Nvidia has canned NV48

ATI's RADEON X850XT PE is the last speed refresh that we will see this winter. Usually ATI's announcement comes close to Nvidia announcement but this time it won't happen.

Nvidia decided to cancel its NV48 project and reliable sources are claiming that you won't see those cards at all. According to the original plan we were supposed to see those cards in Q1 2005 but Nvidia realised that it made no sense at all to push a 20 to 30 MHz faster card.

NV40 and R420 chips will be known forever as the ones that companies pushed to their limits and Nvidia didn't want to disappoint its customers with a marginally faster card. All it could manage was a 20-30MHz push, hardly anything to scream home about.

Nvidia will make NV45 cards available to market to fill PCIe high end market and that's how it will remain until the new chip walks down the red carpet.

Nvidia has a good workhorse and a colt to beat X850, it's called SLI and includes two graphic cards working together. X850 XT PE can not match two NV45, 6800 Ultra cards in action.

We are in the dark about Nvidia's next move but it does count a lot of SLI. Who knows, it may be in the dark too? µ

Compare thingies in the UK Compare other thingies in the USA