14 DAY TRIAL // In the GPU world, the next generation of graphics cards is all about the 28nm fabrication process and it now seems like Nvidia has finished a part of its upcoming mobile graphics cores that are based on this new fabrication node.
Nvidia has reportedly let its partners know about the progress they are making with their 28nm mobile GPUs during a series of meetings which are taking place right now in Lisbon, Portugal, claims Fudzilla.
According to the same source, the Santa Clara graphics giant said that some of its 28nm notebook chips are almost ready to enter mass production today, and some Far East sources allegedly confirmed these rumors.
Even though Nvidia has made good progress with these chips, the company still hasn't established a firm release schedule as it all depends on the yields that TSMC manages to achieve with the 28nm fabrication process.
Right now, the first 28nm Nvidia notebook GPUs will most probably arrive in March or April of 2012, together with Intel's Ivy Bridge processor, but an earlier release could also be possible as Nvidia is still investigating the feasibility of such a move.
Other details about Nvidia's 28 mobile GPUs aren't available at this time, and what's particularly intriguing is that Fudzilla refrained from using the “Kepler” code name anywhere in its report.
This could suggest that the next-generation mobile graphics from Nvidia could just as well be only a die shrink of the current Fermi cores, while Kepler may be reserved for future notebook GPUs.
The company has done this before with the GeForce 300 series of chips that were released both in the mobile and in the desktop markets.
More information about these GPUs, as well as about their AMD counterparts, should become available in the coming months, once TSMC starts ramping out the production of 28nm parts.