14 DAY TRIAL // Just yesterday, we told you about a new graphics processor that Santa Clara-based graphics manufacturer NVIDIA was planning to release as part of its GT200-series lineup. The new and improved D10U-102 core will power the next-generation GTX 260 graphics cards, which are expected to arrive on the market soon. As we already mentioned, several of NVIDIA's partners have already finished their cards and are now preparing for their official release. Aside from the upgraded GTX 260 core we've seen in one of Zotac's cards, it looks like yet another manufacturer has also finished its upgraded GTX 260.
Inno3D is also ready to deliver an upgraded GeForce GTX 260 graphics card, and it will do so by means of the GeForce GTX260 GOLD edition. As you were probably expecting, this card packs 24 more stream processors, reaching a maximum of 216, compared with the 192 stream processors on the reference card. The core is based on the same 65nm process technology as the initial GTX 260 graphics cards and, as noted above, it has been designed to boost graphics performance and to top AMD's Radeon HD 4870 in terms of performance.
We don't really know if the Gold Edition from Inno3D packs a factory overclocked GTX 260 graphics core, but even so, the extra 24 stream processors should do nicely for any gamer out there that is also a fan of NVIDIA's graphics cards. Should the upgraded GTX 260 feature the reference clock frequencies, it will provide its users with a GPU speed of 576MHz and 2GHz for the 896MB of GDDR3 memory. Equipped with 1.0ns memory chips designed by Samsung, it has a maximum power consumption of 182W.
Unfortunately, for the time being, we can't really specify any details regarding pricing or the date when these cards are going to become available in stores and at local retailers. However, it is nice to see that NVIDIA is trying to get back in the high-performance game and to become a real competitor for AMD's flagship dual-GPU HD 4870 X2 card.
