Four more major laptop manufacturers will use NVIDIA Optimus by the fall

It’s no secret that we’ve been big fans of NVIDIA’s automatic graphics switching Optimus technology, but we’ve had one major complaint — there’s just not enough systems with it on the market. While ASUS has been employing the technology in most of its new systems, others, like Lenovo and HP, have been quite tight-lipped on the GPU tech. But apparently that’s about to change. When we crossed paths with NVIDIA’s Vice President of Worldwide Sales Rene Haas at the Netbook Summit, he revealed that at least four more major manufacturers will be using Optimus by the end of the summer. He wouldn’t share any details on brands, but he did say that there should be a total of 50 Optimus lappies on the market by the fall. Of course, we don’t know how many of those will be made by ASUS or will be Ion 2 netbooks, but it surely looks like the momentum is growing, and we’re hoping to learn more at Computex next week. Fingers crossed that we can count the Alienware M11x among them.

Four more major laptop manufacturers will use NVIDIA Optimus by the fall originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 17:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel kills Larrabee discrete GPU, will focus on integrated graphics

Intel’s been promising to blow up the graphics market with its Larrabee GPU for over three years now with virtually nothing to show for it, and it looks like the company has finally decided to can the entire project after downsizing it to a “software platform” last year. A new Intel blog post on the matter says the company won’t bring a discrete graphics chip to market, and will instead focus on integrated graphics for everyday computing and highly-parallel multicore processors for high-performance computing. Now, Intel’s obviously still in the graphics game, and it’s already made a strong move towards integrated graphics by building GPUs right into the Atom N470 and much of the Core 2010 line, but on a much broader level the decision to drop Larrabee means that Intel is now essentially pursuing the same strategies as its competitors: AMD is famously behind schedule with its Fusion project but plans to ship ATI-powered hybrid CPU / GPUs next year, and NVIDIA has been pushing its multicore GPU-based Tesla high-performance computing platform for a while now.

We’re also curious about how Intel intends to address the gaming market in the future — its own integrated graphics obviously aren’t up to the task, and it’s still fighting with NVIDIA over a Core 2010 chipset license, so that’s a big question mark going forward as more and more focus is placed on low-power and integrated solutions. We’ll see what happens — it’s not too often the death of a vaporware product has the potential to shake up the entire industry.

Intel kills Larrabee discrete GPU, will focus on integrated graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 15:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M: ‘world’s fastest’ mobile GPU now official, landing in June

NVIDIA has just announced that the GTX 480M, the mobile re-spin of its extravagantly overpowered Fermi desktop parts, will be arriving in the middle of next month. Touted as the world’s fastest mobile graphics processor, this chip will bring 352 CUDA cores and a 256-bit memory interface to up to 2GB of GDDR5 RAM. These are clear and convincing advances over the incumbent Green Team leader, the 360M, but things start to look a little worrying when we check the 480M’s clock speeds. The processor speed is nearly halved from the desktop GTX 480, at 850MHz, the memory does only 1,200MHz, and the graphics run at 425MHz — we didn’t know anything worthwhile even operated below 500MHz these days. Either way, you’re getting a computing powerhouse, with the 480M’s 897 gigaflops comfortably dwarfing its predecessor’s 413 and promising almighty tessellation performance. What it all means with regard to keeping your frame rates up while traversing the Terminus Systems, we can’t yet say. We’ll let the benchmarking gurus figure it out — go past the break for the full press release and spec sheet.

Continue reading NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M: ‘world’s fastest’ mobile GPU now official, landing in June

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M: ‘world’s fastest’ mobile GPU now official, landing in June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI Graphics Upgrade Solution seeks an ExpressCard slot to call home

It seems like we’ve been talking about external graphics cards forever, but how many do you recall that look quite as raw and ready as this? The Graphics Upgrade Solution, set for a full unveiling at Computex, is MSI’s latest answer to the eternal problem that is gaming on the move. Serving as a conduit — via its own PCI Express interface and the oft-neglected ExpressCard slot — between desktop GPUs and laptops, the GUS comes with its own power brick that can support cards with up to an 84W TDP. That, together with the limited bandwidth on offer, makes the ATI Radeon HD 5670 bundle pretty much the top of the GUS pile, but at somewhere around $229 that doesn’t look like a terrible deal at all. Alternatively, you can buy the bare unit for around $100 and make use of some old GPU to give a little extra pep to your laptop. It’s all good.

MSI Graphics Upgrade Solution seeks an ExpressCard slot to call home originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 08:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA GTX 465 detailed ahead of June 1 launch, GTX 460 also rumored

Hey, you there, wanna check out some unreleased new hardware from NVIDIA? Donanimhaber, the same site that brought us early (and accurate) specs of the GTX 470 and 480, is back with the above shot of an ASUS-built GTX 465 that is intended to entice the more mainstream crowd into the Fermi party. Essentially a GF100 with its wingtips trimmed, this’ll offer the same 607MHz graphics and 1,215MHz processor clock speeds of the 470, but comes with a narrower 256-bit memory interface, a tamer 3.2GHz effective memory clock, 352 rather than 448 CUDA cores, and — happily — lower power requirements. This word is also corroborated by Bit-tech, whose scribes expect a launch at the start of Computex. The Turkish site also has news of a GTX 460, which they say will show up in the middle of July with 768MB of GDDR5, while also being “cheaper and slower” than the 465. Hit the Hexus link below for some early benchmarks of the latter card.

