| NVIDIA nTeresting News: 07 May 2010 |
| Written by NVIDIA - Brian Burke | ||
| Friday, 07 May 2010 | ||
NVIDIA nTeresting News: 07 May 2010In this Issue:
DX11 Done RightReception for the new GeForce 400 Series of GPUs amongst NVIDIA fans and press has been phenomenal. Just this week the GeForce GTX 480 was validated as the fastest GPU in the world when K|NGP|N and Shamino (two world class overclockers) used it to break world records on the Futuremark 3DMark Vantage Hall of Fame. GeForce 400 Series GPUs are record-breakers because instead of just tweaking an old architecture for DirectX 11, NVIDIA did a complete redesign with DirectX 11 in mind. "In simple words, the HD5000 series only offers a small improvement to its old architecture, which can only be called an update. But GeForce 100 in the GTX 4000 series is a from the ground up architecture design specially designed for DirectX 11." The advantage that the new architecture we created for GeForce GTX 480 and 470 delivers for DX11 games is obvious. "The result is easy to see: NVIDIA offers a more comprehensive and from-the-ground-up solution." Tessellation is the key feature of DirectX 11, and this is one area that the GeForce 400 Series really sets itself apart. "There's no question that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 is the king of Tessellation." By a lot... "The HD 5870 is practically half the speed of NVIDIA's GTX 470 though when it comes to the Unigine Heaven benchmark, a benchmark that has been recently updated to version 2.0 to include a specific 'extreme' mode for its tessellation pathways." And this advantage will only grow over time. "In addition, we find Tessellation is applied more widely and deeply in games, judging from increasing DX11 games. NVIDIA graphics will show its advantages even more in the future." GeForce 400 cards also have the advantage of PhysX... "CPU test result is, as usual, much lower on the platform with Radeon card, because computers with NVIDIA PhysX always perform better in these tests." And GPU computing.. "In addition, HD5870 has a pretty big gap with GTX480 in terms of general purpose computing." And cool 3D stuff... "It's also offers up 3D Vision Technology if you ever want to get your own AVATAR on." GeForce 400 Series was worth the wait. "As there are more DX11 games available in the future, tessellation will play a bigger role. Only then will GTX 480/470 be able to show their advantages. Though HD 5000 was the first to be launched, it's easy to see which one is the real DX 11 graphics card." Most recently GeForce 400 products won Editor's Choice Awards from PC Magazine (Turkey), Sabios Del PC (Spain), PC World (Greece) and was named product of the month from PC World (Turkey) and PC Guia (Portugal). Benchmark Reviews has also tested the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Fermi Video Card. Now supply of GeForce GTX 480 and 470 has loosened up and video cards based on these GPUs are yours for the taking with wide availability. GeForce GTX 400 GPUs are designed from the ground up for tessellation, the most important feature of the new DirectX 11 API. With up to 8x the directed tessellation performance of the competition, the GTX 480 is a true tessellation monster. The new GTX 400 GPUs also support CUDA, PhysX, SLI, and 3D Vision Surround technologies, which combine to take PC gaming to new levels of immersive and interaction. Out with the Old: Moore's Law is Out of TouchThe computing experience, from mobile to workstation, has become visual. The GPU, with a parallel architecture designed from the ground up for manipulating visual data, is required to drive this new experience. Visually compelling applications go well beyond the ability of traditional CPUs - simply dialing up more megahertz or printing more cores is not enough. For years Moore's Law ruled the CPU but, at 45-years old, it has hit a brick wall. The big brains at Berkeley agree, and share their views in a paper titled "Parallel Computing: A View From Berkeley". This brick wall to increase performance is now in front of every type of computing - from consumer to supercomputing. "We have reached the limit of what is possible with one or more traditional, serial central processing units, or CPUs. It is past time for the computing industry--and everyone who relies on it for continued improvements in productivity, economic growth and social progress--to take the leap into parallel processing." Intel and AMD recognize that parallel computing is driving the PC industry. That is the reason both companies are attempting to morph from CPU companies to visual computing ones. AMD is trying to do this with their purchase of ATI and Intel is attempting it by trying to create their own discrete GPU. NVIDIA's Chief Scientist Bill Dally says there is a new sheriff in town. "To continue scaling computer performance, it is essential that we build parallel machines using cores optimized for energy efficiency, not