NVidia is unveiling the new GeForce GTX400, based on the Fermi chipset, and it looks like most of the rumors were true.

I’m not going to bore you with all of the details, but I will update this post with crucial nuggets of information and links to other reviews.  First off is this morning’s leaked TechARP report, which is now back online:

If you have more stories or news, post it in the comments and I’ll integrate them into this post!

Update: Some detailed specs:

Special thanks to our “Inside Agent” at PAX for the photo of the Big Reveal.

More after the break…..

Updated 6:22pm with LiveBlog Transcript

Updated 8:51pm with tomsHardware, Anandtech, and Guru3d

Updated 9:24pm with Gizmodo, Engadget, HardOCP, LegitReviews, HotHardware, DailyTech

Update #2: 6:22pm Central

NVidia live-blogged the event (What, a Video Company?  With no Live Video Stream? oh well) on their nTersect blog.  Transcript follows:

5:53 : There is a huge line outside, the doors have opened and we’re letting people in!
5:55 : People are streaming in and trying to get the best seats. And they’ve brought plenty of green thundersticks that we’ve been giving out in the booth all day so it’s going to not just be packed, but it’s going to be NOISY
5:56 : No livestream guys but we will post some great video clips of this as soon as we can after the event
5:58 : the crowd is screaming
5:59 : t shirts are being thrown out to the crowd
6:02 : yes, there will be benchmarks…or at least some perf data
6:03 : We’re still waiting to start because the people just keep coming in. There are people piling up in the balcony and the entire main floor is almost full.
6:06 : the show is about to begin
6:13 : Drew Henry, GM of NVIDIA GeForce is coming on stage
6:16 : Drew’s explaining why we are launching the new GTX cards at PAX- because we wanted to go where the gamers were
6:16 : the passion in the gamers- how they drive 40 hours across country from Washington to be here…how they pack 11 people in a hotel room to attend
6:17 : Drew is explaining that we thought it was so important to build a new architecture that would allow the next generation of gaming to be different and exciting…and thanking everyone for their patience
6:18 : “instead of wasting time, just to get right to it, I want to show you our new GeForce GTX 480”
6:18 : “without a doubt,the best GPU we ever built”
6:18 : “The GeForce GTX 480 is something you’re going to be really delighted with”
6:19 : Now he’s showing the the actual GPU. “The most complicated GPU we ever built. It has 3 billion transistors in it”
6:19 : which is the same as 4 Intel quad core core i7 CPUs
6:20 : “it has so much compute capabilities in it that it’s gonna let you blow some shit up”
6:20 : We also have the GTX 470. “The 480, top of the line, hands down the fastest GPU we’ve ever built. The fastest GPU on the planet.”
6:20 : GTX 480: 1.5 GB frame buffer, 480 cores. The 470 1.2 GB frame buffer, 448 cores
6:21 : Comparing perf of GTX 285 versus 480
6:21 : GTX 480 is up to 2x faster than the 285, sometimes MORE
6:21 : “pretty good from one generation to the next”
6:21 : He’s showing perf charts and everyone is cheering
6:22 : “2x the performance in gaming so you can tear stuff up”
6:22 : It’s not a GPU just for gaming. It has a lot of new featues built into it….we’ve invested a lot in PhysX to let you blow things up…and that’s what this GPU does. It has up to 2.5x the PhysX performance of the last gen (285)
6:23 : He’s showing a gorgeous photo-realistic car on the huge screen…and for the first time ever, you can do interactive ray tracing
6:23 : We’re shipping this interactive ray tracing app with every new GTX 470 and 480
6:23 : “So what does that mean for you as a gamer?”
6:24 : “You can CRANK THAT S#!T UP”
6:24 : Drew’s showing the NVIDIA Crank that s#!t up t-shirt
6:25 : To really experience what “Crank that S#!t up means”, we’re going to move into 3D
6:25 : now the whole rest of the preso is in 3D…one of the most technically complicated shows we’ve done…
6:26 : Drew is inviting up Gordon Van Dyke, Lead Producer from Need For Speed at EA
6:27 : Sorry, correction: not of Need For Speed, Battlefield Bad Company 2
6:27 : They are going to show Bad Company 2 in 3D VIsion on a huge 25 foot wide screen
6:27 : They want to crank that s#!t up….now it’s blown up in 3D Vision Surround
6:28 : Gordon is explaining how incredible it is to have peripheral vision like this in a 1st person shooter
6:28 : “it adds a new experience when you’re playing a game”….they’re blowing down complete buildings in 3D on the screen now
6:30 : the gamers are cheering…things are exploding everywhere on the screen in BC2
6:30 : WOW just appeared on the screen
6:30 : Louder cheers for Horde than Alliance.. 🙂
6:31 : Now WOW is in 3D Vision Surround across all 75 feet of the big screen
6:32 : It is 3 25 foot screens in total when using 3DVS
6:33 : Like Shanee said in her comment, we know you want video. We couldn’t stream this live but we are going to provide video as soon as possible.
6:33 : Jesse Abney just came on stage from Need For Speed
6:34 : Drew is talking about the new technology we’ve been working on with EA so that we can make cars look amazing in games
6:34 : He’s showing how you can now do interactive ray tracing in the Design Garage demo on an actual Need For Speed car.
6:34 : Jesse: “This shows what can happen next”
6:35 : “what you’re looking at is one of the most complex, high-fidelity images we’ve ever made of a car”
6:36 : Drew is talking about the possibility in the future of being able to spend a lot of time customizing your car, making it completely ray traced…and then being able to unlock a level in the game where you can use it.
6:36 : Jesse “Your innovations today are aspirational for us.”
6:38 : Design Garage will be shipped for free with the new cards. We also wanted to create a whole game that we’ll ship free so that you can experience everything the architecture is capable of
6:39 : It’s called Supersonic Sled.
6:39 : Barney is the test pilot on a supersonic sled. The goal is to get to the end of the track without going off as fast as posssible. It’s DX11, has tessellation, PhysX, works in 3DVS…
6:40 : Barney is racing down the track in 3DVS
6:44 : “10,000 particles all being calculated by the GPU” – Drew talking about the bridge in the supersonic sled game….he cranked it up to a million particles to show the difference in the explosion
6:46 : Crates full of chickens have been destroyed from the rocketsled.
6:46 : Drew is inviting Luis Gigliotti, the creative director from Metro 2033 on stage
6:48 : Luis is showing Metro 2033….going in the tunnels under the ground
6:49 : now he’s killing monsters underground
6:51 : Luis: “When we think Crank S#!T up, this is what we mean…”
something is about to go horribly wrong in the game
6:51 : monsters are swarming in all over the place
6:51 : The Metro 2033 gamer is blowing them up all over the place…they are jumping right up in the screen and looking incredibly real
6:53 : “Reviews will be posting in about 10 minutes or so” and they’ll be in stores in about 14 days
6:53 : everyone take your glasses off…if you have green nail polish in the center of your glasses you just won a GeForce GTX 480
6:54 : there are 2 winners
6:54 : the tshirt gun is coming out on the stage
6:57 : The place is rounding out…everyone screams “CRANK THAT S#!T UP!”
6:57 : And we’re done!

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