ATI ships new graphics cards

Graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies announced Wednesday that it has begun shipping high-end graphics cards based on its new Radeon 9800 processor, ATI's latest bid to retain the in the turbulent graphics industry. ATI has tried to capitalize on numerous delays rival Nvidia has faced in bringing its GeForce FX chip to market.

"Once again we promised, and we delivered," Rick Bergman, senior vice president of marketing for ATI, said in a statement. "Consumers and all of our channel partners are about to get their hands on the fastest, best image quality graphics cards available." Nvidia will try to counter ATI by offering mainstream and budget versions of the GeForce FX around the same time the high-end version goes on sale this month.