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NVIDIA launches sub-$80 GeForce GT 430 for single-slot cooler enthusiasts
The graphics card that doesn't require a fridge-sized cooler is turning into something of a rarity nowadays, but we doubt the market for quiet, efficient, and halfway-decent GPUs is ever going to disappear completely. NVIDIA is fleshing out its Fermi family today with a creature that aspires to such epithets, the 96 CUDA core-equipped GT 430. It's a patently humble GPU, as indicated by its $79.99 typical price, 49W TDP, 5.7-inch board length, and single-slot cooler design. Mind you, while those are typically considered positives, they do limit gaming performance quite significantly, with the GT 430 getting roundly beaten by ATI's (sob!) AMD's similarly priced Radeon HD 5670. So what niche is left for this card? Well, it's an upgrade over integrated graphics and it gets you on the 3D bandwagon, but on the whole we're left scratching our voluminous craniums as to why anyone would dodge AMD's more accomplished hardware for NVIDIA's latest. Hit up the reviews below and form your own opinion, if our one doesn't suit your outfit today. Read - HardOCP Read - AnandTech Read - PC Perspective Read - Hot Hardware Read - Legit Reviews Read - Hexus%Gallery-104721%
AMD Radeon HD 6770 and 6750 spec sheets emerge, give NVIDIA cause for concern
Alright AMD, we still haven't forgiven you for burying the glorious name that was ATI, but if your next GPU refresh is as mighty as these numbers indicate, we might at least let you in from the doghouse. A slide detailing two flavors of the upcoming 40nm Barts chip has sprouted up from two independent sources online, and it shows some appreciable gains between generations. The new HD 67x0 cards appear manifestly speedier than their predecessors -- with faster clocks, more texture units, and more ROPs -- but the fun really gets going when you compare them to the HD 5870 and 5850, AMD's previous high-end cards. Memory bandwidth and pixel fillrate are identical between the HD 6750 and 5850, while the HD 6770 even manages to beat the formerly imperious 5870 in a couple of areas. Of course, this is all still unconfirmed information, but considering that Barts is only an "upper midrange" chip that's already stepping on the toes of last year's finest, we feel safe in expecting some pretty big things from the flagship Cayman silicon when it lands -- which will be soon if all these leaks and rumors are anything to go by. [Thanks, Vygantas]%Gallery-103368%
NVIDIA makes GeForce GTS 450 official, promises beastly overclocking
Say hello to NVIDIA's GF106 core (please pretend you've never met before). The company's third Fermi desktop iteration is described as "a little more than half of the GF104 implementation," which in real terms means 192 CUDA cores versus the GTX 460's 336, reduced memory bandwidth with a 128-bit-wide bus and a lower number of ROPs at 16. These disadvantages are ameliorated by 783MHz graphics and 1566MHz processor clock speeds as well as a much more forgiving power profile -- the new GTS 450 cards will require just the one 6-pin power connector for auxiliary juice. Pricing is aimed squarely at conquering the market currently occupied by ATI's HD 5750, which, as we saw over the weekend, plants the 450 around the $130 mark. You'll have to read the reviews below for confirmation, but NVIDIA promises "awesome" overclocking headroom on its new card, going as far as to suggest stable 900MHz graphics clocks aren't out of the realm of possibility. Read - HardOCP Read - Tech Report Read - Guru 3D Read - PC Perspective Read - Legit Reviews Read - Hot Hardware Read - TweakTown%Gallery-101980%
ATI FirePro V9800 runs out of ideas, shoots up with 4GB of GDDR5 and six mini DisplayPorts
If somehow you were able to choke up the FirePro V8800 and its 2GB of graphics buffer -- traveling across an autobahn-wide 147.2GBps interface -- here's the card for you. ATI has just announced the V9800, which doubles its predecessor's memory allowance to a mighty 4GB of GDDR5, but otherwise looks an almost identical beast. It maintains the 1,600 stream processor count of the V8800 and makes some small advances in performance and power efficiency, but on the whole it's the same card, just strapped up with more buffer muscle. We shouldn't neglect the new array of six mini DisplayPorts -- the retail package will include six DVI adapters, worry not -- which will let you have your full six-screen Eyefinity cake driven by just this one card. So, is this future collector's item worth your time? Well, at $3,499, the V9800 is a whole two thousand dollars pricier than the V8800, but then if you have the highly specialized needs it's looking to cater for, we're guessing that won't be too much of a hurdle for you. Update: Oh, about the price, AMD just got in touch to say it'll suggest a $3,499 tithe, not the $2.5K indicated on the slide below. Sorry is we misled you into selling up your entire 3D rendering farm with the lower price we had before.
