Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

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Filed under: Desktops

We know the past couple years haven’t been kind to VIA-owned S3 Graphics — market share has declined, and NVIDIA and ATI keep introducing fancy new technologies, making it tough to keep up. That said, we’re inspired by S3’s ardent attempts to stay relevant in an industry that won’t easily make room for small competitors. The latest case in point: the company has released a photo-editing app to demonstrate the newly-programmed GPGPU (general-purpose computing on graphics processing units) functionalities of its DirectX 10.1 Chrome 400 line of discrete graphics cards. S3 claims its hard work has produced an HPC environment that can be used to reduce processing time for scientific and other applications from days to seconds — we’ll believe it when we see it, but you’ve gotta admire the tenacity.

[Via CustomPC]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Way back in December of 2006, NVIDIA and AMD were both pegged for potential price fixing, and nearly two years later it seems it’ll finally be paying the piper. A settlement agreement is detailed in a recently filed 8-K form, which asserts that NVIDIA would pay $850,000 into a total fund of up to $1.7 million, with AMD / ATI probably left to make up the rest. Of note, the 8-K filing does mention that all of this is still “subject to court approval,” but it’s likely that the green light will eventually be given. Outside of that, we’re also informed that NVIDIA will be handing over $112,500 to the individual plaintiffs who brought the case to court. Well, we’re glad that’s settled.

[Via CustomPC]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

We won’t even begin to suggest that NVIDIA is the only company out there with, shall we say, less than crystal clear naming schemes, but we’re really hoping the latest whispers (which we’ve heard once before) about the outfit are true. TG Daily has it that undisclosed “industry sources” have suggested that the GPU maker will be dropping the 8000- and 9000-series names in an effort to simplify the model tags that appear on its products. Instead of breaking into the 10k+ club, the outfit will purportedly resort to using simple(r) letter prefixes to denote performance levels: “G” for baseline, “GS” and “GT” for mid-range and “GTX” for high-end. We’re told that the new naming arrangement could be revealed officially as early as October 15th, but ’til then, we’d recommend doing some hefty research before buying something you only thought could run Crysis.

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Gaming

Quite honestly, there’s absolutely zero proof that Intel and Microsoft are yapping it up in regard to Larrabee, but considering just how logical it sounds, we couldn’t help but pass along the latest whispers surrounding the two. According to those fabled “industry insiders,” The Inquirer has it that Intel is currently on bended knee asking Microsoft to integrate Larrabee into the next-generation Xbox. If it were to land such a deal, developers would — in essence — be forced to develop for Larrabee given the need for console titles, which could then make things all the easier for Intel on the PC side. Like we said, this is all speculatory for now, but so long as the dots continue to connect, we’ll at least give this one a fighting chance at materializing.

[Via Joystiq]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

You’ve got to love it, don’t you? The prolonged hatefest between Intel and NVIDIA is continuing on today, with Andy Keane, general manager of the company’s GPU computing group, delivering the latest blow. While speaking to reporters at the outfit’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, he was quoted as saying that there is still “an incredible amount about Larrabee that’s undefined.” Furthermore, John Mottram chimed in by suggesting that “as [blogger and CPU architect] Peter Glaskowsky said, the ‘large’ Larrabee in 2010 will have roughly the same performance as a 2006 GPU from NVIDIA or ATI.” We’re beginning to wonder if these guys aren’t just passing disses while sharing a cold one afterwards just to get attention, but being that it’s more fun to envision suits from rival firms intensely angry with one another, we’ll just keep believing this actually isn’t a joke.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Details are slim at the moment, but one thing’s for sure: Dell customers affected (or not affected… yet) by those wonky NVIDIA GPUs will have their warranties extended by 12-months to compensate. The 1-year “limited warranty enhancement” will add coverage for this issue to everyone who recently purchased one of the 15 NVIDIA-equipped machines listed in the read link, and we’re told to expect further details about the whole ordeal in short order. Breathe easy, folks — you’ll be taken care of somehow or another.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

It’s arriving a month later than anticipated, but at least it’s arriving (we hope). According to a first look at PhysX on NVIDIA’s GeForce cards, The Tech Report is reporting (ahem) that the graphical outfit will dish out new drivers that add PhysX support on August 12th. The new software will allow owners of GeForce 8, GeForce 9 and GeForce GTX 200-series cards to use PhysX acceleration without shelling out any additional coinage, which means that you all will surely be giving it a shot just for kicks, right? Keep next Tuesday clear — you and Unreal Tournament 3 have a date, like it or not.

[Via UberReview]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

We already had a glance at NVIDIA’s newest low-ender, the GeForce 9500 GT, but the outfit clearly wasn’t done. In case the previously mentioned card was just a tad too weak for your needs, you can also check out the GeForce 9800 GT and / or 9800 GTX+, which feature 112 / 128 stream processors and support for HybridPower and PhysX. Both cards can be found just about everywhere right now for $149.99 and $199.99, respectively, with 512MB of RAM on board.

[Via Hardware Revolution]

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

So yeah, quite a few NVIDIA GPUs have been acting up. Nothing new there. However, Dell’s attempting to help its laptop owners out by making a few notable BIOS updates readily available for download. Apparently the issue “is a weak die / packaging material set, which may fail with GPU temperature fluctuations.” In order to combat the problem, Dell’s BIOS flashes “modify the fan profile to help regulate GPU temperature fluctuations,” though the Round Rock powerhouse only promises that the updates will “help reduce the likelihood of GPU issues.” Hit the read link and give it a go — it can’t hurt… we hope.

