Nvidia has signed Samsung to provide its graphics card partners with Graphics DDR 3 SDRAM for inclusion in their 128MB GeForce FX 5700 Ultra-based boards. Products using the memory technology will ship this month.

GDDR 3 runs at up to around 1.5 times the speed of GDDR 2 yet consumes half the power, thanks to a lower operating voltage: 1.8V compared to 2.5V. GDDR 3 provides an aggregate bandwidth of 6.4GBps per device, thanks to a 1.6Gbps per pin data rate. It clocks between 600MHz and 800MHz.

GDDR 3 was initially developed by Nvidia's arch-rival, ATI. Nvidia claims the new GeForce FX 5700 Ultra-based boards are the first products to market to support GDDR 3.

Micron began sampling 110nm GDDR 3 parts last year. ®