Nvidia has released its cheapest GeForce gaming GPU among all current offerings, which manufacturers will be able to license from Nvidia's foundry business in the coming weeks.

Nvidia on Tuesday launched its low-end mainstream video card, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 TI, for a starting price under $150.

The GTX 550 TI is based on Nvidia's GF 116 core GPU, which in turn is based on Nvidia's Fermi parallel processing architecture. Nvidia's GTX 550 TI card includes 192 CUDA processing cores, at 900 MHz of graphics clock speed, and a 192-bit memory path. According to Nvidia, the GTX 550 TI offers a 28 percent increase in performance and a 20 percent increase in performance-per-watt compared to the previous-generation GTS 450.

Nvidia's GTX 550 TI GPU includes 1 GB of frame buffer memory, one 512-MB unit and two 256-MB units of GGDR5 RAM memory. Nvidia recommends a maximum power supply of 400 W for systems running the GTX 550 TI, which has a TDP of 116 Watts.

Full story: CRN