Tag Archives: geforce

WHQL-Certified GeForce R275 Drivers Out Now

Significant performance gains in R275 Nvidia just rolled out their latest WHQL certified GeForce drivers for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs.

The R275 driver suite is all about performance gains. On 400 and 500 series GPUs in particular there are quite a number of bumps in FPS for Crysis 2, Civilization V, Portal 2, Bulletstorm and Batman Arkham Asylum.

There are also a number of bugs ironed out from the previous beta, thanks to the savvy Nvidia community; see below:

Bug fixes in R275

If you’re running GeForce drivers V270.51 or higher then you should have received the update notification via your taskbar, if you have the ‘auto-update’ feature enabled. For everyone else you can download the drivers here.

For a full list of fixes and changes head on over to Nvidia’s blog.

Nvidia rolls out WHQL-certified 270 drivers

At the end of March Nvidia released an early beta version of their v270 drivers for 6-series and above GeForce graphics cards; bringing with them massive performance gains to their 500 series of GPUs; also fixing the terrible performance in Dragon Age II. The company also added a new auto-update feature that alerts you via the taskbar when a new driver is available, with links to download.

The 270 family of GeForce drivers have been given the OK from Microsoft and are now available to download WHQL-certified (Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing). If you opted to download the beta drivers (270.51) back in March you should have already been notified of the new release, provided you had auto-update enabled.

Check out the above video in which Nvidia’s Tom Petersen goes through briefly what these new drivers bring to the table. You can read in detail about all the performance gains here.

Nvidia prepping new GTX 560

Nvidia Girl If the team over on EXPreview have it right, we can expect another mid-range graphics card from Nvidia this month or next.

Back in January Nvidia launched the mid-range GTX 560 Ti. This card replaced the GTX 460 using a refined GF114 GPU. The upcoming (allegedly) GTX 560 (non-Ti) card will sport the same GPU, only it will have fewer cores and a slower clock-speed bringing the price down from its ‘Ti’ big brother.

According to the source, the card will feature 336 CUDA cores, 56 texture units, 32 ROPs and a 256-bit 1GB memory interface (GDDR5). The card’s retail price will reportedly be around the €180 mark.

AMD is also planning a cut-back mid-range card soon, in the form of the HD 6790. So it looks like the never-ending war between camp green and camp red is only just heating up.

One thing’s for certain there has never been a better time to build a PC. Graphics cards are in abundance, from the low-end right up to dual-GPU paradise.

Nvidia shakes up GeForce drivers with auto-update and more

Nvidia Nvidia today released beta drivers for their 6-series and above GeForce graphics cards, updating CUDA, PhysX, 3DVision and HDMI audio drivers. But probably the biggest change in V270.51 is a new feature that prompts you when your drivers are out-of-date linking you to download the latest version for your particular card. It works in pretty much the same way as Microsoft’s Windows Update, in that you’ll receive a pop-up dialogue box in your taskbar.

‘Nvidia Update’ is an optional install when you download and run the latest beta, but I’m sure most Nvidia users will welcome this addition, saving the avid gamer from constantly checking the website for updates.

The drivers also include a wrath of performance updates for the GTX 560 Ti and GTX 580. In Dragon Age II alone Nvidia boast “6.2 times faster in a GeForce GTX 580 SLI configuration, 5.6 times faster in a GTX 560 Ti SLI configuration, 4.5 times faster on a single GTX 580, and 3.6 times faster on a single 560 Ti.”

Release 270 highlights:

Boosts gaming performance by as much as 6x.
Enables NVIDIA Update, an easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest GeForce drivers.
Fully integrates all 3D Vision drivers – including the 3D Vision USB Controller driver – for easy 3D Vision installation.
Expands 3D Vision window mode to include support for 3DTV Play, Windows Aero, and 3D Vision Notebooks.
Dramatically boosts 3D Vision and 3D Vision Surround performance in DirectX 9 games with SLI enabled.
Better 3D Vision performance when using Half-Life 2 games in 3D.
Adds support for applications using the new CUDA 4.0 features.

This is one of Nvidia’s biggest releases in long time and there are too many improvements to list here. You can find a rundown on all the changes with graphs and performance info over on Nvidia’s GeForce website.

