Hasta La Gadget!

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Dylan, who needs a serious frame rate boost at a serious bargain. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I was wondering what the best video card would be that I could buy on the market for cheap (the highest I would be willing to go is $150, and that is if I absolutely need to). I’m trying to make Dead Rising 2 (and similar) look good. By the way, my computer is running a Biostar T-series TA785G3 motherboard with a AMD Phenom II processor on Windows 7, for what it’s worth. Thanks!”

Look, not everyone can just go blow $400 on the latest and greatest overclocked slab of silicon, and the lower-end market has definitely been heating up of late. Got any solid recommendations for this fellow? Recommended places to buy? Drop a note in comments below — we’re sure your next deathmatch can wait ten seconds.

Ask Engadget: best gaming graphics card for under $150? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The graphics card that doesn’t require a fridge-sized cooler is turning into something of a rarity nowadays, but we doubt the market for quiet, efficient, and halfway-decent GPUs is ever going to disappear completely. NVIDIA is fleshing out its Fermi family today with a creature that aspires to such epithets, the 96 CUDA core-equipped GT 430. It’s a patently humble GPU, as indicated by its $79.99 typical price, 49W TDP, 5.7-inch board length, and single-slot cooler design. Mind you, while those are typically considered positives, they do limit gaming performance quite significantly, with the GT 430 getting roundly beaten by ATI’s (sob!) AMD’s similarly priced Radeon HD 5670. So what niche is left for this card? Well, it’s an upgrade over integrated graphics and it gets you on the 3D bandwagon, but on the whole we’re left scratching our voluminous craniums as to why anyone would dodge AMD’s more accomplished hardware for NVIDIA’s latest. Hit up the reviews below and form your own opinion, if our one doesn’t suit your outfit today.

Read – HardOCP
Read – AnandTech
Read – PC Perspective
Read – Hot Hardware
Read – Legit Reviews
Read – Hexus

NVIDIA launches sub-$80 GeForce GT 430 for single-slot cooler enthusiasts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It would seem NVIDIA is ready to take the plunge into selling its graphics cards directly to consumers. Only problem with this plan, however, is that the company has opted to partner up with Best Buy, who’s started stocking its shelves with NVIDIA-branded GPUs a wee bit ahead of the official announcement. As most of us already know, NVIDIA and AMD traditionally rely on add-in-board partners to build and support the actual graphics boards, but now the (original) Green Team seems set to take those reins into its own hands. HardOCP has discovered Foxconn will be responsible for building these perfectly generic GeForces and NVIDIA is promising a pretty generous three-year warranty to go with their luxurious packaging. The company’s official response to these revelations has been to say that Best Buy will be the only place the own-brand cards can be purchased and that the effort is intended as a “complement” to products from its partners. Yes, we’re positive they’ll see it that way too.

Continue reading NVIDIA starts selling own-brand GPUs at Best Buy, AIB partners left befuddled

NVIDIA starts selling own-brand GPUs at Best Buy, AIB partners left befuddled originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boy, have we covered scores of ThinkPad laptops in the last few years — everything from the introduction of the X300 to the first dualscreen W700 workstation to the older R50e that left unforgettable burn marks in a mattress have graced our internet pages. We apologize for getting all nostalgic, but hearing that sales of ThinkPad laptops will surpass 60 million this month just gets us all sappy. Actually, Lenovo’s estimating that 14 ThinkPad laptops are sold every 60 seconds — it’s certainly impressive, but obviously the history of the company’s business laptops must go onward and upward. And the updated T Series is a step in that direction. Starting today, the T410, T410s and T510 will have an NVIDIA NVS 3100M GPU option and rely on Optimus to take care of the dynamically switching between the integrated and discrete graphics. While we’re a bit bummed they’re not using the newest 400M Series, the rigs are the first with Optimus to be able to dock and then drive four simultaneous displays. All T Series models are available with Core i5 CPU options and a selection of hard drives / SSD options — the T410 / T510 will start at $1,299 and the thinner T410s at $1,849. We guess this is where we raise our coffee mugs and say, “Here’s to the next 60 mil, Lenovo!”

Update: Hot Hardware is reporting that Lenovo’s tinkered with the Optimus implementation a bit so that both the integrated and discrete GPUs can run at the same time. Hit the more coverage link for some more information.

Continue reading Sixty million ThinkPads sold to date, Lenovo updates the T Series with NVIDIA Optimus in celebration

Sixty million ThinkPads sold to date, Lenovo updates the T Series with NVIDIA Optimus in celebration originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading MSI launches 15.6-inch GT663 laptop with NVIDIA graphics

MSI launches 15.6-inch GT663 laptop with NVIDIA graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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