AMD names second Bobcat APU Zacate, shows off Ontario die size
AMD might still have no actual Fusion product to sell us, but it's added a fresh new codename to the stable of future CPU/GPU hybrids. The Zacate Accelerated Processing Unit is a Bobcat derivative, much like the Ontario, but it operates at a higher TDP of 18W and is intended for ultrathin and mainstream laptops along with power-sipping desktops and all-in-ones. Both it and the Ontario APU will offer two Bobcat cores allied to Radeon graphics capable of performing DirectX 11 instructions, though the Ontario dips all the way down to 9W with the stated aim of punching up netbook and small form factor pc performance. Just for reference, that'll have to compete against Intel's own dual-core solution, the 1.5GHz Atom N550, which scrapes by on just an 8.5W TDP... though, of course, it doesn't integrate the same graphics processing prowess that Ontario promises. The two chips, Ontario and Zacate, will ride AMD's Brazos platform when they finally debut early next year. Until then, enjoy the technicolor die shot after the break.
ASUS upgrades G53 and G73 gaming laptops with 1.5GB NVIDIA GTX 460 grunt
Ready to splash the cash on NVIDIA's fresh new mobile Fermi graphics cards? ASUS is the first company to take the veils off its GTX 460M offering, which it has seasoned with a most welcome addition: 1.5GB of dedicated GDDR5 graphics memory. The ROG G53JW and G73JW machines are the beneficiaries of this upgrade, with both capable of 3D work should you ask them nicely, and offering such tasty options as quad-core Core i7 CPUs, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 750GB of storage, 16:9 displays (1,366 x 768 on the 15.6-inch G53 and up to 1,920 x 1,080 on the 17.3-inch G73), Blu-ray-writing optical drives, and 8-cell 5,200mAh batteries. The lighter of the two laptops weighs in at 3.6kg, but if that doesn't put you off, both are available right now at online retailers. [Thanks, LifeBringer]
NVIDIA GTX 470M highlights rollout of 400M mobile GPU series
Not everybody needs the world's fastest mobile GPU, so NVIDIA is sagely trickling down its Fermi magic to more affordable price points today. The 400M family is being fleshed out with five new midrange parts -- GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M, to give them their gorgeous names -- and a pair of heavy hitters known as the GTX 470M and GTX 460M. Features shared across the new range include a 40nm fab process, DirectX 11, CUDA general-purpose computing skills, PhysX, and Optimus graphics switching. 3D Vision and 3DTV Play support will be available on all but the lowest two variants. NVIDIA claims that, on average, the 400M graphics cards are 40 percent faster than their 300M series counterparts, and since those were rebadges of the 200M series, we're most definitely willing to believe that assertion. Skip past the break for all the vital statistics, and look out for almost all (HP is a notable absentee, while Apple is a predictable one) the big-time laptop vendors to have gear bearing the 4xxM insignia soon.
