Santa Clara (CA) - Nvidia updated its graphics chip portfolio with the new mainstream chip 7900 GS, which will be available in graphic cards selling between $200 and $250. The 7950 GT will follow next week and aim for the hardcore PC gamer and a prices between $300 and $350. A handful of companies have already pledged availability of the GPUs in their latest graphics cards.
Both graphics chips offer the current feature set of Nvidia's 7900 series of PCI Express processors, which include a 90 nm production process, the firm's Purevideo technology and SLI capability. The main differentiators between the 7900 GS the the 7950 GT are different clock speeds and the memory capacity: Both chips have a 256 Mb interface, but the 7900 GS carries 256 MB and the 7950 GT 512 MB.
The reference 7900 GS runs with an engine clock of 450 MHz and a memory speed of 1320 MHz. The 7950, on the other hand, has a 550 MHz engine clock and a 1400 MHz memory clock.
Several companies have announced 7900 GS-based graphics cards this morning. Biostar Microtech ships the chip in its Sigma Gate V7903GS22 PCI Express x16 graphics card. The company will also be offering the 7950 GT in two different spec cards, the Sigma Gate V7953GT52 and the Sigma Gate V7953GT22, with the only difference being that the GT22 has 512 MB of memory, versus the GT52's 256 MB.
PNY will also be releasing both GPUs, packaged under the firm's "Verto" brand. The Verto Geforce 7900 GS is available now for $250, and the 7950 GT will go for $349 when it's released on 14 September. Sparkle also has a card based on the 7900 GS available now, with a 7950 GT card planned for launch on the 14th.
Albatron is only focusing on the 7900 GS right now. The company throws in a free copy of the Toca Race Driver 3 game to those who purchase the card from them.
XFX announced two cards based on the 7900 GS GPU. The base card follows the Nvidia specifications and the 7900 GS "Extreme" promises to offers slightly more speed with a 480 MHz core and 1.40 GHz memory.
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Mark Raby is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware, covering a wide range of topics, from video game reviews to detailed analyses of computer processors.
