According to the latest rumors, ATI would be ready to launch the first DirectX 11 video cards in the same time as Microsoft would launch the new Windows 7 OS, that integrates the new DX11 APIs.

If those rumors are correct, then the ATI RV870 should be launched on the market on the first half of October. With this launch, ATI should arrive to the DX11 before nVIDIA, without really introducing anything new or revolutionary, though. In fact, the RV870 will be DX11 and feature a bigger number of shaders than the current ATI proposals, but will basically be using concepts already used on the RV770.

The new ATI models will be manufactured at 40nm and it will allow the chip to work at higher frequencies and have a bigger number of transistors.