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Gigabyte made the tiniest GeForce GTX 1080 card yet
NVIDIA has been shrinking gaming laptops with its Max-Q graphics initiative, but what about desktop users who want high-end graphics in a discreet, portable case? Gigabyte has come up with the GeForce GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G, an unwieldy name for the world's smallest GTX 1080 graphics card. At just 16.9 cm (6.7 inches), it's nearly four inches shorter than a regular model, so it can be tucked into a Mini-ITX case (6.7 x 6.7 inches), as the name implies. Yet, it packs the same power as any other GTX 1080 desktop card, letting you do 4K video, gaming and VR with ease.
The best PC-gaming gear for students
While many of you will likely make your school computer some sort of all-purpose laptop, a few of you need something that can also withstand extensive gameplay sessions. For that reason, we've included in our back-to-school guide a handful of gaming-specific notebooks along with three GPUs, should your existing rig be due for an upgrade. Already have a system you're happy with? Treat yourself to a mouse, keyboard, or a game or three.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus review: Gaming laptops will never be the same again
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus is an entirely new breed of gaming notebook. It packs the most powerful laptop graphics hardware available, NVIDIA's GTX 1080, into a chassis that's almost half the size of similar machines. Mostly that's due to being one of the first notebooks to feature NVIDIA's Max-Q design standard, which is laser-focused on slimming down gaming laptops with beefy GPUs. That does lead to some compromises, especially around battery life, but the Zephyrus is still a wonder to behold.
ASUS crams a GTX 1080 GPU into a 16.9mm-thick laptop
For most people, Zephyrus is the Greek god of the west wind, gently bringing spring, and fruit, to the peoples of the world. For gamers, you can be damn sure that definition is going to be quickly supplanted by the one created by ASUS's Republic of Gamers today. Now, Zephyrus means a pretty damn powerful gaming laptop in a surprisingly slender body, measuring just 16.9mm thick when closed, making it the "world's slimmest," according to ASUS. By way of comparison, Razer's latest Blade Pro, a high-water mark for such laptops, stands at 22.5mm.
Neural networks can add natural animation to video games
We've seen procedurally generated worlds and weapons in video games before, but piecing together believable animations from a pool of variables is pretty tough. Previous attempts at it have looked janky and disjointed. It's okay in something like Ubisoft's experimental and quirky Grow Home, but big-budget AAA blockbusters akin to Uncharted 4 carry a different set of expectations. New research out of the University of Edinburgh is a bit different, and might help video games get away from one-size-fits-most pre-scripted animations, though.
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 reveals its $700 top-of-the-line GTX 1080 Ti
Last year we called NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 "the upgrade you've been waiting for," and now PC gamers have another high-end graphics card to drool over. At GDC 2017, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang presented its successor, the GTX 1080 Ti, which promises "35 percent more performance," packs 11GB of GDDR5X memory and will go on sale March 10th for $700. In fact, NVIDIA even claims this new card is faster than its $1,200 Titan X that launched late last year for professionals. At the same time, the company announced the 1080 is getting a price cut and will now start at $500.
NVIDIA makes it more difficult to resell bundled games
NVIDIA is putting the brakes on a cottage industry in consumer game code resales. Until now, if you got a free game with a card like the GTX 1080, you could redeem it on NVIDIA's web site and get a key from sites like Steam, Microsoft or Origin. Lots of users simply traded those keys, gave them away or sold them on eBay, effectively pocketing a tidy discount on the card. As PC Games N noticed, however, the company has introduced a new policy making that all but impossible.
The new Razer Blade Pro trades gimmicks for 4K gaming power
When Razer made its first laptop, it was a company best known for selling third-party gamepads and high-performance gaming mice. Premium gimmicks were the name of the game. The company routinely released products with 17 buttons, adjustable tension analog sticks or retractable parts. This flair for novelty carried over to Razer's first gaming notebook, which featured a set of 10 customizable keyboard buttons that each housed its own tiny LED display. It was neat, but the flagship laptop was soon overshadowed by a smaller, more powerful model. Now, the company is finally giving its original notebook the upgrades it deserves: a screaming new processor, the latest in graphics technology and a keyboard without the hindrance of the original's silly "Switchblade" interface. This is the new Razer Blade Pro.
