NVIDIA Introduces Industry’s First Top-to-Bottom Family of PCI Express GPUs
New NVIDIA GeForce PCX (PCI Express-based product) Family Features Innovative High-Speed Interconnect Technology for Performance and Stability
INTEL DEVELOPER CONFERENCE-SAN FRANCISCO -FEBRUARY 17, 2004-NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today 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 award-winning 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 delivers extreme graphics power and performance for extreme gamers.
- NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750 – designed for high-performance gaming with NVIDIA’s full suite of cinematic effects and an unmatched feature set.
- NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300 –delivers state-of-the-art, best-in-class features and the reliability users have come to expect from NVIDIA, at an affordable price.
- NVIDIA GeForce PCX 4300 – provides entry-level pricing coupled with strong performance, unbeatable visual quality, 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.
“NVIDIA is one of several key players in the PCI Express technology initiative, so it is fitting that they selected Intel’s premiere technology showcase to introduce their PCI Express product family,” said Randy Wilhelm, vice president, desktop platforms group and general manager, client platform division at Intel Corporation. “By working closely with companies such as NVIDIA, the industry is experiencing revolutionary new advancements in PC technology at a remarkable pace.”
By qualifying a single unified device, NVIDIA partners can launch and be the first to validate, launch and market an entire family of PCI Express solutions. 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 also serves as a member of PCI-SIG, the industry organization that owns the PCI Express specification.
Visit the NVIDIA booth at IDF for a detailed demonstration of advanced visualization solutions, or to see first hand the latest work on the PCI Express architecture. For more information about NVIDIA’s PCI Express efforts, visit www.nvidia.com/object/pci_express.html.
For additional information on the Intel Developer Network for PCI Express please visit http://developer.intel.com/.
