Nvidia provided some updates on its near-term product strategy at a conference with financial analysts. While the first half of next year will focus on introducing updates for the current GeForce 7 generation - including the 90 nm model G71 with up to 750 MHz core clock and the entry-level chips G72 and G73 - the successor of the 7800 will be commercially available sometime in the second half of 2006.

Not surprisingly, G80 will be tailored to run with Windows Vista and its Aero Glass functionality. The new graphics processor will transition to DirectX 10 and support Shader Model 4.0, Nvidia said. It was indicated that the current G7x generation will be available for some time, serving the entry-level and mainstream segment. G80 promises to bring a completely new processor architecture.