Looks like Nvidia is prepping itself to roll out its first GeForce 9 series graphics chip known as the GeForce 9600 GT on February 21st.

The 9600 GT adopts a 65nm process and is manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The GPU sees an increase in processing units, 64, and memory bus width, 256-bit, over previous 8600 GTS cards, 32 and 128-bit. The GPU’s performance should see an increase of over 40% compared to the 8600 GTS, said the sources. The new GPU also introduces Dual-Streaming Decode technology which allows two high-definition image decoding processes to be performed at the same time and provides picture in picture (PIP) functionality.

Thankfully, you won’t have to fork out so much for this sweet spot graphics card as it will retail between $169 and $189.