Nvidia is preparing to boost the performance of its GeForce FX 5600 graphics chip, the company told The Register yesterday.

The GeForce FX 5600 Ultra core currently clocks at 350MHz, the same as its memory clock frequency. However, both speeds will soon be raised to 400MHz, in the form of the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra, the company said.

The current Ultra has a memory bandwidth of 11.2GBps. With the memory clock increase, that figure will rise to 12.8GBps. Upping the core clock to 400MHz, should boost the part's fill rate from 1.4 billion texels per second to 1.6 billion.

The increase has come as a result of Nvidia's improved understanding of the 0.13 micron process, said European marketing chief Alain Tiquet. "It took us a long time to get it right," he admitted.

It was the lack of such understanding that produced the long delay on the GeForce FX 5800 chip. Due to ship in September 2002, the part wasn't announced until November 2002 and then didn't ship until February 2003, just ahead of the GeForce FX 5600 launch. The arrival this week of the 0.13 micron GeForce FX 5900 marks the end of the 5800.

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