NVIDIA nTeresting Newsletter - 25 February 2013

In the Issue

· GeForce GTX TITAN is sexy: delivering the superior combination of power, performance, efficiency, control, and acoustics.

· Formerly known as "Project Grey", Tegra 4i is our first integrated LTE processor. It delivers the highest performance of any single-chip smartphone processor in a tiny package.

· NVIDIA's new campus will be awesome.

· Our Chimera Computational Photography Architecture delivers always-on high-dynamic range (HDR) photos and videos, HDR panoramic and persistent tap-to-track capabilities for the first time ever on a mobile device.

· ZTE is first to offer Tegra 4 and i500-based Superphones.

· ‘Game Ready' day of launch drivers make Crysis 3 a pleasure to play on GeForce GPUs.

· What do our CEO, a pioneering genomics researcher and a preeminent automobile designer have in common? They all love GPUs and they are all GTC 2013 Keynote speakers.

Titan Has Power and Grace

Last week saw the debut of Titan, a GPU with the DNA of the world's fastest supercomputer and the soul of NVIDIA Kepler, which is built to power the fastest, most extraordinary gaming PCs.

"Overall, Titan is a breakthrough card for single-GPU performance, form factor and acoustic control."

GeForce GTX TITAN is powered by the fastest single GPU on the planet, delivering "supercomputer performance" to PC gaming.

"If you want the fastest single GPU card on the market, the TITAN is the king of the hill."

With GeForce GTX TITAN you can build the planet's fastest gaming PC with three GeForce GTX TITAN GPUs configured in three-way SLI.

"We were pleased to find out that NVIDIA's claims were correct, you can "max out" Crysis 3 at 5760x1080 with 3-way TITAN. It is an amazing feat, and we know of no other video card combination that can deliver that to us right now."

Along with power, GTX TITAN also delivers a superior combination of performance, efficiency, control, and acoustics, raising the bar for small form factor PCs in the process.

"For a user like me, the GeForce Titan in Falcon's Tiki is pretty much as good as it gets. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of performance that could be squeezed into a fairly small chassis, without being overly loud. The Tiki wasn't silent, but the days of having to make a trade off between something annoying and something fast are over. It's sort of absurd that between the Core i7 and Titan there are 8.5 billion transistors switching at ridiculous speeds inside this tiny chassis."

GTX TITAN will be sold primarily through the system integrator and system builder channels as well as at e-tail from select add-in card partners worldwide. GeForce GTX TITAN can fit in more gaming machines while offering amazing power and performance so you can build a beautiful yet ultra-powerful small form factor gaming PC. It also supports new features such as GPU Boost 2.0 and voltage overclocking.

"GTX TITAN is the fastest single-GPU powered graphics card by far. The GeForce GTX Titan is also quieter than any other high-end graphics card we've tested, it offers some new features not available on any other products yet, and the thing just plain looks cool too."

Tegra 4i: Serious Muscle for Mainstream Smartphones

Last week, we introduced the newest member of the Tegra 4 family - the Tegra 4i - our first integrated LTE processor that's the very definition of performance and efficiency. Tegra 4i combines 60 custom NVIDIA GPU cores; a quad-core version of ARM's newest core, the Cortex-A9 r4 CPU, plus a fifth battery saver core; and a version of the NVIDIA i500 LTE modem optimized for integration.

The result? Pound-for-pound, the Tegra 4i is the most efficient, highest performance CPU core in its class - bringing Tegra 4 goodness to mainstream smartphones.

"NVIDIA has raised the smartphone SOC stakes for 2013."

"...Tegra 4i does indeed provide NVIDIA the means to truly shake up the Qualcomm-dominated mobile processor industry."

"Where the Tegra 4 is all about raw power for big phones and tablets, the Tegra 4i is a marvel of tiny efficient design."

"Smartphone hardware is poised to receive a boost in performance and extended battery life thanks to the Tegra 4i..."

Showing off Tegra 4i is our new reference smartphone platform codenamed Phoenix, designed to help mainstream smartphone makers get their Tegra 4i phones to market faster. Phoenix features impressive specs in itself, with a 5-inch 1080p display, 8 MM thin, LTE, the Chimera computational photography architecture and NVIDIA's power-saving technologies like PRISM 2 and DirectTouch. Here's what they're saying:

"What's more impressive is that NVIDIA claims the reference design can be picked up by an OEM and ship with an unsubsidized price tag of between $100-$300 USD."

"Based on those specs alone, it would be safe to say that Phoenix would be significantly more powerful than the current mainstream champion, the Google Nexus 4."

"Essentially Phoenix will be a blueprint that phone OEMs can use to follow and design upcoming Tegra 4i powered smartphones in a quick, effective, and cheap manor."

Fancy, New Digs

One the eve of our 20th birthday NVIDIA unveiled plans for our new headquarters. With workspace at a premium in our current place, we are developing an exquisite new campus.