Nvidia’s GTX 590 is smokin’, literally

According to Swedish overclockers over on Sweclockers.com the new dual-GPU flagship card from Nvidia overheats when using the drivers that were initially given to the press. In some cases (as seen in the above video) the card can even blow up. This happens when a person tries to overclock or overvolt the GTX 590 with driver version number 267.52.

The problem with these older drivers seems to be that they fail to activate a safety feature which protects the card’s power components.

Nvidia today released an updated driver for the GTX 590 which everyone should upgrade to.

Meanwhile the company is trying their best to reassure customers that the cards are completely safe, but stress caution when overclocking or overvolting the card:

In the web release driver of GeForce GTX 590, we have added some important enhancements to our overcurrent protection for overclocking. We recommend anyone doing overclocking or running stress apps to always use the latest web driver to get the fullest protection for your hardware. Please note that overcurrent protection does not eliminate the risks of overclocking, and hardware damage is possible, particularly when overvoltaging.

We recommend anyone using the GTX 590 board with the reference aircooler stick with the default voltage while overclocking, and avoid working around overcurrent protection mechanisms for stress applications. This will help maintain GTX 590′s great combination of acoustics, performance, and reliability. NVIDIA has worked with several watercooling companies to develop waterblocks for GTX 590, and these solutions will help provide additional margin for overclocking, but even in this case we recommend enthusiasts stay within 12.5-25mV of the default voltage in order to minimize risk.

Nvidia shows off “engineering marvel”, the GTX 590

As promised by the GPU maker 2 days ago, Nvidia’s Tom Petersen is back to show us all what was hiding inside that black and green box. Tada! It was the GTX 590. O.K. I’m sure most people with their ear to the ground already knew what to expect.

In this next YouTube video Peteren goes through in detail the technical specs of their new dual-GPU graphics card, and compares the design to previous dual graphics cards. You get to see the card in action with Crysis 2 and Homefront, and also how quiet the GTX 590 runs even while under full load.

If you’re contemplating buying one of these cards you can find the full list of specifications and features here.

Nvidia launches GeForce UK website

In a press release Nvidia today announced the launch of GeForce UK, a website that’s “dedicated to the world of GeForce gaming and computing and getting the most out of your GeForce GPU.”

What can you find on GeForce UK? There are community forums, a GeForce driver download page, tips and guides on how to tweak your graphics drivers for optimal performance and information on the latest GeForce hardware. There’s also an up-to-date price comparison list and ‘where to buy’ tool.

From the press release:

The GeForce UK website provides a one-stop-shop for GeForce owners, from providing GeForce Driver downloads, information and the latest GPU news and reviews through to how to upgrade your PC gaming rig with the latest graphics cards and 3D vision technology.

Nvidia set to announce “next gen” graphics card on March 24th

Nvidia uploaded a very short video on their YouTube channel with the announcement of an upcoming “next generation” graphics card. According to Nvidia’s Tom Petersen this is “a top secret project we’ve been working on for the last 2 years.”

Since we already know the GTX 590 is coming on the 24th, it’s safe to say this is what’s inside that mysterious looking black and green box.

Nvidia’s GTX 590 coming March 22nd

Nvidia

Expreview seem to have it on good authority that Nvidia is all set to release the GTX 590 on March 22nd. Yesterday saw AMD roll out their dual-GPU HD 6990, taking the performance edge from Nvidia albeit for a while. But it seems Nvidia is almost ready to announce to the world their counter-attack on AMD.

We’ve been expecting Nvidia’s answer to ‘Antilles’ for many months, and now that AMD’s horse has bolted Nvidia doesn’t want to be second-rate in the high-end department.

The GTX 590 is a dual graphics card based on the GF110 core, sporting 1024 CUDA cores and 3 Gb of GDDR5 VRAM. The card will also need dual-8pin external power connectors, just like the HD 6990.

Nvidia announce GTX 560 Ti, Amazon already taking orders

Nvidia today officially announced the inclusion of a new mid-range graphics card. We’ve heard the rumors for a few weeks now, but the company put out the word on its GTX 460 successor on the Nvidia blog.

The GTX 560 Ti is squarely aimed at the sub $250 demographic, offering better performance and power consumption than the 460 while still being based on the same architecture. The 560 TI boasts an impressive 21% better power efficiency and 33% better performance than last year’s mid-range sensation.

Nvidia are building the GTX 560 Ti up to be “the fastest GPU you can get for under $250..”

