Just a little while ago, the current generation of consoles and enhanced visuals has turned, from “next-gen,” to “current-gen”. Well, reports are saying that pretty soon, the computers will once again get ahead of the “next-gen” consoles, turning them into “last-gen,” thanks to the release of some really amazing and powerful new graphic cards. Confused already?

You shouldn’t be, it’s quite simple! Venture Beat reports that both AMD and nVidia are planning to release the new generation of graphic chips by the end of the year. Combine that with the fact that Windows 7 is coming and it’s already dubbed as the next best OS for gaming, and you’ll have a big, clear picture.

It seems that AMD has the lead in the battle of the “first to come”, with their truly next gen graphic chips being expected to hit stores alongside Windows 7. There are little things known about nVidia and their chips, but they’re certainly coming sooner rather than later. What’s clear is that both companies will use 40nm chips on the new upcoming cards, and both are expected to have support for DirectX 11 across their range within a year or so.

In other words, the future will soon be here. The only question left to ask now is: how soon will it become past, too?