It actually changed the name during the course of one day. Partners were told that it was to be called the 6800, but yesterday Nvidia changes its mind.
The name makes sense and it's more realistic than Geforce FX 2 that we heard before. The other name circulating on rumour sites round the web was the FX 11600, that is to say 5800 times two.
This card will be lunched on the 14th the main event will take place in classy Los Angeles possibly very close to the E3 event.
Samples of NV35 for the loyal NDA signing press are already out there, so you can expect some reviews on the 14th when the shields of NDA lift.
Some companies have told us that they will continue to breed and sell the FX 5800 non ultra until they becomes unavailable and until the NV35 non ultra, also known as the FX 6800 is available in retail.
Geforce FX 6800 is going to be faster than FX 5800 Ultra and it will outperform Radeon 9800 Pro, but don't expect big jumps. Nvidia and its partners are claiming that this chip will be as much as twice as fast than the FX 5800 Ultra but if this is true, it will happen only in high loads with big resolutions, heavy FSAA and anisotropic usage.
ATI does have an answer to this chip but these guys are waiting to see how good the FX 6800 Ultra before jumping again into the fray.
There is some room for improvement in the R350 marchitecture and the best proof is Power Colour Radeon 9800 Pro with 2.0 ns memory and higher clocks than other Radeon 9800 PRO that will certainly make a difference. ยต