Introduction

Ever feel like that video card you just bought at the store became outdated on the drive home? Certainly, the speed of technological development in the graphics card sector is nothing short of astounding. A case in point would be NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. Codenamed NV36, it was introduced only last October and used GDDR-2 memory. Now, barely six months later, NVIDIA is quietly replacing it with a newer version that will use GDDR-3 memory.

The GDDR-3 memory technology was originally specified and presented as an open standard by ATi in cooperation with several memory companies back in 2002. Ironically, the first graphics card to actually use this technology is now being launched by ATi's rival NVIDIA in the shape of the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. But before we take a closer look at this new card, let's go over the technology and the differences between the existing variations of GDDR.