Nvidia dual-GPU graphics card due next week

GeForce 9800 GX2 first; 9800 GTX a week later

Nvidia's GeForce 9800 GX2 multi-GPU graphics card will apparently be launched on a not-entirely-unexpecting gaming community on 18 March, if piccies snapped around CeBIT are anything to go by.

They usually are, and in this case the vendor mentioning the GX2's non-disclosure agreement (NDA) expiry date was MSI. It put the date under a GX2 card attached to its booth - which was duly snapped by Russian site 3DNews.ru.

The GX2 contains a pair of 65nm 'G92' graphics processors running at 600MHz, with the memory set to 2GHz. It's a chunky, dual-slot unit thanks to the cooling, with two DVI ports and an HDMI connector on the back. On the top: an SLI link, and eight- and six-pin power ports.

The board is designed to take the performance crown away from AMD's ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 - reviewed here. We look forward to finding out if it can.

A week after the debut of the 9800 GX2, Nvidia will launch the 9800 GTX, website DailyTech reports. It'll run at up to 675MHz, with the memory set to 2.2GHz. Expect two DVI ports but no HDMI, and two SLI connectors for Tri-SLI operation.

The 18 and 25 March will also see the formal unveiling of Nvidia's nForce 790i, 780a and 750a chipsets.