Well, it looks like PC users have beaten Mac users to the punch after all, if comments posted to Nvidia enthusiast Web site nV News are any indication. Posters to the site’s forums indicate that they began receiving cards based on Nvidia’s hotly anticipated GeForce3 graphics chip yesterday.
PC card maker VisionTek appears to be one of the first PC card makers out of the gate — nV News readers report receiving cards that had been pre-ordered from popular game retail store and e-commerce site Electronics Boutique.
Nvidia first introduced the GeForce3 to the world at Macworld Expo in Tokyo this past February. The GeForce 3 is a highly advanced graphics processor that sports 57 million transistors and processes data internally at 76 gigaflops.
During his presentation to the crowd at Macworld Expo Tokyo’s keynote address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs commented, “This thing is amazing, and it’s going to be available first on the Mac.”
Since then, The Apple Store has been accepting orders for Power Mac G4’s built to order with the new graphics chip. Apple had hoped to ship Power Mac G4s with the new boards in late March, but apparently the company suffered the same production delays that PC-based Nvidia licensees encountered.
As MacCentral posted this article, The Apple Store still listed GeForce3-based cards as “coming in April,” though to date we have not received any reports from readers who have gotten their Power Mac G4’s so equipped. (We encourage you to drop us a line if you one shows up on your doorstep, however.)
The Apple Store will also be selling GeForce3-based graphics cards as “Video Card Kits,” for US$499, sometime in late May — the product is listed at the Apple Store, although orders are not presently being taken. Apple says the kits “require 4x AGP support,” implying that they’re intended only for Power Mac G4s manufactured since the January redesign first unveiled at Macworld Expo in San Francisco — the first Macs to feature a 4x AGP interface.
One thing’s for sure — if PC users are getting them, Mac users should be getting them darn soon. Stay tuned for more details.
(Thanks to reader Steven C. Den Beste for the heads up.)
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