"NVIDIA on Wednesday offered up more details about the new, state-of-the-art campus the company plans to build across the street from its current headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif."

With a killer design that looks cool and emphasizes efficiency and collaboration, the new campus is a stunner in every way.

"NVIDIA has chosen two triangles connecting back to the company's graphic roots. It almost appears translucent and the core design is specifically focused on encouraging collaboration."

Check out this blog post by our CEO Jen-Hsun Huang to learn more and to see conceptual street and aerial views of the new campus.

Say Cheese with Chimera, Tegra 4's Computational Photography Architecture

Last week NVIDIA introduced another world's first - this time with the Chimera computational photography architecture found in the Tegra 4 family of devices. From candid snapshots to crowdsourced Super Bowl campaigns and everywhere in between, mobile phone photography and videography has advanced rapidly in a few short years. Chimera improves the everyday photographers' potential for success with even more features never before available on mobile devices, like the world's first always-on HDR photos and videos, HDR panoramic and persistent tap-to-track capabilities.

Here's what some editors are saying about what Chimera brings to mobile cameras:

"The T4i GPU will perform all the camera tricks NVIDIA announced with the Tegra 4, including always-on HDR photo and video recording, and "tap to track" tracking autofocus."

"Not only will [Chimera] enhance all captured content, it allows for easy capture of panoramic shots and tap-to-track for following individuals by locking on to their faces..."

"With HDR Pano you'll be working with panographic photos that collect multiple exposures instantly... Here you'll get vibrant and wonderfully thick-colored panographic photos every time you shoot."

ZTE First With Tegra 4 and i500-Powered Super Phones

ZTE, one of the world's largest phone makers, announced they're developing the first Tegra 4 and i500 LTE-powered super phones. Due mid-2013, Tegra 4 powers ZTE's premium super phones with a whopping 72 custom NVIDIA GPU cores and the first quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU plus a fifth battery saver core. ZTE's upcoming phones are only the beginning for Tegra 4 but the chip is also the start of a whole new level of smartphone capabilities, according to the press:

"It's also the beginning of handsets designed to wow users with full HD playback and other features that require some serious processing power."

"If ZTE ever needed a phone that would help launch the company into the upper-echelon of smartphone manufacturers then tasking Tegra 4 for the job is not a bad idea at all."

Crysis 3 hits, GeForce Owners Get Perf Bump on Launch Day

Your GPU is only as good as your drivers. That is why NVIDIA places a special emphasis on driver quality, be it desktop GPUs or notebook GPUs.

"NVIDIA today announced that GeForce 314.07 WHQL drivers are now available to download. NVIDIA says that this is an essential update for gamers who want to play Crysis 3 this week. The GeForce 314.07 WHQL improves single-GPU and multi-GPU performance in Crytek's sci-fi shooter by up to 65% over the previous series drivers. This driver version offers a 5% performance boost in Crysis 3 (measured with GeForce GTX 680 at 1920x1080 high settings) over the most recent beta driver. Be sure to update if you want to use the latest and greatest graphics driver. We have GeForce 314.07 WHQL drivers running on a GeForce GTX 680 on our test bench and it looks to be working great on the dozen or so games we tried with it this morning! "

When a new game hits we want to play it, so we make sure our drivers are ready. And if you install GeForce Experience your game settings and driver updates are all handle automagically.

"This Open Beta allows you access to the one and only GeForce Experience, a system where the teams of professionals and undeniably powerfully-minded graphics know-it-alls of NVIDIA's GeForce ranks have for you sets of optimizations for the games you play all the time. In short: your PC games are about to get a whole lot more awesome."

One of the many advantages GeForce owners enjoy is our commitment to delivering ‘game ready' day of launch drivers delivered through GeForce Experience.

GTC 2013 Keynotes Announced

With GTC 2013 right around the corner, NVIDIA has just dropped the dime on the keynote speakers. Who they are and what they will discuss include:

· Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's CEO and co-founder will discuss the profound and growing impact of GPU technology in gaming, science, industry, media and entertainment, design and other fields in an opening keynote address on Tuesday, March 19.

· Erez Lieberman Aiden, a pioneering genomics researcher, will discuss his work sequencing the human genome in 3D, which allows scientists to gain deep insights into gene behavior and fundamental biological processes of life. Aiden will reveal how his team harnesses GPUs to accelerate the analysis of massive amounts of genomic information and simulate the physical process of genome folding, uncovering insights into gene expression that can now be used by thousands of researchers. The keynote will be on Wednesday, March 20.

· Ralph V. Gilles, senior vice president of Product Design at Chrysler will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the auto industry; Gilles will review how GPUs are used to advance every step of the automobile development process - from the initial conceptual designs and engineering phases, through product assembly and marketing. He will also discuss how Chrysler Group uses GPUs and the latest technologies to build better, safer cars and reduce time to market. The keynote will be on Thursday, March 21.