Hasta La Gadget!

Far Cry 3 officially launches today in Australia, with the European release arriving tomorrow, and the US seeing the game next week on December 4. To celebrate the launch, NVIDIA has released a new beta version of its GeForce graphics drivers that come with some very specific improvements for the game.

NVIDIA has updated it’s 310.54 beta drivers to 310.64 beta, and while you may not think it’s a huge update, NVIDIA claims that the update will boost framerates in Far Cry 3 by up to 38% when using Nvidia’s latest GeForce 600-series graphics chips. That’s certainly nothing to scoff at, especially considering that you can get that kind of framerate boost for free.

The claim comes from NVIDIA’s own internal testing, which the company ran the game at a 1920×1080 resolution with graphics setting maxed out. The test system used an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard with an Intel Core i7-3960X processor clocked at 3.3 GHz, 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 670, GTX 680 or GTX 690 depending on the test.

In addition to the Far Cry 3 improvements, the new beta drivers also include tweaks for Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Assassin’s Creed III, along with general performance tweaks that provide up to a 16% boost in games like Battlefield 3, Skyrim, and StarCraft II. The new beta drivers are available now to download on NVIDIA’s website.

NVIDIA releases GeForce 310.64 beta drivers aimed at Far Cry 3 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The practice of bundling video games with video cards has been around for a long time. Often PC gamers looking for a new video card to increase the performance of their gaming machine choose between very similar cards from different card brands depending on the video game bundled with the hardware. AMD is going to be offering one of the best video game bundles ever with its new Radeon 7900 graphics card.

AMD could use a boost in the graphics market after reporting a significant loss last quarter and announcing layoffs. AMD has announced that it will be offering a special bundle called the Never Settle bundle that will include an AMD Radeon 7900 graphics card and several full video game titles. In addition to the three free full video game titles, players will also be of the get a 20% off discount on Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

The three free video games are AAA titles and promise graphics that will certainly be able to take advantage of the Radeon 7900 graphics card. The games include full versions of Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs. All three of these titles are major releases set for this fall.

AMD will offer this bundle with several different video card options. Gamers who purchase an AMD Radeon HD 7800 graphics card or the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition will get Far Cry 3 at no cost and the discount on Warfighter. Gamers who buy a pair of specific Radeon HD 7850 series graphics cards or a pair of the HD 7770 GHz E cards will get Far Cry 3 and Hitman: Absolution. Apparently, only the 7900 series graphics cards will come with all three games.

[via VentureBeat]

AMD bundles free video games with its new HD 7900 video card is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

NVIDIA has revealed its latest graphics option, the GeForce GTX 650 iI, a $149 video card targeting upgraders looking for the company’s Kepler cleverness. Packing a promised five-times the performance of the GeForce 9600 GT, the GTX 650 Ti supports DirectX 11 and Full HD 1080p, and NVIDIA is even throwing in the promise of a free game for those who go shopping soon.

Buy a GeForce GTX 650 Ti-based video card from one of NVIDIA’s participating retailers, and you’ll get a copy of Assassin’s Creed III free. The game will have 768 CUDA cores to play with, along with a 925MHz GPU clock and 64 texture units, though no access to NVIDIA’s GPU Boost system.

There’s also 1GB of GDDR5 memory, a 128-bit memory bus and 105W TDP. It’s actually based on the same Kepler GK106 that powers NVIDIA’s GTX 660, though pared back somewhat on the specs so as to bring the price down to sit between that card and the GTX 550 Ti.

Connectivity includes a single 6-pin power connector, along with two dual-link DVI ports and a mini HDMI on NVIDIA’s reference design. However, the GPU itself supports up to four displays, though it’s up to manufacturers themselves to equip their versions with the right connectivity.

ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, KFA2 (Galaxy), Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, Point of View, and Zotac will all be pushing out video cards based on the GeForce GTX 650 Ti GPU, with availability from today.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti arrives to fill $149 GPU gap is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we’ll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You’ll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won’t stick around long.

If Monday’s round of links didn’t meet your gadget needs, perhaps today’s lineup of discounts will be a bit more enticing. More components make the list this time around as well as a set of gaming keys and a price cut on in-ear Skullcandy headphones. We won’t hold you up any longer, so head on past the break to take a gander at the goods. There are a few rebates today, though, so mind the extra links should you need ’em.

Continue reading Slickdeals’ best in tech for September 26th: HIS IceQ Radeon HD 7870, SSDs and Skullcandy earbuds

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Portable Audio/Video, Storage

Slickdeals’ best in tech for September 26th: HIS IceQ Radeon HD 7870, SSDs and Skullcandy earbuds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA has taken the wraps off of its latest Kepler graphics cards, the GeForce GTX 650 and GTX 660, bringing the CUDA-based GPUs to the lowest price so far. Prices are promised at around $109 for the GeForce GTX 650, which offers a 1GHz clock speed and 1GB of DDR5 memory, and around $229 for the GeForce GTX 660, which doubles the RAM and is the cheapest way to get NVIDIA’s GPU Boost for automatic overclocking.

That’s not to say that the GTX 650 can’t be overclocked, or indeed that it needs to be. Out of the box it can simultaneously drive four monitors for a total resolution of 5760 x 1080 with its 384 CUDA cores, but there’s a 6-pin power connector for those wanting to coax up to around 1.2GHz from the GPU.

Gamers, though, might want to step straight to the GTX 660 for the native GPU Boost. That works with the card’s 960 CUDA cores, and 192-bit memory channel (versus the 128-bit of the GTX 650) to drive Full HD monitors at some impressive frame rates compared to its predecessors; check out the benchmarks in the table below (click for a larger version):

Connectivity includes a Dual Link DVI-I, Dual Link DVI-D, HDMI, and a DisplayPort on the double-width GTX 660, and a Dual Link DVI-I, a Dual Link DVI-D, and a Mini HDMI on the double-width GTX 650. Expect cards from the usual suspects from today.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 and GTX 660 push Kepler to sub-$110 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.