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NVIDIA’s new GPU-based Tesla Personal Supercomputer

Looks like NVIDIA’s going down the same path as AMD to get more power of its GPU’s, well in fact NVIDEA are going to take it to a whole new level. NVIDEA has just announced its all new GPU-based Tesla Personal Supercomputer. Read more

Nvidia GeForce 9400M: five other notebooks to use Apple preferred GPU

There is no denying that one of the greatest features of the new range of Apple notebooks has to be the Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU. The performance increase is said to be 5X the performance of the Intel X4500HD integrated graphics, which was in their older notebooks. Read more

Nvidia launches graphics accelerator for Adobe Creative Suite 4

Nvidia have now launched a new graphics accelerator, for use with the Adobe Creative Suite 4. This new accelerator allows professionals the option of greater performance when users add graphics and visual effects to video. Read more

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT Specs

We learned yesterday that the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics will be used in the new Apple MacBook. So how come Apple decided to do away with Intel and choose NVIDA instead. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main reason is the performance. Read more

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+: Overclocked Graphics Card

Here we have the XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ Graphics Card, for those of you who are in the know you will understand that the 9800 GTX+ is just an overclocked version of the 9800 GTX.

For those of you who would like to know a little more about this graphics card, then Tweaktown have done an extensive review on it. Here are some of their final thoughts on what they thought of the XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+. Read more

Will Intel Larrabee Details change gaming history?

Not sure if you have heard about Intel releasing details about a brand new chip which is going to be aimed at the gaming market, but we will let you know what we know already.

Apparently the new chip will be aimed at the gaming market which we all know is already dominated by giants NVIDIA Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Santa Clara-based Intel has said that the technology is code-named Larrabee and should be available as soon as 2009 or possibly 2010.

At the moment Intel is now offering quad-core processors but plans on offering eight-core processors based on its Nehalem architecture, Larrabee is expected to have 12 to 48 such calculating engines.

Santa Clara-based NVIDIA are selling chips with 240 processors and Sunnyvale-based AMD has one with 800 processors.

Intel is revealing their information about its brand new chip just ahead of Siggraph 2008 show which will bring an around about 30,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals to Los Angeles from six continents.

Will Intel Larrabee Details change gaming history?

Source - Read

Palit GeForce 9800 GT: Overclocked 512MB Sonic Version

This is an overclocked 512MB Sonic version of the Palit GeForce 9800 GT. The new 9800 GT from NVIDIA is basically the old 8800 GT. The names changed but the product is the same.

The Palit GeForce 9800 GT has aftermarket cooling, out of the box overclock, a full version game and an excellent price. There isn’t much that’s not to like about the card.

Tweak Town have given this graphics card a hands-on review over 18 pages and in their final thoughts they said “Palits decision to come straight out of the gate with an overclocked model is good news as it helps compete against the HD 4850 at stock clocks a bit better. It is very often we see it right on the tail of the HD 4850, or even passing it.

While the cooler Palit are using these days is probably becoming a bit dated, it still does an excellent job of keeping the card at a reasonable temperature, be it a bit louder than a lot of other aftermarket coolers.

It’s also nice to see that Palit have chosen to include a game in the package, which is good news for people who want to install the card and get into something that doesn’t look too bad straight off the bat.

Like we’ve already said, while the 9800 GT might be nothing more than an 8800 GT, the aggressive pricing of the card, the overclocking capability and the availability of the product make it a very strong competitor against the HD 4850. Then you add in the fact that out of the box the card is able to pass the performance of the HD 4850 in a lot of situations and it does become quite appealing.

Palit have done a good job with the 9800 GT and there’s no doubt it’s going to quickly become a popular card thanks to the aforementioned pros”.

Read the 18 page review or view other computer hardware news.

NVIDIA 9800 GT Gigabyte vs. HD 4850 graphics card

NVIDIA seem to be releasing new graphics cards at a fast rate, this time round they have released two new GPU’s. One such card is the 9800 GT, this has been pitted against the mid-range king, the HD 4850.

