Gizmodo: video cards

Video Cards Featuring SpursEngine (Cell Processor) Coming Soon

Mark Wilson — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

We've already seen the SpursEngine teased in laptops, but Toshiba is becoming vocal about bringing the SpursEngine—the same technology found in the PlayStation 3 Cell processor—to standalone video cards in 4-core configuration. The first will come from Leadtek later this month for $286, a 128MB card that can fit into a small form PC, and it will be followed in November by Thomson cards that will start in the high $300s. SpursEngine cards have built-in MPEG2 and H.264 codecs which equal smooth video playback and the ability to uprez SD content on the fly. And at least Leadtek's offering sounds like a solid alternative to small media PC packed with integrated graphics. [PCWorld]

CyberLink Uses ATI Card To Transcode Four 1080p Video Files Simultaneously

Jason Chen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EDT

The fashionable thing these days is to take the tremendous processing power of graphics cards and put them to use when you're not utilizing them to render games. CyberLink, for one, has come up with a pretty ingenous method to take an ATI or NVIDIA card (in their case, the demo was on an ATI Radeon 4850 512MB card) and convert four 1080p MPEG-2 movies into MPEG-4. Simultaneously. As long as you've got a pretty fast video card, all you need is a copy of CyberLink PowerDirector 7 and you can be doing this too. We hope this is the kind of thing Apple's going to be putting into Snow Leopard. [TG Daily]

A Simple Graph Chooses Your Next Video Card

Mark Wilson — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:40:00 EDT

The Tech Report has assembled a very straightforward bang-for-your-buck video card graph. Plotting performance on Crysis' high quality setting, you can see the simple facts laid out very clearly—like that the GeForce 9600 GT is probably worth its $5 pricetag over the Radeon HD 3850. These metrics always vary by game, and Crysis' highest settings don't demonstrate these cards at their best (the top performer can't even break 40 frames per second). But it's a quick tool to tip the scales on your next purchase. [Tech Report]

ASUS EAH3850 Trinity Prototype Video Card Goes Triple Penetration With Three Cores

Jason Chen — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT

What the crap? As if shoving two GPUs onto a single card wasn't enough to play contemporary games at a decent frame rate, Asus has just made an EAH3850 Trinity, a tri-core card with its own connected water-based cooling system. When you break it down, it's three RV670 cores in one card, generating output for four DVI ports allowing you to power four monitors (or one gigantic one at insane-o resolution).

Two cores in back and one in front make up the construction, which runs so hot that it comes with heatsinks, heat pipes and a water block that fits into two 5.25-inch slots. How many Xbox 360s, PS3s and Wiis could you buy for the price of one of these? [Nordic Hardware]

ATI's Mid-tier Cards Bring HDMI and 1080p Support

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 18:00:34 EDT

ATI's new Radeon HD 2400 and HD 2600 cards are hitting the streets today, bringing DirectX 10 and 1080p support to your desktop. The cards, which are clocked from 525MHz to 800MHz, range in price from $99 to $199. They also pack ATI's Unified Video Decoder, which helps decode high-def 1080p video. The cards are out now and will soon be available on pre-configured systems. Price-wise, they're not a bad way to give your system's graphics a kick. – Louis Ramirez

AMD Ships Radeon HD 2400, 2600 Cards [Electronista]

Asus' OCGear Lets You Overclock, Keep Tabs on Your Video Card

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 29 May 2007 12:40:02 EDT

Remember the XG Station we spotted back at CES? Well, Asus is releasing a desktop version that'll connect to one of Nvidia's 8600 GT cards. The breakout box will let you overclock your video card without having to rely on any software. It fits into a 5.25-inch drive bay in your PC and also keeps track of your card's temperature, fan speed, and overall performance. No word on pricing yet, although Asus plans on demoing the device next week. – Louis Ramirez

Asus OCGear [TweakTown]

