The built-in audio and video capabilities in the new Nvidia chipset is supposed to be better than Intel's offering for High Definition video decoding, with 24p mode (progressive 24 frames per second video) and LCPM (Linear Pulse Code Modulation) multi-cannel audio support. [Homemedia via Macsoda]

1) The issue is limited to a few notebook chips only; we have not seen and don't expect to see this issue on any NVIDIA based desktops

2) Only a very small percentage of the notebook chips that have shipped are potentially affected and the problem depends on a combination of environmental conditions, configuration and usage model

3) We continue to work closely with our partners and have taken the necessary steps to ensure that all NVIDIA chips currently in production do not exhibit the problem

[VR-Zone]

All summed up, the Inquirer is saying almost the entire run of 8 and 9-series GeForce cards are defective and "going bad in the field at high rates." More than that, they say that Nvidia will continue to cover it up because the cost of admitting the nature of the problem would be devastating, meaning we'll never know for sure. We'll just have to watch for anecdotes to pile up. We're really hoping they're wrong on this one—that's a lot of graphics cards, and if true, it could basically destroy Nvidia. [Inquirer - Thanks Jagslive!]

While there's no immediate way to tell if Nvidia is in fact lying (which would be a massively boneheaded move), as the Inquirer alleged, we'll know in the coming months. Reports of massive chip failures and an even larger hit to Nvidia's financials than the $150-$200 million it already took would make it super obvious. Hopefully the Inquirer was just being bombastic and British. [Ars Technica]

The root of the problem is the substrate/bumping material, which Nvidia themselves had characterized as "weak." The G84 and G86 chipsets use the same application-specific integrated circuit, which the Inquirer has been told had no changes made to it during its life cycle—besides, Nvidia wouldn't change the assembly process or materials for a single batch, according to engineers. So Nvidia's official claim, that the weak materials were only used for a single batch, doesn't hold so much water. And as the Inquirer points out, their fix, to run the fan more to offseat the heat issue simply covers up the problem while it drains your battery.

If this is all true, Nvidia better have more than $200 million set aside for fixes. [The Inquirer

A Radeon HD 3870 system jumped from an overall 3D Mark Vantage score of P3800 to P4262. Though it won't be available for ATI's latest 4800 cards for a bit, you can download the PhysX enabler this weekend at NGOHQ, which should make your Unreal experience on ATI that much sweeter. [NGOHQ via TG Daily via /.]

Of course, there is a cost to being maybe the best performing GPU on the planet: besides running $650 and $399, respectively (making three-way SLI nearly two grand with the GTX 280), they both require two PCI-E power connections to run and a massive power supply (like 1000w) if you're even thinking about SLI. Yet somehow it actually draws less idle power than the last gen of their ultra high-performance cards. To show you how adept they are at parallel processing here's one more benchmark shot, this time comparing its Foldering@Home performance. Yep, they've got a client coming soon. We should see mid-range cards in the line before too long, for those looking for more affordable next-gen goodness.

Update: Tom's Hardware has a massive novella of a review going over everything in complete, insane detail, but here are the highlights. It never hands down beats the 9800 GX2 in game performance (which is really two cards in one), and in fact, loses more than once, though that might be 'cause the drivers are less optimized. ATI's Radeon HD 3870 X2 gets in its licks too, like on World in Conflict. In the all-important (or maybe overblown) Crysis test, the 9800 GX2 prevails, with the 8800 Ultra not too far behind the GTX 260: Still, the overall raw processing power has doubled from the last gen and is way more efficient than the two-in-one cards. If you're going on price-to-performance, the GTX 260 is the better bet, with only an 18 percent performance lag, despite being nearly 40 percent cheaper. [Nvidia, Tom's Hardware]

PhysX technology has yet to take off, but with GPU integration, it is poised to breakout in a serious way. In fact, there are around 140 games that are supported or currently in development that utilize the technology. It may also go a long way to silence critics that say GPUs may not be necessary in the future given the increasing power of multi-core CPUs. [TG Daily via Slashgear]

It's running the same GPU series as the 9600 GT, 8800 GT and 8800 GTS 512MB (not be confused w/ the regular 8800 GTS). Actually when you look closely at the number of shader and stream processors and their clock speeds, it turns out the 9800 GX2 is basically two slightly underclocked 8800 GTS 512MB GPUs strapped together, and this plays out in the virtually indistinguishable benchmarks too.

