Nvidia Pro Graphics Chip Supports Four DisplaysNvidia Pro Graphics Chip Supports Four Displays

Nvidia on Tuesday unveiled a professional graphics card that supports up to four 30-inch monitors.

The Quadro NVS 420 is designed for smaller desktop systems that require multidisplay support. The graphic card has a total of 16 processor cores on two GPUs and a total of 512 MB of memory with a bandwidth of 11.2 GB per second per processor.

The latest product consumes a maximum of 40 watts of power and can support up to four monitors with a resolution of 2,560 by 1,600 pixels each. The card supports either Intel's or Advanced Micro Devices' microarchitectures as well as Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems.

The Quadro NVS 420 has been tested for several business applications, including Adobe's Creative Suite and Autodesk's AutoCAD computer-aided design software. The product is designed for use by content creators in the media and entertainment business, as well as in manufacturing and the oil and gas industry.

The NVS 420 is expected to be available in February at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $499.

Nvidia has customarily been strong in the high end of the graphics market but has recently announced plans to release products in the middle of the year that would fit in low-cost mini-laptops, a fast-growing segment of the PC market.

The chipmaker has been hit hard in the current economic downturn, which has caused a decline in sales of PCs that use Nvidia products. The company this month slashed its revenue projections by 40% to 50% for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends Jan. 25.