Posted 07/03/09 at 05:30:32 PM by Paul Lilly

Nvidia isn't saying much about its next Ion platform, but if recent rumors turn out to be true, the followup platform looks to be a doozie. According to news and rumor site Fudzilla, Nvidia will double up the number of shaders on the second generation of Ion.

That means Ion 2, as it will likely be called, would ship with at least 32 shaders, providing a big boost to gaming performance on netbooks and nettops built around the platform. And best of all, thermals aren't expected to rise very much, if at all, on the upcoming shrunken version of Ion.

Nvidia's first Ion has yet to really penetrate the market and cut into Intel's Atom platform marketshare, but that could change as more major manufacturers jump on board. Samsung recently announced plans to launch an Ion netbook this month, and Lenovo's Ion-based IdeaPad S12 is due out in August.

Nevertheless, Fudzilla says Ion 2 should launch by the end of this year.

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graphics, nvidia, ion, hardware, chipset, rumor, ion 2, shaders

Posted 06/26/09 at 04:15:25 PM by Paul Lilly

At long last, Nvidia may finally adding DirectX 10.1 support to its videocards, assuming Fudzilla is right on the money. According to the news and rumor site, Nvidia's GT200 will be refreshed to a 40nm manufacturing process and the new chips will sport DX10.1.

To date, ATI has been the only one to offer DX10.1 support on some of its videocards (yes, we're completely ignoring S3's Chrome series), a minor extension to DX10 that thus far hasn't meant much for gamers. To to fuel the conspiracy flames, that could change with Nvidia jumping on board. Remember that DX10.1 instructions did at one point show a performance boost on ATI cards in Assassin's Creed, but after a patch removed support for the instruction set, some accused Ubisoft of bowing to pressure from Nvidia after the GPU maker sponsored the title with its The Way It's Meant To Be Played program.

In any event, it looks like refresh will come on the tail end of summer or early fall.

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graphics, videocard, nvidia, gpu, hardware, build a pc, rumor, api, GT200, directx 10.1

Posted 06/19/09 at 02:58:39 PM by Paul Lilly

Nvidia this week released new WHQL videocard drivers, now in version 186.18. A handful of bugs have been squashed in this newest update, most of which relate to Windows 7. Some of the resolved issues include:

• Resolves issue where PhysX option would be disabled by default in multi-GPU configurations (XP)
• Resolves issue where the system would not resume from Standby mode when running a 9800 GX2 (Vista and Windows 7)
• Changes made to program settings from the Nvidia Control Panel in 3D Settings are now preserved after closing and reopening when running a 9500 GS (Windows 7)
• SLI focus display can now be switched using "Set SLI configuration" for GTX 260 owners (Windows 7)

Not a whole lot has been done to improve performance if you're upgrading from a previous 186.xx or 185.xx driver release. However, if you're upgrading from 182.xx, Nvidia claims double digit performance boosts in a number of titles, including up to 45 percent in Mirror's Edge with antialiasing enabled, 30 percent better performance in Half-Life 2 engine games with tri- and quad-SLI enabled, and a 25 percent boost in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

Windows XP Release Notes (PDF)
Windows Vista Release Notes (PDF)
Windows 7 Release Notes (PDF)

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Software, graphics, videocard, nvidia, Drivers, whql, 186.18

Posted 06/19/09 at 09:30:08 AM by Paul Lilly

PowerColor this week announced a new series of videocards it says are "environmentally friendly and cost efficient to the consumer." Kicking off the new Go! Green series is a pair of ATI cards - the HD 4650 and HD 4350.

Both cards come equipped with PowerColor's custom Silent Cooling Solution (SCS) passive heatsink, with the HD 4650 version adding heatpipes to the mix (SCS3). Partially as a result, PowerColor claims its HD 4650 consumes 38 percent less power than an Nvidia GeForce 9500GT videocard, while the HD 4350 boasts a 24 percent power savings over the Nvidia GeForce 8400GS. Likewise, the HD 4650 and HD 4350 offer up to 22 percent and 36 percent better performance than each one's respective Nvidia equivalent, PowerColor claims.

Availability is expected in July, but no word yet on price.

