Hasta La Gadget!

Some folks may have long forgotten about the issue by now, but anyone that was hit by those defective NVIDIA GPUs a couple of years back will likely want to take notice — the company has finally reached a settlement in the class action lawsuit spurred on by the issue, and anyone with an affected Apple, Dell or HP laptop is eligible for some form of compensation. In the case of Apple and Dell laptops, that includes a replacement of the GPU or MCP, while users of an affected HP laptop will actually get a full replacement laptop “similar in kind and value.” Anyone that has already paid to have their laptop repaired due to the GPU issue is also entitled to a full reimbursement provided they have the necessary documentation for the repairs. Even if you are covered, however, you’ll still have to wait a bit longer to actually get any compensation — a final hearing is scheduled for December 20th, and claims will only begin sometime after that. In the meantime, be sure to hit up the source link below for the complete details, including a list of all the models affected.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

NVIDIA reaches settlement in class action suit affecting Apple, Dell, HP laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not a lot of details to be had, but NVIDIA wants you to know Fermi isn’t the company’s be-all, end-all GPU — “hundreds of engineers” are already hard at work on Codename Kepler, expected to go to production this year and ship in 2011. Kepler’s based on a 28nm process, we’re told, and will thankfully deliver an estimated 3 to 4 times the performance per watt compared to Fermi, and hopefully run cool. If you built your last PC to last, however, you might wait for Maxwell in 2013, supposedly bringing a sixteen-fold increase in parallel graphics-based computing just two years after that, including advanced features like the ability to autonomously process some content independent of a CPU.

Update: Does this roadmap mean we should expect new GPUs from NVIDIA every two years? Jen-Hsun Huang wouldn’t commit to that, but said that there will be “mid-life kicker” product launches in-between each new NVIDIA chip to keep the wheels turning.

NVIDIA reveals Fermi’s successor: Kepler at 28nm in 2011, Maxwell in 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Say hello to NVIDIA’s GF106 core (please pretend you’ve never met before). The company’s third Fermi desktop iteration is described as “a little more than half of the GF104 implementation,” which in real terms means 192 CUDA cores versus the GTX 460‘s 336, reduced memory bandwidth with a 128-bit-wide bus and a lower number of ROPs at 16. These disadvantages are ameliorated by 783MHz graphics and 1566MHz processor clock speeds as well as a much more forgiving power profile — the new GTS 450 cards will require just the one 6-pin power connector for auxiliary juice. Pricing is aimed squarely at conquering the market currently occupied by ATI’s HD 5750, which, as we saw over the weekend, plants the 450 around the $130 mark. You’ll have to read the reviews below for confirmation, but NVIDIA promises “awesome” overclocking headroom on its new card, going as far as to suggest stable 900MHz graphics clocks aren’t out of the realm of possibility.

Read – HardOCP
Read – Tech Report
Read – Guru 3D
Read – PC Perspective
Read – Legit Reviews
Read – Hot Hardware
Read – TweakTown

Continue reading NVIDIA makes GeForce GTS 450 official, promises beastly overclocking

NVIDIA makes GeForce GTS 450 official, promises beastly overclocking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might have hoped that NVIDIA’s introduction of the 400M series of mobile GPUs would bring about a slew of hot new laptops to drop into our gaming boudoirs, but we are in fact left facing more of the same. Externally, anyhow. The chipmaker rolled out the green carpet for a set of upcoming machines in London today, but they were refreshes, rather than overhauls, of current hardware. The big news is to be found within, as the new GTX 460M has made a home inside the updated ASUS G53, Toshiba Qosmio X505, and MSI GT663. The common thread among these three is that they’re all big and hefty, and all emit a subtle vroom sound every time you touch them. What we learned from NVIDIA today is that the GTX 480M will remain an exotic (you might even call it quixotic) GPU reserved for large-screen gaming stations, the GTX 470M will similarly be an enthusiast part, and the GTX 460M will be the company’s big play for the mainstream performance market. It also became clear that even the third GPU in the company’s mobile hierarchy will need quite a bulky cooling setup (and a proportionately huge charger) to do its job, but NVIDIA’s promises of much-improved performance might just make it worthwhile.

As to the more sane among us, there was a selection of pleasingly thinner machines, like the ASUS N53 and Acer Aspire 5745, which make do with the lower-specced GT 420M and GT 425M graphics chips. Those are expected to be NVIDIA’s biggest sellers, and the video demo after the break of the 425M churning through StarCraft II is certainly appealing. We should note, however, that the latest (though definitely not greatest) Prince of Persia game was also on tap on one of these machines and its frame rate gave us a delightful old-timey feeling any time we entered combat with its emulation of stop-motion animation. So, as ever, it’s looking like great graphics will require great rigs, but we can probably expect a decent — not game-changing (get it?) — leap in performance among the lighter options as well.

Continue reading NVIDIA trots out GeForce 400M series laptops, shows off StarCraft II gameplay (video)

NVIDIA trots out GeForce 400M series laptops, shows off StarCraft II gameplay (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If somehow you were able to choke up the FirePro V8800 and its 2GB of graphics buffer — traveling across an autobahn-wide 147.2GBps interface — here’s the card for you. ATI has just announced the V9800, which doubles its predecessor’s memory allowance to a mighty 4GB of GDDR5, but otherwise looks an almost identical beast. It maintains the 1,600 stream processor count of the V8800 and makes some small advances in performance and power efficiency, but on the whole it’s the same card, just strapped up with more buffer muscle. We shouldn’t neglect the new array of six mini DisplayPorts — the retail package will include six DVI adapters, worry not — which will let you have your full six-screen Eyefinity cake driven by just this one card. So, is this future collector’s item worth your time? Well, at $3,499, the V9800 is a whole two thousand dollars pricier than the V8800, but then if you have the highly specialized needs it’s looking to cater for, we’re guessing that won’t be too much of a hurdle for you.

Update: Oh, about the price, AMD just got in touch to say it’ll suggest a $3,499 tithe, not the $2.5K indicated on the slide below. Sorry is we misled you into selling up your entire 3D rendering farm with the lower price we had before.

Continue reading ATI FirePro V9800 runs out of ideas, shoots up with 4GB of GDDR5 and six mini DisplayPorts

ATI FirePro V9800 runs out of ideas, shoots up with 4GB of GDDR5 and six mini DisplayPorts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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