Nvidia aims at top Netbooks, Windows 7

Nvidia is working with top-10 PC makers to bring its graphics chips for the first time to Netbooks, according to an executive at the company. And an important part of this push is getting its silicon working with Windows 7, a more Netbook-friendly operating system than Vista.
Nvidia Ion

This week, Nvidia released Windows 7 beta drivers for the “Ion” Netbook silicon that it’s handing over to customers. In conjunction, Nvidia demonstrated in Taiwan this week applications running on Windows 7. Nvidia also announced that its Ion platform has been certified on Windows Vista.

The Ion chipset is based on Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M graphics chipset, which currently handles graphics tasks in Apple’s MacBook line.

The goal is to replace the Intel silicon that supports the Atom processor and make a Netbook perform more like a typical laptop. Currently, Netbooks from companies such as Acer, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell use the Atom with an accompanying Intel chipset.

“Why would you buy a small notebook and not expect it to do what a PC can do?” Dan Vivoli, Nvidia senior vice president, said in a phone interview Thursday.

Intel, in fact, took a small step in that direction this month. The chipmaker upped the ante by shipping a new Atom N280 processor and chipset that for first time on an Intel-based Atom system can run 720p high-definition video. Graphics silicon that can handle 720p video is considered a minimum requirement for larger mainstream laptops.

Nvidia, as the world’s largest graphics chip supplier, believes, not surprisingly, that minimal graphics is not good enough.

“I remember back in 1998 when Intel came out with their 740 (graphics chip), there was this worry that no one would want to buy anything more than that,” Vivoli said. “Of course, that didn’t happen.”

The 740 eventually faded as graphics chips from 3dfx, ATI Technologies, and Nvidia bested it in the marketplace.

All companies tend to exaggerate the prospects of a new product–and Nvidia is no exception. But there seems to be more at stake than usual because getting Nvidia graphics into small devices–where its graphics have historically been almost completely absent–is imperative for its growth.

“In all the years I’ve been here I’ve never seen a product generate more excitement than Ion. At Microsoft, at Apple. Everybody we expose it to says we had no idea you could get this kind of experience on a platform this small and this inexpensive,” Vivoli said.

“Big names that you would know are working on Ion designs,” Vivoli said. “These are top-5 and top-10 companies,” Vivoli said. He expects products by midyear.

In Nvidia’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was more circumspect. Though he claimed that Nvidia had Ion notebook projects happening all over the world, “a lot of this depends on the success of our customers and these platforms. There’s still a lot execution between now and then. And lots of unknowns,” he said.

Also, on the same call, a financial analyst brought up the point that Netbook makers are not marketing the devices for 3D gaming and added that 3D graphics is not a feature that consumers care a lot about on a Netbook. Huang countered that anything people want to do on a typical laptop, they want to do on a Netbook.

Source: cnet

Nvidia Reveals G100M Notebook Series

With less than the usual amount of fanfare, Nvidia announced at CES the availability of new G100M series notebook GPUs for mainstream notebooks. There are three new processors in the series: the G105M and G110M GPUs for mainstream consumer notebooks, and the G130M for slightly higher-end entertainment notebooks.

Pricing wasn't mentioned, and the technical specs are slim on details. The G105M contains 8 processor cores, a 64-bit memory interface, and Nvidia says it is "55% faster than the previous product in this segment," a GeForce 9200M GE. The G110M is slightly more capable with 16 processing cores, but still maintains a 64-bit memory interface. Nvidia claims that the G110M is 35 percent faster than a GeForce 9300M GS. The GeForce GT 130M has 32 processor cores and a 128-bit memory interface. Nvidia says it is 17 percent faster than the GeForce 9600M GT.

Looking at the specs, it appears that these are not really new GPUs, per se. These could simply be new products built on the same mobile chips as their predecessors, die-shrunk to 55nm (from 65nm) and clocked up for higher performance. (full Story)

Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision

We live in an era where every six months a newer and speedier graphics card emerges that pushes pixels exponentially faster than its predecessor, but at its core is still just a faster graphics card. There hasn't been much in way of truly mind-blowing innovations, until now. The new Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision ($199 list) takes PC graphics in a whole new direction and creates a 3D graphics environment previously only seen in movie theaters.

GeForce 3D Vision is a consumer lever "stereoscopic 3D ecosystem." In layman's terms, it is a set of 3D glasses that makes certain games, videos, and photos appear three-dimensional. The 3D Vision comes with a set of rechargeable active shutter glasses, a USB IR emitter, a driver disc, and all of the requisite DVI and USB cables. In a perfect world the glasses would be plug-and-play, and you would be (virtually) knocking off bad guys within minutes. Yeah, unfortunately, that's not really the case. First of all you need a system with a fairly new Nvidia graphics card (a GeForce 8800 or higher will suffice). You will also need to use certain 120Hz monitors and a DVI cable without a VGA adapter, (for testing, we used a 22-inch Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ). The device will also work with select Mitsubishi and Samsung DLP HDTVs and the Light Speed Depth Q 3D projector. Nvidia sends along all the required cables for these displays as well.

Installation

Setting up the 3D vision was pretty straightforward. The first thing you need to do is delete your old Nvidia display drivers and install the new ones that come on the included disc. Once this is done, you follow the installation directions, plug in the IR emitter, put on the glasses, and calibrate them with a series of images that are provided on the same install disc. Make sure the IR emitter is within your line of sight to avoid transmission issues and some image flickering. ,,,

Game on

I have found that whenever a company launches an innovative product, it is often only useable in a very narrow realm. Remember when the first HDTVs came to market and had a picture that blew away standard definition television? The only glitch was that there were only a handful of HD channels to watch. Nvidia has taken its time with the development of the GeForce 3D Vision and has gotten all its ducks in row before launching the device. The GeForce 3D Vision will work with over 300 games on the market today. I tried the system out with Spore and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and was impressed with the use of 3D rendering—but not really blown away. But when I played Call of Duty: World At War, it was another story: Stereoscopic technology is going to totally change the way we play first-person shooters. Along with a good pair of headphones, the GeForce 3D Vision had me totally immersed in the game. Blood, bodies, and bullets were flying all around me, and it was awesome. The images produced were not quite the 3D we are used to seeing at the movies. ,,,

What about ATI graphics card users?

ATI is currently working on its own 3D technology with monitor maker iZ3D, but it uses a different technology—stacked LCD panels with different polarization and polarized glasses. iZ3D monitors work with Nvidia cards as well, of course, but you if you buy an ATI card, you get a rebate on a monitor. iZ3D also makes a special 3D driver for 3D DLP TVs, which works free with Radeon owners but is a paid deal with Nvidia cards. The iZ3D drivers support other technologies as well, like the Nvidia's stereoscopic shutter technology. Look out soon for Extremetech editor Jason Cross's in-depth comparison of ATI and Nvidia's 3D technology. (full Story)

Graphics cards 2008: Ati, Nvidia and S3

After there hadn't been a lot of movement in the graphics card market, 2008 was shaped by two new GPU generations. PC Games Hardware summarizes the most important events around Ati's RV770 and Nvidia's GT200.

Full post here