VizWorld.com

Nvidia has just announced the release of version 3.0 of the CUDA toolkit. One of the new features for this release is, of course, that it supports the new Fermi chip that is slated to be released real soon now. Other features include support for ECC memory, and optimized double precision support.

There’s been a lot of anticipation about how the Fermi architecture can help accelerate research. The release of the 3.0 toolkit means that the scientific community is a step closer to realizing some of these performance gains. We talked to Professor Richard Brower, U.S. Software Coordinator for USQCD, Boston University Physics and Electrical Engineering Departments, about what the new toolkit means for his research in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), an area of particle physics.

“QCD codes need all the compute cycles they can get and we’re really excited about the results we’re getting by using GPUs – we’ve already reduced the cost of our calculations by a factor of 5,” Professor Bower said, adding that features in the new CUDA Toolkit that are essential for high performance computing – like GPU acceleration for more complex linear algebra routines – are going to help advance his QCD research.

The new toolkit lets developers take advantage of innovations in the Fermi architecture that make these new GPUs exceptionally well suited for scientific applications.

Some of the new features include:

• Support for new GPUs based on Fermi architecture – including ECC, optimized double precision, support for linear algebra libraries such as BLAS and LAPACK, the CUDA-GDB debugger and Visual Profiler
• C++ support – delivering improved productivity with class and template inheritance
• GPGPU/Graphics interoperability – delivering Direct3D 9, 10 and 11 and OpenGL for both CUDA and OpenCL
• Improved developer tools for Linux – including the new CUDA Memory Checker that reports misalignment and out-of-bounds errors
• Tesla Compute Cluster (TCC) – improving performance and cluster management

via : GPGPU Developers Get Boost from New CUDA Toolkit 3.0

Hardware cuda, fermi, gpgpu, gt100, nvidia

Expreview has snagged the two pictures to the right of the new XFX GeForce GTX 480 and the XFX GeForce GTX 470. These look like final products to me, especially since the release date is only a week away.

The GeForce GTX 480 is reported to have 480 Shader Processors running at 1401 MHz, a 700 MHz core, 1.536 GB of memory running at 1848MHz on a 384-bit memory bus. It is expected to consume about 250W TDP and cost US$499.

The GeForce GTX 470 is reported to have 448 Shader Processors running at 1215 MHz, a 607 MHz core, 1.280 GB of memory running at 1674MHz on a 320-bit memory bus. It is expected to consume about 225W TDP and cost US$349.

You can click on the images to the right for a larger, better view. You can also click on the link below to see more pictures.

via Expreview

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx480, nvidia

Fudzilla is reporting that Nvidia is aiming for lower prices for the new Geforce GTX 480. That would be nice if it is true, but I have to admit that I am skeptical. To me, the quote below from the article makes no sense because €450 is about $620 while €600 is about $826. Since the Geforce GTX 480 is not for sale, we can look at another graphics card to see the same pattern. The Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 sells for $450 at newegg.com which would be about €326. In France it is selling for about €349, which is close to the figure I calculated. We will see in about 10 days what the price, and performance, really is.

People have expected single GPU Geforce GTX 480 to end up at close to $600 or €600 in Europe after tax but it turns out that the amount Nvidia wants for its new high end card should be closer to €450.

via : Geforce GTX 480 aims for €450 price

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx480, nvidia

Some days it seems like all we do is publish news from the green camp called Nvidia. Since today is St. Patrick’s Day, I guess that is allowed. Anyway, rumors are that the retail release date for the GTX 480 and the GTX 470 has been delayed from March 29th to April 6th. Why did Nvidia change the date? No one seems to know for sure. However, the author at the link below has the following ideas:

This morning we heard that NVIDIA had changed the strategy for sending samples; instead of partners sending them out NVIDIA are taking charge and sending out themselves. We’re not 100% sure why they’re doing this but it could be because NVIDIA doesn’t want any leaks on the results until the 26th. … Holding cards back from its partners though until launch means that it’s going to take a little longer for the cards to hit retail.

At least we will get to see benchmarks on March 26th. Meanwhile Nvidia released the following announcement:

NVIDIA and our launch partners have not released pricing or pre-order information yet. Any Web sites claiming to be taking pre-orders should not be considered legitimate.

via : GTX 400 Series; Date pushed back | shanebaxtor.com

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx480, nvidia

The launch date for GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 is March 26, 2010, which is just around the corner. Rumors have been swirling around this release for some time now, but things seem to be getting firm. We have previously posted pictures of manufactures making GTX 480 boards. Now, Guru3D has some leaked pictures of the GTX 480 with the A3 stepping. You will need to click through the link below to see all the images in the Guru3D forum. They are saying that the GTX 480 is:

Huge , Hot , Expensive and only 480 Cores NOT 512. And has been delayed again
to April 6th 2010 for retail availability.

via : First leaked Nvidia Fermi GTX480 Die Shots A3 Stepping.

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx480, nvidia

SemiAccurate is reporting the Nvidia 480GTX uses 275 Watts of power. There, that is all you need to know, other than how much you electric bill will jump when you start using these things. Remember, this is about three 100 Watt light bulbs in your system, or eleven CFL equivalent bulbs. Think about running these things in SLI. Think about running these things in a four-way computer server. I cannot see how this can ever make it into a laptop, even if you cut it down. Maybe the second revision will be better.

via : SemiAccurate :: SemiAccurate wrong about Nvidia 480GTX power use.

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx480, nvidia

Toms Hardware has posted some screen shots of the box art for the Palit GeForce GTX 480 and the GeForce GTX 470. The GeForce GTX 480 will come with 1.536 GB of memory. The GeForce GTX 470 will come with 1.28 GB of memory. As we have reported earlier, the release date for these GPUs is March 26.

via : Official Box Art for Palit’s GeForce GTX 480, 470

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx470, gtx480, nvidia

Guru3D has a pair of posts today showing that the GeForce GTX 480 and 470 are getting ready to ship. First up we have a shot of Inno3D’s GeForce GTX 480 box, which are then shown being boxed up to ship. Then Guru3D posts a picture of a GeForce GTX 470 from Galaxy. The March 26 release date is getting closer.

via : Inno3D teasing with GTX 470 and 480 box shots

via : GeForce GTX 470 from Galaxy pictured.

Hardware fermi, gt100, gtx470, gtx480, nvidia