Green Team will push 8800 Ultra up against X2900 XTX

NVIDIA IS HOLDING onto the release of its 8800 Ultra card until it can spoil the launch of the ATI X2900 (R600) series.

That well known source, Mr Internet Rumour Snr (seen here plying his trade in Taiwan), has suggested that the 8800 Ultra could go for a staggering $999. Other members of Mr Rumour's extended family have nonetheless suggested that the 8950 GX2 is more likely to make an appearance, being two 8800s strapped together with a bridge chip.

However, given the problems Nvidia is having making SLI work under Vista, this seems like it may be more of a longer-term play.

The boys from Satan Clara have plenty of time to consider their spoiler launch, anyway. There are still no confirmed dates on the much-delayed R600 family, with the guys at OCWorkbench suggesting that partners in Taiwan are yet to see any firm indication of when the cards will be launched, although the best guesses suggest that May is still the timeframe with the best odds. Computex is coming up in June, and it would seem suicidal to wait until then, given the number of expected announcements there.

The rumour of a spoiler release from Nvidia suggests that it already knows that 8800 GTX will be beaten in the benchmarks by the top-end R600, which is why it is pushing out an even faster version. Given that not even the most demanding Vista games on the market today even come close to taxing an 8800 GTX, just how fast is fast enough?