14 DAY TRIAL // While end-users are still to see the full power of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX295 and GTX 285, rumors of new 40nm-based GeForce graphics cards have already made their way on the Internet. The Santa Clara, California-based chip maker is now expected to debut its first 40nm-based graphics cards as early as the second quarter of the upcoming year. In addition, by the end of 2009 the green company will have an entire range of new graphics cards for all market segments.
According to a recent news-article on vr-zone, NVIDIA's GT212 graphics processor is slated for release in Q2 2009, while the company's GT214, GT216 and GT218 GPUs are to become available as early as Q3 2009. The first will be designed for the enthusiast and performance market, consequently replacing the manufacturer's dual-GPU GTX295 in the highest-performance market segment. The other GPU models will be designed to compete in the mainstream and value market segments. What's even more interesting is that by Q4 2009, NVIDIA is said to be planning a new high-performance card, which will be based on a GT300 GPU and meant to replace said GT212.
Sometime in Q3 2009, NVIDIA is also preparing to release a new integrated graphics processor, the IGT209, which will power the products that are now based on the company's GeForce 9400 and GeForce 9300 IGPs.
If the details that have been reported by vr-zone are anything close to real, this means that NVIDIA's latest GeForce graphics cards will have a relatively short lifespan. Said GPUs are to replace the company's current GeForce lineup in the enthusiast, performance, mainstream and value market segments.
According to additional info, the Q4 GT300 is expected to debut with support for Microsoft's upcoming DirectX 11 API. Furthermore, the GT216 and GT218 are expected to provide 4 and 6 desktop SKU, respectively.