NVIDIA has set an official launch date for its next generation GTX 480 and GTX 470 Fermi graphics cards; March 26th, 2010!

As a bit of an update to an earlier story which reported NVIDIA asking its followers to wait until PAX 2010 to receive more details on the next gen hardware, it would appear that March 26, 2010 is not merely the date where NVIDIA will deliver more information on Fermi, but is in fact the official launch date of the card.

NVIDIA clarified this with another Facebook update where it apologized to its followers for the confusion which led many to believe that their big Monday morning  announcement was little more than announcement about an announcement.

While the launch is likely to be more of a production sample and paper launch ordeal – with actual products hitting retailer shelves much later – we can expect to be seeing some hard and factual performance numbers at this time and it will spell the mark of the countdown for consumers to get their hands on the highly anticipated cards.