14 DAY TRIAL // Currently, NVIDIA is said to be planning an assault on AMD's high-end Radeon graphics cards, with the silent launch of its 55nm-based GT200 graphics chips. The Santa Clara, California-based chip maker is expected to transition its current GTX 260 and GTX 280 graphics cards to the new 55nm processing technology without making an official announcement. This will basically provide all those new NVIDIA users with a graphics card that is powered by a more advanced GPU, capable of higher clock speeds when overclocked.
According to recent reports in the industry, the green company has already started shipping the 55nm-based GT200 graphics cards, slowly replacing the current GT200 series that is powered by 65nm graphics processors. As a matter of fact, the 55nm GT200 GPUs are expected to account for 70 percent of the company's Q4 shipments, while the rest of 30 percent will remain on the older 65nm process technology.
Obviously, there is a good and a bad side to NVIDIA's product strategy. One of the downsides would be that, although new users will be able to benefit from more graphics performance, when the cards are pushed to their extreme, older GeForce GTX 280 or GTX 260 users will have to deal with the card’s early 65nm GPU, which they bought for a higher price point. This seems rather unfair to the company's fans who have been quick to upgrade to the latest GeForce cards.
In related news, it appears that the GeForce GTX 260 graphics card with 192 Shaders that NVIDIA initially launched with its other GT200-equipped model, the GTX 280, has been phased out.
Instead, the graphics chip maker is focusing on its GTX 260 model that is powered by 216 Shaders and a 55nm graphics processor. Both the new GTX 260 and the company's other 55nm-equipped models are to become available in early December, so if you really have to buy a new NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, it might be best to wait until then.