All eyes on Nvidia as GTC kicks off

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

After last week’s Intel Developer Forum, it’s now Nvidia’s turn. Later on today the company will open its three-day GPU Technology Conference in San Jose – a more formal affair than last year’s flashy “Nvision” expo, but still a high-profile international event, and one which yours truly is lucky enough to be attending.

(The picture, in case you’re wondering, is a strange engine-type affair that’s been set up at the entrance to the delegates’ hotel, apparently to welcome us as we arrive. I guess that’s how they communicate with one another down here in the Valley.) (more…)

Eyefinity: nice demo, but I won’t play games on it

Friday, September 11th, 2009

The new ATI Eyefinity system has created quite an online buzz. Otherwise sane-sounding people have been openly drooling over the idea of combining six monitors into a vast 7,680 x 3,200 display; and, in fairness, if you just focus on that really big number it is quite seductive.

But, while I hate to be a Negative Nancy, I think that excitement needs to be cooled down with a few caveats. (more…)

Will Nvidia PhysX ever be worthwhile?

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Nvidia has talked up its PhysX system incessantly since it bought Ageia Technologies, creator of the engine, in February 2008, but it’s struggled to make a significant impact on the PC gaming landscape. So, despite the impressive tech demos and endless optimism, is PhysX looking more like a white elephant with every passing GPU and game release?

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The fastest laptop on earth

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

UPDATE: Read the full review of the Asus W90.

Asus might be most famous for its low-cost netbooks, but its latest multimedia powerhouse is the kind of laptop that’ll give your average desktop PC an inferiority complex.

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Can Nvidia halt its current decline?

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

This month in the Labs we’ve mostly been testing graphics cards, and you’ll be able to read the results when the next issue of Pro is published in January. But I don’t think I’m giving too much away by revealing it’s not particularly happy reading for Nvidia.

Put simply, Nvidia’s desktop department is having a torrid time of it right now: when its own chipsets aren’t faulty they’re generally slower than ATI’s; and when they’re not faulty or slower than ATI’s, they are dearer, which negates any advantage they might have had.

It’s a cyclical thing. ATI had its troubled times before the HD 3000 cards arrived, and when new technology arrives the situation may well reverse again. But for evidence of where the strength lies you should alway look to the board partners – and it’s a one-way surge right now.

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All the week’s reviews

Friday, November 28th, 2008

In a week dominated by laptops, we also saw ATI launch its latest dual-GPU monster, Getac earn an award for another rugged wonder, and a rather niche new addition to the Sling family.

Laptop frenzy

We were intrigued by the Packard Bell EasyNote BG45-U-300, a portable laptop to take on the netbooks at less than £300 exc VAT – just £50 more than our A-Listed Samsung NC10. Matt reckons it’s perfect “if you’re after a little more oomph and a higher-resolution screen” than a netbook.

If your budget is significantly higher the UK’s first review of Toshiba’s brand new Portégé R600 ultraportable may be more your bag. Tim reckons it can trounce the Macbook Air on most specs – and he’s the editor so we can’t argue. It’s not the prettiest but “its price, integrated 3G modem and low weight all work in its favour.”

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First look: ATI Radeon HD 4830

Friday, October 24th, 2008

It seems that, at the moment, ATI is releasing fantastic graphics cards on a month-by-month basis. Now, it’s the turn of a part that’s been designed to sit between the Radeon HD 4670 and HD 4850 in ATI’s comprehensive line-up: the HD 4830.

The specifications reveal that, while the 4830 isn’t as powerful on paper as the 4850, it’s still a powerful GPU in its own right. A core clock speed of 575MHz is only 50MHz lower than the 4850, and 512MB of 900MHz GDDR3 memory certainly hints at the new card’s potential.

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Nvidia keeps failing the name game

Friday, September 26th, 2008

At present it’s nothing more than an industry rumour, but it’s one that can’t come true soon enough. Nvidia is reportedly about to rebrand its graphics cards in a quest for much-needed simplicity.

Gone will be the 8000 and 9000 number schemes, with things going back to (kind of) the beginning. So we’ll see 100s and 200s, and all the divisions of ten in between; while the suffix letters will find their way to the beginning of the names, a la G100 and GT140.

Because that’s simple.

Perhaps I’m just being picky on a Friday afternoon, but surely I’m not alone in thinking simple would have been to do away with the ghastly prefix/suffix convention altogether, in an entirely fresh start. Can anyone even remember why a GT was decided to be faster than a GS, which in turn is faster than a G, in the first place? (more…)

Is Nvidia losing its grip?

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Today sees a very telling announcement in the graphics world. Gainward, for years an exclusive producer of mainstream and overclocked GeForce cards, has launched its first Radeons to market – the HD 4850 and HD 4870.

You could look at it one of two ways. The simplest reason could be that Gainward (owned by non-exclusive card maker, Palit) simply wants to boost its profits by reaching a larger audience than it previously sold to. The other is that AMD’s current resurgence has Gainward looking upon Nvidia as less of a sure thing than before.

After all, each of Nvidia’s last few launches has seen the GeForces getting faster, but also bigger and hotter than ever before, while AMD is managing to keep up in the speed race while keeping its Radeons much more manageable, and vastly less expensive.

It’ll be interesting to see if any other manufacturers follow suit.

Just in: ATI Radeon HD 4870

Friday, June 27th, 2008

This is the ATI Radeon HD 4870, rumoured before its release to be one of the fastest cards around, and it has just landed in our labs, only one week after it was announced.

It’s benchmarking downstairs in our labs as we speak – hence the odd angle in the image above – but we can already tell you that it looks to be incredible value for money.

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