Fudzilla reports that NVIDIA, has not managed to impress its AIBs with the refreshed GTX 260 Core 216 offering that it launched, earlier this month.

Whilst the 216 stream processor part has increased performance to the tune of 5 to 8%, this was not as much as AIBs or, indeed, end-users were hoping for.

It is claimed then that the upcoming 55nm refresh of the GTX 280, expected to launch before the turn of the year, is hoped to be a real turning point in NVIDIA's battle against the resurgent AMD.

It is currently believed that a 55nm refresh of the current GTX 280, known as the GTX 280 +, will take the performance crown back from AMD's HD 4870 X2 offering.

However, on that all important price-to-performance ratio, AMD obviously has something up its sleeve.