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Newest PS3 SKU has updated, cheaper RSX innards
Japanese tech site PocketNews recently -- for reasons unbeknownst to us -- cracked open the smooth, colorless shell of the new CECH-2100A model of the PlayStation. What did they find inside? Candy. So much candy. They also found a smaller, more energy-efficient RSX graphics chip, which allows Sony to cut costs on the console's heat sink, power supply and cooling unit. It also lets the manufacturer cut down on the number of graphics chips contained within the console, leaving more room for the aforementioned candy. While these technological improvements will likely help Sony cut down on the manufacturing price of each console, we wouldn't expect that savings to translate into a price cut for the console. Mostly because Sony's still working to recover from a few quarters of heavy, heavy losses, but also because the PS3 just got a price cut. Stop being so greedy. [Via Engadget]
Nvidia announces GTX 470 and 480 cards
The opening day of PAX East in Boston was capped by a fairly humongous presentation from PC gaming hardware manufacturer Nvidia, representatives from which introduced two new graphic cards: The XLR8 GeForce GTX 480 1536MB and XLR8 GeForce GTX 470 1280MB. The new pieces of hardware are priced at $500 and $350, respectively, and have a tentative release window of mid-April. In addition to being capable of rendering some impressive visuals -- as seen in the presentation's 3D, multi-monitor demos of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Metro 2033 -- the two devices come loaded with some neat bonuses. Among these are a handful of download vouchers for high-def films from Sony Pictures and two tech demos titled Design Garage and Supersonic Sled. We really, really hope the latter can be fleshed out into a full-length game.
NVIDIA launches Fermi next-gen GPGPU architecture, CUDA and OpenCL get even faster
NVIDIA had told us it would be accelerating its CUDA program to try and get an advantage over its competitors as OpenCL brings general-purpose GPU computing to the mainstream, and it looks like that effort's paying off -- the company just announced its new Fermi CUDA architecture, which will also serve as the foundation of its next-gen GeForce and Quadro products. The new features are all pretty technical -- the world's first true cache hierarchy in a GPU, anyone? -- but the big takeaway is that CUDA and OpenCl should run even faster on this new silicon, and that's never a bad thing. Hit up the read links for the nitty-gritty, if that's what gets you going. Read - NVIDIA Fermi siteRead - Hot Hardware analysis Read - PC Perspective analysis
ATI's R600 graphics chip hits snag
We've had our eye on ATI"s new top-end R600 graphics chip for some time now, first getting a look at some impressive early benchmarks and then being taken aback by the foot-long graphics card the chips will call home (at least in some configurations). Sadly, it seems that those with money and power (as in 270W) to spare will have to wait a bit longer to slot one of the behemoths into their own PCs, with The Inquirer reporting that the R600 chips, and consequently the graphics cards based on 'em, have been delayed yet again, now pushed back to sometime in the second quarter of this year. There doesn't seem to be any word on the reason for the delay, but the news apparently came straight from ATI parent company AMD. Given what the cards are likely to cost, however, we're guessing that at least some won't be too disappointed in the delay, with the extra time allowing you to save up some more money and make some more excuses for why you're spending so much on a graphics card.[Via TG Daily]
