nVidia AGP 8X Cards With Faster Clocks

nVidia AGP 8X Cards With Faster Clocks

nVidia's newest offerings, the NV28's, carry an AGP 8X feature which will offer greater bandwidth to the card. That however, is not all that will change. Granted, a switch from AGP 4X to 8X does offer a 2 to 3 percent increase in speed, but the real news is that by using a 0.15 process nVidia have managed to squeeze more clock speed out of the new cards.

A good example of what the difference will be is the TI 4200, which in its previous form sported a 250 MHz clock but as a TI 4200-8X will carry 275 MHz of clock speed, with some manufacturers possibly aiming even higher than that. This changes the update to the NV25 from a minor upgrade to a faster, but soon to be replaced, standard such as AGP 8X, to a minor overhaul. Much like it did with the switch from Geforce 3 to Geforce 3 TI 500, nVidia chose to increase clock speed as well in order to offer a new product. This, even though the NV30 is set for a possible December 2002 debut.