Nvidia have released an AGP version of their flapship GPU, the GeForce 7800. As its name implies the GeForce 7800 GS AGP is based on the exact same architecture as the GeForce 7800 GTX that was first launched in June 2005. This means that you’ve not only got NVIDIA’s CineFX 4.0 architecture with its more robust pixel and vertex shading units and support for transparency anti-aliasing, but also NVIDIA’s PureVideo technology. GeForce 6800, 6800 GT, and 6800 Ultra cards based on NVIDIA’s NV40 GPU didn’t provide support for PureVideo.
Considering all this, as well as the GeForce 7800 GS’ support for NVIDIA’s transparency AA, quieter noise levels, and PureVideo, the 7800 GS is certainly a nice improvement over NVIDIA’s high-end GeForce 6800 offerings. Is it a GeForce 6800 GT killer for AGP users? Certainly not. If you already own a high-end AGP card, say for instance a GeForce 6800 GT/Radeon X800 Pro or better, then you’ll probably be a little disappointed by the performance of the stock GeForce 7800 GS AGP. You’d likely be better served spending your money on a new PCI Express motherboard and graphics card, as the GeForce 7800 GS in stock form just isn’t a huge improvement over the card that you already own. For $350, the current list price of the GeForce 7800 GS AGP, you can buy a GeForce 6800 GS PCI-E and a new motherboard, or better yet, pony up $400 and go for a GeForce 7800 GT and an nForce4 Ultra motherboard. For AGP owners that don’t want to upgrade just yet, or want to wait until AMD’s Socket AM2 transition is well underway, the GeForce 7800 GS AGP would be a nice interim card to game on until you’re ready to take the PCI Express plunge.
As you can see, NVIDIA disables two pixel shading quads in the GeForce 7800 GS AGP, resulting in a 16-pixel architecture for the GeForce 7800 GS. On the GeForce 7800 GT, only one quad was disabled. The changes don’t stop there however, as NVIDIA also turns off two vertex shading units (for a grand total of six in the GeForce 7800 GS AGP) and slashes the number of functional rasterizers (ROPs) in half, to a total of 8.
In addition to trimming the number of functional units, NVIDIA also reduces the clock speeds on the GeForce 7800 GS AGP, as the graphics core runs at 375MHz, that’s 25MHz slower than the GeForce 7800 GT and GeForce 6800 Ultra, and 25MHz faster than the GeForce 6800 GT. Paired alongside the graphics core is 256MB of GDDR3 memory running at 600MHz (1.2GHz effective), this is the same speed as the GeForce 7800 GTX, and 50MHz faster than the GeForce 6800 Ultra. This should allow it to perform well at high resolutions, particularly once AA/AF is applied.
BFG’s GeForce 7800 GS AGP is built largely on NVIDIA’s reference design, but incorporates just enough improvements to make it stand out in comparison to more conventional GeForce 7800 GS AGP cards. For starters you’ve got BFG’s higher than stock clock speeds out-of-the-box. This is all “free” performance, as BFG sells their board for the same $349.99 MSRP as every other GeForce 7800 GS card manufacturer on the market. But more importantly, you’ve got BFG’s lifetime warranty and 24/7 tech support. It’s this feature in particular that has earned BFG a reputation for being the enthusiasts choice when it comes to graphics cards.
Ferrari F430GT will race in American Le Mans Series
Italiaspeed has revealed that Houston-based team Risi Competizione will race the new Ferrari F430GT (above) in the 2006 American Le Mans Series' GT2 class, joining Porsche, BMW, and Lexus in what looks to be an intensely competitive class.
The team is owned and managed by Giuseppe Risi, the owner of Ferrari Maserati of Houston. The team has been active in sports car and endurance racing for years, and recently campaigned a Ferrari 360GT in the ALMS.
With new prototypes in the headlining class, and renewed competition in the GT2 class, this year's ALMS series looks to be a hot ticket! The schedule kicks off with the Sebring 12 Hours March 15-18, with round two, the Lone Star Grand Prix, in Risi Competizione's home town of Houston. Read more..!
Yamaha has rolled out two new USB-based mixers that could turn your Mac or Windows PC into a home studio. The MW10 and MW12 feature, respectively, 10 and 12 inputs, including XLR, 1/4-inch phone jacks and RCA jacks. Both units also come bundled with Cubase LE software. The MW10 has a suggested retail price of $249, while the MW12 goes for $379.
The Dooney & Bourke Hearts collection bags are made of a weater-coated cotton fabric emblazoned with colored crayon hearts. The bags have a vachetta leather trim and nickel-plated brass hardware. The bags also have a blue linking and heart charm. The large tassel zip top sells for $185.
The Kojima Productions Report, the English companion to Hideo Kojima's audioblog HIDECHAN, released its second installment today, and it's already bearing fruit! Host Ryan Payton delivers a message from Kojima-san dispelling recent "nasty rumors" that Uwe Boll is being considered to direct an upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie. Says Kojima:
"Absolutely not! I don't know why Uwe Boll is even talking about this kind of thing. We've never talked to him. It's impossible that we'd ever do a movie with him."
