Nvidia announces GeForce FX

[ribitch]

Nvidia Corp. announced today the GeForce FX, a new graphics architecture which the company said delivers "cinematic-quality" graphics and special effects to computers in real time.

The 500MHz graphics processing unit can calculate 375 million programmable vertices per second, 4 billion pixels per second, and 16 billion anti-aliased samples per second.

As a point of comparison, the GeForce FX is significantly faster than Nvidia's current top-of-the-line consumer processor, the GeForce4 Ti 4600, which calculates about 136 million vertices per second and has a fill rate of about 4.8 billion AA samples/per second.

Nvidia president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said that the new processor has the ability to "bring character emotion to life" through a new type of expression that Nvidia calls "cinematic computing."

The core component in this technology is the CineFX engine, which Nvidia said provides more powerful cinematic visual effects through the use of pixel and vertex shaders. Pixel and vertex shading isn't new -- current and past implementations of Nvidia's and competitor ATI's top-end graphics hardware have long boasted support for such technology, but using it has been complicated and relegated to only a select few developers of games and 3D graphics products.

Nvidia said that CineFX exposes additional capabilities by eliminating "many programming barriers" associated with the use of these detailed technologies. Nvidia has posted and linked various examples of the CineFX engine at work, displaying advanced effects, more detailed surface properties and lighting, and other capabilities associated with the technology.

Other technical aspects of the GeForce FX include 1GHz DDR2 memory support -- the fastest frame buffer ever designed, according to Nvidia -- and complete support for the AGP 8x specification. The GeForce FX unit sports nearly twice the number of transistors as the GeForce4 series; it uses a 0.13 micron and copper manufacturing process.

Although much emphasis today is being made on the GeForce FX's support of Microsoft's own DirectX technology (Nvidia is also a manufacturing partner in Microsoft Xbox video game console operations), Nvidia noted that the CineFX engine that powers the GeForce FX implements OpenGL specifications as well, and the GeForce FX supports Nvidia's Unified Driver Architecture (UDA). These two issues are of significant import to Macintosh users, as they pave the way for GeForce FX to be used on other computing platforms like the Macintosh. Apple has not announced support for the new hardware at this time, and it generally does not discuss plans for new products prior to an actual announcement.

The new GeForce FX offers true 128-bit color with 32-bit floating point components for red, green, blue and alpha values, according to Nvidia. It also has "Intellisample," a new form of anti-aliasing technology that provides gamma-adjusted anti-aliasing and adaptive anisotropic filtering. Anti-aliasing technology removes jagged lines from the edges of polygonal objects rendered in real time 3D environments like games.

Nvidia Corp. said that it's currently sampling the GeForce FX to its add-in card partners and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners. It anticipates that retail graphics cards based on the new chip will hit store shelves in February 2003.

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0211/18.nvidia.php

[Nija]

and we have the low-end card for Doom 3....

[kain9i6]

When these get put on the shelves, anyone want to buy a Visiontek ti4600?!?!! =0P

[gear02]

<drool>

check out the heat sink though. It takes two slots. Man that thing is huge. But it's so cool at the same time.

:D

[K2]

good.... that means there will be a good price drop in the ti4200, 4400 and 4600's soon :D

[Bires]

It anticipates that retail graphics cards based on the new chip will hit store shelves in February 2003.

Just a couple of months too late for the Christmas rush and all those kids with parents that will buy them ANYTHING for Christmas :disa:

Does look cool though. I wonder how much $$ it will cost...
Bbottomline? :deal:

[skynet]

Originally posted by Nija
and we have the low-end card for Doom 3....


Hahahaha

Have you read the specs on this card? Have you seen the demos? Man nVidia is whooping some you know what. I am very impressed they are pushing that CineFX engine.

I can't wait until they put some mpegs of the demos up on the site. Those pics look awufly nice.

I wonder what they are going to price this thing at.

Also free trial of NVDVD2.0 @ nVidia

[Showtime]

Supposed to be 30 -4x% faster than the 9700 pro. On the test I read about it was 30% faster. Nice but I might not need all that for all that $. Is this gonna be a $400 or $500 card?
AIW hopefully will become affordable when the new NVIDIA hits the shelves.
What do you think, Feb or March or April?

-jel:halo:

[p3rsian]

Originally posted by gear02
<drool>

check out the heat sink though. It takes two slots. Man that thing is huge. But it's so cool at the same time.

:D
where can u see the heatsink?

