NVidia AGP 8X cards clocked higher than NV25s

ALTHOUGH NVIDIA DIDN'T initially plan it that way, we can now confirm that the just-launched Nvidia GPUs are a wee bit faster than the last NV25 chips. Nvidia initially recommended a 250MHz clockspeed for the TI 4200 at the time they introduced it but now we learned that this frequency will actually be a bit faster.

The NV28 in its weakest implementation -- the TI 4200-8X -- will be clocked at 275MHz on Nvidia's recommendation, while partners, as always, can clock their own versions even higher. Usually, they never let anyone clock lower but we know that at least one manufacturer will clock at 270, five megahertz lower than recommended.

Nvidia, using a 0.15 process, managed to squeeze a few more megahurtz from its chips. So these chips could be seen as some kind of update or increase in speed compared to the six-month-old original daddy, the NV25.

So expect the AGP 8X cards to be faster than AGP 4X but not just because of this port. Any significant speed difference noted is more likely to be because of the increased clock speed. AGP 8X is generally only 2 to 3 per cent quicker than AGP 4X, despite the increased bandwidth

News source: The Inquirer