Amazon are already taking orders on the PNY, Galaxy and MSI Twin Frozr editions.

Palit takes overkill to new extremes with 3GB GTX 580

Palit GTX 580 with 3GB of VRAM

If you’re into playing games at uber-high resolutions across multiple monitors, Palit might just have what you’re looking for. The Nvidia board maker just announced a new variety of GTX 580 cards. These 580s not only come with a new custom dual-fan cooling solution, but a whopping 3GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

The rest of the specs read just like the other GTX 580s with respect to processor cores, graphics clock etc but as of yet Palit have not released any pricing details. Amazon has the regular Palit 1.5GB GTX 580 listed at $523.04, so with the advent of double the VRAM I can only assume it will be more expensive than that.

Full specs:

Specs comparison

From the press release:

Palit Microsystems Ltd, the leading graphics card manufacturer, announces the double memory size Palit GTX 580 3GB. With massive 3072MB of GDDR5 memory, Palit GTX 580 3GB offers rich, realistic and explosive HD gaming performance under maximum resolution setting. Palit GTX 580 3GB is built for enthusiast gamers! With 3072MB memory at 4020MHz, Palit GTX580 3GB provides incredible gaming performance in the hottest title such as StarCraft II even under an extreme resolution. On a 30″ monitor with 2560×1600 resolution, Palit GTX 580 3GB provides 2.5X faster performance than 1GB version with 44.7 frame per second. Play with Palit GTX 580 3GB under maximum resolution, you will have a surreal experience that makes you hard to go back to anything less! Play StarCraft II with Palit GTX 580 3GB under maximum graphics setting, you can experience the excellent gaming performance!

Nvidia release new WHQL drivers, add support for GTX 570/580

Geforce 266.58 WHQL

Nvidia today released new WHQL drivers. 266.58 promises quite a few performance gains for GeForce 400 and 500 GPUs. The new 265 family of drivers also adds support for the recently released GTX 570 and GTX 580 graphics cards.

Below is short summary of performance gains:

GeForce GTX 580:

- Up to 7% in Battlefield Bad Company 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
- Up to 12% in Battleforge (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Very High)
- Up to 11% in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
- Up to 7% in Dirt 2 (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
- Up to 7% in Far Cry 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
- Up to 5% in Just Cause 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Dark Tower)
- Up to 5% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
- Up to 9% in Stone Giant (SLI 1920×1200, DOF on)
- Up to 8% in Unigine Heaven v2.1 (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Improves performance in Final Fantasy XI on GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs.

Visual Quality

Adds ambient occlusion support for one of the most popular games of the year: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. Ambient occlusion improves the quality of lighting, shadows, and depth perception in many parts of the game. Learn more on GeForce.com.

Download the drivers here.

GTX 560 set for January 26th release, replacing GTX 460

GTX 560 slated for January 26th release

According to WCCF Tech, Nvidia is preparing to launch its new mid-range performance card, the GTX 560 on January 26th. The new card is set to replace the GTX 460 which was based on the GF104 architecture.

Some people may see this as a strange move for Nvidia. On paper the cards don’t offer a shed-load of performance increase over the current mid-range GTX 460. It does have more CUDA cores (384, to the 460′s 336) but the clock speed is only 820Mhz. I’ve yet to meet a GTX 460 that couldn’t get 820Mhz with its hands tied behind its back.

Nvidia is trying to bring the card in the sub-$270 “performance” segment which AMD has dominated after the release of its HD6800 Series GPU’s and now its also planning to release newer models of HD 6950 and 6970 with cost effective boards which will also drop the prices of both of the cards alot. Nvidia might be cut the price of its card later but it’s still unexpected. Some Performance details also show that the card is faster than both the current HD 6800 Series cards while being a bit slower than the HD 6950..

Nvidia release new beta drivers, add support for GTX 570/580

266.35 beta

Nvidia have quietly released new beta drivers, 266.35. This release adds support for the recently launched GTX 570 and GTX 580 2nd-gen directx 11 cards.

There is also the usual tweaks, fixes and performance improvements in some popular games; like Battlefield Bad Company 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, the Unigine Heaven benchmark 2.1 and a few others. The drivers also add ambient occlusion support for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty.

This is the first release from the Release 265 family of drivers (versions 265.xx to 269.xx). You can read more about this family of drivers on GeForce.com.

This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs.