[Bires]

NVIDIA biz shots:
Board Pics (http://tweak3d.net/reviews/nvidia/nv30preview/3.shtml)

[Devhux]

/me wonders if the engineers at ABit had a say in the cooling design on the reference Geforce FX... note how similar it is to ABit's OTES (Outside Thermal Exhaust System) design on their Ti4200 OTES board.

[irwin]

Originally posted by Bires
NVIDIA biz shots:
Board Pics (http://tweak3d.net/reviews/nvidia/nv30preview/3.shtml)

Looks like that Abit Siluro otes thingy...
http://images2.newegg.com/productimage/14-123-116-01.JPG :shrug:


/me watches consumers mistakenly buy geforce mx cards instead of fx ones... :shifty:

[IrishSS]

Ya, but at what cost? $500? $700? I have a nasty feeling its gonna be way outta most peoples price range during not only the initial offering, but 4-8 mths down the road as well. Sure, it looks great, but damn, can you really expect a large number of people (which, btw, you'll need to make your venture profitiable) to drop $500 or more on a video card? I highly doubt it... I thought dropping $200 on a GF4 was a lot of money.

[gear02]

I'm sorry. It was at Tom's Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q4/021118/geforcefx-03.html

I bet it will be a $499 card when it first comes out. All NVidia's cards come out at that price.

There should be two versions though, so maybe at $399 and $499.

[hang10wannabe]

omfg... who needs all that power though? i think my geforce 4 ti4200 will be plenty fast :hmm:

[hapoo]

Originally posted by hang10wannabe
omfg... who needs all that power though? i think my geforce 4 ti4200 will be plenty fast :hmm:


sounds familiar

"Who could ever need more than 640K of memory?" - Bill Gates

[Devhux]

Originally posted by passwird


Looks like that Abit Siluro otes thingy...

Guess we both caught onto that one right away (your post was 2 minutes after mine... :) )

[Speedfreak]

Originally posted by Nija
and we have the low-end card for Doom 3....

Na... I've seen the E3 Doom3 demo run 20-30 fps on a Geforce4 Ti4400 with 4x Antialiasing and 4X Anisotropic. That E3 Alpha demo was optimized for Radeon 9700 and the final code of the game won't be out for another year.



As for the new anouncements... How about the new Nvidia mobile chip: GeForce4 4200 Go GPU. It's a full fledged desktop Ti4200 with PowerMizer. Over 100fps on the Unreal Torunament 2003 Flyby demo with a P4 2.0Ghz @ 1024x768x32. That is just sick.

[skynet]

Originally posted by hang10wannabe
omfg... who needs all that power though? i think my geforce 4 ti4200 will be plenty fast :hmm:

I think you say that because you are sorry you spent the monet on the Ti4200. I bought a 4600 and I am completly happy with it. I would love to have this card. Depending on game releases next year I might purchase a FX probably during the summer.

The reason for this card is CINEMATIC QUALITY GRAPHICS! They are pushing new technology dill hole. I don't understand why people always say stupid comments like, well who needs all of that power. Sure 500 fps in quake is excessive but how about at least 60fps rendering a Monsters Inc quality in real time? Have you even bothered to see what this card is about.

I am really excited to see game developers actually suing this technology also. I think it is all because of that Cg that they invented. There are already a number of games being built around it. I am very impressed by this. The Geforce3 and 4 features developers were afraid to use becuase of limiting its audience, but after seeing the demos, there is no way they are passing up the new Cg language.

[gear02]

Originally posted by skynet

I think you say that because you are sorry you spent the monet on the Ti4200. I bought a 4600 and I am completly happy with it. I would love to have this card. Depending on game releases next year I might purchase a FX probably during the summer.


Actually, the TI4200 is a much better deal than either then 44 or 46. You can actually overclock the 42 fairly easily (Nividia actually provides a utility to change clock speeds) up to the performance of the TI4600. In fact, the only thing you gain from getting a 4600 is the software.

Either way, I feel like the FX will make everything, including your 4600, my 4400, and his 4200, like a voodoo1. The difference between the Geforce4 and the Geforce FX is mind boggling. It's really quite amazing.

[skynet]

Originally posted by gear02


Actually, the TI4200 is a much better deal than either then 44 or 46. You can actually overclock the 42 fairly easily (Nividia actually provides a utility to change clock speeds) up to the performance of the TI4600. In fact, the only thing you gain from getting a 4600 is the software.



