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A preview of Windows 7 gaming
The Windows 7 beta has been a huge success with pundits and users all over the tech world singing its praises. But what about gaming? Does moving to Windows 7 beta mean a drop in PC gaming performance like it did with Vista or do Microsoft and the driver teams at AMD and NVIDIA have it all ironed out?
A Bit of History
Initial rumors had the RV790 pegged as a speed optimized RV770, which currently powers the Radeon HD 4800 series of cards. Recent information has hinted that there is far more than a simple speed increase, and AMD could be catching us unawares with a potentially exciting new part. I take a look at AMD's releases over the past two years and make a few guesses as to what we might expect to see.
GTS 250 > 9800 GTX+ > 9800 GTX > 8800 GTS
The new GeForce GTS 250 1GB is being launched today and is not hiding the fact that it is a rebranded 9800 GTX+. But with a lower price and more memory, does NVIDIA have all the fixings for a great budget solution? Or will AMD crash the party?
Intro, NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 and FX 3700
Both NVIDIA and AMD have updated their respective professional graphics lines in the last month or so and we sit down with a pair of Quadros and a pair of FirePro cards to see which has the ability to be the best performer AND which is the best value.
GTX 285 Shows its 55nm Face
The new GeForce GTX 285 GPU uses the same great architecture (the GT200) that is behind the GTX 280 though shrunk down to a 55nm process technology. What the hell does that mean for you? Higher clocks, lower power and lower prices!
Technology Overview
NVIDIA has been working on stereoscopic 3D gaming for several years but now is the official release of retail product that you can buy NOW! Come in and see how we reate the new technology offering from NVIDIA and see how it could change the way you game forever.
GTX 295 Retail Release
Now that the GeForce GTX 295 is officially being launched, we can tell you all about the features and performance we didn't get to disclose during our preview posted a few weeks ago. This time we have added power consumption, Crysis and of course, Quad SLI testing!!
A change of holiday plans
NVIDIA gave us a little time with the new GeForce GTX 295 graphics card - the first dual-GPU solution from the company since the 9800 GX2 featuring a pair of 55nm GT200-based cores on a pair of PCBs on a single card. Can this new GPU get NVIDIA the performance crown again and will it cost you the remainder of your 401k to buy?
Minor or major update
NVIDIA knew that the Elemental Technologies Badaboom application was a bit lacking in terms of features in the original release and ATI's Avivo Video Converter likely pushed the software to its newest version a bit faster. See what changes v1.1 offers!
The NVIDIA Quadro CX Card
The NVIDIA Quadro CX is dubbed "the accelerator for Adobe CS4 Suite" and it is in fact just that. With the release of the CS4 series of software Adobe began offering GPU-enabled computing models in Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects and NVIDIA's partner Elemental has a GPU-based encoder for Premiere Pro as well. All are examined and tested inside!
GPU Transcoding in your future
Now that both NVIDIA and AMD each have its own GPU-based transcoding application, I thought it was time to get a head-to-head comparison going and see which of the two software applications is really the best for consumer usage. While NVIDIA's offering will run you $30 for the full version, the ATI software is completely free. Is that all that matters though?
A happy holiday to YOU!
December is here and with comes an absolute onslaught of quality PC games to take up every last bit of your vacation time. Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and Left 4 Dead are all great games but which of these are really going to push your gaming PC to limits? If you need to upgrade, is NVIDIA's or AMD's architecture more apt to perform well with them today?
Finally the X2 card we were promised
We were promised the Radeon HD 4850 X2 card months ago but only now are we getting our hands on retail samples. Can this latest dual-GPU graphics solution from AMD hope to change the landscape against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 280?
A custom cooled 9800 GT
The 9800 GT is based on the aged-yet-powerful G92 GPU from NVIDIA that has seen life on the shelf for well over a year now. The new ASUS EN9800 GT Matrix card gives the 9800 GT a face lift with custom cooling and over-spec clock rates.
Galaxy Enters the GTX 260+ Game
The updated GeForce GTX 260+ GPU with 216 shader processors is really one of the best choices in today's graphics market that balances top performance with a reasonable price. In this article we are looking at a card from Galaxy that takes that GPU and overclocks it while selling it for a price that might make you go "Hmmm".
One more mid-range contender
Turns out the answer is yes. The new AMD Radeon HD 4830 512MB graphics card competes with NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GT and is actually a better overall choice in my opinion. Budget and mid-range cards are getting a BIG boost in validity this fall and it doesn't seem to be slowing down yet.
The End/Beginning
NVIDIA gave media a preview of all the features coming in the new 180.xx driver set known internally as 'Big Bang II' and we have all the information for you here today. Even better, you can get a very early beta of these drivers if you are picking up Far Cry 2 as well!
A busy segment, Radeon HD 4550 Card
Several new cards have been released from AMD recently in the sub-$70 graphics market including the Radeon HD 4550 and HD 4350 to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce 9500 GT and its recent price drop. Oh, and S3 Graphics is back in the mix with the new Chrome 440 GTX.
RV730 becomes the Radeon HD 4670
AMD is rolling through the budget graphics market like thunder with release after release for gamers and HTPC builders with a budget in mind. Today we take a quick look at the new Radeon HD 4670 512MB card that offers up great gaming and all the HTPC goodness that AMD has on a sub-$90 GPU.
Introducing the KFA2 Line
A new comer to the US graphics card market, Galaxy brings their KFA2 brand of products to our test bench with the promise of great performance and even better prices. How does this "new" GeForce 9800 GT product compare to some other similarly priced products? Is it worth a look for your next system build?
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