The guys over at Tweaktown have pitted the two of them together; here is what their thoughts were on the two graphics cards. “After testing the card I found myself feeling nothing over the 9800 GT. It wasn’t till I actually really sat down and looked at the results here and compared them to the HD 4850 that was I becoming more impressed with what the cheaper 9800 GT had to offer over the HD 4850. Read more

Dell laptops get BIOS updates, fixes NVIDIA GPUs

If you own a dell laptop then you may already know about the new BIOS updates available for Dell laptops. These updates are to help with the well-known NVIDIA GPU issues.

The issue is to do with “a weak die / packaging material set” that causes NVIDIA GPU problems when you get GPU temperature fluctuations. While the update will help, Dell says it’s not a fix for the problem.

Once your BIOS is flashed with the update you are less likely to get of GPU issues. Read more details about this new BIOS update from the source below.

Source: Direct2Dell | Read more news about dell.

NVIDIA’s biggest partners releases an 790i Ultra SLI motherboard

This is the XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard and with XFX being one of NVIDIA’s biggest partners, expectations are high for this board.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be another NVIDIA reference clone; this makes the choice of which board to get an easier one. The features and extras bundled with the XFX offering also make it a prime mover.

Tweak Town have given this motherboard a full hands-on review and this is what they said in their final thoughts “One thing is for sure, NVIDIA has done a fantastic job on its reference design. Not only have they managed to fit just about every possible expansion option into their boards, but also 3-Way SLI is standard, it overclocks quite well and it supports the latest generation of CPUs.

Having said that, when companies just sell NVIDIA reference boards, this is where things get a bit boring. When two or more companies have identical looking and performing boards, it’s hard to recommend one over the other. In fact, there is no way to do it; this is where real motherboard makers like MSI, ASUS and GIGABYTE come in with their own styles and designs that do make a difference; in all, a better looking board.

XFX has simply slapped their sticker on the NVIDIA reference board, which is the same as what ZOTAC has done with theirs. So if you’re tossing up between these two, either will do as there are no differences to speak of”.

Read the 14 page review.

Nvidia Stock Drops Around 25 Percent

There were many reasons why Nvidia issued a profit warning and these included a price war in the industry, a delay in new products being launched and weak demand.

The moment Nvidia announced expectations of lower revenues; their stocks plummeted as much as 25 percent. To make matters worse they have also said to expect a charge of around $200 million to cover the costs of defected Nvidia chips.

This charge will cover returns and repairs that have affected some laptop GPUs to overheat and fail. The lower profit has been predicted due to all the different factors and does not look like a long-term problem for Nvidia.

At first the Nvidia chipmaker was expected to make $1 billion in its second-quarter but this figure has now been taken down to around $875 million. Still not bad considering the current market and problems.

Source: Read

Hands-on with ZOTAC NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard

This is the ZOTAC NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard and it shows that ZOTAC are back with a board featuring the socket 775 platform; this board may not be in Australia yet but it has a lot of potential. The added wireless Ethernet is a great feature that we don’t normally see on 790i motherboards, this gives ZOTAC’s version of the NVIDIA 790i Ultra chipset board a leg up.

Tweak Town have given ZOTAC’s motherboard a full hands-on review, the results have been covered over 15 pages and in their final thoughts they said “ZOTAC has definitely made its mark with us. While our first board we received from them that was based on the GeForce 8300 chipset failed to impress, the 790i SLI Ultra board really got us going. While it’s a great feat of engineering as to how it’s laid out, ZOTAC isn’t to thank for that since it’s based right off the NVIDIA reference design. But it’s good to see ZOTAC not trying to modify it too much.

The performance of the board was right up there with the likes of the X48 chipset, so if you’re planning on an SLI setup for your NVIDIA chipset, the 790i isn’t going to disappoint as much as the 780i does.

