NVIDIA nTeresting News: 9 December 2011

In this issue

• GeForce GTX is the best GPU for Batman...and all other games for that matter.
• NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 560 Ti with 448 cores this week... happy holiday gaming!
• People love the Tegra 3-based Asus Eee PC Transformer Prime notebook/tablet hybrid.
• CUDA on ARM enables cool new stuff like space exploration and greener Super Computers.
• A tweak guide for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim hits the streets.

GeForce GTX = ‘Best for Batman' and Everything Else

Reviewers are testing yet more games, and this time it is Batman: Arkham City. HardOCP has already declared GeForce GTX best for Battlefield 3, Deus Ex, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, F1 2011andRage. So what say they of the new Batman game everyone is playing?

"An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 will provide the best gameplay experience Arkham City is currently able to deliver. For gamers with a tighter budget, a GeForce GTX 570 is a fantastic performer and will allow the highest PhysX setting at high resolutions. For gamers with smaller displays, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is still a fantastic option."

And they also touched on a ‘graphics plus' feature offered only on GeForce GPUs, NVIDIA PhysX technology.

"PhysX, on the other hand, makes a big difference in Batman: Arkham City. Its implementation in the open city is limited, but in the Museum, Police Department, Steel Mill, and other mission areas, it's all over the place. Objects on the floor move when they are disturbed. The smelter in the steel mill is belching sparks like there's no tomorrow. Money on the floor of Strange's vault flips and flows around Catwoman's frantic fighting and whipping. Ice crystal shards fly everywhere during combat with Mr. Freeze and when using his ice grenades. It is fair and accurate to say that PhysX has a great deal more to offer in Arkham City than DirectX 11."

You can see PhysX in action for yourself in this SlashGear review.

Batman also makes use of NVIDIA 3D Vision.

"Rocksteady and NVIDIA 3D vision has made this game one of the most beautiful and memorable experiences in all of my gaming years."

People love the combo.

"Much like Batman Arkham Asylum however, NVIDIA's PhysX and 3D Vision technologies once again take center stage with improved performance and a significantly prominent level of interactivity."

Even when the competition gets a second chance, like with Skyrim, they still can't win.

"In comparison to the competition, we have consistently found current generation NVIDIA GPUs to provide the fastest and smoothest experience in this game. We have also found that GTX 580 SLI cannot be beat by allowing 8X MSAA + FXAA + 8X TR SSAA. If you want the absolute best image quality and performance in this game, that is where it is at."

NVIDIA GPUs provide performance that is second to none, but they are about more than just frame rates. GeForce GTX GPUs provide a ton of ‘graphics plus' features like SLI, PhysX, and 3D Vision. If you want the best gaming experience in the all the cool games coming out for the holidays, you better Gear up with GeForce GTX.

GeForce GTX 560 Ti Turns 448

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti with 448 cores launched this week in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russia and the Nordics. Perfect for high definition gaming on this fall's top games, the GTX 560 Ti with 448 cores is here just in time for the holidays. It should be at the top of your shopping list.

"...the GTX 560Ti 448 Cores Classified Edition video is the card to get for the holiday upgrade."

"Gaming wise the 448 core might just be what the doctor ordered for the latest game titles though, it has a chunk of extra memory which Battlefield 3 really likes, it has that little extra bite that Crysis 2 likes so much and as such it can be looked at as a really nice 1920x1080/1200 resolution graphics card."

"...if I were building a new gaming computer today, a GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 core graphics card from MSI or EVGA would be on the top of my list for sure."

It delivers kickass performance and ‘graphics plus'.

"With great features like PhysX and the second generation of 3D Vision, you can be assured of immersive gaming by picking this card for 1080p or even higher resolutions. If you currently game on an older generation video card, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading."

It is also a hit for the 3-way SLI crowd.

"But that aside, the 448 Core GTX 560 Ti exceeded every expectation. With more raw power and an insane amount of overclocking done from factory, this card will not let you down. Plus with a purchase price that is marginally lower than the GTX 580, a beastly 3-Way SLI setup is within your grasp without breaking the bank. I will most definitely be picking up another one of these video cards when they hit the market."

And it does it all without sounding like a leaf blower.

"...well built, quiet in use, ultra-cool and able to deliver excellent 1080p performance."

