It wasn't so long ago that I bought and loved a 7800 GTX. It was extraordinarily expensive but performed like a champ, and was the best of the best. As with all things in the computer world, that lasted a very short time, and soon better models came out. The latest beast from nVidia, the G80 based series, is set to once again offer a huge boost in performance over previous generation cards. Precious little information has been offered so far, but recently we've gotten some sneak peaks. Some details regarding the 8800 GTX have been released on an asian website. Lacking any particular performance or functionality details, it does have a few images and specify that it will support DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0, HDR lightning and more.

According to the source, Asus will initially be offering two versions of the 8800, the EN8800GTX and the EN8800GTS. The EN8800GTX/HTDP/768M as it is called will come with an absolutely massive 768MB of GDDR3, relying on a 384-bit wide interface. The “lower” model, the EN8800GTS/HTDP/640M, will have 640MB and a 320-bit interface, which seems like an odd configuration. The GPU of the GTX will operate at 575MHz and the memory will operate at 1.8GHz.

As the article mentions, much information about the G80 is still unknown and could change. With no official comment coming from nVidia or their vendors, we'll have to wait for solid facts.