X

Sony taps Nvidia for new desktop PC

The Vaio PCV-RXA842 is Sony's first desktop based on Nvidia's nForce chipset, marking a step forward for how Sony systems use graphics technology.

John G. Spooner Staff Writer, CNET News.com
John Spooner
covers the PC market, chips and automotive technology.
See full bio
John G. Spooner
Sony has made the switch to Nvidia for graphics performance in a new desktop PC based on the Athlon XP chip.

The new Vaio PCV-RXA842, introduced in retail stores over the weekend, includes Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon XP 2400+ processor. The $999 Vaio PCV-RXA842 is Sony's first to be based on Nvidia's nForce chipset, marking a step forward for how Sony systems use graphics technology. A chipset acts like a PC's nervous system, shuttling data between components such as the processor and memory.

The nForce2, Nvidia's latest iteration of the chipset, offers a version that incorporates a graphics core that eliminates the need for a separate board, while granting the machine decent graphics performance, according to analysts.

The new Sony PC uses this version of nForce2 with built-in graphics. Sony's previous AMD-based desktops used a chipset from Silicon Integrated Systems.

The new PCV-RXA842 PC also includes 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a CD-rewritable drive and DVD-ROM. Sony offers a $50 mail-in rebate that lowers the desktop?s price to $949, without a monitor.

The desktop joins a host of other new Sony desktops, based on Intel chips, which were announced at the end of September.