Overall, the ZOTAC board is definitely worth your dollar. With a good software bundle as well as a few added extras like the wireless networking, you’re not going to be disappointed”.

Hit the read link below to see the full specifications, what’s inside the box, BIOS and overclocking, benchmarks and a lot more.

Read the 15 page review.

Hands-on with GTX 200 WHQL drivers from NVIDIA

There has been a lot of talk about the new WHQL drivers and how these drivers can give the newly launched GTX 200 series of cards are big performance increase, with this in mind, Tweak Town have decided to give the GTX 200 WHQL drivers a full hands-on review over 14 pages.

In their final thoughts they found these new drivers not live up to what many are thinking, they said NVIDIA may release new drivers that increase the performance of the new GTX 200 series of cards but the new WHQL drivers are not them.

This is what Tweak Town said in their summery “Well, that wasn’t anywhere near as exciting as I had hoped. Spec wise, it seemed extremely possible that we could expect an increase in performance from the GTX 280, but clearly that didn’t happen. I don’t doubt for a second over the coming months NVIDIA will release new drivers that increase the performance of the new GTX 200 series of cards, but this isn’t it.

We will be keeping up with the performance of the GTX 280 and the driver development over the coming months to see what NVIDIA pull out of the hat. While I would normally write some long-winded final thoughts about the drivers, I’m going to wrap it up quickly because I just got word that the NDA for the HD 4850 has been bought forward.

So let’s wrap this up nice and quick. The GTX 280 is still disappointing me and I’m mega excited about the HD 4850. The End! - Look out for our HD 4850 content in the coming hours!”

Read the 14 page review for the full results and charts of the performance.

NVIDIA’s back helping Phenom with its IGP based GeForce 8300 chipset

This is the ZOTAC GeForce 8300 AM2+ Motherboard and it supports quite an array of feature, but its layout does need a bit of work. Overclocking is non-existent; meaning if you’re after a budget booster this board won’t really deliver. Great for HTPCs if you don’t mind using the DVI to HDMI converter.

With NVIDIA back helping Phenom with its IGP based GeForce 8300 chipset, Tweak Town have given the ZOTAC GeForce 8300 AM2+ motherboard a hands-on review and spread the results over 14 pages. In their final thoughts they said “This has been the first ZOTAC motherboard we have managed to acquire, and most certainly won’t be the last. We have more waiting for us. For our first board we managed to get, we were left with a reasonably good impression. However, ZOTAC needs to do a little more planning on its budget boards. While cheaper is better, there is always room for improvement, even on the lower scale.

NVIDIA’s GeForce 8300 chipset is an extremely impressive unit; its IGP is rather good for a cheap offering, but can’t stand up to the might of a discrete GPU. If you’re going for a budget HDMI based setup, the GeForce 8300 will do you if you’re after an NVIDIA solution. It depends on your preference, as we have seen that the NVIDIA and AMD solutions are extremely competitive with each other. So, depending on what you’re after, it’s a bit of a research game these days.

Overall, we were satisfied with the board. However, we hope to see ZOTAC introduce some better layouts on their next series of boards”.

Read the 14 page hands-on review.

Big Motherboard Choice: Intel P45, NVIDIA nForce 780i & 790i

When it comes to motherboards, the consumer has never had so much choice and Intel have now got a total of 12 different chipsets. This gives you a great range of performance levels and features for all types of users. NVIDIA have entered the market with its nForce 790i and 780i chipsets to increase this choice even further, and with Intel’s P45 replacing the P35 and becoming the brands mainstream chipset…the motherboard world is looking good.

Tweak Town have created a 17-page report on the specifications, benchmarks and more for two-GIGABYTE motherboards based around the P45 chipset. In their final thoughts they said “Intel’s P45 Express chipset hasn’t officially hit the market yet (it will launch shortly at Computex in Taipei), this is why we haven’t been able to give a huge amount of detailed features on the P45 Northbridge or its ICH10R companion chip, however, what we were able to get is based on testing as well as early information from our board provider.

