Last Updated:
09
/
26
/
2008
NVIDIA Developer Newsletter 44: September 2008
In This Issue:
As a new season begins, we're pleased to present the story of what
NVIDIA did during our summer vacations -- or rather, what we did by working
right on through! Recent weeks have seen some spectacular developer
events, including: NVISION;
SIGGRAPH;
XNA
Gamefest; our GPU-BBQ in
Korea; both CEDEC and
Gamefest Japan in Tokyo; and the introduction of the GeForce Power Pack --
read on to see the recaps and new info presented first at those shows,
and be sure to look further down for a new developer survey, where you
can help us shape the future of NVIDIA
PhysX.
NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX are continuing to revolutionize computing and gaming
-- and game players know it! At press time, gameinfowire.com
reports that the latest CUDA- and PhysX-enabled GeForce Power Pack has
crossed over one million downloads in less than two weeks.
Gamers themselves are leading the charge:
- "Gaming experiences are much more important to me than numbers in a
benchmark. It's not surprising that features like PhysX, Stereo 3D and
multi-GPU are so important to me.... I don't just want to play a game. I
want to experience the game and to be immersed."
- "Sir Pauly," Rage3D.com
- "All I can say is I tried it [PhysX] and I like it!"
- "Bamavoo," anandtech.com
Gamer enthusiasm and the numbers speak for themselves: GeForce owners love, play,
and buy games -- by the millions. Is your development effort giving them the experiences
they crave and are coming to expect?
URLs:
http://www.nvidia.com/theforcewithin
http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=12914
On Thursday the 25th of September, NVIDIA released v178.13 WHQL UDA XP/Vista
drivers for GeForce desktop GPUs. Some of the highlights for the new
Vista release with special interest for developers include:
- WHQL-certified driver for GeForce 6-series, 7-series, 8-series,
9-series, and 200-series GPUs, including the newly released GeForce 9800
GTX+, 9800 GT, 9500 GT and
9400
GT GPUs.
- Adds support for NVIDIA PhysX
acceleration on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with
a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory (this driver package
installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v8.09.04). Experience GPU
PhysX acceleration in several full games and demos today by downloading
the GeForce
Power Pack.
- Supports CUDA™.
- Supports NVIDIA
GeForce 3D Stereo Technology.
- Adds support for 2-way and 3-way NVIDIA
SLI technology with GeForce GTX 200-series GPUs on Intel® D5400XS
motherboards.
- Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI™ technology on DirectX 9, DirectX
10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology.
- Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring via NVAPI and/or
by installing NVIDIA System
Tools software.
- Includes several 3D application performance improvements. The following
are examples of improvements measured with v178.13 WHQL versus v175.19
WHQL driver:
- Single GPU increases up to 11% in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
- Single GPU increases up to 11% in Assassin's Creed DX10
- Single GPU increases up to 15% in BioShock DX10
- Single GPU increases up to 15% in Call of Duty 4
- Single GPU increases up to 8% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
- 2-way SLI increases up to 7% in BioShock DX10
- 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts DX10
- 2-way SLI increases up to 12% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
- 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in World in Conflict DX10
- Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the
release notes for more information on product support, features, driver
fixes and known compatibility issues
URLs:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/physx.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/sli_best_practices.html
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/3d_stereo_dev.html
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nvapi.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools
NVAPI is
NVIDIA's core software development kit that allows direct access to NVIDIA
GPUs and drivers on all windows platforms. Initially exposed only to OEMs
and NVIDIA's own game tool teams, NVAPI is now available to download by all
developers interested in building Windows applications on NVIDIA GPUs.
NVAPI provides access to features of the GPU not found in standard graphics APIs
like Direct3D and OpenGL: feature categories include driver management,
display management, termal and cooling controls, video rendering, overclocking,
and more! Click the NVAPI
home page for more details.
URL: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nvapi.html
Detailed information from the following presentations at NVISION 2008 is now available
here on developer.nvidia.com:
High Performance Computing with CUDA
Visual Computing for Industry
- HD is now 8MP & HDR
Ian Williams, NVIDIA
- OpenGL, CUDA, and the Future
Mark Kilgard, Barthold Lichtenbelt, & Michael I. Gold, NVIDIA
- Part 1: OpenGL and the Future
- Part 2: GeForce 8 Features
for OpenGL
- Part 3: Cg 2.1 - "C" for Graphics
for all 3D APIs and Platforms
- Part 4: OpenGL and CUDA
- Remoting Your 3D
Ian Williams, NVIDIA
- Scaling with Multiple GPUs
Thomas Ruge, Thomas Volk, Subu Krishnamoorthy, NVIDIA
Horn Thorolf Tonjum, Stormfjord.
- Part 1: GPU Scaling for Large Data
Visualization
- Part 2: NVIDIA's Multi-GPU SDK
- Part 3: Multi-GPU with
NVSG-Scale
- Part 4: The Industrial GPU
Revolution
Dynamic Gaming with PhysX
Consumer Content
Advanced Rendering
URL: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nvision08-presentations.html
SIGGRAPH 2008 again
saw NVIDIA presenting leading-edge development work on topics
ranging across character animation, rendering, CUDA High-Performance
Computing, and more.
Slides and other media from many of these presetations are available
from the links below.
NVIDIA Sponsored Talks
NVIDIA Presence in Regular SIGGRAPH Sessions
URL: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/siggraph-2008.html
Missed XNA Gamefest in Seattle?
The slides from both NVIDIA Gamefest presentations are now available:
URL: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/gamefest-2008.html
After a 4-year hiatus, NVIDIA’s “GPU-BBQ 2008 Korea” developer conference
came back with a vengeance. Over 400 of the best and brightest game
industry professionals from Korea (the world’s epicenter of online gaming
and game development) descended upon the COEX convention center on August 5th
to be educated on the latest GPU technologies, development tools and
techniques.
We're delighted to make available some of the Korean and English presentation slides
from GPU-BBQ at our GPU-BBQ
Home page:
URL: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/gpubbq-2008.html
NVIDIA has become a familiar participant to attendees of both the annual CEDEC event
and Gamefest in Tokyo. This year was no exception! Below you'll find links to some of the
Japanese-language event slides from these recent events, or go directly to our CEDEC 2008 Home
page to see them all:
URL: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cedec-2008.html
We are currently developing our next generation of PhysX tools and SDKs and
would like your
feedback to ensure that we build the best possible developer tools to
meet your needs.
In appreciation, survey respondents will be entered into a drawing for a GeForce GTX 280
GPU (MSRP $449). Winners will be announced on November 1, 2008 when the
survey closes. Required questions are marked with *
red asterisks.
We thank you in advance for your valuable time and opinions.
Please
click here to take the survey.
- Curious about previous NVIDIA Developer Newsletters? Try these:
- Issue 43: NVISION 2008
- Issue 42: Siggraph 2008
- Issue 41: July 2008
If you prefer not to receive the NVIDIA Developer Newsletter in the future,
please unsubscribe at http://lyris01.nvidia.com/devRelRegister/frmOptOut.asp.
NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) is the worldwide leader in graphics
processors and media communications devices. For more information about
NVIDIA please visit our website: www.nvidia.com.
© 2008 NVIDIA Corporation
Game Developer
Track Presentations from NVISION 2008
NVIDIA
Developer Presentations from SIGGRAPH 2008
NVIDIA
Developer Presentations from XNA Gamefest 2008
