Nvidia will officially launch the first of the Next-Gen lower end 9 series cards, the 9600 GT today, Fevruary 21st. This is major news for gaming enthusiasts who have been speculating the performance of the 9-series cards, even though this not one of the top of the line models.

The 9600GT is a card in the under $200 range, and will provide medium level performance for games, however it has been confirmed that this card will be based on DirectX 10.

Reviews of the sub-$200 cards are scheduled to surface soon enough and we will get a better idea why we should care about Nvidia’s new volume enthusiast card.

The GeForce 9600GT will continue the debates on Internet forums with questions whether the G9x architecture translates into the GeForce 8 or 9 series - and why Nvidia continues to confuse its customers. In 2008, it seems, the trend is to put two product numbers on one product (and its variations). The G92 is used in 8800GT, GTS 512 MB and 9800GX2 cards, while the G94 is used for the 9600GT.

Depending on the vendor, 9600 GT cards will be priced between $169 and $189, and will prove to be a tough competition for the 8800GT, one of the best cards you can get for its price.