It appears that NVIDIA has already begun sampling its first 55nm graphics cards, which are expected to provide users with the power of a GT200 graphics processor, capable of higher performance rates than the company's current GT200-based graphics cards. The new 55nm GPU, developed by the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker, has been long expected, as the company was rumored to have begun working on said graphics processor unit since sometime in August this year.

The cards in question boast the highly anticipated dual-GPU design, of which rumors started to circulate quite a while back. This specific graphics monster is NVIDIA's way of reclaiming the top performance market supremacy, which it lost to competitor AMD, once with the release of the dual-GPU monster that is the Radeon HD 4870 X2. Expected to be branded as the GTX 295, the new NVIDIA GeForce graphics card will not only bring a higher performance ratio, but also a bigger design altogether.

As some of you remember, NVIDIA's way of designing dual-GPU cards is different from that of its competitor, in the sense that it fancies a dual PCB design whereas AMD keeps both GPUs on the same PCB. The new card should be significantly more powerful than that of NVIDIA's current range of cards.

In fact, the GTX 295 should also surpass ATI's own HD 4870 X2 in terms of performance. However, on the downside, a dual-GPU design will also increase the card's power requirements and its thermal specifications. It is expected that the GTX 295 draw a significant amount of power and be relatively hot, compared with other NVIDIA cards. 

According to the initial predications, the true power of the GTX 295 will only be visible when the card is connected to a display capable of supporting a 1920 by 1200 resolution. This only confirms that NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce flagship model has been specifically built for the enthusiast range of consumers.