Video: Graphics Evolves Beyond Gaming With New NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 GPUs

Revolutionary Processor Does Double Duty as the Most Advanced GPU Ever Built
and a Second-Generation CUDA General Purpose Parallel Processor

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Imagine instead of
taking over five hours to convert a video for your iPod, it only takes 35
minutes(i). Imagine using your PC to simulate protein folding to help find a
cure for debilitating diseases. Imagine that your PC can dramatically
accelerate everyday tasks, and deliver an exciting visual experience in the
process. Today that imagination becomes a reality now that the leader in
visual computing technologies, NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), has introduced its new
family of GeForce(R) GTX 200 graphics processors (GPUs)-which includes the
GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs-taking graphics beyond gaming and
gaming beyond anything that's ever been possible before on a consumer
computing platform.
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"The advances NVIDIA continues to make in visual computing are simply
incredible, and we are excited to be one of the first companies in the world
to offer the technology in the new Exhilaration Edition of the award-winning
HP Blackbird 002," said Rahul Sood, chief technology officer, HP Voodoo
Business Unit. "Exceptional graphics quality and performance is important to
our customers, and now the GeForce GTX 200 GPUs are bringing something else
into the mix. By using the GPU to enhance everyday applications such as video
encoding and manipulating photos, HP Blackbird 002 is one of the most cutting-
edge PC platforms ever designed."
Graphics Beyond Gaming
One of the most powerful processors in the PC is the GPU. Rendering 3D
images in real-time is just about the most mathematically intensive task your
PC will ever undertake, but it's not the only one. As PC applications become
increasingly visual, many ordinary tasks will benefit from the graphics
horsepower provided by the GPU, including encoding and playing high-definition
videos, editing photos, getting driving directions off the Internet, or simply
running a new operating system like Windows Vista.
"Millions of users around the world know how time consuming it is to
convert their home videos for use on video sharing sites such as YouTube or
for downloading to popular media players such as the iPod," said Sam Blackman,
CEO of Elemental Technologies. "Elemental has developed the BadaBOOM(TM) Media
Converter, a consumer video application scheduled for release in August. By
taking advantage of the massively parallel, general-purpose computing
architecture of a GeForce GPU, we are able to transcode high-quality video 18
times faster than with CPU-only implementations. This unprecedented
performance scaling is the reason why we have made sure that our RapiHD(TM)
Video Platform takes advantage of NVIDIA GPUs."
By recognizing that the value of a GPU transcends gaming, an increasing
number of applications are also being written that use the GPU for straight,
non-graphical computational tasks. For example, Stanford University's
distributed computing computational program Folding@Home, combines the
computing horsepower of millions of consumer GPUs to simulate protein folding
to help find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. With the
computing processing power of the GeForce GTX family, applications such as
Folding@Home and others can run upwards of 140 times faster on an NVIDIA
general-purpose parallel processor than on some of today's traditional CPUs.
"GeForce GPUs will soon deliver the biggest boost in processing power
we've seen in the history of Folding@Home," said Vijay Pande, Associate
Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University. "The GeForce GTX 280 GPU runs
Folding@Home 45 times faster than the latest 3GHz Core2 Quad CPU. If just one
percent of the world's GeForce 8- and 9-Series GPUs ran Folding@Home, we would
have 70 petaflops of processing power to help find cures for disease. That's
10 times more processing power than the world's top 100 supercomputers
combined."
Gaming That's Beyond
The CUDA general-purpose parallel processing mode will usher in a new
generation of ultra realistic games. Developers can use the supercomputing
power of the "CUDA Computing" mode to simulate realistic, physically accurate
effects then render beautiful images using the "GeForce GPU" mode. NVIDIA GPUs
are also the only ones to support PhysX(TM) technology, the world's most
pervasive physics engine that is already delivering dynamic 3D realism to more
than 140 games across multiple platforms, and is being used by more than
25,000 developers worldwide. With PhysX, developers can incorporate effects
such as rigid body dynamics, collision detection, and cloth simulation that
dramatically change the way the games are played and how the on-screen stories
unfold, and then accelerate those effects using the processing power of the
GPU.
"I haven't been this excited about a new gaming technology in years," said
Chris Taylor, CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games. "We're focusing all of our
physics efforts on PhysX, and it already delivers the kinds of advanced
effects in Space Siege that takes the whole experience to the next level. And
in the near-future, you're going to see real-time, Hollywood cinematic-level
environmental effects on GPUs like the GeForce GTX 280. We're talking about
some wicked-cool technology here!"
Additional features of the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs
include:
-- 2nd Generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture: Delivers 50% more gaming
performance over the Company's previous NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU
through 240 enhanced processor cores that provide incredible shading
horsepower at resolutions as high as 2560 x 1600.(ii)
-- 3-way NVIDIA SLI(R) Technology(iii): Industry leading 3-way NVIDIA SLI
technology offers amazing performance scaling by implementing 3-way
alternate frame rendering (AFR) for the world's fastest gaming solution
under Windows Vista.
-- NVIDIA PureVideo(R) HD Technology(iv): The combination of HD video
decode acceleration and post-processing delivers unprecedented picture
clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for
movies and video.
-- NVIDIA CUDA Technology: With the power of NVIDIA CUDA(TM) technology
and the new CUDA runtime for Windows Vista, programmers can now offload
the most intensive processing tasks from the CPU to the NVIDIA GPUs,
putting the power of up to 240 multi-threaded processor cores to
work.(v)

