Stephane Le Provost, multimedia program leader for Mitsubishi. “We are very excited at the concept of bringing the same level of quality usually associated with stand-alone devices to a single product.”

The NVIDIA GoForce 4000 and GoForce 3000 feature the revolutionary NVIDIA nPower technology, which leverages activity-based clocking techniques; dedicated algorithm processing; custom low-leakage silicon transistor processing; and on-die ultra-low power video and display memory to maximise talk time. With the GoForce 4000 and GoForce 3000, the cell phone is elevated to the quality standards demanded by consumers for camcorders or digital still cameras.

The GoForce 4000 and 3000 require as little as one tenth of the power of traditional hardware codecs and even less power when compared to equivalent software-based solutions. NVIDIA nPower technology also incorporates advanced process technology with transistors whose leakage power is up to 1000 times lower than that of generic processes for standby power measured in tens of microwatts, resulting in extended battery life for the consumer.

Video and imaging are demanding multimedia applications requiring an intense amount of computation to meet consumer video standards.

Full Multimedia Functionality  

These unique GoForce processors will feature up to 3MP camera support with real time capture, storage and the ability to view multiple digital images. By supporting 8x digital zoom and removable storage to manage digital assets, these new media processors allow handset manufacturers to incorporate a complete digital feature-set into their products. The GoForce processors also allow for simultaneous encode and decode that can be used for applications like video conferencing and multiple video filters, providing outstanding video preview, capture and playback.

NVIDIA ForceWare  

NVIDIA ForceWare, a powerful suite of software tools and utilities, is designed to unleash unparalleled digital media experiences across all handheld platforms. NVIDIA ForceWare is based on the Company’s revolutionary NVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture, which delivers forward-and-backward hardware and software compatibility across all NVIDIA products. For NVIDIA GoForce media processors, ForceWare is designed to ease system design and integration challenges for OEMs by providing increased productivity, stability and functionality for all advanced handset appliances.

The GoForce 4000 and 3000 are currently sampling and phones will be available later this year.