NVIDIA Preps GeForce 8600

Video chip designer NVIDIA is in the finishing stages of developing more mainstream GeForce 8-series cards, according to a reported leak by Chinese site Beareyes. The GeForce 8600 (shown) and 8300 will occupy the mid- and low-range areas respectively, adding the unified shader hardware of the GeForce 8800 to the rest of NVIDIA's cards while cutting down on the complexity that adds to the overall cost. The 8600 will use 64 shader units at most, half that of the range-topping 8800 GTX; the 8300 will use half again at 32, Beareyes claims.

Each model line will in turn be split into different speed grades, the site reports. The 8600 will be available in a 350MHz GT version with 48 shaders as well as a 500MHz Ultra variant with the full 64 shaders, while the 8300 is divided into the GS and GT editions clocked at 500MHz with 24- and 32-shader chips respectively. Memory will also be clocked as low as 1GHz for the 8300 GS and as high as 1.4GHz for the 8600 GT. All four editions are expected to debut in early March at prices of $79 and $99 for the 8300 series as well as $129 and $179 for the 8600 series. A lower-cost 8800 GTS with 320MB of memory (down from 640MB) will also be ready for $299. [via The Inquirer]

By Electronista Staff