Graphics cards featuring GeForce GTX 280 GPUs will be available starting
tomorrow from global leading add-in card manufacturers, such as: ASUS, BFG,
Emtek, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, PC
Partner/Zotac, PNY, Point of View, Unika, Unitek, and XFX. Graphics cards
featuring GeForce GTX 260 GPUs will be available starting on Thursday, June
26, 2008. Suggested retail pricing for the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260
GPUs are $649 and $399, respectively.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) is the world leader in visual computing technologies
and the inventor of the GPU, a high-performance processor which generates
breathtaking, interactive graphics on workstations, personal computers, game
consoles, and mobile devices. NVIDIA serves the entertainment and consumer
market with its GeForce graphics products, the professional design and
visualization market with its Quadro(R) graphics products, and the high-
performance computing market with its Tesla(TM) computing solutions products.
NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. and has offices throughout
Asia, Europe, and the Americas. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com.
Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to,
statements as to: the benefits, features, uses, performance, and capabilities
of graphics processing units, NVIDIA GPUs, PhysX technology, NVIDIA SLI
technology, NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology and NVIDIA CUDA technology;
advances in visual computing; future of graphics and gaming; pricing and
availability of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 family of products; future PC
applications; and applications for the GPU are forward-looking statements that
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be
materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially include: delays in ramping new products
into production; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble and
test our products; unexpected loss of performance of our products or
technologies when integrated into systems; development of faster or more
efficient GPUs or CPU technology; the impact of technological development and
competition; changes in consumer preferences and demands; customer adoption of
competitors' products; design, manufacturing or software defects as well as
other factors detailed from time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the
Securities and Exchange Commission including its Form 10-Q for the period
ended April 27, 2008. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on our
website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the
date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation
to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or
circumstances.
Copyright(R) 2008 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the
NVIDIA logo, GeForce, NVIDIA SLI, PureVideo, CUDA, and PhysX are trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other
countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective
companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and
specifications are subject to change without notice.
(i) Testing for video encoding done using iTunes running on an Intel Core
2 Quad Extreme 3GHz CPU, and Elemental on a GeForce GTX 280 GPU. Results based
on an extrapolation of 1 min 50 sec 1280x720 HD movie clip.
(ii) The number of processor cores varies by model. GeForce GTX 280 has
240 processor cores. GeForce GTX 260 has 192 processor cores. Weighted average
performance improvement based on a comparison between the GeForce GTX 280 and
the GeForce 8800 Ultra in a variety of benchmarks and resolutions.
(iii) NVIDIA SLI certified versions of GeForce PCI Express GPUs only. A
GeForce GTX 280 GPU must be paired with another GeForce GTX 280 GPU (graphics
card manufacturer can be different). SLI requires sufficient system cooling
and a compatible power supply. Visit www.slizone.com for more information and
a listing of SLI-Certified components.
(iv) Feature requires supported video software. Features may vary by
product.
(v) Requires application support for CUDA technology.
SOURCE NVIDIA Corporation

Bryan Del Rizzo of NVIDIA Corporation, +1-408-486-2772, bdelrizzo@nvidia.com