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti with 448 cores has already received awards from Alienbabeltech, Benchmark Reviews, Bit-Tech, Gamers Daily News, Guru 3D, Hardware Canucks, Hardware Heaven, Hexus, Hitech Legion, Hot Hardware, Overclock3D, Overclocker's Club,PC Perspective, Tweaktownand others.

Tegra 3 Is Prime Time

The world's first quad-core tablet launched last week, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, featuring NVIDIA Tegra 3. Reviewers got to check it out and came away impressed.

"The Asus Transformer Prime, the world's first quad-core tablet, is getting praise from reviewers, who say it might be the best Android tablet yet."

What does quad-core do for you?

"It's one of the first tablets to use NVIDIA's new quad-core processor, the Tegra 3. That's important, because now we're talking laptop-like horsepower."

That horsepower means it is responsive!

"Same price as the iPad 2, but with twice the processing power."

"As the first tablet with a quad core processor, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime lives up to the hype. Whether we were playing demanding games such as Riptide, streaming videos, shooting panoramic images, or just surfing the web, the Prime's Tegra 3 CPU provided the best performance we've seen on a slate."

And, the horsepower doesn't penalize you at the pump. In fact, press saw long battery life, thanks to Tegra 3's vSMP architecture.

"In my experience, the Transformer Prime didn't disappoint. Over three straight days of moderate to heavy usage -- and without bothering to power down the tablet at night -- I didn't have to plug it in a single time."

The combination of power and style is a game changer.

"... the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the best Android tablet on the market. All hail the new king."

"This is the fastest, most powerful tablet we've ever tested. And yes, that includes the iPad 2. The secret ingredient is NVIDIA's five-core Tegra 3 chipset."

You may have just found your new tablet!

CUDA Goes to the Moon and Gets Greener

CUDA allows you to use the parallel processing power of GPUs for more than just graphics. You can use it to do computing. And with our new ARM-based processors, the footprint to harness the power CUDA is getting smaller. That means cool, new things, like space exploration.

"In order to develop the lunar rover, Team Synergy Moon was joined by Martin Peniak, young scientist famous for his work on the Mars Rover Simulator developed in conjunction with ESA (European Space Agency). Impressed with an article about neural network using NVIDIA's GPU acceleration, Martin selected CUDA to be the base of all future work.

One of his projects is the Tesla Lunar Rover and Tesla Surveyor, both of which are going to utilize multiple Tegra systems to achieve autonomy of movement."

It is well documented that GPUs are already making Super Computing more eco-friendly.

"Fourteen other accelerator-based machines round out the 20 greenest supercomputers in the world, all with GPU accelerators from NVIDIA Corp., including institutions ranging from academia such as Tokyo Institute of Technology; from centers and government labs such as Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Sandia National Laboratories; and anonymous industry submitters."

But CUDA on ARM means Super Computing is getting smaller and getting greener. One example is the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), who is developing a new hybrid supercomputer that, for the first time, uses energy-efficient NVIDIA Tegra ARM CPUs, together with high-performance NVIDIA CUDA GPUs.

"BSC is planning to develop the first large scale system based on this technology, with a near term goal of demonstrating two to five times improvement in energy efficiency compared with today's most efficient systems. BSC's ultimate research goal is to deliver exascale-level performance while using 15 to 30 times less power than current supercomputer architectures."

To make it happen, we have a new CUDA on ARM development kit that we have not named yet. That is where you come in. Help us out by suggesting a cool code name here.

Getting Tweaky with Skyrim

NVIDIA strives to be the full service PC gaming advocate. We do it with hardware. We do it with developer relations & tools. We do it with our ‘The Way It's Meant to Be Played' program. We do it with GeForce.com. Now we are doing it with tweak guides.

"Sure, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been getting rave reviews for its gameplay and beautiful visuals - but what if that's just not good enough? GPU manufacturer NVIDIA has you covered, publishing an extensive tweak guide for the Windows version of the game that aims to maximize the graphics you're getting out of your PC. Put together by TweakGuide.com''s Koroush Ghazi, the guide provides explanations of every option in the game's settings menus, from basics like resolution and antialiasing to anisotropic filtering (which improves the clarity of textures) and actor / grass fade (the point when said objects disappear in the distance). Both the visual benefits and performance hits are explained, with a full set of .ini file and console command tweaks provided for those who really want to get their hands dirty."

Grab your guide here.