SANTA CLARA, CA — APRIL 15, 2002 — NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today announced that the Company’s nForce™ 420-D platform processors have been selected for use in Hewlett-Packard Company’s HP Pavilion desktop PCs—further proof that NVIDIA’s nForce product family continues to be the PC platform of choice by leading OEMs and system builders worldwide due to its integration of innovative system, memory, networking, and audio technologies.  According to NPD Techworld, a leading market research firm, HP Pavilion has been the number one retail desktop PC brand nationwide for the last 12 months.

“nForce is the perfect platform for consumers who desire the most compelling digital media experience,” said Jeff Fisher, executive vice president of sales at NVIDIA. “The level of integration that nForce provides, including stunning 3D graphics, cinematic quality audio and superior networking connectivity ensures users that their platform of choice will provide them the best multimedia experience possible.”

Designed and optimized to take advantage of AMD’s latest CPUs, including the new Athlon XP processor 2100+, the nForce 420-D platform processors—the nForce Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP) and nForce Media and Communications Processor (MCP)—integrate a myriad of innovative features, all of which reaffirm NVIDIA’s technology leadership in the integrated core-logic market.  In addition to the award-winning GeForce™2 Graphics Processing Unit, dual 64-bit memory controllers, and uniquely flexible architecture, the nForce 420-D platform processors also feature the industry’s only integrated Audio Processing Unit (APU).  Through its use of a multi-DSP engine, the NVIDIA-designed APU provides hardware processing for up to 256 simultaneous voices and special effects, and consumes the smallest amount of CPU overhead—when measured against all other add-in card PC audio solutions available today. And, by using the high-speed HyperTransport bus technology as the digital connection between the two platform processors, NVIDIA’s nForce architecture provides the HP Pavilion PC family with substantially more bandwidth to allow for a truly media-rich, multi-tasking environment, perfect for digital video editing, Internet audio streaming, and photo manipulation.
 
“NVIDIA’s nForce platform technology helps HP provide customers with a PC that is ideal for today’s digital imaging, gaming and video editing enthusiast,” said Tom Markworth, product-marketing manager, HP North America Consumer Computing Division.  “As the worldwide leader in home PCs, HP continues to offer consumers the most choices for taking advantage of today’s media-rich applications.”

Customizable HP Pavilion home desktop PCs featuring the NVIDIA nForce platform processors are available today direct from HP via www.hpshopping.com or HP’s retail kiosks.  HP’s first pre-configured retail PC models featuring the nForce platform processors, the HP Pavilion 541c and HP Pavilion 761n, are expected to be available on store shelves later this month.

PCs and motherboards featuring NVIDIA’s nForce Platform Processors are also currently available from more than 100 system motherboard manufacturers, PC OEMs and system builders worldwide, including: Alienware, ASUStek, Compaq, Falcon Northwest, Fujitsu-Siemens, MicronPC, MSI and more.