Alienware: VR rigs will become the new Wii thanks to laptops
Almost exactly seven years ago, Alienware joined the Tokyo Game Show for the first time to launch its redesigned machines since Dell's acquisition. This week, the American company is once again present there to launch the Alienware 17 and 15 laptops for Japan, with one of their main selling points being their VR capability, courtesy of NVIDIA GTX 10-Series graphics. While this won't change the fact that high-end VR rigs are still relatively expensive, global marketing director Joe Olmsted reckons the mobility aspect will be enough to turn VR into the new home party machine that can be shared between friends -- much like what he did with the Nintendo Wii back in the days.
MSI and Origin PC use NVIDIA's desktop-grade laptop graphics
PC makers aren't wasting any time implementing NVIDIA's GTX 10 series laptop graphics in their lineups. Both MSI and Origin PC have revealed that their higher-end gaming portables will be among the first to pack the much faster, desktop-class graphics. At MSI, the big deal is that it's not just big, chunky systems that are getting a refresh -- even relatively slim laptops like the GS and GE series will have VR-worthy graphics thanks to the mobile GTX 1060. You'll have to move up to the GT range to get the 1070 or 1080 (up to two of them in Titan SLI variants like the GT73VR above), but that's a solid baseline.
NVIDIA's 'VR Funhouse' carnival game just launched on Steam
A few months ago, NVIDIA showed off a new virtual reality tech demo designed to showcase what its new graphics technology could do for VR. Today, it's releasing that demo to the public: VR Funhouse is a free, virtual reality carnival with collision-based haptic feedback, advanced physics simulation and a ton of other NVIDIA graphics technologies designed to make fire, hair, water and particles all look more real. All you need to play is an HTC Vive and a really, really powerful computer.
ASUS' GeForce GTX 1080 is faster and more colorful
NVIDIA's official GeForce GTX 1080 is fast, but let's face it: you're really waiting for the third-party cards that push the limits of what the high-end graphics chipset can really do. And it looks like your patience just paid off. ASUS has revealed the ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080, and it pushes well past what NVIDIA's board can do. The regular Strix runs at a 1.76GHz base clock speed (with a boost to 1.9GHz) versus the reference model's 1.6GHz, and an overclocked version bumps that to 1.78GHz (boosting to 1.94GHz). You're only looking at a few more frames per second in your games, but that can make the difference between a glass-smooth 60 frames per second and the occasional hitch.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 video review: Behold, the GPU king
As far as video card upgrades go, there's a lot to love with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080. We called it "the upgrade you've been waiting for" in our full review. The GTX 1080 blows away last year's high-end cards, and even though it's $599 ($699 for the Founders Edition we tested), it's well worth the cost for serious gamers. In our video review above, check out some gameplay footage from the new Doom remake, as well as Quantum Break.
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 is the GPU upgrade you've been waiting for
It's never been a better time to be a PC gamer. Hardware is getting both cheaper and more powerful, most big-budget console games are making it to PCs (where they also look better), and the rise of virtual reality offers a tempting upgrade target. NVIDIA, one of the pioneering graphics-card designers, is taking full advantage of this revitalized PC gaming market with the GeForce GTX 1080, its latest powerhouse GPU. It's the first consumer card built on the company's Pascal architecture, and, most intriguingly, NVIDIA claims the $599 video card ($699 for the special Founder's Edition) is faster than the Titan X, which goes for upward of $1,000. After testing it out over the past week, I can say the 1080 is clearly something special.
NVIDIA's GTX 1080 GPU is faster than Titan X, lands May 27
NVIDIA gave us a taste of its new Pascal architecture with the P100 graphics card last month, which is aimed at servers for heavy duty computing. Now, it's ready to show off how that technology will be adapted for consumers with its new GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. As you'd expect, it's fast: NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed that it's faster than its current performance king, the $1,000 Titan X, as well as three times as power efficient. That's particularly impressive since it's the successor to NVIDIA's GTX 980, which retails for around $600.
