As we have already reported we should witness the launch of a few new Nvidia graphics cards from the GeForce 9800 series. GeForce 9800 GX2 dual-chip solution should be launched on March 18, and a single-chip GeForce 9800 GTX that comes to replace GeForce 8800 GTX is scheduled to launch on March 25. As you remember, the major advantage of GeForce 9800 GTX over the predecessors is the support of 3-Way SLI technology and the use of a GPU manufactured using more up-to-date 65nm technological process.

Some slides leaked today from the GeForce 9800 GTX presentation and therefore we can reveal new details on this promising solution. First of all, these slides confirmed the specs of the card. The GPU core frequency will be 675MHz, 128 shader processors will work at 1688MHz. The card will be equipped with 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM working at 1100MHz.

GeForce 9800 GTX will feature one 6-pin power connector and its peak power consumption will equal 156W. The reference design of the graphics card PCB will offer two Dual-Link DVI outs and one HDMI connector. The recommended retail price of GeForce 9800 GTX based cards will lie between $299 and $349.

The newcomer should replace GeForce 8800 GTX, while the GeForce 8800 Ultra should give way to a dual-chip candidate - GeForce 9800 GX2. According to the slides, GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB will not be replaced with anything new in Q1 and will continue shipping.

The forecast regarding the scalability of GeForce 9800 GTX performance in different types of SLI configurations states that the use of a second graphics card will increase the performance by 70%-90% or more, while the third graphics card will sometimes push the system by more than 150% above the performance level of s single graphics card. As always, the actual contribution from the third graphics card is relatively modest rarely going beyond 50-60%.