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Gaming laptops are cheap and portable at CES 2018
Buying a laptop has traditionally meant juggling price, graphics performance, weight and battery life. You want a powerful gaming laptop with good battery life? Sorry about that six-pound weight, bro. Looking for a lightweight, inexpensive laptop to take to events? Forget about playing games or editing video.
NVIDIA updates video drivers to help address CPU memory security (updated)
It's not just your processor and operating system that need patches for the Meltdown and Spectre memory vulnerabilities -- your graphics card does, too. To that end, NVIDIA has started releasing updated drivers that help protect against the CPU vulnerability. All its GeForce, Quadro, NVS, Tesla and GRID chips are immune to Meltdown and Spectre themselves, but the code could leave CPUs open to two Spectre variants. The new software immediately mitigates one Spectre flaw, and NVIDIA is promising future mitigations as well as eventual updates to address the second.
NVIDIA GPUs are 'Star Wars' merch now
It's easy to find flashy video cards that look good through a case window, but NVIDIA may have just kicked things up a notch. It's releasing two Star Wars-themed GeForce Titan Xp Collector's Edition GPUs that are very nearly art pieces, if also a classic example of arbitrary movie tie-ins. The Galactic Empire card is lit up in a sinister red and has a casing reminiscent of the dark, orderly nature of the Death Star, while the Jedi Order card is lit in a friendlier green and has the "battle-worn" finish you'd expect of Rebel gear. There are even nods to the hilt of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
AMD returns to high-end gaming graphics with Radeon RX Vega
AMD has been content to cater to budget gamers with its graphics cards over the past couple of years, but it's ready to play in the big leagues once again. After plenty of leaks and no shortage of hype (Apple even name-dropped AMD at the iMac Pro debut), the chip giant has unveiled GPUs based on its high-end Vega architecture. The Radeon RX Vega series touts processors with numerous tweaks that promise to finally give AMD performance comparable to NVIDIA's higher-end offerings, including updated geometry and pixel engines, a high-bandwidth cache controller and support for multiple data operations per cycle. Overall, Vega promises twice the throughput per clock cycle and twice the memory bandwidth per pin of earlier Radeon hardware -- not the highest bar to clear given AMD's recent lack of top-end cards, but still a huge improvement.
Samsung's QLED TVs are a dream for color calibration nerds
For video pros or color aficionados who want to see films the way they were intended, HDR's extra-wide color gamut is a godsend. However, calibrating HDR TVs is a tedious pain, forcing you to futz with onscreen menus using a clumsy remote. If you're serious about it and have the budget, however, Samsung has teamed with Portrait Displays, letting QLED Q9, Q8 and Q7 owners automatically calibrate their TVs using a SpectraCal or equivalent colorimeter.
NVIDIA posts Mac drivers for its latest graphics cards
NVIDIA is quickly making good on its promise to support its latest graphics cards on Macs. The GPU giant has quietly posted beta macOS drivers (direct download) that should support any GeForce 10-series card, whether it's a simple GTX 1050 or an all-out beast like the Titan Xp. It's a big step forward for Mac users who've had to settle for 9-series cards at best. However, the big challenge will be making the most of the cards given the current Mac lineup -- this is as much an investment in the future as anything.
NVIDIA's Titan Xp is the new king of graphics cards
Much to the consternation of last-gen Titan X owners, NVIDIA recently unveiled the GTX 1080 Ti, a GPU that offers more performance for nearly half the price. Luckily, rich gamers can regain bragging rights by dropping another $1,200 on the Titan Xp, NVIDIA's new top-of-the-line consumer GPU. It's based on the Pascal GP102 chip, which also powers NVIDIA's $5,000-plus Quadro P6000, so you can look at the Titan Xp as a relative bargain.
Apple is building its own GPU for the iPhone and iPad
Imagination Technologies is famous for one thing: it's the company that provides the graphics for the iPhone. But today, Imagination announced that its longstanding relationship with Apple is coming to an abrupt end. In a statement, the outfit has conceded that Apple will replace the PowerVR GPU at the heart of its iOS devices with a graphics chip of its own design.
Chrome quietly received a big 3D graphics boost
Did you recently notice a boost to 3D web graphics while using Chrome? It's not just you. Google has revealed that Chrome 56 and later releases support the WebGL 2.0 standard. You should see faster performance, new texture types and visual effects (such as volume-based effects and tone mapping). And importantly, it's now on par with the same OpenGL ES 3 spec you see in newer mobile games -- it might now be possible to port your favorite phone title to Chrome without losing graphical detail.
Wacom's new hybrid tablets pack power and a more accurate stylus
Wacom is no stranger to standalone graphics tablets. After years of outfitting artists with pen tablets and displays for working on a desktop machine or laptop, the company debuted both Android and Windows versions of the Cintiq Companion in 2013. A year and a half later, Wacom revamped the Windows version with the Cintiq Companion 2 in early 2015. Now the company has another take on the standalone tablet that doubles as a pen display: the Mobile Studio Pro. Wacom actually refers to new duo as "mobile pen computers," but they still carry the appearance of a large tablet.
AMD's sub-$200 gaming video cards launch in early August
AMD said that the Radeon RX 480 would be followed up by lower-cost models this summer, and it's acting on that promise in a timely fashion. Both the RX 470 and RX 460 (not pictured above) are now slated to arrive on August 4th and August 8th respectively. While AMD hasn't outlined the specific pricing, these newer boards should cost significantly less than the $199 RX 480 -- the RX 460 should sit closer to the coveted $100 mark.