serial performance. Building a parallel computer by connecting two to 12 conventional CPUs optimized for serial performance, an approach often called multi-core, will not work. This approach is analogous to trying to build an airplane by putting wings on a train. Conventional serial CPUs are simply too heavy (consume too much energy per instruction) to fly on parallel programs and to continue historic scaling of performance." The CPU will remain an essential part of the PC, but the benefits of investing in a high-performance GPU far outweigh the benefits of adding a powerful CPU. We believe that the most important processor for the 21st century is the GPU, and with that comes the new way to use Moore's Law. WSJ Walt Mossberg Calls out OptimusWall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg may be the most influential press guy out there. When he talks, people listen. He is talking about NVIDIA Optimus technology and discrete graphics: "Graphics: For the most common tasks-even video playback-integrated graphics, which lack their own dedicated memory, are adequate. So-called discrete graphics, which are almost like having a second processor, are more potent, especially for games. Some programs use them to carry out nongraphical tasks, which can improve speed and efficiency. But discrete processors suck up more battery life. Now, a few Windows PCs are featuring a technology from graphics-chip maker NVIDIA called Optimus that switches between the two types of graphics to save power." An optimized PC is one that has the correct balance of CPU and GPU horsepower. Too often PCs ship with insufficient graphics processing power and the result is an unbalanced PC that can't run the applications you want. For the best experience, you should buy a PC with the right balance of CPU/GPU horsepower. With Optimus you can have that power and still get great battery life. More Optimus GoodnessOptimus optimizes the mobile experience by letting the user get the performance of discrete graphics from a notebook while still delivering great battery life. Optimus accomplishes this by automatically and seamlessly selecting the right graphics processor for the job between an NVIDIA discrete GPU or an Intel integrated GPU. Asus put it in the U30Jc and are reaping the benefits worldwide. "With its excellent combination of battery life and performance, the Asus U30Jc-1A is a top-of-the-class thin-and-light notebook that offers something for everybody, from the casual gamer to the true road warrior." Laptop OEMS should take note: ""With Optimus, NVIDIA has managed to make it accessible to all users the benefits of the presence of a dual chipset. The operation is completely transparent, a significant advantage over systems previously. The question is whether all the manufacturers will decide to quickly equip their future models and massively. We hope so." Quadro Digital Video Pipeline Makes the Top 10NAB is a big show, so if you stand out there, you have done something. At this year's NAB show, the NVIDIA Quadro Digital Video Pipeline for 3D stood out and was named our NVIDIA Digital Video Pipeline for 3D as one of the "Top 10 Products of NAB 2010".
"The NVIDIA Quadro Digital Video Pipeline fully enables 3D workflows by processing simultaneous right eye and left eye video streams in real-time. Additionally, by pairing this pipeline with NVIDIA 3D Vision active shutter glasses, broadcast operators and directors can preview stereo 3D content at full resolution during production. 3D Games Reach the SummitThe first 3D Summit was held these week in Hollywood, and games took a step to the forefront. 3D movies are all the rage, but 3D games may be where the real action is. This is where NVIDIA 3D Vision technology comes on strong. "We've got to tell people about it," said Phil Eisler, general manager of NVIDIA 's 3-D Vision, which makes graphics cards with 3-D processing power. "Hollywood has done a fantastic job of educating consumers and marketing to them about the wonderful experience in the theater. We need to tell consumers about the wonderful experience that games are in 3-D." Developers don't have to do anything extra to make their games work in three dimensions. But many companies are going the extra step to make their titles look better in 3-D by adding such enhancements as out-of-screen effects and showing in-game movies and backgrounds in 3-D. The results can be stunning. "The best-looking game at the summit was Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Played on PC across three monitors, with NVIDIA's 3D Vision hardware doing the processing and a pair of wired active-shutter glasses on my head, the game looked dynamite." NVIDIA 3D Vision is a stereoscopic 3D hardware and software solution that works out of the box with over 400 PC games and converts them into fully immersive, stereoscopic 3D gaming experiences. Related Articles:
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