It appears that the race for the graphics crown is on again for the two main rivals. nVidia's NV40 and ATI's R420, their latest project-wonders, are about to be unleashed upon the gaming world and the task facing each company is simple, be the first.
The latest news suggests that the NV40 taped out in late December, consider the average 4 months needed from that stage to actual shelf presence and we could have new nVidia boards by April 2004. It will however, be a race for nVidia to secure boards to display for this year's CeBit exhibition, a task made even more urgent by ATI's almost certain presence in Hannover, Germany.
It is also obvious that the exhibitions will serve as springboards which nVidia and ATI will use to promote their new chips. The physical presence of a board however, will convince everyone, including market traders, that the companies will meet their target shipping dates.
Although it does seem that the pressure is on both companies, we have to remember that the ball lies, squarely, in nVidia's court since ATI are currently the leaders in graphics performance, in gamer conscience at least. If both chips prove to be similar in performance, as experts seem to suggest, then ATI may get the time they need to narrow the gap from nVidia even further.