THQ reveals the dark engine powering Warhammer 40K
Hungry for information -- any information at all -- on Vigil Games' upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online? Did you watch the Imperium of Man trailer and gibber, "More! MORE!" So did we. Unfortunately, it was looking like we'd have to be content with hints... ...but fortunately, Games On Net cornered David Adams, Vigil Games' GM, and pumped him for further details. While Adams was reluctant to go into the specifics of gameplay, he did open up about WAR40K's engine, which is the same one the company used for Darksiders. The engine is being tweaked for the MMO, although Adams testified that it was already great with portraying a seamless world, which should be perfect for WAR40K's needs. DirectX 11 is also slated for inclusion. So will the graphic requirements be low enough that the game could run on a toaster, or will it be a high-performance-only excursion? While Adams admits that the necessary graphic options will take a decent machine to run well, he's hoping to have as many visual toggles as possible so that WAR40K can reach a wider audience. He wouldn't say how many characters he expects the engine to handle in a certain area, other than to claim: "Big, it's 40K, it's all about big giant battlefields." You can watch the full video over at Games On Net.
Eurocom serves up GTX 480M SLI and HD 5870 CrossFireX options, seasons with Core i7-980X
It boggles the mind to think that one Fermi GPU could be fit inside a laptop, but two? Eurocom has just outed its 17.3-inch Panther 2.0 mobile gaming station -- which looks like a straight rebadge of the Clevo X7200 -- with the most overpowered set of component choices we've yet seen. You can go SLI with the GTX 480M or NVIDIA's more professionally minded Quadro 5000M, crank up CPU speed to 3.33GHz and beyond with the Core i7-980X from Intel (yes, the desktop variant), stash up to 24GB of onboard RAM, and jack in up to four storage drives, our preference being for the 2TB of SSD goodness option. Of course, if you prefer ATI's Evergreen side of the fence, dual Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPUs are on tap as well. Sadly, we've no idea how much these spectacular specs will set you back, but launch is set for later this month and you can always call up and get yourself a quote; we're guessing it'll be in five figures.
ATI CrossFireX versus NVIDIA SLI: performance scaling showdown
We know who the daddy is when it comes to single-card graphics performance, and we've even witnessed NVIDIA and ATI duking it out with multiple cards before, but this here roundup is what you might call comprehensive. Comparing a mind-boggling 23 different configurations, the Tech Report guys set out to determine the best bang for your DirectX 11 buck. Their conclusion won't shock those of you who've been following the recent love affair between reviewers and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460: a pair of these eminently affordable cards regularly outpaced the best single-GPU solutions out there. Slightly more intriguing, however, was the discovery that its elder siblings, the GTX 470 and 480, have improved in performance to the point of being markedly ahead of ATI's Radeon HD 5870, with the blame for this shift being put squarely on the shoulders of NVIDIA's driver update team. Hurry up and give the source a read while it's still fresh, we can't imagine ATI letting this be the status quo for too much longer.
HP crams Fermi-based Quadro 5000M GPU inside 17-inch EliteBook
Gotta live up to the name, right HP? NVIDIA's new pro graphics solution for mobile creatives, the Quadro 5000M, was unsheathed only yesterday but HP appears to have been first in line to get some of that new 40nm goodness. Electronista reports that the world leader in PC shipments is readying a 5000M solution for its 8740w EliteBook, which will bring 320 CUDA cores and a jumbo 2GB of dedicated memory to the party. That comes replete with the latest DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1 compatibility, naturally, as well as a bunch of pro-friendly computational enhancements. Dell's also going to be offering a 5000M-equipped rig, but lest you get too excited, bear in mind that getting the current best Quadro-equipped 17-incher from HP costs north of $3,000, so affordability is clearly not a priority here. Skip past the break for NVIDIA's joyous press release announcing the new Quadro chips.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 becomes everyone's favorite midrange graphics card
