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Alleged images of the long-awaited Nvidia N1/N1X SoC surface on laptop motherboard — board features 128 GB of LPDDR5X memory alongside 8+6+2 phase VRM

read original get Nvidia N1/N1X Laptop Kit → more articles
Why This Matters

The leaked images of the Nvidia N1/N1X SoC on a laptop motherboard suggest that Nvidia is nearing the release of a high-performance chip designed to compete with Apple Silicon, potentially transforming portable computing with advanced specs like 128 GB of LPDDR5X memory and robust power delivery. This development could significantly impact the industry by offering powerful alternatives for premium laptops and tablets, pushing innovation in mobile computing performance.

Key Takeaways

Nvidia's N1/N1X SoC has been driving the rumor mill for years at this point, but we've recently begun to see some leaks that point toward the chips finally releasing this year. The latest piece of evidence comes from Goofish, a reselling platform in China, where someone has just listed a laptop motherboard allegedly featuring the N1 SoC in all its glory. It's priced at around $1,400 (9999 RMB), but offers have been closed.

The pictures show a small motherboard that could be from a 13-inch tablet (similar to ROG Flow Z13) or, more likely, a 14-inch laptop, as it houses a large cutout for a fan. The N1 SoC can be seen on the right side; it's the biggest part on the board, flanked by eight memory chips and what looks like a robust 8+6+2 phase VRM setup. That beefy power delivery suggests that the N1 will feature a significant power appetite.

Upon closer inspection, the eight memory ICs are SK hynix H58G78CK8B modules, totaling up to 128 GB of LPDDR5X RAM running at 8,533 MT/s. For context, Strix Halo tops out at 8,000 MT/s while Panther Lake can go up to 9,600 MT/s in flagship configurations. Apple's M5 series also supports 9,600 MT/s across the board, and a report from WSJ previously said N1 is designed to directly compete with Apple Silicon.

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(Image credit: Goofish)

Anyhow, this motherboard also has plenty of ports — HDMI, USB Type-A, USB-C, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on one side, but none on the other. We can see 2x M.2 slots for 2240-sized SSDs, and there's a shielded communication antenna in the bottom-right corner for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It's a fairly densely packed PCB that appears more like a close-to-final, retail unit than an early engineering sample.

As for the N1 itself, we know that the GB10 Superchip inside DGX Spark is based on N1 silicon, as confirmed by CEO Jensen Huang himself. It reportedly features a 20-core Arm-based CPU (10 cores per cluster) and an RTX 5070-level GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores. It's being developed in conjunction with MediaTek, which handles the CPU side, while Nvidia is, of course, in charge of the graphics and software.

(Image credit: Goofish)

The chip is so significant because after years of failed efforts, Nvidia has the chance to reinvigorate Microsoft's Windows-on-Arm initiative with silicon that can actually rival legacy options. Qualcomm's GPU drivers have held back the Snapdragon X Elite family, so Nvidia has the perfect gap to fill here. Once launched, this will be the Green Team's first consumer CPU since the Tegra X1 in the Shield TV back in 2015.

All signs are now pointing toward a Computex 2026 reveal for the N1/N1X lineup after it missed GTC last month. A DigiTimes report from earlier this year claimed that Nvidia is targeting Q1 2026 for launch with more variants to follow in the second quarter. In January, we even saw a leaked shipping manifest for a Dell XPS laptop featuring an N1 engineering sample, suggesting that Dell is at least testing/tested the waters.

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