Nvidia: Titanium gives more bang for buck

The graphics chipmaker says the GeForce Titanium family will offer twice the performance for a given price than its previous chips. The chips also match high-end Radeon graphics chip recently introduced by Nvidia rival ATI Technologies.

The new Titanium family includes three members: the GeForce3 Ti 500 and GeForce3 Ti 200 for high-end PCs, and the lower priced GeForce2 Ti.

Nvidia said the GeForce3 Ti chips were derived from the same graphics-chip technology to be used in the forthcoming Microsoft Xbox game console.

The GeForce3 Ti 500 offers the most performance for high-end PCs, such as gaming systems, delivering 3.8 billion anti-aliased samples per second. Meanwhile, the GeForce3 Ti 200 offers 2.8 billion anti-aliased samples per second and is aimed at performance-oriented PCs such as high-end consumer models. Anti-aliasing makes text and graphics appear smoother on relatively low-resolution devices such as computer monitors.

The GeForce2 Ti will show up in more pedestrian PCs.

"The GeForce Titanium series is our most aggressive product introduction ever. We are delivering twice the performance at every price point," Nvidia Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang said in a statement.

The two chips also include new features, such as shadow buffer, which offers hardware acceleration for creating shadows inside video. They also offer 3D-textures support, which allows developers to use a number of visual effects, granting images 3D properties such as wood grain.

All three chips are Windows XP compatible, following the operating system's Unified Driver Architecture.

Titanium family chips will begin shipping in add-in graphics cards on Oct. 12, Nvidia said. PC makers will begin shipping chips installed in systems within 45 days.

Prices for the new chips were not announced.