14 DAY TRIAL // Talk about an invasion of GeForce graphics cards: Sparkle, one of NVIDIA's channel partners, is expected to launch a series of G92-based cards. To be more exact, we're talking a series of 25, all of which will be based on the GeForce 9800GT or the GeForce 9500GT graphics processors. For the time being, this is still just a rumor but, even so, we do have a number of the cards' specifications.
Sparkle seems to be quite enthusiastic about NVIDIA's yet-to-be-announced graphics cards ? with all that, 25 new cards built on just two graphics processors may be a tad too much. 10 of these upcoming cards will based on the mainstream GeForce 9800GT GPU, while the other 15 different models are expected to be built using the entry-level GeForce 9500GT graphics processor. Given that rumors indicate that NVIDIA will be launching its second 55nm card tomorrow, the 55nm GeForce 9500GT-based cards should arrive sooner than the 9800GT models.
According to the specifications we have on the new GeForce 9500GT-based cards, we can tell you that most of the new models will be equipped with passive cooling solutions. They are separated in two main categories, based on the connectivity options they provide. Thus, the HP models will come with TV-out, D-Sub and DVI port, while the HM cards will provide an HDMI dongle and an S/PDIF in.
All of the cards are expected to be clocked at 550MHz, but things become a bit more diverse with the other specifications. Apparently, both DDR2 and GDDR3 cards will be released, with all DDR2 models having their Shaders clocked at 1350MHz. The three GDDR3 models will have their Shaders clocked at 1400MHz and the memory set to work at 1600MHz. The DDR2 models will be available in + and normal version, with the + providing a memory speed of 1000MHz, while the rest will be clocked at 800MHz.
The 9800GT-based cards will come in 256MB, 512MB and 1024MB variants, with some of the cards offering faster clocked memory, while the GPU and Shaders speeds remain the same for all models, 600MHz and 1500MHz respectively. The 512MB and 1024MB will have their memory set at 1800MHz, while with the other cards it will be clocked at 1400MHz. The differences between the 10 models will also be based on the connectivity options on the cards.