New 7800 GTX chips increase performance while using less power and emitting less heat Nvidia announced its most advanced computer graphics chip ever on Wednesday, the GeForce 7800 GTX, made from the same technology that’s going into Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles. It’s already available to users in markets around the world.The new 7800 GTX chips, made for use with PCs running on processors from either Intel or Advanced Micro Devices, have been designed to dramatically increase performance while using less power and emitting less heat. That should help it move into the notebook arena, where battery life is vital. Nvidia executives said the laptop version of its GPUs (graphics processing units) normally follow the PC versions by six or seven months.Attendees of the E3 gamers convention in Los Angeles last month got a firsthand glimpse of the graphics power behind the 7800 GTX during PlayStation 3 previews, giving it rave reviews. Nvidia officials were careful to point out that only its graphics technology is being used in the chip for PlayStation 3, dubbed RSX, while the rest of the chip will be made by Sony. “The gaming enthusiasts really are the most demanding of all for computer graphics, more so even than movie studios,” said Adam Foat, a product public relations manager at Nvidia, during an interview ahead of the new GPU’s launch.They’ll have to pay for the performance. The 7800 GTX is available from online retailers on graphics cards for around $600 from companies like Asustek Computer and Giga-Byte Technology Co.Extreme gamers can also take advantage of using two of the new graphics chips in one PC through Nvidia’s SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology for communication between the two processors. At 300 million transistors, the new graphics chip is Nvidia’s most advanced chip yet. It runs at 430 MHz. The chip’s transistor and other component layout was designed for 110-nanometer technology, far smaller than the 130-nanometer chips in its previous generation. Production on the chips started in May at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.The reference to nanometers refers to the average feature size on a chip. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Switching to a more advanced size allows chip makers to create semiconductors that consume less power, perform faster, and cost less because they require less material.Nvidia will have a 90-nanometer graphics chip on the market by the end of the year, said David Roman, vice president of corporate marketing at the company. Technology Industry