gtc2014
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Lenovo's smart TV system grants more processing power and memory through swappable modules (hands-on)
Lenovo is best known for its ThinkPad laptops and newly acquired phone business, but the Chinese firm started making TVs a couple years ago, too. And now, it's the first one to build a set utilizing NVIDIA's new Tegra K1 chip. It's that super-powered silicon that explains the TV's presence at GTC 2014, so naturally, we had to spend some time with it while we were at the show. Called the Terminator S9, it's a 50-inch 4K smart TV that runs a Lenovo-skinned version of Android 4.2 natively, but the real magic happens courtesy of a small plug-in module round the back called a Smart Card.
NVIDIA Shield gets temporary price drop, soon to support remote PC gaming
The GameStream technology that powers the NVIDIA Shield's PC streaming feature is neat, but it has its limitations. Games can only be streamed from desktop PCs running specific GPUs, and only to devices connected to a local network. That's about to change: Pending an update in early April, Shield owners will be able to stream their PC games not only from GeForce GTX-equipped laptops, but over the internet as well. Remote streaming has its own limitations, of course -- NVIDIA recommends a minimum upload/download speed of 5 Mbps -- but the new GameStream beta will let gamers remotely wake up, log in to and play games from their home PC from any location with a stable WiFi connection. NVIDIA is also making it a little easier to stream unofficially supported PC titles, and will update its GeForce Experience desktop software with tools that will push any PC application to the Shield's GameStream list. The spring update also adds Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support, as well as several tweaks to the Shield UI. Specifically, the TegraZone store will be getting categories (action, adventure, etc.) as well as a news section. Finally, NVIDIA will be selling the handheld at a $50 discount from now until the end of April. Already have one? Sit tight -- that update goes live on April 2nd.
NVIDIA announces Titan Z: a $3,000 graphics computing powerhouse
Thought that NVIDIA's Titan Black was as good as it gets in the GPU world? You were mistaken. Meet the GeForce GTX Titan Z (seen in all its glory after the break), NVIDIA's latest graphical behemoth announced by CEO Jen-Hsun Huang today at NVIDIA's 2014 GPU Technology Conference. The Z packs dual Kepler GPUs specifically designed to operate in perfect power and performance harmony. It also keeps cutting-edge games (like those using Unreal Engine 4) running smoothly at up to 5K resolution and on multiple monitors thanks to 12GB of dedicated memory. For now, other Titan Z details are scarce, but we know it costs $3,000, and Huang likens its performance to that of a supercomputer -- what more do you really need to know?
NVIDIA's next-generation GPU is called Pascal, and it's smaller, faster and more efficient
What comes after Fermi, Kepler and Maxwell? Pascal, according to NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. That's the name of the company's next-generation GPU, and Huang says it'll be smaller, faster and more efficient, naturally. "As we compute more, we have to move more data around," he said, speaking at NVIDIA's GPU technology conference in San Jose today. "It's the data bottleneck." He's talking about how the speed at which data is exchanged between the CPU and GPU limits the processor's ability to perform. He's also talking about how NVIDIA hopes to solve the issue, introducing NVLink, a chip-to-chip communication technology (a new socket) that promises to outpace PCIe communication speeds by a factor of five (but up to 12). The company says the PCIe standard probably isn't going away, but is confident that its dedicated GPU socket will allow it to leapfrog existing bottlenecks. Although NVLink seems to be designed to speed up GPU and CPU communication, Huang says it also improves data transfer between GPUs -- meaning that graphics cards linked in SLI could see a performance boost, too.