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graphics, videocard, gpu, hardware, powercolor, build a pc, go! green

Posted 06/17/09 at 09:00:24 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD/ATI this week released new Catalyst drivers, now in version 9.6. The new driver package sports a number of performance improvements, including:

• Company of Heroes - up to 25 percent better performance with HD 4600 series
• Crysis - up to 13 percent better performance in multi-GPU configurations
• Crysis Warhead - up to 11 percent better performance in mutli-GPU configurations 
• World in Conflict - up to 30 percent better performance in settings that were previously CPU limited

In addition to goosing performance in a handful of titles, Catalyst 9.6 also squashes a boatload of bugs and resolves a ton of issues across all current Windows operating systems. Some of these include:

• Opening Crossfire pages no longer causes Catalyst Control Center to stop responding (all Windows OSes)
• Catalyst Control Center no longer appears interlaced when automatic deinterlacing is enabled (all Windows OSes)
• On some configurations, video artifacts are no longer visible during playback of transcoded video files (Vista)
• Team Fortress 2 some slowdowns no longer occur during gameplay (XP)
• Catalyst Control Center no longer shows Crossfire as disabled (Windows 7)

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amd, Software, graphics, videocard, ati, Drivers, catalyst, 9.6

Posted 06/15/09 at 07:54:41 AM by Paul Lilly

We've heard rumors that Nvidia was planning on refreshing its GeForce GTX 295 videocard with a second, single-PCB version, and it looks like EVGA is the first to offer the new design.

"EVGA is proud to announce the latest and fastest in high performance graphics accelerators, the EVGA GTX 295 CO-OP Edition," EVGA wrote. "This card combines two GPUs onto a single PCB, a clear indication on why this card is called CO-OP!"

Core clockspeed will remain at 576MHz -- the same as EVGA's previous GTX 295 videocards -- however the company has goosed the memory clockspeed up from 1998MHz to 2016MHz.

EVGA also plans to sell separately a waterblock for the new card called the Hydro Copper. The full-cover copper waterblock ships with both 3/8-inch and 1/2-inch barbs and includes "an extreme high flow path design with a unique, integrated, pressure point."

Not yet listed in stock on EVGA's website, the CO-OP is currently priced a $530

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graphics, videocard, evga, nvidia, geforce, hardware, build a pc, gtx 295, pcb

Posted 06/11/09 at 08:59:46 AM by Paul Lilly

If you thought the tension between Intel and Nvidia had already reached a boiling point over various licensing issues, just wait until the CPU maker (that would be Intel) releases its discrete graphics GPGPU solution called Larrabee sometime next year. The two companies (along with AMD/ATI) will suddenly be in direct competition on a whole new playing field, complete with a plot twist involving a longtime Nvidia graphics partner.

That partner, according to news and rumor site The Inquirer, is EVGA, who up to this point has been Nvidia's number one add-in-board (AIB) partner. Once Larrabee ships, that will change, The Inq says.

If true, this could be a big blow to Nvidia. EVGA has built an enthusiast following by offering one of the most flexible warranty policies in the business, and if the rumor holds true, this would be the second time a major partner jumped ship. Back in December of last year, XFX, another former Nvidia partner known for its liberal warranty terms, announced it would begin selling AMD videocards.

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intel, graphics, evga, nvidia, Larrabee, rumor

Posted 06/05/09 at 10:14:10 AM by Paul Lilly

Maingear this week announced the Pulse gaming PC, the first Ion-based rig to sport upgradeable Nvidia graphics. The company also claims its Pulse is the "world's greenest gaming PC."

Built around Nvidia's Ion platform, the Pulse comes standard with an Intel 65W Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processor, integrated GeForce 9300 graphics upgradeable to a discrete 9800 GT ECO card which the company says consumes 40 percent less power than a standard 9800 GT, up to 8GB of DDR2-800 memory, up to a 500GB hard drive or 160GB SSD, and an 80+ certified 300W power supply.

"The Maingear Puls with Nvidia graphics perfect for anyone who wants a small, energy efficient, and stylish PC," Maingear stated in a press release. "With its Nvidia Ion-based motherboard, the Pulse delivers the best graphics solution available for low-power, small form factor designs.

The Pulse is available now starting at $800.

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graphics, nvidia, geforce, ion, hardware, green, pre-built, maingear, pulse