Nvidia Corp. has begun shipments of its new graphics card that features two graphics processing units (GPUs) to offer extreme levels of performance. Unlike in previous times, the new graphics board does not carry incredible price-tag as due to economic slump few people would invest over $500 into a new accelerator for video games on the PC.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 graphics card is powered by two code-named G200b chips each featuring 240 shader processors (SPs), 80 texture units (TUs), 30 render back ends (RBEs) and 448-bit memory interface. Nvidia recommends its partners to clock the GPU at 576MHz with stream processing operating at 1242MHz and also set the memory’s frequency to 1998MHz. The graphics cards will be equipped with 1792MB of GDDR3 memory (896MB per GPU).

Nvidia remained committed to its strategy of offering ultimate-performance dual-chip graphics card for gamers who demand performance at any cost as well as highest-possible-performance single-chip solution for those, who do not want to utilize multi-GPU rendering technologies. Besides the model GTX 295, Nvidia also launched GeForce GTX 285, which replaces the GeForce GTX 280.

The model GTX 285 sports 240 SPs, 80TUs, 32 RBEs and 512-bit memory interface. Thanks to new chip produced using 55nm process technology, the new single-chip high-end offering not only consumes less power, but also boasts higher performance due to increased clock-speeds: 648MHz for GPU, 1476 for stream processors and 2484 for 1GB of GDDR3 memory.

Nvidia launches the new graphics cards right in time: sales of its products collapsed quarter-over-quarter recently and the firm needs new products to boost its revenues as well as return market share, which it lost to ATI, graphics products group of Advanced Micro Devices. However, considering the fact that sales of graphics cards are usually weak in Q1, the company’s market positions may not change as a result of introduction of two new high-end products.

The GeForce GTX 295 is available now from leading add-in-card manufacturers with a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of $499. GeForce GTX 285 will be available on January 15^th with a MSRP of $399.

Tags: Nvidia, Geforce, 55nm, G200b, GT206