Ouch! Kojima sounds pretty confident that Konami isn't sidestepping his authorial control anytime soon, even if Boll did receive a copy of the script.
Retro gamer jewellery: the NES controller necklace
The rectangular design of the NES controller seems to have infiltrated nearly every aspect of consumer culture, from belts to digital audio players. So with Valentines Day just around the corner, what better gift is there for the girl gamer in your life than this enamel NES controller necklace. Cost $37.50
Sherwood's Digital Audio Card brings paper mache Levi's to the masses
Sherwood's 0.2-inch Digital Audio Card Levi's styled player is sporting a really small display and wired remote. It looks like you can replace the face with a design of your choosing, but you'd be hard pressed to beat that faux denim. No word on price or capacity yet.
How to make old extensions work in a new version of Firefox
Whenever a new version of Firefox comes out there's always some grumblings about it deciding that certain extensions are now incompatible. It seems especially needless with so minor a version change as 1.5 to 1.5.0.1.
The fix is not new but not widely known:
In the address bar type about:config. Use the Filter field to find app.extensions.version (if it's not present, create it by right-clicking and choosing New > String). Double-click on it and in the pop-up box enter 1.5 (or the previous version of your choice--if you're creating a new value the box will pop up automatically). Restart Firefox and when it's started go to Tools > Extensions. Find the "incompatible" extensions in the list (they'll be greyed out), right-click on them, and click Enable. Restart Firefox and you're done.
David Yurman is getting in on the heart action for Valentine's Day. His new heart designs features the classic Yurman design themes of mixing gold and sterling silver with cables and linked forms. Some of the items are on pre-order and won't be ready in time for Valentine's Day but this heart charm necklace is available. It costs $525 and the matching bracelet is $260.
Atari has recently come out saying that they plan on delivering the big haired, punching and yelling action of DBZ to the Sony portable via Dragon Ball Z: Shin budokai. There will be a grand total of 18 characters to do battle with. Expect foot-to-face combat, complete with the ability to counter attack and "transform into more powerful forms during the game".
Volkswagen's been hanging out with Google lately and they're trying to set up a match between VW in-vehicle nav and Google satellite imagery. The two services would seem to be a perfect match, but they need a little extra help from chipmaker Nvidia in order to handle the intense 3D imagery that results from their courtship. The project is being spearheaded by Volkswagen's Palo Alto-based Electronics Research Laboratory, and aims to provide drivers with Google Earth-like birds-eye views of upcoming terrain. Suits at VW say there are no definite plans to commercialize this technology in production vehicles.
James Cameron's Project 880 MMORPG to precede the movie
James Cameron's Project 880 is not a movie based on a game, but rather, a movie with a game tie-in that will launch before the movie. The idea is to get consumers hooked on Project 880's "completely crazy, balls-out sci-fi" universe using an MMORPG title, and then, before the excitement dies down, release a film that will give fans a story to relate to. But with Cameron still busy writing the screenplay, Project 880 is still years from fruition.
Built out of kevlar and carbon fiber, this miniature figher jet can reach speeds upwards of 280 M.P.H. The models use small jet turbines, functionally identical to those used in actual full-sized jets to achieve remarkable speeds and flying precision.
The Waterphone an acoustic musical instrument invented by Richard Water in the late '60s in San Francisco, and everyone has heard a Waterphone, they just don't know it. If you've seen The Matrix, or Poltergeist, or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then you've heard it. When the bronze rods are played with a violin bow, and the water is sloshing around in the bottom, it makes an instantly recognisable sound that says 'Ooh! Something scary is going to happen.'
It's been patented by Richard Water, and since he has hand made over 1,000. He'll sell you a little one for $800, or a big one on a stand for over $1,700.
Epic's Ryan Gordon has made available a "Universal Binary" version of Unreal Tournament 2004 for the Mac. Now owners of Intel-based iMacs and MacBooks will be able to see how this game runs natively on their machines. Macologist has some preliminary benchmarks showing a 40% performance improvement over previous G5 iMacs.
The latest car company to get into the watch business is Lotus which will launch the Type 1 Lotus watch in Geneva. The watch was designed by Lotus Design and features an orange anodised aluminium crown guard on a black dial with the Lotus logo. The watch has a high-precision quartz movement, a three-dial stopwatch timing system and a calendar mechanism. There is an etched logo on the rear of the case and it has a resin strap.
messagingreminder.com is a cool service that integrates with your Outlook calendar and skips your phone's calendar entirely by sending you SMS reminders about upcoming meetings, etc. The services isn't free—it costs about $15 a year—and certainly isn't the only way to get the job done (Yahoo! Calendar does the same for free, for example), but unlike Outlook plugins that do the same, it works even when your computer isn't turned on.
-Lytir1