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

So it seems that NVIDIA has been sneaking its 9700M / 9800M GPUs into potent gaming laptops for a little while now, but we’re finally getting some official-ish verbiage on the new-ish families. The GeForce 9700M GT, 9700M GTS, 9800M GT, 9800M GTS and 9800M GTX should all be available as we speak in some of your favorite portable LAN machines, with the latter capable of a mind-melting 420 gigaflops. For more on the graphical powerhouse that could be sitting within your machine right now, check the read link.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

An external graphics card that’s actually nearing release? Be still our hearts! Fujitsu Siemens’ recently leaked external unit, which will be based on ATI XGP technology, is actually really, really close to hitting retail — according to a piece over at Fudzilla, anyway. Slated to be titled Lasso, the RV670-based device should be more than enough to handle basic tasks, but unfortunately, benchmarks were off limits. On the upside, digital photography was not, so head on down to the read link for a few more snaps.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Just five days after ATI fessed up with an official release of its Radeon HD 4850, along comes a similar announcement for the just-leaked Radeon HD 4870. This dual-slot beast is finally being outed on the record, and at the very least, Diamond Multimedia’s version will come stocked with 512MB of DDR5 memory, a clock speed of 725 MHz, 900MHz memory speed and 800 stream processors. The unit also provides CrossFireX upgradeability and should be available here soon from your favorite online retailer.

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

If you pulled the trigger early on an XPS M1730, you may have gotten “stuck” with “just” a GeForce 8700M GT or similar. If you just can’t be behind the times, Dell is finally offering a solution with the GeForce 8800M GTX upgrade kit. Said package includes dual SLI 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express graphics card designed specifically to boost frame rates and install all sorts of Vista-compatible bragging rights. If you’re comfortable with doing the swap yourself, the upgrade price sits at a penny under $1,100. For those seeking professional help, you’ll be coughing up $1,218.99. For those of you not frozen in place by sticker shock, you can peek the how-to guide for installation after the break.

[Via Laptoping, thanks Danijel]

Continue reading Twin GeForce 8800M GTX upgrade now available for Dell’s XPS M1730

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Filed under: Gaming

Considering that we’ve already seen AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 4850 benchmarked, it’s not like we really needed some official verbiage to cement our belief that the unit was real. Nevertheless, said verbiage certainly doesn’t hurt, and that’s precisely what’s been delivered this morning. The HD 4850 is a single-slot PCIe 2.0 card featuring 512MB of DDR3 RAM, a 625MHz clock speed, 993MHz memory speed, 480 stream processors and support for CrossFireX / DirectX 10.1. We’re also told that at least Diamond Multimedia’s HD 4850 is available as we speak from a number of fine retailers, thus we presume everyone else’s version of the card shouldn’t be too far behind.

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Filed under: Gaming

Yeah, that bench. NVIDIA’s just-announced-yesterday GeForce 9800 GTX+ has already been used and abused for your satisfaction, and the folks over at PC Perspective have the benchmarks to prove it. The 55nm-based card was pit against an 8800 GT and AMD’s extraordinarily fresh Radeon HD 4850, but we’re not going to insert any spoilers in this space (okay, so it fared well… really well). All the graphs and screen captures you crave are waiting just down there.

[Thanks, Ryan]

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Judging by the fact that AMD tipped the whole world off to its upcoming RV770-based GPUs earlier this week, we don’t suppose it’ll be too upset that a 512MB MSI Radeon HD 4850 happened to land a little early in the PC Perspective labs. Design wise, there’s nothing too out of the ordinary — a single-slot cooler design, twin dual-link DVI ports, single 6-pin PCIe power connector and one goofy looking monster that you’ll never see again once this thing gets installed. Care to see how it fared when facing the pressures of modern day gaming? You know where to look.

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Hey Mac users, tired of looking longingly at that PC-lovin’ ATI Radeon HD 3870? AMD has teased you long enough, and at long last, the Mac & PC Edition has arrived. This card is optimized for use within Apple’s Mac Pro systems and includes 512MB of GDDR4 RAM, 320 stream processors, PCI Express 2.0 support and twin dual-link DVI ports for treating that pair of 30-inch Cinema HD displays like they ought to be treated. Check the read link for the full list of specifications, and get set to drop $129 when this one lands later this month.

[Via TUAW, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Whatever you do, don’t push the red button. MSI has pimped out its new GeForce 9600 GT Diamond graphics card with dual DVI, dual HDMI, optical audio and a shiny red button. The button bumps the clock speed of the graphics core and the memory, as well as increasing voltage to world-destroying levels. Unfortunately you’ll have to reach around the back of your dusty machine to click it, but we’re sure 30 minutes and a soldering iron can re-route the button to this little doomsday-inspired puppy.

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Filed under: Peripherals

Heads-up, open-source gurus — your next play toy is officially ready to be pre-ordered. The OGD1 is a self-proclaimed “high-end FPGA prototyping kit and hardware engineering platform, equipped with the peripherals needed to develop and test computer graphics architectures.” Essentially, it’s designed to be used by students of FPGA programming, engineers hunting down a dev platform or hobbyists who just can’t stop hacking stuff up. The board itself features twin dual-link DVI outputs, 256MB of RAM, PCI / PCI-X compatibility, a passive cooling system and a 128-bit memory bus. Of course, such a niche product doesn’t come without a premium, so don’t yell too loudly when reading that this one will cost you $1,500 to take home. Heck, it’s only $1,400 if you’re one of the first hundred to commit.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

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