Latest Information From Computex!

I will post all the latest information I get daily before I add them to the article proper. So, be sure to check here often!

ATI

• ATI is set to launch their Radeon HD 4850 graphics card on June 18, 2008. The launch has been delayed to June 25, 2008.
• There will be a higher-end version, the Radeon HD 4870 with DDR5 memory but the launch date is still unknown.
• At least 3 ATI partners said that the Radeon HD 4870 is not ready for launch anytime soon, and if anyone was showing one off, it would have to be a mechanical mockup.
• This is what the Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 graphics card look like :

NVIDIA GTX 200

• NVIDIA briefed the media on the new GTX 200 series of graphics cards on June 5, 2008. However, the official launch date is on June 17, 2008.
• We were able to take a look at a few cards and obtain some details of the card before the press briefing.
• NVIDIA will launch the GTX 280 and GTX 260 on June 17, one day before ATI was supposed to launch their Radeon HD 4850 graphics card but that has changed with the rescheduled launch of the Radeon HD 4850.
• The GTX 280 will be the new flagship card with 240 stream processors and 1 GB of DDR3 memory on a 512-bit memory bus.
• One industry source told us that they tested their GTX 280 using 3DMark Vantage and it scored in the region of 4900 while the GeForce 9800 GTX scored only around 2300.
• At least one industry source claimed that NVIDIA will only launch the second model, the GTX 260, at a later date, around the middle of July. Apparently, the lack of competition on the high-end segment has given NVIDIA little incentive to speed up the release of the much cheaper GTX 260.
• This has been refuted by at least 3 other NVIDIA partners who said that they will have GTX 260 graphics cards ready for sale on launch day. Of course, I was also told that they were major NVIDIA partners who "played ball".
• The GTX 260 will be a slightly crippled version of the GTX 280. It will only 192 stream processors and a much cheaper price tag.
• One source claimed that NVIDIA was withholding supply of the GTX 280 GPUs from them until after the launch, but the cards would be available worldwide within one week from the launch date. However, 3 other sources told us that they have already started making the cards and they will be on the shelves by launch date (June 17). Again, these are major NVIDIA partners who toed the NVIDIA line.
• The NVIDIA GTX 280 will be priced at around US$ 649 while the GTX 260 will be priced around US$ 449.
• NVIDIA has been extremely paranoid about their GTX 200 graphics cards. They even have a spy (a Chinese bloke wearing glasses and masquerading as a journalist) patrolling the Computex exhibition halls to enforce the NVIDIA law and catch leaks from their partners. Somehow, that also includes questioning real journalists about their sources. Well, Mr. 007, you should never threaten journalists...
• Thanks to Mr. 007, I skipped much needed sleep to write this editorial and post these photos of an NVIDIA GTX 280 reference card in a demo case. Note that these were taken prior to the NVIDIA press briefing. Don't bother asking me where I took them, Mr. 007.

• As you can see, the GTX 280 is a dual-slot card that looks like a larger version of the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB.
• You can't see it from these two photos but unlike the other NVIDIA cards, this card has the back of the PCB covered by a metal plate (with aeration grills). In addition, this GTX 280 card has both 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors. This is going to be a really hot power-sucker of a card!

Intel SSDs

• Intel will make new SATA solid state drives (SSDs) available in capacities of 32 GB to 160 GB soon.
• They will be available in both 1.8" and 2.5" form factors.
• They will be capable of handling shock of up to 1500 Gs.

Kingston

• Kingston will be going into the SSD (solid state drive) market as well.
• Their SSD products are still in development but should be ready by the end of the year.
• However, they will initially be made available to OEMs although there is always the possibility of retail sales later.