New in Release 266.35

GPU Support

Supports the newly released GeForce GTX 580 and GeForce GTX 570 GPUs.

Performance

Increases performance for GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. the latest Release 260 drivers. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 580:

Up to 7% in Battlefield Bad Company 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Up to 12% in Battleforge (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Very High)

Up to 11% in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Up to 7% in Dirt 2 (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Up to 7% in Far Cry 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Up to 5% in Just Cause 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Dark Tower)

Up to 5% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Up to 9% in Stone Giant (SLI 1920×1200, DOF on)

Up to 8% in Unigine Heaven v2.1 (SLI 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)

Improves performance in Final Fantasy XI on GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs.

Visual Quality

Adds ambient occlusion support for one of the most popular games of the year: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. Ambient occlusion improves the quality of lighting, shadows, and depth perception in many parts of the game. Learn more on GeForce.com.

If you don’t mind using beta software, head on over to Nvidia’s driver download page.

EVGA GTX 580 up for grabs

EVGA GTX 580

CyberPower are giving away an EVGA GTX 580, the fastest single-gpu card on the market right now. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is comment on their Facebook post, share it with a friend and email them a screen-shot of your message.

Other rules and notes:

This contest is open to residents of U.S. and Canada only. Contest winners must submit an email to contest@cyberpowerpc.com in order to claim their prize. Winners will have a maximum of 7 days from the date of the winners’ announcement to claim their prize. Winner will forfeit their prize if s/he fails to contact CyberPower within the 7 day period.

Head on over and check it out.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Video Card Review

The reinvented Fermi GF110 GPU delivers more graphical power per watt than any other DirectX-11 video card.

Everyone who waited for NVIDIA to launch their Fermi graphics architecture felt like they had held back once it was finally released. The GF100 graphics processor that was packaged into the GTX 480 used less than its full potential, and it didn’t create the wide performance margin everyone expected between competitors. Seven months later, NVIDIA has returned with their updated Fermi GF110 GPU, delivering all 512 CUDA cores in the GeForce GTX 580. Featuring a tweaked graphics processor that runs much cooler and uses less power than the GTX 480, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 is tested by Benchmark Reviews against the Radeon 5970 and CrossFire 6870 video cards using the latest DirectX-11 video games.

Something happened to the Fermi architecture between the time it premiered as GF100 and when it began to really turn heads as GF104: the ratio of shaders and texture units was perfected. The original GF100 GPU placed too much emphasis on tessellation, and not enough on overall graphical performance. As a result of finding the right balance, the GF104 graphics processor on the GeForce GTX 460 became an overnight sensation for gamers. Now evolved into the GF110 GPU, all 512 cores understand their purpose and propel the GeForce GTX 580 to a level only rivaled by the competition’s best and most-expensive dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 graphics card. Trimmed down to a modest 244 watts of power consumption under load, the GTX 580 outperforms its predecessor in both power efficiency graphical performance.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

New Nvidia WHQL drivers, 260.99

Nvidia 260.99 available for download

Yes that’s right, just when you were getting comfortable with your 260.89 WHQL drivers, released only 1 week ago.

Nvidia just announced via its Twitter page the release of driver version 260.99. This new release brings with it performance gains in a few choice titles like: Civilization V, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, and Fallout: New Vegas. There’s also an upgrade to 3D Vision game profiles for Call of Duty: Black Ops and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2.

One nice new feature with the 260 series is in the installation menu – you are given the option to perform a “clean” install, which completely wipes your PC clean of any trace of the previous driver. No more using CC cleaner.

You can grab the new drivers here.

ASUS VG236H 120Hz LCD Monitor 3D-Vision Set

ASUS VG236H 120Hz LCD Monitor

We live in a three-dimensional world, and yet we settle for a 2D virtual world while sitting in front of computers. The price of 3D-capable monitors isn’t affordable for budget buyers, just like LCD monitors weren’t value priced when they began showing up on shelf space beside CRT monitors, and yet they eventually became the industry standard. ASUS knows a thing or two about the computer hardware industry, and the ASUS VG236H 120Hz widescreen LCD monitor with bundled NVIDIA 3D-Vision kit could help take 3D mainstream. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology feature using stereoscopic 3D effects on this 23.6 inch monitor in single-unit and triple-display 3D-Vision Surround configurations.

