ATI's first 40nm cards are taped out and we can confirm that the cards are up and running. These are still pre-production silicons that go out usually before the final production one, and our sources confirm that the card is in good shape. This is a transitional product and it will help ATI to get easier from 55nm to 40nm and we learned that it should end up faster than the RV770 powering the Radeon HD 4850 card, though its job is to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce 9600 GT, and it will completely leave it in the dust. The board does use GDDR5 from troubled Quimonda, and ATI is playing with it at 3600MHz. And we still believe that it has a 256-bit memory interface, so it looks like a poweful combination. - FudZilla

First 40nm GPU Taped Out Being ATI's RV740 Chipset

Well ATI got the manufacturing right. When it comes to transition to a smaller manufacturing process, NVIDIA is far from being able to match them. Ever since the NV30 times, Jensen was very conservative when it came to shifting to a new process for the high-end chips and this has started to affect NVIDIA big time. ATI made a few mistakes with the R600 and R520 before, its last two big chips, but at the same time it was always the first to go for 65nm, 55nm and we are now hearing ATI should be the first with 40nm. Though this is becoming somehow an usual trend with ATI leading the way, going first with smaller die process.

And a smaller process always means a lower thermal design power, at least if you compare the same chip in 55nm and 40nm for example, and the chip itself is smaller and if the yields are mature, it usually ends up cheaper. At the same time a new process lets the manufacturers clock the chips even higher and at some point some of the graphics boys might actually launch a GPU that might work at over 1000MHz milestone. ATI's first 40nm should be out in the second quarter of 2009 and NVIDIA might have a 40nm chip at the same time, but we are not sure if that chip is actually a high-end one.