Sapphire's HD 2900 Toxic Kit Cools Your Entire System

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 21 May 2007 10:10:50 EDT

Now that ATI has unleashed its new video cards, Sapphire is stepping up to the plate with its forthcoming HD 2900 XT Toxic. The kit pairs two HD 2900 XT cards with a drive-bay-mounted water cooling system designed with its own reservoir, pump and radiator system. What's cool about the system is that it'll provide enough cooling to keep your video cards and your CPU from overheating (even if you decide to overclock the cards). Pricing hasn't been set yet, though the kit should be out in the next few weeks. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release [via IGN]

NVIDIA's GeForce 7200 GS Gets You Windows Vista Aero For Peanuts

Jason Chen — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:00:26 EDT

If you're like Adam over at Lifehacker who has a copy of Vista but a graphics card from 1997, nVidia's got you covered. The latest entry-level GeForce 7200 GS is their cheapest standalone graphics card, but still meets the requirements Microsoft's set for running Aero. It's 50% better than integrated graphics cards, which is like saying you're 50% stronger than your infant child—technically true, but nothing worth bragging about.

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]

PNY Accidentally Outs Nvidia GeForce 8600

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:45:09 EDT

PNY jumped the gun a little early today announcing its new GeForce 8600 GT cards before Nvidia's official blessing. The new cards will pack 256MB of GDDR3 memory and according to PNY will go on sale tomorrow. If true, this means we should hear an official announcement from Nvidia any second. The cards are expected to go up against ATI's RV600 and RV630 models (once those come out). There's no mention of pricing, however, although previous rumors had these cards coming in at around $150. – Louis Ramirez

PNY Pre-Announces Nvidia GeForce 8600 [Reg Hardware]
Image Courtesy OCWorkbench

New ATI X2900 XTX Shames Nvidia 8800 to Second Place

Louis Ramirez — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:13:22 EDT

I like it when rumors jibe with each other, and the latest ATI rumblings seem to go hand in hand with the initial X2900 XTX leak we posted on last month. The difference is this time around the card has been benchmarked. So just as a recap, this is the card that could power those 8-core Macs we've been promised. It has an 800MHz core and a gigabyte of DDR4 memory. The folks at VR-Zone pitted it up against Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GTX and...

the Radeon zoomed by Nvidia's flagship, beating it 9700 to 9500 in 3DMark06. To geek out on how the card was tested, hit the link below. Otherwise all you gotta know is that it's expected to come out mid-April, around the same time as those new Macs. I like it when rumors jibe with each other. – Louis Ramirez

Retail R600XTX Pictured and Benchmarked [VR-Zone via Electronista]

Every Video Card, Ranked

Mark Wilson — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:30:27 EST

Deep down, most of us know that we suck. But a new video card ranking compiled by J3r3my on overclock.net can quantify our waste of space based upon one's video card.

My first purchase was a 121 and our own Jason Chen is still a lousy 86 (we knew it all along). But what number are you?

Hit the jump for his copy and pasted list (because it looks like the link has gone down).

