ATI's current plan is to introduce first 40nm desktop chip in the week of May 4th but at this point, there is no any fixed date. This card is meant to compete with Geforce 9800GT the card that was supposed to be renamed to GTS 240 but it didn’t and according to our sources HD 4770 ends up faster of two.
RV740 is ATI’s pilot 40nm project, Guiney pig product,
and since it all went well, the company can happily concentrate on more complex
performance 40nm chip. This one is supposed to come in second half of this year
probably toward the end of the year.
Nvidia is obviously behind with 40nm and there is still no
indication when Nvidia starts its transition to 40nm with any products. What we
heard is that Nvidia will try to transition with entry-level chips first and
then they will work their way up. Makes sense and ATI is doing the same.