The latest news on the web points to the fact that ATI, AMD's Graphics Division, managed to develop the first working silicon of 40nm next generation chips, and that the result seems to be rather satisfying for the company. If true, then ATI managed to make a step ahead of NVIDIA, which is a little behind with the 55nm technology. The green team needs to put some more speed on it, for it should be competitive on the 40nm round to make a stand.

There are not many details on the 40 nanometers chip, yet it is rumored to be a RV770-based one. Word is that the next-generation chip would be an improved, shrunk, higher clocked and faster RV770XT, but no information beyond that has emerged yet. The green company might also choose the same approach, which would mean that its future chip would benefit from lower voltage, higher clock and less of the heat we are accustomed to see today from its cards.

On related news, we learned that ATI's partners are allowed to come to the market with their own designs based on the company's RV770 chip and Radeon HD 4870 cards. It’s a common fact that ATI does not allow its partners to mess around with mainstream and performance products at first, as it wants to create a great image for its parts.

According to the news, partners are allowed to make their own Radeon HD 4870 and 4850 cards this time. It is said that there will probably be cards with Display port and HDMI, while DVI cards could also surface. Moreover, Gigabyte is reported to work on its own design, while Sapphire is also expected to do the same.

As many of you already know, ATI has recently lowered the price for its cards, and there are 512MB parts selling under $200, while 1GB cards can be purchased for only a few bucks over that line.