In this Issue:
- Gaming on a budget? Get a GeForce GTX 450 for a little over $100. Two of them can be twice as nice.
- Microsoft debuts Internet Explorer 9, and web browsing just got better and faster.
- Optimus is everywhere. Hardwarezone has 13 Optimus notebooks from 5 different OEMs rounded-up.
- GPU Computing may save supercomputing, or at least make it better.
- 3D Vision Surround is a mind blower. Gaming has never been better.
Fermi For the Masses
The GeForce GTX 460 brought the cost of the Fermi architecture to a wide group of people with a $200 price point, and quickly established itself as a world-beater.
"There was no time in this evaluation whence the GeForce GTX 460 did not set itself apart as a superior product. Even when performance was merely equaled, it was quieter and using less power... we have simply never seen such an incredible value in a $200."
But many gamers have tight budgets. They own 17" to 22" monitors and were looking for a GPU upgrade optimized for 1680x1050 gaming, capable of providing best in class DirectX 11 support. It's here:
"The GTS 450 had an impact on the midrange market before it was even released, forcing the competition to adjust their pricing in order to compete. Looking at framerates the GTS 450 generally sits between the 5750 and 5770 but in terms of features it is far superior to the competition from AMD."
How is the value for two of them in SLI?"A single GeForce GTS 450 video card already outperforms its closest rivals: the $120 AMD Radeon HD 5750 and $150 Radeon HD 5770. But when you compare a $260 SLI set against the nearest price point, the results look devastating for the competition."
But does it scale in SLI?"In SLI mode, GTS450 shows the advantage of Fermi architecture again. The graphics performance gets 90% boost in SLI mode. Like the performance of other members in the GT400 lineup, GTS450 in SLI configuration nearly doubles the performance of a single card. This is exciting to those who want to build their own SLI systems."
How does that compare to Crossfire?"In fact the single Palit GTS 450 card offers better performance than two Radeon 5750s in CrossFire when playing StarCraft 2."
GeForce GTS 450, available for just $129, is designed for the best price/performance for 1680x1050 gaming. It's the perfect GPU for gamers' who are on a budget yet still want a great gaming experience on the hottest new games like StarCraft II as well as on the next-generation DirectX 11 games like Civilization V."The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450, codename "Sniper," is priced perfectly for those who seek value and performance. With a price point of $129.00 USD, it is easy on the pocket and will not break the bank, if you choose to take advantage of running two in SLI."
See it in the flesh (or is it Flash) in this video.Web Browers Use The GPU
Windows Internet Explorer 9 is the next version of Microsoft's browser that has been re-imagined to feel faster and cleaner. It uses the GPU for that.
"The JavaScript-based Amazon Shelf demo, which you can check out in the video below, is pretty stunning; on the M11x with the GPU activated, the demo ran at 60fps (about 55fps when we turned a page in a book). With the GPU off, the experience was a bit more sluggish - it ran at 16fps and 9fps when turning a page."
IE9 is the first of many browsers to use the GPU."We are a nation of monitor monkeys. People are glued to their Facebook news feed all day at work, watching YouTube videos, scrolling through the Twitter-sphere, reading content, sharing it and commenting on everything. Still, browser makers Microsoft, Mozilla and Google believe it is possible to spend even more time on the Web. All are developing the next generation of browsers that promise more social networking, better graphics and faster speeds, all designed to make you live more of your life online."
NVIDIA and GPU Computing make it possible."Applications are becoming more visual, and having HTML5, hardware-accelerated graphics, and a new JavaScript engine built into Internet Explorer 9 means that the Web applications will follow suit," said Mark Relph, senior director for Windows Product Management at Microsoft Corp. "NVIDIA is pushing the visual computing playing field forward and helping Microsoft create a better Web experience for our customers."
Designed to take full advantage of your Windows computer's hardware, Internet Explorer 9 delivers graphically rich and immersive web experiences that are as fast and responsive as applications installed on your computer. These new features make Internet Explorer 9 fast.Hardwarezone Goes Optimus Crazy
Optimus has quickly established itself as a must have feature. With GeForce 400 series GPUs, 6 out of the top 7 OEMs will now ship Optimus notebooks. HardwareZone Maylasia has an in-depth article on Optimus, showcasing 13 Optimus laptops from 5 OEMs - Asus, Acer, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba.
"By going with an NVIDIA Optimus enabled notebook PC, you no longer have to choose between great graphics performance or extended battery life. So whether you're browsing the web, watching HD movies or playing the latest 3D games, you can be sure thatNVIDIA Optimus technology will be there to provide you with the best notebook experience."
Optimus Technology delivers great performance with great battery life for the usages consumers value most: processing HD video & High-res photos, experiencing the accelerated Web and eye-popping 3D content, and of course next-gen gaming on top titles like StarCraft II.A Crisis in Computing
A piece entitled "A Crisis in Computing" appeared on AllThingsD, the Wall Street Journal's site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. The article covers the controversial topic of how the US is falling behind the rest of the world in terms of supercomputing.
"But we Americans are completely missing a second critical choke-point in computing capacity and infrastructure. Most of our government's research-oriented supercomputers are already 2X over-subscribed at our current level of demand. And before the next decade, our level of science will be 1,000-fold in its computational demands.
To sustain and extend our lead in High Performance Computing, we don't have to revive the decades-old debate about industrial policy and the government picking winners through massive bets on industry sectors. We just need to spend smarter to get cost-effective hybrid HPC on the national agenda, and equip our best minds with the computing capacity they need to innovate and create jobs."
One cause is our dependency on CPUs, but GPUs can help. CPUs are no longer increasing in clock speed yet users are demanding more from their PCs today than ever before. In order to provide the much needed performance to deliver on these expectations, the only path available is to go multi-core or parallel - ie: add more cores and split demanding workloads across them. Due to the very nature of computer graphics, GPUs excel at doing many things at once and as such are ideally suited to this new computing environment. What GPU's bring is a massively parallel approach to the problem with 100's of cores.3D Vision Surround: "Bar none"
3D on one screen is great, but nothing matches the gaming experience on three screens.
"... 3D Vision Surround's wow factor rivals seeing a game like GLQuake rendered on a graphics accelerator fo the first time. It's a game changer..."
CPU, October 2010, page 713D Vision Surround let's you span games across three monitors in full 3D Stereo for an incredibly immersive gaming experience.
"the Asus VG236H and Zotac GTX 480 NVIDIA Surround gives us a PC which greatly enhances productivity and gaming. Add to that support for DirectX 11, 3D and PhysX and we have a system which offers the best gaming and movie experience available on PC today, bar none."message.
Benchmark Reviews has also tested the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 GF106 Video Card
Posts
