GeForce 8800 graphics to launch at LAN event
updated 09:50 am EDT, Tue October 10, 2006
GeForce 8800 Launch at LAN
Even though its GeForce 7950 GT has only been available for a month, NVIDIA is preparing a dramatic overhaul of its graphics card line very soon. The company said today that it would launch its next-generation gaming platform -- "GPU and MCP together" -- at the upcoming GeForce LAN 3 on November 7th. The news effectively confirms that the GeForce 8800, seen previously in prototype form, will receive an official launch at that time and is likely to be accompanied by the new nForce 6-series mainboards for Core 2 Duo processors.
The new graphics chipset is expected to be the first to use a unified shader model, where instead of specialized per-pixel and vertex (3D point) units the entire pipeline can adapt depending on the work at hand, substantially improving theoretical performance. Two models are expected to ship at the November 7th launch: the flagship 8800 GTX with a 575MHz core and 768MB of RAM, as well as a scaled-down 8800 GTS with 500MHz core and 640MB of RAM. Both will have dual-link DVI for extra-large displays as well as HDCP encryption support for next-generation movies.
