Nvidia promises Kepler before the turn of the year

► Update: Kepler is delayed until 2012

The graphics card makers AMD and Nvidia are moving towards a new generation of graphics processors in 28 nanometers and according to the latest information, both will have products out before the turn of the year. AMD Southern Islands will appear towards the end of the year and Nvidia Kepler will also be on the market before 2012.

Xbit Labs reports that Nvidia’s head of research and co-founder Chris Malachowsky confirms that Kepler will find out before the turn of the year and that the new architecture will bring significant improvements compared to today’s Fermi.

Between the Fermi generation and Kepler, which we should start shipping by the end of the year, there is about 3x improvement in [double precision=”precision”] performance per watt. […] We are about to introduce [our next-generation GPUs]

According to Malachowsky, the Kepler architecture should provide approximately three times the performance per watt in 64-bit calculations. This suggests that the focus of the new generation of graphics processors is on GPGPU applications and not least improved efficiency, roughly in line with what AMD is planning for the Southern Islands.

However, it is unclear whether the statement applies to the consumer version that will appear in future Geforce or whether it only concerns the calculation cards in the Tesla series. In the Fermi generation, Nvidia has limited the 64-bit performance of Geforce so as not to cannibalize sales of the much more lucrative Tesla, and it is very possible, if not unlikely, that the company will use the same strategy with Kepler.