Nvidia's DX11 GF100 Graphics Processor Detailed

J. Dzhugashvili writes "While it's played up the general-purpose computing prowess of its next-gen GPU architecture, Nvidia has talked little about Fermi's graphics capabilities — to the extent that some accuse Nvidia of turning its back on PC gaming. Not so, says The Tech Report in a detailed architectural overview of the GF100, the first Fermi-based consumer graphics processor. Alongside a wealth of technical information, the article includes enlightening estimates and direct comparisons with AMD's Radeon HD 5870. The GF100 will be up to twice as fast as the GeForce GTX 285, the author reckons, but the gap with the Radeon HD 5870 should be 'a bit more slender.' Still, Nvidia may have the fastest consumer GPU ever on its hands — and far from forsaking games, Fermi has been built as a graphics processor first and foremost."

Re:When's it coming out?

[roguetrick]

I'm more worried about the state of PC gaming. We're taking a long slide recently and I'm starting to worry if this high end hardware is worth it.

Re:When's it coming out?

[rrhal]

By that logic wouldn't those same people then wait for AMD's next offering which will be yet faster? Waiting for the latest and greatest means there will always be something greater in the pipeline to wait for. How long before we saturate the PCI-E bus and need something faster? The current bus structure is about as old as AGP was when it lost favor.

Re:Feh.

[Knara]

Almost as if Nvidia were looking at some other market than gamers....

Re:When's it coming out?

[alen]

since WoW controls 50% of all pc game revenues, the market as it was a few years ago is over. it's not even fun building a PC anymore since everything is integrated on the motherboard except for a decent graphics card.

i'm personally tired of chasing the latest graphics card every year to play a game. i'll probably buy a PS3 soon and a Mac next year just because it's lack of wires makes the wife happy

Re:Feh.

[Pojut]

This is pretty much the case with me. I plan on doing a full system upgrade this Cyber Monday, but I haven't bought any new hardware for my computer other than a new DVD drive in about 2 years...and I STILL haven't needed to turn down visual details in any games that are released.

Re:When's it coming out?

[poetmatt]

companies don't want games on console and PC. The reason is there is a lot less control on PC. So they want to shove console requirements onto a PC and you end up with horrible ports like Borderlands and MW2. Thus, nobody wants the PC version and they go "oh, nobody bought the PC version" even though the reason is they fucked their own community, so that they don't have to keep making games for PC.

It's a really shortsighted strategy, but it's basically an attempt at creating a walled garden all over again. Apparently the companies don't realize or have enough forsight re: what's going to happen in the next 1-2 generations of gaming consoles when they're easily powerful enough to be used as home computers (hint: it doesn't mean more consoles are going to sell).

Re:When's it coming out?

[bonch]

Thank the pirates for killing PC gaming. Developers actually make money from consoles.

Re:When's it coming out?

[khellendros1984]

Yeah, I guess I don't understand why people are pirating the game if they think it's so bad. Older CoD games are just as good as they were before, and if the new one doesn't have the features people want, why not stick with the tried and true? I think consumers are right to be upset when their desires are ignored, but for people that flat-out pirate the game, I think they're taking their anger out in the wrong way. It's just ammo for DRM advocates. Piracy just makes *you* look cheap, rather than sending the message that the game's no good. It would be more productive if people didn't buy the game. If Activision sees that no one's buying the game, and that it's not even considered a suitable target of piracy, they'll either ditch the PC or work to make it a better experience next time. If they see a lot of grog-swillers with peg-legs, Activision will be able to play the victim and blame the failure of the game on the greed of others, instead of their own ineptitude.

Re:When's it coming out?

[SecondaryOak]

It's true that a few years ago you had to stay close to the cutting edge and now you don't; but I'm pretty sure it's not because graphics cards had outpaced games, but because game developers slowed their pace because they wanted good performance on consoles.

I'm sure game developers could easily overwhelm graphics cards if they wanted to, but that doesn't only block PCs without high-end cards, but also all the consoles. I have to say that as a PC-only gamer, I find the situation very positive. I like not having to upgrade constantly.

Re:When's it coming out?

[smash]

Thats an excuse many use yes. However, I just won't buy the game. If its not worth buying for me, its not worth downloading, either (I have the bandwidth, but its just not worth my time, i have other things to do).

However, dedicated servers ARE relevant. If there is no dedicated server, the functionality of your game can be reduced or disabled at a moment's notice. I can still play Quake or UT (1, i never bothered with the others because they didn't play as well imho) multi player because no matter what ID or whoever do - i can still host.

IMHO - if you can't run a dedicated server, multiplayer shouldn't be a listed feature on the box. Maybe "[foo company] hosted online play" is a better description...