Nvdia launches latest laptop graphics chip

Nvidia has introduced its new top-of-the-range GeForce 8M-series mobile graphics processor, as forecast.

The GeForce 8800M GTX and the 8800M GTS both have cores clocked at 500MHz, but while the GTX incorporates 96 Stream processors - what Nvidia calls its unified shaders - the GTS has but 64. Both GPUs connect across a 256-bit bus to no more than 512MB of graphics memory, clocked at 800MHz.

The chips can use memory technologies up to and including GDDR 3.

The two GPUs can also be paired up within a suitable notebook enclosure to work together on rendering scenes using Nvidia's SLI technology. The chips support Microsoft's DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0.

Each has on separate, on-die video processing engine, the VP2, for handling HD codecs like H.264, VC-1, MPEG 2 and WMV 9 decoding. They'll feed dual-link DVI ports to support resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600, more than enough for 1080p HD, which the chips can also generate via analogue TV ports, should notebook makers include them.

Nvidia said notebooks with the new GPUs "will soon be available for order" - so presumably the chips aren't shipping in quantity just yet - from notebook makers like Alienware, Eurocom, Gateway, Novatech and Rock.

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