Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)

15 Aug 00

Not for Mac, Nvidia GPU breaks 1 billion pixels/sec barrier

Nvidia Corporation have announced a break through in graphical processor unit technology with its newest graphics chip, the GeForce2 Ultra.

Here are excerpts from their press release:

Once again, NVIDIA sets new standards for performance and quality by combining the award-winning GeForce2 architecture with its fully compatible driver architecture and its cutting-edge memory subsystem to deliver the industry's fastest GPU. The previous leader was NVIDIA's GeForce2 GTSª.

Moore's Law Cubed

"NVIDIA's core strategy is to deliver a breakthrough product every six months, doubling performance with each generation at a rate of essentially Moore's Law cubed," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "Our unique ability to innovate at this staggering pace is one of the key elements of our competitive advantage. Our consistency has made it possible for our partners to rely on our architecture and roadmap. GeForce2 Ultra exemplifies our commitment to help our partners build innovative and winning products."

Raw Graphics Power

The GeForce2 Ultra provides the stunning graphics consumers have come to expect from NVIDIA. Its transform and lighting engines provide over 31 million sustained triangles per second. Its advanced rendering subsystem provides an unprecedented fill rate of up to one billion pixels per second, and two billion texels per second—two to three times the pixel processing power of any graphics processor at any price. The GeForce2 Ultra renders razor-sharp, crystal-clear 2D graphics, even at taxing resolutions as high as 2048 x 1536, in 32-bit color.

Nvidia is entering the Macintosh market later this year with the GeForce2 MX product and will join the burgeoning graphics card competition in the Macintosh space. While the GeForce2 MX may be more powerful than what Apple is currently supplying in their Power Macs (ATI's 128-bit chip), it pales in comparison—at least according to Nvidia's own charts—to the newest GeForce2 Ultra and even the GeForce2 GTS.

It would behoove Mac users to write to Nvidia and share with them their wish to purchase the fastest cards available for the Macintosh. Mac gamers and 3D professionals have the exact same desires as their PC peers, and according to Nvidia, the GeForce's 256-bit architecture has cross-platform capabilities built-in. So why not supply us the best?

For the more information and the full press release click here.