To get some indication of exactly when the NVIDIA Ultra TNT2 based products will be shipping in regards to the TNT2, we were able to speak with Parth Shukla, Product Manager at
Guillemot (North America), who gave us an update on their NVIDIA Ultra TNT2 and TNT2 based products. The Ultra TNT2 based Maxi Gamer Xentor 32 MB will be clocked at 150MHz (graphics clock) and 183MHz (memory) but interestingly enough, the part will ship with a heat sink/cooling fan combo which would provide gamers interested in overclocking with the opportunity to do so, The TNT2 based Xentor 16MB should be appearing in stores at the very end of April, while the Ultra TNT2 based Maxi Gamer Xentor 32 MB is expected on store shelves by the 10th of May.
This schedule, if followed, should at least answer the Ultra TNT2 part availability issue when shipped at NVIDIA approved clock speeds. For Diamond, who originally seemed committed to shipping a product at higher than NVIDIA approved clockspeeds, that may not be the case. To successfully engineer and manufacture a board to be released at the higher speeds requires qualifying additional components and doing additional tests. But a closer look at the official word from Diamond reveals a hedge against actually rating the board at the higher speeds:
"As seen in products like the Monster 3D II and Viper V550, Diamond's engineering excellence has brought to market graphics accelerators that lead the industry in performance, reliability and compatibility. While the Viper V770 board previewed by Sharky Extreme was a pre-production sample, it is indicative of the outstanding performance and reliability that the shipping version will provide." Todd Reddick, Director of Product Marketing, Diamond Multimedia
So, until Diamond (or someone else) announces that the final clockspeeds for their Ultra TNT2 product will be higher than the NVIDIA approved speeds and then delivers that product, we will not know what impact that decision will have on delivery schedules. No doubt, if the delay is significant, the loss in revenue would be also. For the hardcore overclockers among us, waiting for an 'approved' overclocked board may require too much patience.
Time will tell…