I never said anything about the 4600 being a better deal. But I bought my Gainward Ti600 right when it came out. the 4200 wasn't even finallized. I also have 2.9ns ram on this puppy. I generally don't like to over clock because I use my components for SO long. Hell I upgraded from a RIVA 128. I will probably never sell this card. I am looking at those new HT cpus and man they are REALLY tempting. But not until they come down in price will I even consider.

My statement was saying that hang10wannabe probably feels regret for buying a 4200 when this amazing technology is right around the corner. It is still a great card and will last a long time, but you can often sense this from people by the way they post. Over at HardOCP and Anandtech you can really tell. They state things like that because they want the card, and they won't be able have it for some time because of price and they just upgraded.

[hang10wannabe]

Originally posted by skynet


My statement was saying that hang10wannabe probably feels regret for buying a 4200 when this amazing technology is right around the corner. It is still a great card and will last a long time, but you can often sense this from people by the way they post. Over at HardOCP and Anandtech you can really tell. They state things like that because they want the card, and they won't be able have it for some time because of price and they just upgraded.

no i dont have regret at all, i like my purchase, and even if i didnt buy it, i wouldnt have enough money to get a Geforce FX, i mean, common... itll cost me 1 paycheck :rolleyes:

[gear02]

Originally posted by DarkFury

So are you saying that the TI4600 is not overclockable as well... beyond the limits of the 4200? :hmm:

No. I'm saying I'm stupid.

I shouldn't post early in the morning. My bad.

I was caught in the glamour of the FX.

I was smoking weed.

I dunno...

:heh:

[Devhux]

While the GeforceFX will offer "cinematic quality graphics," the reality is that few games will take advantage of these graphics for quite some time to come.

Sure, you all say DOOM III is coming out soon, but that's one game -- and I'm pretty sure they'll optimize it to run on various cards other than the GeforceFX (meaning that "cinematic quality" graphics probably won't be present.

[skynet]

Originally posted by GuruX
While the GeforceFX will offer "cinematic quality graphics," the reality is that few games will take advantage of these graphics for quite some time to come.

Sure, you all say DOOM III is coming out soon, but that's one game -- and I'm pretty sure they'll optimize it to run on various cards other than the GeforceFX (meaning that "cinematic quality" graphics probably won't be present.

There are actually alot of games that will be taking advantage of nVidias Cg (Cg is the language the programmers will use to get these great grpahics). Some games in development are,




Game: Command & Conquer Generals
Command & Conquer™ Generals puts your trigger finger on the pulse of modern warfare.

Game: Rallisport Challenge
RalliSport Challenge delivers an action-packed racing experience by combining four different types of Rally competition into one pulse-pounding game.

Game: Sea Dogs II
Sea Dogs II brings the thrill and adventure of being a pirate to your PC.

Game: Splinter Cell
Control Sam Fisher, a field operative of an NSA sub-agency called Splinter Cell.

Game: Unreal 2
Unreal II® - The Awakening is the sequel to the original Unreal and takes place in the same fictional universe.


From http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=geforcefx_games'




Also the new Everquest will be taking advantage of Cg. I think there are one or two others, all currently in development that are escaping me.

This isn't going to be like GeForce 3 where developers are afraid to use the technology because they are concearned the general public won't have the right card because of the programming language Cg. Cg is alot like C. In the past you had to use assembly language, and programming in MIPS right now, I know first hand, assembly is a pain in the arse. When you get into higher level programming, You cant do jack with out making flow charts.

[skynet]

Originally posted by GuruX

Sure, you all say DOOM III is coming out soon, but that's one game -- and I'm pretty sure they'll optimize it to run on various cards other than the GeforceFX (meaning that "cinematic quality" graphics probably won't be present. [/B]

Doom II will be a great game, however it is not close to Cinematic Quality graphics. It isn't even taking alot of advantage of DirectX 9. It is taking advantage of Geforce 3 features. I also think that a geforce 3 is the minumin system requirement, but dont quote me on that.

[Bires]

Originally posted by hang10wannabe
no i dont have regret at all, i like my purchase, and even if i didnt buy it, i wouldnt have enough money to get a Geforce FX...

I'm in the same boat. When I was reading about the FX, I was thinking, "Oh...I sure am glad I bought the 4200 this summer...." I am VERY happy with the 4200. I don't even have it OCed to its max and I haven't played a game that looks slow to me with 4X FSAA on my 2.2GHz P4.

I pull down a fair amount of scratch, but I would never be able to rationalize buying a video card that costs more than $300. That's more than my groceries, insurance, and all my utilities for a month.

After all, a newer/faster video card is a *TOY* that few really NEED.