Nvidia Corp., currently the world’s largest supplier of discrete graphics processing units (GPUs), reportedly plans to follow ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, with the graphics chips supporting DirectX 10.1 feature-set in early 2008. But the main intrigue is whether the new GPUs will feature a new architecture, or will be mostly based on the GeForce 8 design.

The first GeForce 9-series graphics processor – code-named D9E – is projected to be released in February, 2008, reports DigiTimes web-site. The chip, which is made using 65nm process technology, will support DirectX 10.1 functionality, just like recently announced ATI Radeon HD 3000-series graphics processors from AMD, the arch-rival of Nvidia. But the main mystery the GeForce 9 has is, perhaps, not support of a technology that is only likely to be utilized in games in no less than a year from now, but in other features the new chips may have, their performance, as well as their architecture.

Even though the ATI Radeon HD 3000-series chips feature DirectX 10.1 capabilities, they are largely based on the ATI Radeon HD 2000-series GPUs, which means that performance-wise the new model HD 3870 is no faster than the HD 2900 XT. If the latest chips from ATI featured different micro-architecture, the novelties would be capable of demonstrating higher performance. In addition, AMD could implement more execution units, e.g. unified shader processors and/or texture units, to boost performance of the ATI Radeon HD 3000-series.

If Nvidia GeForce 9 is based on a different architecture than the GeForce 8, or Nvidia finds a way to incorporate more horsepower into its D9E, then the new solution may become a dangerous competitor to code-named ATI R680, which is expected to be a dual-chip ATI Radeon HD 3870-based solution.

Nvidia did not comment on the news-story.