Thanks to Navin Maini for mailing us with this news.
NVIDIA"s own internal benchmarks reveal that the 8x AGP-compliant GeForce FX has 3x the raw frame rate power of the NV25 (GeForce4 Ti 4xxxx) and 3x the vertex processing. Sporting 125-million transistors and manufactured on a 0.13u process, it"s arguably the most technologically advanced GPU available. It"s manufactured using the same flip-chip technology as the R300.
Up until very recently NVIDIA, the Californian multimedia outfit, could do no wrong. They seemed to marry the key elements of hardware potential and software support almost seamlessly. Using the combined talents of, perhaps, the greatest minds in the industry, NVIDIA pushed the barriers of what"s possible to hither-to unseen heights.
However, any industry becomes stagnant if there"s only one dominant player. Everyone needs to pushed to produce their absolute best. ATi, with their R8500 and now the ever-so-impressive R9700-based cards, have taken NVIDIA"s mantle of having the fastest cards in town. Currently, the R9700 is the undisputed leader in both the performance and feature stakes, comfortably eclipsing the GeForce4 Ti 4xxx line of cards.
NVIDIA, not one to be overshadowed for long, were undoubtedly going to respond in the best possible way. Call it what you will, NV30, GeForce 5, GeForce Eclipse, or by its present name GeForce FX, NVIDIA"s answer to the ATi threat is about to be released to public consumption.