Nvidia Corp., the world’s largest provider of discrete graphics processors, said at a press conference that it plans to launch its next-generation graphics processor this Summer. The new product code-named GT200 is projected to dethrone the current flagship GeForce 9800 GX2, but it is not clear whether it will also bring new features.

The new graphics processing unit (GPU) for high-end market from Nvidia is projected to consist of about one billion of transistors and feature “around” 200 unified shader processors (more likely to be 192 or 240), reports Golem.de web-site citing Jeff Brown, general manager of the professional solutions group at Nvidia. It is unclear whether Nvidia GT200 sports DirectX 10.1 feature-set or are compatible with DirectX 10 only.

Nvidia’s latest high-end GPUs, which are code-named G92 and G80, consist of 754 and 681 million of transistors, respectively. The previous-generation high-end DirectX 9 graphics chips – G70 and G71 – featured 304 and 278 million of transistors, which means that the current generation high-end chips are more than two times larger compared to predecessors in terms of transistor count. Considering these facts, one billion of transistors inside GT200 is not a surprise.

The new-generation Nvidia GT200 is projected to be released in Summer and Nvidia will start to brief the media about the product starting from May, the web-site reports without providing any additional details.

It is also not known whether Nvidia plans to continue using the GeForce brand-name for GT200, or intends to introduce a new trademark.