GeForce 9: all in 55nm before the holidays?

Three months ago we mentioned the possibility of 55nm die shrinks for the G94 and G96 similar to what was done with the G92b that equips the GeForce 9800 GTX+. When everything goes well, there can be a double or even triple advantage because it can enable lowering production costs, increasing frequencies and/or lowering power consumption.

According to the Chinese newspaper Commercial Times, the G94b, G96b and G98b should arrive this year though not until September. Production will be entrusted to TSMC or UMC with costs that will be on average 20% lower. On the desktop, certain GeForce 9600s (G94), 9500s (G96, whose launch is planned late this month in 65nm), and 9300s (G98) could therefore have a smaller G9xb like some GeForce 9xx0 Ms expected out in the next few months.

Finally, despite delays at TSMC on the 40nm process, Nvidia and ATI still hope to have the first functional samples of GPUs with this engraving width before the end of the year. We’ll just have to wait & see...