Picture of the ASUS 9800 GT Ultimate Emerges, Looks Familiar

Donanimhaber released the first picture of the ASUS GeForce 9800 GT Ultimate, which should be released very soon. In many aspects the GPU is at most part a re-branded 8800 GT with its 512MB GDDR3 memory, 112 Stream Processors and identical core/memory clockspeeds. The Ultimate model from ASUS however features much higher parameters, 725MHz core, 2000MHz memory and 1750MHz shader clocks. The picture shows the card to have a cooler similar to that of the GeForce 8800 GTS 512M. It remains to be seen if the GPU uses the newer 55nm silicon fabrication process.

Chinese website Zol.com.cn reports that in China, stocks of the GeForce 9800 GT card can be purchased from a local production company, a product which hasn't even been announced yet. The 9800 GT differs from 8800 GT in having a 55nm fabbed core that should allow higher parameters, though iroically being identical to its predecessor, the 8800 GT (600/1500/1800 MHz).

We could expect an official announcement soon, and this card could well be priced between US $120 and $140.

Several news sources wrote today that NVIDIA is planning to advance the process technology of its G92 GPUs to the 55nm node in July, in order to lower costs and increase core clocks. The 55nm G92 GPUs will be codenamed G92b and most probably will make their first debut under the name GeForce 9800 GT. Codenamed G92-280 the GeForce 9800 GT cards will also use a new P393-C00 PCB that supports Hybrid Power, a feature that allows integrated graphics if presented to take control of the system when in 2D environment, and switch back to the main video card when a 3D application is started. There will be 256MB and 512MB GDDR3 versions clocked at 900MHz and 975MHz respectively. The core clock speeds have not been determined yet, but according to VR-Zone the cards will be clocked higher than the current stock GeForce 8800 GTs (default speed: 600MHz).