GT200 will launch in just a few weeks. The 576mm2 65nm chip is not only big and produces a lot of heat, it’s also very expensive to make. The mere die size means that you can only fit about 100 dies on each wafter and due to the complex nature of the chip, the yields are rather poor, as low as 40% according to Charlie at TheInq. This brings the average chips cost above the expected $100 per chip to ~$125. He also says that the 55nm GT200b has been taped out, and this is correct. Skipping the rest of the bias, GT200b will not hit the market for another couple of months, most likely for the annual NVIDIA November refresh, so anyone buying a GT200 card will not end up with a dead duck. He or she will get the fastest single-core graphics card on the planet, even if it is still a G8x derivate.