P45 in its early form looks the goods! While it’s early days, we haven’t been able to test its overclocking ability, and this is something that will really determine if the board is able to take the crown away from the P35 – we are just waiting for the final revision boards to start arriving for testing. We have been able to hit speeds beyond 550MHz with P35 based boards, so P45 has some big shoes to fill, that’s for sure.

Some of the major changes are welcomed especially the inclusion of PCIe 2.0 interface, increased DDR-2 speeds of 1066MHz, matching the speeds AMD is now supporting with its Phenom X3 and X4 processors, making Intel still a major player in DDR2, even though they are still pushing for DDR3.

GIGABYTE’s EP45-DS3R and EP45-DQ6 in our early tests have proven to be fantastic. We managed to get the system perfectly stable, running Vista without any problems. We were very happy with the feel of the board as well as the initial performance. We will continue with overclocking tests and power usage using the DES as soon as we are able to get more time with the boards. For now we hope you enjoyed our preview into some upcoming P45 boards and there will be plenty more on this subject from us once we are finished at Computex early next month.”

Read the 17 page review.

NVIDIA going after Intel with GeForce GTX 280 / 260 next-gen cards

It seems that NVIDA have been making some big noise of late about slimming down their product line of graphics cards, and are also going after Intel and some of their business. With that kind of announcement, you would have thought that the new summer line-up from NVIDIA would be something special, but I am afraid to say that it is much the same as what they already have. NVIDIA have two new graphics cards coming in their summer line-up, the GeForce GTX 260 and the GeForce GTX 280, both of which are next-gen cards.

Both will use the D10U graphics core; however the GTX 280 is the full fat version of the processor which uses all of the 240 unified stream processors. The GTX 260 will only use 192, so is a watered down version. Both the 260 and 280 GPU’s support three-way SLI, NVIDIA are also planning to incorporate PhysX support however; as yet there are no details on this, we will just have to wait until the June 18 launch.

As we mentioned above, both cards will use the D10U processor, these are said to be 50% better than the shaders which were used on the older D9 GPU’s. One thing that you need to know about the D10U chipset though, it does not offer support for DirectX extensions above 10.0. It does seem to me that with the launch of both the GeForce GTX 280 / 260 next-gen cards, NVIDIA are not doing enough to go after Intel.

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ATI Radeon 4800 series launch details revealed: Radeon 4850 codenamed Makedon

There is some good news and some bad news, the good news is that there are some new details about AMD’s next-generation graphics card line-up and it is getting very near to the launch date, the new graphic boards will come with physics processing capability and even better prices will be lower than $200 for a 512 MB board, the bad news is that the 4800 series will be launched after the Nvidia GT200.

NVIDIA no doubt have heard to much about the AMD ATI Radeon 4800 series to move up the launch date for its GeForce 9900 series cards, but the latest news from TG Daily are more launch details for the mid to high end cards. The first on the list will be the Radeon 4850 or simply codenamed the “Makedon,” this card will boast 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, CrossFireX support and single-slot cooling, the price for this card will cost $189 to $219.

Next up is a pair of Radeon 4870 cards which will be here in July codenamed “Trojan” one will boast 512MB of GDDR5 memory and the other will have full 1024MB, it will also come with a dual-slot cooler, these two will cost between $249 and $279. They all pack game physics processing capability plus 7.1 channel audio via HDMI support and DirectX 10.1 support.

For much more in depth detail please visit TG Daily

Source

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-37453-135.html

Palit GeForce 9600 GSO Sonic 768MB: NVIDIA confuses with new model

The Palit GeForce 9600 GSO Sonic 768MB has entered a crowded graphics card market and while NVIDIA are confusing many buyers with another model that’s so similar to other cards. The results do show this model offers excellent performance and value for money. Palit has taken it a step further by upping the clocks even more, which make for an excellent model and buy. Tweak Town have spent some time with the Palit GeForce 9600 GSO and while they are unhappy with the “stupid GSO naming”, they did agree that this card offers value for money. In their final thoughts they said, “This is where it becomes really messy. Performance wise, the 9600 GT Sonic is 0% – 10% faster than the 9600 GSO Sonic, which means a stock clocked 9600 GT is going to perform slightly worse than this card in some instances.