Here's the rub: The 9800 GX2 is over 600 smackers. You can run two 8800 GT cards in SLI at $200 a pop and get almost the exact same performance for $200 less. So the real conclusion is that the 8800 GT is still the best card out there for the money. [Hard OCP]

It's actually extremely similar to the 8800 GT, but smaller and more efficient. It has half the number of stream processors but at a higher frequency, so Tom's Hardware says you're looking at a 38 percent drop in raw processing power vs. the 8800 GT cards. However, in the real gaming world, performance was only about 12 percent lower than the 8800 GT. So while it's not enough of a departure to warrant being branded a 9 series card, it's the "the best card in its price range for performance with antialiasing enabled." [PR Newswire, Tom's Hardware]

For one, AGEIA's standalone PhysX cards haven't really broken into the mainstream computing. Throwing their chips onto NVIDIA's graphics cards would push adoption, and by Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang's reasoning,

"encourage people to buy even better GPUs. It might—and probably will—encourage people to buy a second GPU for their SLI slot. And for the highest-end gamer, it will encourage them to buy three GPUs. Potentially two for graphics and one for physics, or one for graphics and two for physics."

It's a 750MHz ARM11 processor with an ultra low-power GeForce core that can en/decode 720p video, deal w/ 12-megapixel pics, and throw video onto a TV w/ an HDMI cable (up to 10 hours). It's an NVIDIA chip, so it also bosses over 3D graphics for navigation, super-slick UIs, and probably some half-decent games—just need decent controls. The end of the release says it's competing with Intel's highly hyped Silverthorne, so we can't wait to see the head-to-head benchmarks.

NVIDIA INTRODUCES APX 2500 - THE WORLD'S LOWEST POWER, HIGH DEFINITION COMPUTER ON A CHIP New NVIDIA Applications Processor and Microsoft Windows Mobile Combine to Enable Smartphone 2.0 MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2008—BARCELONA, SPAIN—FEBRUARY 11, 2008

NVIDIA Corporation, the world leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the GPU, today introduced NVIDIA® APX 2500, a breakthrough applications processor that enables intuitive 3D user interfaces and engaging high definition video on connected Windows Mobile phones. The APX 2500 applications processor uniquely delivers an unprecedented 10 hours of 720p HD playback - an industry first for video quality and power consumption on a mobile device, as well as stunning HD camcorder and ultra-high resolution photo imaging capabilities.

"This is the dawn of the second personal computer revolution," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "Technologies are converging in amazing mobile devices that have all of the rich, visual capabilities of a modern PC — from watching movies and making video calls to surfing the web and playing 3D games. The APX 2500 combined with Microsoft Windows Mobile, will make the next generation of smartphones our most personal computer."

NVIDIA® has worked closely with Microsoft on the development of APX 2500, marking a significant milestone in a long term relationship that has seen the companies share a passion for making interaction with technology more visual and instinctive across multiple platforms. The combined engineering efforts of the two companies will ensure that next generation versions of the Windows Mobile operating system will harness the capabilities of the APX 2500 applications processor across challenging multimedia use cases.

"Microsoft is dedicated to providing people true mobile freedom, so that they only need to carry one device for both communication and entertainment," said Todd Warren, corporate vice president of the mobile communication business, Microsoft Corp. "We are delighted to work with NVIDIA to offer our users an amazing visual experience on the next-generation Windows Mobile phones."

The NVIDIA APX 2500 applications processor, which is the culmination of 800 man years of engineering, delivers:

• The industry's first HD (720p) playback and capture capability for handheld devices.

• A new ultra-low power (ULP) GeForce® core, fully OpenGL ES 2.0 and Microsoft® Direct3D®

Mobile compliant and the lowest power 3D hardware solution available for the acceleration of intuitive 3D user interfaces.

• NVIDIA nPower technology, enabling over 10 hours of high-definition video playback and up to 100 hours of audio - more than 4 times the audio playback of the latest touch-screen phones.

• The connectivity and media acceleration technologies required to enable the latest web 2.0 applications, from effortless web browsing and social networking, to GPS and mapping applications.

The NVIDIA APX 2500 applications processor is sampling today with key customers and will enter into full production by the end of Q2 2008.Nvidia's solution will compete with Intel's own Silverthorne chips and other x86-based solution.

The Catch: Expect the 9800 GX2's 1GB frame buffer, two 65nm GPUs and 256 Stream processors to make this one seriously expensive graphics card. [[H] Enthusiast]

Not only that: NVIDIA says that now your Xbox 360's graphics have been officialy overtaken by a notebook GPU, as you can see in the gallery. The new 8700M GT has been first appeared into the Toshiba Dynabook Satellite WXW, which just got announced in Japan. Full specs after the jump.