The ASUS VG236H provides two primary functions: a gateway into the world of stereoscopic 3D, and a 1920x1080p widescreen LCD monitor capable of accepting HDMI input with HDCP support. The 0.265mm pixel pitch displays 16.7-million vivid colors with a 100000:1 maximum contrast ratio and 2ms response time on the TFT TN panel. Priced for $499.99 at NewEgg, this widescreen monitor/3D-Vision kit combines two premium technologies into one convenient package. Paired with a modern NVIDIA GeForce video card, gamers can enjoy extremely fast-paced action scene without ghosting effect, as well as experience their virtual battleground in 3D. Additionally, the ASUS VG236H can display 3D Blu-ray movies or streaming 3D content.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

Nvidia adds support for GT 430 in latest driver release

Nvidia adds support for GT 430 in latest release

Nvidia has just announced a new driver release that adds support for the GT 430. This is the second beta of the recent 260 family of drivers. Last month saw the release of driver number 260.63, adding performance gains for SLI in a number of titles. Version 260.89 is now available with promise of WHQL drivers very soon. This new release adds support for Nvidia’s new entry-level GPU, the GT 430 – which Nvidia are marketing as a media-centre PC GPU.

According to Nvidia there are a number of bug fixes from the previous beta as well as performance increases, compared to the 258.96 WHQL.

Grab ‘em here.

Partial list of attributes:

This is a Beta release from the Release 260 family of drivers. This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, and 400-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs.

New in Release 260.89

New GPU Support

* Adds support for the newly released GeForce GT 430 GPU.

Performance

* Increases performance for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. v258.96 WHQL drivers. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 480:
+ Up to 10% in StarCraft II (2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF Ultra)
+ Up to 14% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 16% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (SLI – 2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 6% in Aliens vs. Predator (SLI – 1920×1200 noAA – Tessellation on)

GeForce GTX 460:
+ Up to 19% in StarCraft II (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Ultra)
+ Up to 15% in Battlefield Bad Company 2 (SLI – 2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 12% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2560×1600 noAA)
+ Up to 9% in Aliens vs. Predator (1680×1050 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
+ Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (1680×1050 noAA – Tessellation on)
+ Up to 11% in Dirt 2 (SLI – 2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 12% in Crysis:Warhead (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Gamer)
+ Up to 13% in Far Cry 2 (2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 12% in H.A.W.X (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF SSAO Very High)
+ Up to 5% in Just Cause 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 22% in Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (1920×1200 noAA)
+ Up to 5% in 3DMark Vantage (Extreme Preset)

Gainward and the 2Gb GTX 460

nvidia gtx 460

Only 2 months after Nvidia unveiled to the world the GTX 460 GPU, Gainward has cranked it up a notch by now including a 2Gb model. There are a plethora of different releases and designs of Nvidia’s new mid-range card but Gainward are the first to offer it in a 2Gb model. The first release had 768Mb of ram with a 1Gb sister card. The real question is, does anyone need 2Gb of Vram yet?

The Gainward GTX 460 2GB ‘Golden Sample’ uses the same 256-bit memory bus width as the 1GB cards, giving the same rated memory bandwidth as the 1GB models. Out of the box, the card comes pre-overclocked from 675MHz to 700Mhz on the GPU, and stock-clocked at 3600MHz (effective) for the memory. Ports come in the form of HDMI, two DVI, and a VGA.

Gainward’s marketing of their ‘Golden Sample’ series is to promote the overclockability of their cards through improved design and cooling – this card is promoted with 6mm water-based heatpipes and an 80mm fan. The GPU of the 1GB version of the cards, as shown at AnandTech, overclocked to around 825MHz-835Mhz on stock voltages; the double memory on this Gainward 2GB card could ultimately limit memory overclocking.

This new release from Gainward will hopefully help Adolf Hitler simmer down. He wasn’t at all impressed with some of the power consumption and heat issues with the GTX 480.

AMD poke fun at Nvidia heat issues

Many users reported operating temperatures of up to 100 degrees Celsius from the GTX 400 series of Nvidia GPUs. Benchmarks from Tom’s Hardware Guide posted back in March seemed to confirm that Nvidia’s Fermi range ran very hot while consuming a lot of power.

AMD have taken the bad press concerning the heat issues that have dogged Nvidia these past few months and transformed it into a cheesy video. If you like slapstick, have recently chosen AMD over Nvidia, and schadenfreude is not something you shy away from then you might want to check this one out.