It's rare to come across a universally lauded product nowadays, but NVIDIA's fresh new GTX 460 is just that sort of exceptional creation. Contrary to its GTX 465 elder brother, the 460 isn't a chopped-down top-tier part and is instead built on the new GF104 core. This smaller core, designed from the start to perform humbler functions, has ameliorated the famed power inefficiency that has been a Fermi signature so far, and has resulted in AnandTech describing the new card as "the $200 king." You'll get 768MB of onboard RAM at that point, but we'd splurge an extra $30 to make that a round gigabyte and enjoy some extra L2 cache and ROPs on the card. Either way, the GTX 460 seems to have completely killed off the market for the 465 and is stepping all over ATI's toes with its competitive pricing and, for once, decent heat and power metrics. Oh, and apparently it "overclocks like a monster" too -- hit the links below for the full reviews. Read - AnandTech Read - HardOCP Read - Hot Hardware Read - Tom's Hardware Read - PC Perspective Read - Bit-tech Read - Guru 3D Read - Legit Reviews
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M reviewed: fastest mobile GPU to date
It's one thing to have a product called the world's fastest on paper, but it's another thing entirely to have the benchmarks confirm it. NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 480M has been swooned over for months now, but it just recently hit the hardcore review sites in a big way. Frankly, there's not a whole lot to say about the thing at this point: it's simply the fastest mobile GPU to date, with Hot Hardware finding it to be "significantly faster in nearly all gaming benchmarks," with just one title showing the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 as the champ by only a few frames. If you've been searching for the fastest mobile GPU in town, you're wasting your time looking any harder; 'course, all of that power consumes an insane level of energy, so true road warriors will certainly want to look elsewhere. Critics pointed out that energy consumption and excess heat were real issues, though both of those are easily overlooked when you're able to take a beastly laptop to a LAN party rather than your desktop. Give those links below a visit if you still need proof.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M breaks cover, frags competition in 3DMark
We told you NVIDIA's all-new superpowered mobile GPU would only fit inside jumbo-sized cases and here's your proof. The Clevo Style Note D900 is neither stylish nor much of a note taker, but boy it's a big, bad gaming machine. That trifecta of fans you see above is cooling the GTX 480M chip as well as a 2.93GHz Core i7-940 -- a CPU that's designed for desktop duty from what we can gather. You won't be shocked to discover this 17-inch desktop replacement rather burned the feathers off some similarly juiced up high fliers, but the difference is of course that laptops like the ASUS G73JH are actually available to buy, as opposed to a pipe dream demo machine like the Clevo. All the same, you might wanna check out this sneak peak before HH does a full review. Update: Turns out Sager is already offering to furnish you with a GTX 480M-equipped rig that looks very much like this one, including a selection of desktop-class Core i7s. [Thanks, Barry]
AMD Fusion APU gets its first public demo at Computex (video)
Hey, what do you know -- the Fusion lives! AMD's CPU / GPU hybrid, which sounded so revolutionary back when it was first thought up, has finally shown off its Accelerated Processing grunt by chewing through a section of Aliens vs Predator live on stage at Computex. We can't say we were exactly bowled over by the performance -- the demo was just a leisurely walk through some leafy terrain, yet still seemed to dip below 30 frames a second at a few points, showing that the APU wasn't all that comfortable handling the DirectX 11 tasks that were put upon it. This chip is targeted at ultraportables, however, and that's a crowd with distinctly lower standards than your usual desktop gamer, so maybe there's a future for this 2011-bound slice of silicon after all. We've got video of the full AMD presentation after the break -- you'll want to skip ahead 59 minutes to see the AVP runthrough. %Gallery-94148%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 rounds up mostly positive reviews
