Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 16, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The completely new architecture of the GeForce GTX 200 GPUs enables unprecedented performance—in games and GPU-accelerated applications.
Imagine this: in just 35 minutes (1), a video is converted for the iPod; previously, it took more than five hours. The PC helps simulate protein folding, thereby contributing to the search for treatments for serious diseases. In everyday situations, the PC now works dramatically faster while still providing plenty of graphics enjoyment. With the launch of its new family of GeForce GTX 200 GPUs, NVIDIA, the world’s leading manufacturer of graphics and media processors, is making all these wishes a reality. Pure graphics enjoyment will no longer be reserved for gamers, but will also extend to applications that until now could only be dreamed of.
Graphics Power for More Than Gaming
The GPU is one of the most powerful processors in a PC. Rendering 3D images is one of the most mathematically demanding tasks that can be undertaken with a PC. But that is far from all. As PC applications use an increasing number of visual elements, even the most everyday activities benefit from the performance a GPU provides—including encoding and playing high-definition video, digital image editing, retrieving driving directions from the Internet, or simply working with a new operating system such as Windows Vista.
Today, a growing number of applications have emerged that also use GPUs for non-graphics computing tasks. Folding@home, a distributed-computing project at Stanford University, for example, uses the GPU power of millions of home computers to simulate the process of protein folding. The project is expected to yield scientific insights that may help cure diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Massively supported by the computing performance of the GeForce GTX family, applications such as Folding@home and others run up to 140 times faster on an NVIDIA general-purpose parallel processor than on a traditional CPU.
Even More Graphics Power for Gamers
CUDA’s general-purpose parallel processing mode will bring forth a new generation of ultra-realistic games. Developers can use the supercomputing capabilities of CUDA mode to simulate realistic, physically accurate effects, which then produce the most beautiful images in GeForce GPU mode. Only NVIDIA GPUs support PhysX technology, the most widely used physics engine; it enables dynamic 3D rendering in more than 140 games across a wide range of platforms and is already used by approximately 25,000 developers worldwide. With PhysX, developers can employ effects such as rigid body dynamics, collision detection and cloth simulation, making completely new and unique gaming experiences possible.
Key Features of the GeForce GTX 280/260 GPUs at a Glance:
- NVIDIA’s second-generation Unified Architecture delivers 50% more gaming performance than NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU, thanks to 240 state-of-the-art processor cores that enable unprecedented shading performance at resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 (2)
- Industry-leading 3-way NVIDIA SLI technology (3) with 3-way AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) provides the fastest gaming solution under Windows Vista
- By combining high-definition video decode acceleration and post-processing, NVIDIA’s PureVideo HD technology (4) delivers razor-sharp images, smooth video, lifelike colors and precise image scaling for films and videos
-
Using the full power of NVIDIA CUDA technology and the new CUDA runtime for Windows Vista, developers can offload compute-intensive tasks from the CPU to NVIDIA GPUs and assign them to as many as 240 multithreaded processor cores
Graphics cards featuring the new GeForce GTX 280 GPUs are available immediately from leading manufacturers including ASUS, BFG, EVGA, Gainward, Gigabyte, Innovision, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, PC Partner/Zotac, Point of View, Unika, Unitek and XFX. Graphics cards featuring GeForce GTX 260 GPUs will also be available starting Thursday, June 26.
(1) Video encoding uses iTunes on the CPU and Elemental on the GPU. An Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme 3 GHz CPU was used for the CPU test; the GPU test was performed on a GeForce GTX 280. The source material was an extrapolation of a 1-minute, 50-second 1280×720 HD film clip.
(2) The number of processors depends on the model. The GeForce GTX 280 has 240 processor cores, while the GeForce GTX 260 has 192.
(3) This requires NVIDIA SLI-certified versions of GeForce PCI Express GPUs; a GeForce GTX 280 GPU always requires another GeForce GTX 280 GPU, although the graphics cards may come from different manufacturers. SLI also requires adequate cooling and a compatible power supply. Further information and a list of SLI-certified components are available at: http://www.slizone.com.
(4) These features require appropriate video software.
