SoundStorm

SoundStorm was an advanced integrated 5.1 sound technology developed by nVidia for the nForce 2 platform.

Apart from excellent sound quality, one of the most notable characteristics of the SoundStorm chip was extremely low CPU usage. Compared to other onboard audio solutions of the day, the difference in CPU usage when running popular multimedia applications was as much as 10–20%. While the Creative Audigy offers similar performance, it does so at a much higher price point, and only as a discrete add in solution. For this reason, SoundStorm achieved significant popularity in the hardware enthusiast community, offering high quality for a bargain price.

Sadly, NVIDIA decided the cost of manufacturing SoundStorm as an integrated product was too high, and while it was retained on nForce2 Athlon XP boards, nForce 3 and beyond dropped it, in favor of lower quality, cheaper, third party chips, such as the Realtek 850. While there did appear to be plans for a discrete product at one point, this never in fact materialised.

SoundStorm development was originally funded by Microsoft for use in the X-Box gaming console. At time of writing reportedly a second generation chip has been developed, this time with funding from Sony, as part of the Playstation 3 project. It is hinted SoundStorm may return to the PC scene, possibly as part of a multimedia graphics card, along the lines of the original NV1 card, rather than as a discrete or onboard solution.

External Links

NVIDIA graphics chipsets & personal computer platforms