The 8700M GT has the same 32 Stream Processors of the 8600M GT, but it has increased the frequency of the GPU to 625MHz from 472 MHz. The shader processor has also seen an increase, from 950MHz to 1,250MHz, the same as the memory bus, which now clocks at 800MHz instead of the 700MHz with a maximum 512MB on board.

This new specs push performance quite a bit, jumping from a 7.6 gigatexels per second Texture Fill Rate to reach the 10 gigatexel/s mark. All quite stunning for a mobile graphic chip, matching the performance of some of the best desktop cards last year.

Other than the new graphics processor, the Toshiba Dynabook Satellite WXW is your usual top of the line Santa Rosa laptop. It comes with Core 2 Duo T7300 at 2GHz, 1,680 × 1,050 pixel screen and 120GB hard drive. It also comes with your usual ports plus HDMI out, S/PDIF digital audio and a fingerprint sensor. The NVIDIA 8700M GT, however, comes with just 256MB of RAM.

Good specs, fugly design. –Jesus Diaz

NVIDIA
GeForce 8700M GT (Google Translate) [Impress PC Watch]
Toshiba Dynabook Satellite WXW (Google Translate) [Impress PC Watch]

The card itself will be under $50 but still feature DX9 and 128MB of RAM (possibly less depending on which manufacturer you buy from), which means you'll be able to do at least a little gaming while you hoard your money away like a squirrel with law school loans. – Jason Chen

Press Release [nVidia via Slashgear]

There will also be a slightly less expensive 8600 GT ($149-$159) with 540MHz clock and 1.4GHz memory. The folks at PNY should be one of the first to offer the cards (considering yesterday's leak). Now all we gotta do is sit back and wait for ATI's response. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release [via Electronista]

Nvida [via Crave]

Of course, this particular unit is aimed at the Japanese market, but maybe someday this kind of technology will find its way to US shores. At its release, it'll cost ¥40,000, that's about $340. But wait, that's just about equal to the total price of a lot of portable DVD players available now. But being able to watch that big game live in the car might just be worth it. – Charlie White

The weirdest looking TV tuner ever [Newlaunches]

I'm disappointed that BFG didn't crank up the clock speeds to take advantage of the enhanced cooling, but any serious water-cooler is probably capable of doing that on their own. Even at stock speeds, this beast is outperforming every other card on the market, including some dual-card setups from both NVIDIA and rival ATI. – Karson Thompson

BFG 8800GTX WC [Via I4U News]

Nvidia G80 Performance Explored [via Daily Tech]

There's a good reason why you'd still want these PCI express accelerators in your rig. Basically, you're either broke, or your box is too small to fit the $775 top-of-the-line, double-chipped, double-whopper sized, 1GB Nvidia 7950 GX2 card we spoke about a month or two ago.

Here's the geek-speak:
The 7900 is the mainstream part, that will sell for $250, feature 256MB of RAM running at 1320 MHz, a 256-bit memory interface, and run at 450MHz. (Pictured)

The high-ish end 7950 GT will go for around $350, and has a 550Mhz chip, 512MB of RAM dashing at a fair clip of 1400MHz through a 256-bit interface.

No word yet on how comparably fast they are to each other, the top of the line 7950 GX2, or ATI's gaming parts. I'm sure the reviews will hit shortly though. Might be worth waiting to see how they run before picking one up.–Brian Lam

New NVIDIA GeForce 7 Series GPUs Deliver Incredible Value to PC Gamers [Nvidia]

However, the reviewers wished this GeForce 7950 GX2 were capable of quad SLI performance, something they got when they strapped together two GeForce 7900 GTX SLI cards. But they did like the price, where they expect it to sell in a range between $599 and $649, making it a lot more cost-effective than buying two GeForce 7900s. Overall, in this extensive first-look preview which includes lots of "real-world" gaming benchmarks, they gave the card a thumbs up for its performance and value. – Charlie White

GeForce 7950 GX2 Hands-On Preview [FiringSquad]

The GTX has truly impressive specs, with a total bandwidth of an astonishing 51.2GB per second. The only downside is its 120-watt power consumption, and if you hook it up in an SLI system with two or four cards, you're drawing just about as many amps as your oven does on Thanksgiving Day. The Geforce 7900 GTX will run between $499 - $649, while the Geforce 7900 GT will be $299.

Nvidia Geforce 7900 GTX/GT pictured [The Inquirer]