NVIDIA GTX 465 detailed ahead of June 1 launch, GTX 460 also rumored originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 10:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu 10.04 meet up for an OpenGL benchmarking session

So these three operating systems walk into a bar one night … alright, we’ll behave. With all the Steamy conversation about gaming on non-Windows desktop platforms going on, we thought you might care to peek at a little OpenGL performance comparison review. As the chief cross-platform API, it’s the only way we’re going to be seeing the latest games running natively on Mac OS and Linux, but how will that experience compare to the market leader? As it turned out, Windows maintains superiority in this field, with frame rates that were habitually above those on the latest Ubuntu and well ahead of what you might get on Mac OS 10.6.3. It’s still early days — after all, Steam’s non-DirectX cupboard is pretty bare right now — but at this point in time, OpenGL gaming is a crown that Microsoft retains with relative ease. Hit the source for all the line graph evidence, and let’s hope things improve for the rest of us in rapid fashion.

Windows 7, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu 10.04 meet up for an OpenGL benchmarking session originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 04:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zotac’s ZBOX HD-ID11 starts shipping for $250

You’ve seen the sneak peek, you’ve dug into the review, and now you’re more ready than ever before to part with $249.99 in order to get your grubby mitts around one of the world’s smallest Ion 2-based small form factor PCs. You’ve already dreamed up the perfect application for this pint-sized rig, and now it looks as if Newegg is shipping out the orders that it receives right now. Go on and head down to the source link if your mind’s made up, but remember, we can’t be held responsible for buyer’s remorse effective March 13, 2004.

Zotac’s ZBOX HD-ID11 starts shipping for $250 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Overclocked ATI Radeon HD 5870 shootout: HIS, MSI and Gigabyte trade blows

ATI’s Radeon HD 5870 first saw the (official) light of day in late September of last year, but the GPU has managed to age well. In the months since that original debut, we’ve seen an Eyefinity 6 Edition hit the market for multi-monitor maniacs, and quite a few factory overclocked options have also made their way out. The benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware scrounged up three of the latest and greatest, all priced just below the $500 mark, which have core clock speeds that are 100MHz higher than standard and memory clock speeds that are up 50MHz above the norm. Cards from MSI, HIS and Gigabyte were represented, and while each of ’em put up a better-than-average fight, the latter card came out on top in nearly every single test. Gigabyte’s Super Overclock technology tended to outperform the other OC’ing solutions, but the whole lot managed to show up the non-overclocked alternatives by a good bit. Still, you’ll be forced to pay a 25 percent premium for an 11 to 16 percent boost in performance, so these are still probably best for enthusiasts who can’t stand to leave a single frame behind. Peep that source if you’re in need of more coaching before pulling the trigger either way.

Overclocked ATI Radeon HD 5870 shootout: HIS, MSI and Gigabyte trade blows originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 May 2010 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11 and its Ion 2 innards reviewed

Small form factor? Check. Low power consumption married to 1080p video playback capabilities? Of course. Quiet cooling? Naturally. Those are the basic requirements for, and their fulfillment is the means by which we judge, a good home theater pc. They’re also the highlights of Zotac‘s Ion 2-powered ZBOX HD-ID11 barebone (you have to add your own RAM, storage and OS) nettop, which recently visited AnandTech‘s labs for some old fashioned review action. It’s a highly illuminating read, particularly for those interested in the differences between NVIDIA’s Ion generations, which throws up a mixed bag of results. While you’ll be quite alright watching Full HD Blu-rays on the ZBOX, Flash hardware acceleration — yeah, that old nugget again — is not yet implemented well enough, resulting in a maximum of 480p resolution before Hulu streams started glitching out on the reviewer. A June driver update from NVIDIA should rectify this issue, and we’re encouraged to wait it out and see what we might see then. In the mean time, you can just delve into the complete analysis which awaits at the link below.

[Thanks, Wowzers]

Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11 and its Ion 2 innards reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA GTX 480M will bring Fermi to laptops this June, crazy power requirements and all

We had an inkling NVIDIA wouldn’t keep the Fermi goodness just to the desktop and here’s our first pseudo-official confirmation. Rushing in ahead of any announcements, Eurocom has started listing a GeForce GTX 480M part, replete with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a $345 markup relative to ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 5870. It’s not clear whether the 100W number refers to the TDP or power requirements of NVIDIA’s new GPU, but it’s safe to expect both to be pretty high. The MXM 3.0b interface provides a 256-bit linkup between the GPU and CPU, lending plenty of bandwidth, but it also demands plenty of PCB real estate. As a result, Eurocom is offering the GTX 480M on its 17-inch Cheetah and Panther and 18.4-inch Leopard desktop replacements, but not on its 15.6-inch Cougar. Man, no love for the Cougars. According to the listing, we’re only a month or so away from release.

[Thanks, Jacob]

NVIDIA GTX 480M will bring Fermi to laptops this June, crazy power requirements and all originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 06:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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