Then there is the price; the overclocked Sonic version comes in at a whopping $5 AUD more expensive than the stock 9600 GT. Now, when you put overclocking into consideration at the price point of a stock clocked 9600 GSO, it’s going to come in cheaper than the 9600 GT.

So what you have here is a card that is $5 more than a stock clocked 9600 GT, performing at the same speed or slightly faster (depending on the game). You then also get yourself some extra RAM as well.

What’s going to be real interesting is the 384MB which comes in $50 AUD cheaper than the 768MB, and significantly cheaper than the 9600 GT. Increase the clocks on the model and you could be onto a real winner of a card if we get performance similar to a 9600 GT 512MB.

Now, I’ve openly spoken about the issues I’ve had with NVIDIA’s naming schemes, but this has to be the absolute worst. This card has been released because they’re dumping the 8800 GS that never sold. The main reason it never sold? No one knew about it. What they’ve done in the whole process is kill sales on the 9600 GT. Palit are different; their Sonic version of the 9600 GT offers a wealth of connectivity with display port, HDMI and more. But if you’re a supplier holding a few hundred/thousand pieces of 9600 GT reference clocked cards, I wouldn’t be too happy at the moment.

What makes it even worse is that when speaking to a manufacturer today, they said that NVIDIA are talking about changing the 9600 GT to the GSO. If that happens we could end up with four models under the naming scheme with RAM options being 384MB, 512MB, 768MB and 1GB; and for further confusion there’ll also be two different memory widths present.

While this may quickly become one of the best valued cards on the market, it really is the absolute worst thing when it comes to helping people make their decision on which graphics card to buy.

All NVIDIA is doing is confusing everyone and slowing down graphics card professions. They’re being slack; the 9600 GSO, while a fantastic product thanks to its performance to price ratio, is just an 8800 GS. Ultimately though, does this really surprise anyone? The whole 9 series have been nothing more than some strategic name changing that does nothing but confuse people. The good news is that cards carrying the X600 GS naming scheme, which were generally horrific for games, are actually now really good. So if this is anything to go by, the 10400GS should perform at about the same speed as the 8800 Ultra.”

Read the 12 page review.

Hands-on: Coolink ChipChilla Chipset Cooler on an NVIDIA 680i board

You may have heard of Coolink’s GFXChilla that showed the world how good it was as a VGA cooler, this is the Coolink ChipChilla Chipset Cooler, which has had a hands-on review by Tweak Town, and they take a look at how good this device is on an NVIDIA 680i board. Whether you are going for high 3DMark numbers or a quiet computing experience, the ChipChilla will help you achieve your goals.

Tweak Town said the “Coolink ChipChilla is a solid product that is versatile enough to last you for many years and motherboard upgrades. The ChipChilla is also efficient; our testing has shown that the product is better than the NVIDIA Reference Design Cooler, and by a large margin. The best feature of the ChipChilla though is its ability to perform virtually silent, even when running at full load.

View the 7 page hands-on on Tweak Town.

NVIDIA 780a vs. AMD 790FX Chipsets

The biggest player in the chipsets and CPU industry is Intel, the Core 2 is what most buyers look for in laptops and other devices and AMD has fallen behind, but now the Phenom B3 is out things could be a little different. Tweak Town have covered a 16-page review of the NVIDIA 780a vs. AMD 790FX Chipsets.

You can view the full 16 page hands-on here, in summery they found NVIDIA has really pulled out some strings with the 780a, but its design for the PCI Express 2.0 controller really gives us a feeling of a half-done chipset.

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