GPUs & Graphic Cards

12 May 2008 - We saw some mechanical designs on GT200 card leaked out on the internet and we can confirm it is not fake as we got the same file earlier last week from our reliable sources. The D10U card has a total of 16 memory chips onboard up to 1GB GDDR3 memories, in line with rumored 512-bit memory interface which we are hearing a while back. There are evidences suggesting that GT200 could be on both 55nm and 65nm process technology, a similar approach that Nvidia is going to take with their current G9x series. GT200 is currently on A2 revision and there is a high possibility that Nvidia might launch GT200 on 65nm first then move to 55nm at a later stage.

12 May 2008 - Nvidia is preparing two new mainstream cards, the GeForce 9500 GT and 9500 GS based on the new 55nm G96 cores. However, there will be a mixture of 65nm and 55nm G96 cores as revision A1 will be 65nm and revision B1 & C1 will be 55nm. GeForce 9500 GT codenamed D9M-30 will be clocked at 550MHz core and 800MHz GDDR3 on 128-bit memory interface while GeForce 9500 GS codenamed D9M-25 will be clocked at 550MHz core and 500MHz GDDR2 on 128-bit memory interface. There is a new package naming known as GB1 and in this case it is called GB1-128 and for 55nm G92 package is called GB1-256.

30 April 2008 - GeForce 9800 GT will be available on both 65nm and 55nm process as we learned. The 65nm version is actually a rebranded GeForce 8800 GT based on G92 core while the 55nm version is actually G92b core we have told you before. Both will be higher clocked than the 8800 GT. The reason is that Nvidia is not comfortable to go full fledge 55nm process like AMD so the 65nm version is more of a safety precaution just in case the yield from 55nm doesn't turn out well.

25 April 2008 - For the high-end enthusiasts segment., Nvidia will launch GeForce 9900 GTX and 9900 GTS in July to replace the 9800 GX2 and GTX. There is a die shrink on G92 for GeForce 9800 GT cards. Nvidia has also cancelled plans to launch GeForce 9800 GTS because there are simply too many high end GPUs. We told you earlier, GeForce 9600 GSO will launch on May 13th which is just a rebrand of the 8800 GS. The rest of the mainstream and value GPUs like 9500 GT, 9500 GS, 9300 GE and 9300 GS will come in June-July timeframe.

23 April 2008 - Nvidia is planning to add a new G92-451 GPU to the existing GeForce 9800 GX2 cards based on G92-450 GPUs. However, the transition is almost invisible as it is pin to pin compatible and interchangeable with the existing GPUs without the need to update BIOS or drivers. The reason for change is due to improved manufacturing yields and ensuring continuity of NVTTM production supply. We are speculating G92-451 might be 55nm based for better yield, lower cost and power.

18 April 2008 - Earlier, we revealed that Nvidia is planning to release GeForce 9800 GT  based on 55nm G92 core in July and now we learned a little more details on this new card. The new 9800GT card is codenamed G92-280 and it is using a new P393-C00 PCB that supports Hybrid Power. There will be 256MB and 512MB GDDR3 versions that clocked at 900MHz and 975MHz respectively.  The core clock has not been determined yet but it should clock higher than the current GeForce 8800 GT which is at 600MHz default. Outputs are 2 x DVI-I and HDTV.

14 April 2008 - Nvidia is planning to launch the GeForce 9600 GSO next month to replace the "not so popular" GeForce 8800 GS. Apparently, GeForce 9600 GSO and 8800 GS are of the same G92 core with 96 stream processors but card makers are 100% free to design their own PCB and determine their own clocks. We can expect many variants of cards with different types of cooling coming up to be branded as Overclocked Edition. This rebranding move hopefully will boost the sale of the cards, be more price competitive against the ATI's offerings and clear the crippled G92 inventory.

13 April 2008 - VR-Zone first revealed Nvidia's plan to shift from 65nm to 55nm to lower costs and we have also told you a series of 55nm based mobile graphics GPUs based on G94b and G96b. Now we learned that the first desktop graphics card to be based on 55nm G92b core will be GeForce 9800 GT and it will be launched in July along with GeForce 9900 series. 9800 GT will support Hybrid Power. Apparently, GeForce 9800 GTS will be OEM only, not for channel.

12 May 2008 - In view of the Display Port will be the super star in the upcoming future, Dell has launched a monitor and fully support Display Port, and of course the graphics accelerators cannot only be the tracker. Last month Sapphire launched two AMD workstation graphics which support Display Port interface and they are ATI FireGL V7700 and ATI FireMV 2260, both of them are along with the new PCI-E 2.0 interface.

7 May 2008 - ASUS launched the world’s first stand-alone color processor with a modularized graphics card – the ASUS Splendid MA3850M; which combines a video enhance card with the ASUS Splendid HD processor and a modularized VGA card. The overall length of the Splendid MA3850M is 27% shorter than generic ATI Radeon™ HD 3850 graphics cards – allowing a perfect fit even for smaller-chassis users.

28 April 2008 - VR-Zone got to know that the GeForce 9900 GTX card is 10.5" long, full height and dual slot and the cooler is TM71 from CoolerMaster. Dubbed GT200 or D10U, we heard that this architecture might be dual chip with TDP up to 240W.

24 April 2008 - The first 2 models from the GeForce 9900 series will be 9900 GTX and 9900 GTS instead of 9900 GT we reported earlier and they will be GT200 based not G92b based. Nvidia is slated to launch them in July to counter AMD RV770 series which is slated for launch during Computex. Nvidia will differentiate the two cards by the number of stream processors and memory bus width

22 April 2008 - VR-Zone got to know that Nvidia will launch their GeForce 9600 GSO on May 13th. As we have said before, it is just a rebrand of the current 8800 GS with 96 stream processors and 192-bit memory interface with 384MB GDDR3 memories. Each AIC is free to determine the clocks speeds for their cards so you can expect a great variety of custom designed cards during launch. Suggested price point is US$129 but you can expect AIC to price their cards cheaper than that.

15 April 2008 - NVIDIA_G92.DEV_0610.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO" We have gotten hold of a new set of Forceware 174.88 drivers dated on April 11th. It comes with the support of the upcoming GeForce 9600 GSO as well as 9800GX2, 9800GTX and 9600GT.

14 April 2008 - Walton Chaintech introduces the latest performance enhanced CHAINTECH GSE96GT Overclocking Edition with core code G94. The default 650 MHz core clock is raised to 735 MHz and memory clock at 1900 MHz.

11 April 2008 - VR-Zone learned that Nvidia is planning to add Hynix as a second source memory for GeForce 9800 GTX. The current source is of course Samsung with their K4J52324QE 0.8ns GDDR3 memories while the fastest equivalent from Hynix is HY5RS123235BFP 0.8ns part. A BIOS update is needed for the 9800GTX cards with Hynix memories.