Nvidia's GeForce GTX 280 Graphics Processor

Jun 16 2008, 3:00pm CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

The TechReport takes a close look at the NVIDIA GTX 280 and 260.

Quote: "If the GPU world were a wildlife special on the National Geographic channel, the G80 processor that powers GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards would be a stunningly successful apex predator. In the nearly two years that have passed since its introduction, no other single-chip graphics solution has surpassed it. Newer GPUs have come close, shrinking similar capabilities into smaller, cooler chips, but that's about it. The G80 is still the biggest, baddest beast of its kind—a chip, as we said at the time, with "the approximate surface area of Rosie O'Donnell." After it dispatched its would-be rival, the Radeon HD 2900 XT, in an epic mismatch, AMD gave up on building high-end GPUs altogether, preferring instead to go the multi-GPU route. Meanwhile, the G80 has sired a whole range of successful offspring, from teeny little mobile chips to dual-chip monstrosities like the GeForce 9800 GX2. Of course, even the strongest predator has a limited time as king of the pride, and the G80's reign is coming to a close. Today, its true heir arrives on the scene in the form of the GT200 graphics processor powering the GeForce GTX 200-series graphics cards. Despite being built on a smaller chip fabrication process, the GT200 is even larger than the G80, and it packs nearly twice the processing power of its progenitor.

This new contender isn't content with just ruling the same territory, either. Nvidia has ambitious plans to expand the GPU's processing domain beyond real-time graphics and gaming, and as the GPU computing picture becomes clearer, those plans seem increasingly viable. Join us as we dive in for a look at this formidable new processor."
Read the full report on Techreport.

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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.