Well, it's not quite June 1, but the GeForce GTX 465 reviews have come flooding out all the same. The official specs are exactly as a recent leak indicated: 352 CUDA cores running at 1,215MHz, a 607MHz graphics clock, and 1GB of GDDR5 memory operating at a 3.2GHz effective rate and exploiting a 256 bit-wide interface. With an MSRP of $279.99, this Fermi-lite GPU scored plenty of admiration for the value it offers, with one reviewer going so far as to call it "quite possibly the most powerful DirectX 11 graphics card for under $300." Others weren't so enthusiastic, citing the far cheaper HD 5830 from ATI as a better choice, but it's true enough that the next best GPU, the HD 5850, tends to be at least $30 more expensive than the 465, depending on brand. You'll want to delve into the game benchmark numbers in order to make up your mind about which card might make for the best bit, but be warned that NVIDIA's 465 retains the GTX tradition of ravenous power consumption -- something to consider if you're rolling along with an old school 400W PSU in your rig. Read - Hot Hardware Read - PC Perspective Read - TweakTown Read - Legit Reviews Read - Tom's Hardware Read - Guru 3D Read - techPowerUp
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M: 'world's fastest' mobile GPU now official, landing in June
NVIDIA has just announced that the GTX 480M, the mobile re-spin of its extravagantly overpowered Fermi desktop parts, will be arriving in the middle of next month. Touted as the world's fastest mobile graphics processor, this chip will bring 352 CUDA cores and a 256-bit memory interface to up to 2GB of GDDR5 RAM. These are clear and convincing advances over the incumbent Green Team leader, the 360M, but things start to look a little worrying when we check the 480M's clock speeds. The processor speed is nearly halved from the desktop GTX 480, at 850MHz, the memory does only 1,200MHz, and the graphics run at 425MHz -- we didn't know anything worthwhile even operated below 500MHz these days. Either way, you're getting a computing powerhouse, with the 480M's 897 gigaflops comfortably dwarfing its predecessor's 413 and promising almighty tessellation performance. What it all means with regard to keeping your frame rates up while traversing the Terminus Systems, we can't yet say. We'll let the benchmarking gurus figure it out -- go past the break for the full press release and spec sheet.
NVIDIA GTX 465 detailed ahead of June 1 launch, GTX 460 also rumored
Hey, you there, wanna check out some unreleased new hardware from NVIDIA? Donanimhaber, the same site that brought us early (and accurate) specs of the GTX 470 and 480, is back with the above shot of an ASUS-built GTX 465 that is intended to entice the more mainstream crowd into the Fermi party. Essentially a GF100 with its wingtips trimmed, this'll offer the same 607MHz graphics and 1,215MHz processor clock speeds of the 470, but comes with a narrower 256-bit memory interface, a tamer 3.2GHz effective memory clock, 352 rather than 448 CUDA cores, and -- happily -- lower power requirements. This word is also corroborated by Bit-tech, whose scribes expect a launch at the start of Computex. The Turkish site also has news of a GTX 460, which they say will show up in the middle of July with 768MB of GDDR5, while also being "cheaper and slower" than the 465. Hit the Hexus link below for some early benchmarks of the latter card.
NVIDIA GTX 480M will bring Fermi to laptops this June, crazy power requirements and all
We had an inkling NVIDIA wouldn't keep the Fermi goodness just to the desktop and here's our first pseudo-official confirmation. Rushing in ahead of any announcements, Eurocom has started listing a GeForce GTX 480M part, replete with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a $345 markup relative to ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 5870. It's not clear whether the 100W number refers to the TDP or power requirements of NVIDIA's new GPU, but it's safe to expect both to be pretty high. The MXM 3.0b interface provides a 256-bit linkup between the GPU and CPU, lending plenty of bandwidth, but it also demands plenty of PCB real estate. As a result, Eurocom is offering the GTX 480M on its 17-inch Cheetah and Panther and 18.4-inch Leopard desktop replacements, but not on its 15.6-inch Cougar. Man, no love for the Cougars. According to the listing, we're only a month or so away from release. [Thanks, Jacob]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 set up in 3-way SLI, tested against Radeon HD 5870 and 5970
Not many mortals will ever have to worry about choosing between a three-way GeForce GTX 480 SLI setup, an equally numerous Radeon HD 5870 array, or a dual-card HD 5970 monstrosity, but we know plenty of people would care about who the winner might be. Preliminary notes here include the fun facts that a 1 Kilowatt PSU provided insufficient power for NVIDIA's hardware, while the mighty Core i7-965 test bench CPU proved to be a bottleneck in some situations. Appropriately upgraded to a six-core Core i7-980X and a 1,200W power supply, the testers proceeded to carry out the sacred act of benchmarking the snot out of these superpowered rigs. We won't spoil the final results of the bar chart warfare here, but rest assured both camps score clear wins in particular games and circumstances. The source link shall reveal all.