1) X2800XTX
2) 8800GTX
3) 8800GTS
4) 7950GX2
5) 8800GTS 320MB
6) X1950XTX
7) X1900XTX
8) 7900GTX
9) X1900XT
10) X1900XT 256MB
11) 7900GTO
12) 7950GT
13) X1950Pro
14) 7900GT 512MB
15) X1900GT
16) 7800GTX 512MB
17) X1800XT
18) 7900GT
19) 7800GTX
20) 7900GS
21) X1800XL
22) 7800GT
23) X1800GTO
24) 7800GS
25) 7600GT
26) 7600GST
27) X1650XT
28) X850XT/XTPE
29) X800XT/XTPE
30) 6800Ultra/EE
31) 6800GT
32) 6800GS
33) X800XL
34) X850Pro
35) X1650 Pro
36) X800pro
37) X800GTO/GTO2
38) X1600XT
39) 7600GS
40) X800
41) 7300GT
42) 6800
43) X1600Pro
44) X1300XT
45) 6800XT/LE
46) 6600GT
47) X700Pro
48) 9800XT
49) 9800Pro
50) 9700Pro
51) 9800
52) 9800SE 256bit
53) S3 Chrome S27
54) X700
55) 5950Ultra
56) 9700
57) 5900Ultra
58) 5800Ultra
59) 5900
60) 5800
61) X1300Pro
62) 7300GS
63) 6600
64) 5900XT
65) X1300
66) X600XT
67) 7300LE
68) TI4800
69) TI4600
70) 9600XT
71) TI4800SE
72) 5700Ultra
73) 9500Pro
74) 9800SE 128bit
75) X600
76) 9600Pro
77) TI4400
78) 9500
79) 6600LE
80) X1300SE
81) 5700
82) 9600
83) 6200
84) TI4200
85) 5600
86) 5600XT
87) 9600SE
88) 9550
89) 5500
90) 7100GS
91) X300
92) 9550SE
93) 9200Pro
94) 9000Pro
95) 8500Pro
96) GeForce3 TI500
97) 8500
98) 8500LE
99) 5200Ultra
100) 9200
101) 9250
102) GeForce4 MX460
103) 5200
104) 9000
105) 9200SE
106) GeForce3 TI200
107) GeForce3
108) GeForce4 MX 440
109) 7500
110) 7200
111) GeForce2 Ultra
112) 7000
113) GeForce2 GTS
114) GeForce4 MX 420
115) Radeon
116) Voodoo5 5500
117) GeForce2 MX 400
118) GeForce256
119) GeForce2 MX
120) Voodoo4 4500
121) TNT2
122) Rage128 Pro
123) Voodoo3
124) TNT
125) Rage128
126) Riva128
127) Rage3D Pro
128) Voodoo Banshee
129) Voodoo2
130) Riva
131) Rage3D
132) VooDoo1

Video cards used to have way cooler names. Now they read like Star Wars robots. – Mark Wilson

Every Video Card Ranked [digg]
VGA Charts (for everything not on the list) [toms hardware]

ATI's Radeon X2800XT Brings Heavy Horsepower to Apple's Next Gen Mac Pros

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:20:03 EST

So if the guys at AppleInsider are on the money, ATI's abnormally long X2800XT could be the graphics card to power Apple's rumored next gen Mac Pros. The red giant will feature 1GB of GDDR4 memory clocked at 2GHz while the card's core will come in at 800MHz. Basically that means it has the potential to eat Nvidia's overclocked 8800GTX for lunch. The card will also bring CrossFire technology to the Mac, so you'll be able to string two of these suckers together for maximum voltage. It's about time we get some heavy duty card options for the Mac. Better start saving now, though, as I'm sure this config won't come cheap. – Louis Ramirez

ATI Radeon X2800XT with CrossFire [via AppleInsider via CrunchGear]

Intel Leaping into Graphics Card Biz?

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:22:20 EST

Rumor has it that Intel is quietly building up a new army. An army that'll soon tackle both AMD/ATI and Nvidia. Job openings at Intel's Visual Computing Group have led people to speculate that the chip-maker is jumping into the video card market. The job descriptions state that the VC Group will be in charge of "developing discrete graphic products based on a many-core architecture." Multi-core graphics cards? Bring them on! – Louis Ramirez

Visual Computing Group [via Daily Tech]

AGP Lives!

Travis Hudson — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 10:02:19 EST

This past year we definitely saw the show exit of the AGP bus. PCI Express came knocking on the AGP's door and kicked him to the curb, forcing him to live a miserable life full of booze and hookers. Well, AGP has risen from the crack-whore ashes after an announcement from NVIDIA. They will be launching the GeForce 7800 GS AGP for those of us who refuse to upgrade to PCI Express. NVIDIA will be teaming up with BFG to manufacture this card. During the tests run by Bit-tech, this card proved to be the biggest and best AGP card to date. Follow the linkage to read up on the full-on benchmark and review.

BFG Tech GeForce 7800 OC AGP [bit-tech]