GeForce 8800: Here Comes the DX10 Boom

Holy Hardware Batman!

GeForce 8800GTX is head and shoulders above the competition.

We have been hearing about DirectX 10 hardware and the miraculous advantages it has over DX9. We have even seen the screenshots of games in development. However, until today, the hardware has been lacking. Earlier today we wanted to whet your appetites for Direct3D (D3D) hardware and Nvidia delivers the goods first. We are pleased to announce the arrival of DirectX 10 compliant hardware in the form of Nvidia's GeForce 8800GTX and 8800GTS.

As our DX10 preview article concluded, a unified architecture will get more gains out of the shader units as they can be utilized more efficiently than a fixed function layout. Ushering in the new era of computer graphics is the GeForce 8800GTX with 128 unified shader units and the GeForce 8800GTS with 96 shader units. Long gone are the days of pipelines, finally. Without further ado, let's look inside the mouth of the beast and see how this thing works.

slide show: GeForce 8800GTX/GTS

More Information on DirectX 10

What Direct3D 10 Is All About
Today's launch of the Nvidia GeForce 8 series marks the advent of next-generation graphics. What can we expect from graphics makers with respect to DirectX 10 hardware?
The New Graphics
A tale of Direct X 10, and rumors of the hardware to drive it. While the demand for Direct X 9 hardware is not slipping, and more graphics cards are constantly being launched, there is much interest in this new standard and the hardware that will support it.
The Graphics State Of The Union
Tom's Hardware graphics presidente Polkowski is concerned about the 3D arms race. Power and heat dissipation are skyrocketing, but external graphics boxes could eliminate the imminent need for 1,000 W power supplies.

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