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Tired of hearing that your next favorite netbook / nettop is hamstrung with one of those woefully underpowered GMA950 graphics chipsets? Eager to see what all AMD is going to do about it? If The Inquirer is to be believed, an up and coming integrated chipset should elevate the multimedia prowess of low-end machines, as the RS880 would actually be based around the new Radeon HD 4200 core. In theory, at least, this chip would be around 15 percent faster than similar alternatives out there now, giving future netbooks just enough power to churn through 720p video without st, st, stuttering. Needless to say, the suits are refusing to comment on the matter, but we’re definitely holding out hope for this one.

Filed under: Peripherals

AMD’s RS880 integrated graphics chip could make netbooks usable originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA is filling in what it presumes to be holes in its next-generation GPU lineup, adding the 40nm G210M, GT 230M, GT 240M and GTS 250M, with GDDR3 memory ranging from 512MB to 1GB, to its existing GTX 280M, GTX 260M and GTS 160M laptop graphics cards. Apparently the new cards sport “double the performance” and “half the power consumption” over the last generation of discrete GPUs they’re replacing. The cards are SLI, HybridPower, CUDA, Windows 7 and DirectX 10.1 compatible, and all support PhysX other than the low-end G210M. Of course, with integrated graphics like the 9400M starting to obviate discrete graphics in the mid range — even including Apple’s latest low-end 15-inch MacBook Pro — we’re not sure what we’ll do with eight different GPU options, but we suppose NVIDIA’s yet-to-be-announced price sheet for these cards will make it all clear in time.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

NVIDIA pops out five new mobile GPUs to fill invisible gaps in its 200M series lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you didn’t believe the Tegra hype — 25 days audio, 10 hours of 1080p video on single charge — already then pull up a stool, son, NVIDIA wants to tell your a story. TechVideoBlog sat down with Gordon Grigor, NVIDIA’s Director of Mobile Software to see Tegra’s little Atom smasher in action. So sit back while Gordon smoothly streams a 720p MSN HD trailer off the web (over WiFi) then switches over to Firefox to take Flash for a spin at full-screen. Gordon also clarifies earlier confusion over Tegra’s ability to handle HD video; see, the Tegra 600 can do H.264 video at 720p while the Tegra 650 can decode 1080p. Gordon also gives some more insight into memory configurations. It seems that the OS (either Android or Windows CE in single or dual-boot configurations) will be embedded with minimal on-board storage like those early Eee PCs. RAM will also be limited to about 512MB on base units going as low as 256MB and as high as 1GB in future (unannounced) devices. A 512MB model limits Firefox to about 3-4 opened tabs at a time. All of this is meant to keep prices down below $200 (or less when subsidized by carriers). Also of note is how the Tegra’s GPU assists in rendering pixels anytime they appear on the display. In other words fonts, Firefox pages, scrolling, and of course video playback all benefit from an extra boost by the GPU. Check the video after the break to hear Gordon make some not so subtle jabs at Intel’s relatively power-hungry Atom processor.

Continue reading Video: NVIDIA Tegra’s GPU gets busy with HD video and full-screen Flash — Intel 945GSE shrugs, kicks dirt

Filed under: Laptops

Video: NVIDIA Tegra’s GPU gets busy with HD video and full-screen Flash — Intel 945GSE shrugs, kicks dirt originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a hunch that Computex would be a massive show for NVIDIA, and while we already caught a glimpse of what the GPU manufacturer had in store, we had no idea it’d come out with guns this big a-blazin’. Showing absolutely no mercy for those other integrated graphics sets of the world, NV’s today unveiled 21 new Ion-based products in Taiwan, with all but a handful being completely unheard of. Of course, there’s the AspireRevo, Ion 330 and IdeaPad S12, but outside of that select few, everything else is all new. Asus is introducing its C2N7A-I motherboard and all-in-one Eee Top ET2002, Colorful is busting out its iHTPC, ECS is pushing out a new desktop and MSI is showcasing its Windtop AE201. And that’s just to name a few. Hop on past the break for the full spill, and don’t stray too far — we’ll be out and about grabbing hands-on time with as many of these as we can track down.

Continue reading NVIDIA strikes gold with Ion: 21 new products at Computex

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA strikes gold with Ion: 21 new products at Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD’s newfangled ATI Radeon E4690 may not be the next Crysis killer, but it should do just fine in next-gen arcade and slot machines. All kidding aside (sort of…), this new embedded graphics set is said to triple the performance of AMD’s prior offerings in the field, bringing with it 512MB of GDDR3 RAM, DirectX 10.1 / OpenGL 3.0 support and hardware acceleration of H.264 and VC-1 high-definition video. The 35mm chip also differentiates itself by integrating directly onto motherboards and taking on many of the tasks that are currently assigned to the CPU, but alas, it doesn’t sound as if we’ll be seeing this in any nettops / netbooks anytime soon ever.

Filed under: Peripherals

AMD’s ATI Radeon E4690 brings HD, DirectX 10.1 support to embedded GPU arena originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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