The release of Nvidia’s GeForce 8-series graphics cards for the mainstream market may be sooner than observers would expect, as already now some web-sites can publish photographs of boards that are claimed to be based on the code-named G84 processors.

OCWorkBench web-site has published pictures of what it claims to be Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT and Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS graphics boards. The GeForce 8600 GT is said to be available for $150 - $180 starting in May, whereas the GTS version is projected to come after the 17^th of April at the price of $200 - $250. The model 8600 GTS seems to be longer compared to the model 8600 GT, but still shorter compared to ATI/AMD Radeon X1950 Pro, which has manufacturer suggested retail price of $199.

Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS

The exact specifications of the GeForce 8600 GTS and GT are unclear, but it is likely that the difference between the two will be clock-speed and the amount of memory onboard. The Asian web-site claims that the GTS will be equipped with 256MB or 512MB of 2.0GHz memory and 675MHz graphics processing unit (GPU), while the model GT will have 128MB or 256MB of 1.4GHz memory and 540MHz GPU. Power consumption of the latter will be in the range of 75W, while the former will require additional power connector.

Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT

The GeForce 8600-series graphics boards are expected to substitute the GeForce 7600-series on the market. Even though all versions of the GeForce 8600 will have 128-bit memory bus, and thus will be cheap to produce, their performance is claimed to be in the range of the GeForce 7900 GS and GeForce 7950 GT. The volume ramp of the GeForce 8 will not be really rapid, according to claims earlier made by the chip designer’s executives.

Nvidia did not comment on the news-story.