NVIDIA's latest pro video cards help you livestream VR video
Did you think NVIDIA's newest Titan X was a monster of a video card? You haven't seen anything yet. The GPU maker has unveiled its latest Quadro workstation cards, the Pascal-based P5000 and P6000, and they both pack power that makes your gaming-grade card seem modest. The P6000 (above) is billed as the fastest graphics card to date, and for good reason. It has even more processing cores than the Titan X (3,840 versus 3,584) and twice as much memory -- a whopping 24GB of RAM. The P5000 is closer to the GTX 1080 in performance with "just" 2,560 cores, but its 16GB of RAM handily bests the gaming card's 8GB. If you're working with massive amounts of 3D data, these are likely the boards you want.
Glitchy NVIDIA graphics driver cooks graphics cards (update: not that bad)
Many gamers will tell you to hold off on installing the latest drivers for your video card until you know they're safe... and here's why. NVIDIA has pulled a GeForce driver (364.47) after numerous reports of problems with the installation. The symptoms vary from freezing and visual glitches to serious crises like failures to boot or, supposedly, burnt out cards. That's not fun if it turns your costly Titan X into a paperweight. The exact cause isn't clear, but NVIDIA's early look suggests that choosing the express installation creates the problem. Some fans suggest that it may be due to a conflict between old and new software.
OpenGL's successor is ready to improve gaming graphics
Games on devices of all kinds could soon be running better because Vulkan, the successor to OpenGL, has finally been released officially. The new standard gives developers low-level access to discrete and on-chip graphics, helping them avoid the layers of hardware overhead that normally slow things down. Khronos, the open-source group behind the standard, says it also reduces CPU overhead and improves multi-threaded performance. Delayed for several months, the version 1.0 driver is based on AMD's proprietary Mantle standard. Similar technology is used in the Xbox One and PS4 consoles to help them make the most of their relatively modest specs.
AMD wants to open up PC graphics chips
AMD isn't just depending on ever-faster chipsets to boost graphics performance -- it thinks coders can lend a hand, too. The company's new GPUOpen effort gives developers the kind of open source code and documentation they need to use low-level PC video card features, port apps and otherwise understand GPU aspects that are normally kept hush-hush (outside of game consoles, at least). If everything goes smoothly, you'll see games that look nicer on current hardware, and general computing tasks that lean more on GPUs to crunch numbers.
Samsung is building chips for next-gen gaming graphics
Samsung likes being the first kid on the block with new memory products, and has done it again with a type of DRAM. The so-called HBM2 modules can power through data at the rate of 256GBps (with a capital "B"), making them a whopping seven times faster than the best DDR5 chips on the market. The company said the 20-nanometer chips are mainly aimed at server manufacturers who are willing to spend for the latest toys. However, they will also allow NVIDIA and AMD to accelerate performance (and reduce power consumption) significantly on upcoming graphics cards.
Judge says NVIDIA violated Samsung's patents
NVIDIA's attempt at suing its mobile chip rivals into oblivion isn't really going according to plan. On top of losses in its own cases, the graphics pioneer is now facing the threat of a sales ban: a US International Trade Commission judge has ruled that NVIDIA is infringing on three Samsung patents. This isn't a final decision, but the Tegra maker now has to hope that the full ITC has a change of heart when it reviews the case a few months from now. Its main consolation is that one of the patents expires in 2016 -- any ban on products using that patent would only last for a few months at best.
Adobe's new app adds text and graphics to your social posts
To help the less design savvy create graphics for their social posts, Adobe has a new app that's driven by so-called Design Filters. The app is Adobe Post, and similar to Instagram, it relies on a collection of pre-selected designs instead of photo presets to create the final result. Once you've decided on a look, Post allows you to change the font, colors and other elements before beaming the image out to Facebook, Twitter and other social streams.
ARM's latest graphics core will speed up your smartwatch
Let's be blunt: the graphics in most smartwatches suck. They're frequently limited to basic effects, and you'll sometimes see the kind of stuttering that has long-since disappeared on your smartphone. ARM aims to fix that, however. It's launching the Mali-470, a mobile graphics core that's virtually tailor-made for smartwatches, the internet of things and anything else where battery life is the top priority. The GPU supports the flashy per-pixel visual effects you see on modern phones (OpenGL ES 2.0, to be exact), but it uses half as much power as the long-serving Mali-400 even as it runs faster-- you could see lively 3D animations that don't kill your watch within a few hours.
NVIDIA brings its top-end desktop graphics to laptops
You no longer need a huge, water-cooled rig to play the latest blockbuster shooters, with plenty of gaming laptops doing a fine job of marrying performance with portability. But a divide still exists, with even the best mobile GPUs defined as "desktop-class," which is a nice way of saying they aren't quite as powerful as the cards made for home office-hogging towers. That said, in what NVIDIA claims is an industry first, the company has today announced its top-end GeForce GTX 980 desktop GPU is headed to laptops. Not to be confused with the GTX 980M -- NVIDIA's previous flagship GPU for notebooks -- the GTX 980 for laptops is exactly the same as the desktop version, offering identical gaming performance.
