New Graphics Cards for the mainstream market are beginning to tip up in a variety of flavours, all aimed around the crucial 200 Euro mark.
We just learned that Club 3D will ship a 256-bit DDR Radeon 9800SE with just four pipelines, as opposed to the normal eight. This card will be identical to the Radeon 9800PRO, also clocked at 380MHz core and 340MHz memory, save for its crippled pipelines.
We expect ATI partners to cook up a lot of variations on this theme, and you"ll be best advised to read the specs carefully to see exactly what you are getting when you buy the box. With Club 3D card your will get 256 bit card clocked at 380 MHz /340 MHz. We"re curious to see what other clock speeds we are likely to get.
As for the Geforce FX 5900XT; this card will be clocked at 390MHz - just 10MHz less than the FX 5900 non-Ultra, with memory working at 350 times two. The regular version works at 800MHz. Both cards hover around the 200 Euros price tag.
The introduction of these two cards which will obviously be available through many ATI and Nvidia partners will make life difficult for the existing Radeon 9600XT and Geforce FX 5700 Ultra. These are still priced at the same level as their new big brothers, the 9800SE and 5900XT.
The Radeon 9800 non PRO costs about 295 Euros with the Geforce FX 5900 Ultra around the same price. Cheaper but top mainstream Geforce FX 5700 Ultra and Radeon 9600XT cost around 200 Euros. Cards will be available as soon as Monday to catch the Christmas rush.