Nvidia has unveiled the industry's first top-to-bottom family of PCI Express graphics processing units (GPUs), all designed to take full advantage of the additional bandwidth and features that this new I/O interconnection standard delivers. By using an innovative PCI Express (PCX) high-speed interconnect (HSI), a complex piece of networking technology that performs seamless, bi-directional interconnect protocol conversion at incredible speed lines, Nvidia can transform its current GeForce FX series into a full-family of PCI Express GPUs.
The new family includes:
Nvidia GeForce PCX 5950 - based on the DX9 GeForce architecture, this new GPU will be the jewel in the crown of the PCX line.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750 - designed for high-performance gaming this will be the 5950s second-in-command.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300 - will serve as the budget DX9 board
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 4300 - provides entry-level pricing coupled with strong performance and DVD playback.
The PCI Express transition is going to be an exciting time for the PC industry, stated Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO at NVIDIA. By aligning ourselves closely with Intel and helping define this new specification, we were able to engineer an innovative protocol engine, in HSI, that delivers the full-PCI Express feature set without any compromises. HSI and PCI Express will enable a new level of performance for high bandwidth applications like graphics and networking.
In addition, last week in Taipei, Taiwan, NVIDIA validated its family of GeForce PCX products with the industry's top motherboard, chipset, and BIOS vendors. NVIDIA has already shipped more than 1,000 PCI Express boards to customers and partners.
Products based on this new design are expected to become available in the second half of 2004 from the world's leading add-in card manufacturers including: Albatron Technology, Co. Ltd, AOpen, Anextek, ASUS Computer International, Chaintech, Gainward Co., Ltd., Gigabyte Technology, Co., Ltd., Leadtek Research, Inc., MSI, Palit Microsystems, Inc., Pine, XFX, a Division of Pine, Prolink Computer Inc,, and Sparkle.
As a Gold Sponsor of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) Spring 2004, NVIDIA is showcasing the results of their collaborative engineering efforts with industry players, such as Intel. NVIDIA and Intel processors form the foundation for many PCs, notebooks, workstations, gaming systems, media centers, and handheld devices being produced worldwide, and they are all on display at IDF. Intel and companies like Nvidia enjoy a long-standing collaborative relationship with the common goal of driving progress in PC technology, including transitioning the PC industry to an advanced PC bus architecture, PCI Express. Since the graphics processing unit (GPU) has the largest bandwidth demand of all the PC subsystems, NVIDIA has been a key contributor to the joint definition, development, and deployment of PCI Express solutions.
Nvidia will be demonstrating their new PCX boards at IDF. For more information about Nvidia's PCI Express efforts, follow the download tab above.