NVIDIA Releases New 310.54 Driver, Up to 16% Performance Improvement

NVIDIA is stepping up to the plate by offering their GeForce customers something similar. While the primary focus of their new 310.54 drivers are to offer optimal release-day performance and DX11 optimizations for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassin’s Creed III, there are some additional benefits included as well. According to the driver’s release notes, many games will see up to 16% better framerates even though the lion’s share of improvements are reserved for the aforementioned big-name titles.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassin’s Creed III are likely going to be two of this holiday season’s hottest titles and NVIDIA worked with both game’s developers to include TXAA support. This should lead to high quality anti-aliasing without a significant framerate reduction. Additional optimizations for these titles are included within the 310.54 driver as well, allowing for an approximate 26% framerate increase over the WHQL version currently posted on NVIDIA’s download page. If you have an NVIDIA card and will be buying Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 or Assassin’s Creed III, be sure to install this driver.

Source: GeForce.com

Alongside the aforementioned items, NVIDIA has added an automatic LOD bias for SGSSAA  which can be applied through NVIDIA’s Inspector tool. The passage below is from a GeForce.com post which details the changes to this ultra-high quality AA routine:
Several years ago Fullscene Sparse Grid Supersampling Anti-Aliasing was added to the GeForce drivers as an advanced anti-aliasing option for those with high-end systems. When enabled and correctly configured, SGSSAA significantly increases the quality of Multisample Anti-Aliasing, helping remove aliasing that even 8xMSAA struggles with.
Configuring SGSSAA to reach this level of detail can at times be tricky due to the need to counteract texture blurring that occurs when using the technique. With a Negative LOD Bias, applied via NVIDIA Inspector, texture quality can be restored, but unfortunately the correct value can only be ascertained through trial and error.
Following repeated calls from users for a solution, we silently introduced an automatic LOD Bias feature in last month’s 310.33 beta driver, which we’re pleased to officially announce today. Now, users need only enable Sparse Grid Supersampling in the profile of a compatible game in NVIDIA Inspector, and the new feature will do the rest.
NVIDIA continues their work on improving multi card scaling and the 310.54 stack adds SLI profiles for Hitman: Absolution, Hawken, Natural Selection 2 and Primal Carnage.by skymtl

Danger Den to Close its Doors, Cuts Prices by 75%

After being in the business of supplying PC enthusiasts for over a decade, water cooling product manufacturer Danger Den is in the process of closing its doors and winding down operations.
Long thought of as a pioneer in the water cooling business, Danger Den has announced that its time as a leading manufacturer of everything from CPU blocks to reservoirs to PC cases is coming to an abrupt end. It looks like the viability of supplying and developing new products for an ever-shrinking market was no longer financially viable.

In a short post on their site, Dan, Jeremy, Dennis and Rokk announced their decision:
“After 12 years our hobby has come to an end. It’s time to pursue other interests and Danger Den will be closing its doors. Thank you for all your support over the years, we’ve enjoyed being part of your modding community.”

To many, this will be a particularly sad day as Danger Den was always thought of as one of as a major player within the water cooling niche. They have been around since the dawn of liquid cooling and their products were well received by enthusiasts all over the world.

In order to get rid of in-stock merchandise, their online store is offering 75% off every single item until Monday. At this time, there isn’t much left but this could be an opportunity for some people to stock up on parts that won’t be available anymore.by skymtl

I Pad Mini Hands On

We just spent a good amount of time with the iPad mini and the easiest way to describe the device is that it's lighter than you'd expect. The build quality and finish both feel good as you'd expect, but the device is just considerably lighter than the iPad which results in superior in hand feel.
The display doesn't feel cramped either thanks to the reasonably large diagonal size. It's clear that the iPad mini is a nod to those who want something even more portable than the standard iPad.
In terms of performance, there's a pretty noticeable difference between the A5 in the iPad mini and the A6X in the 4th gen iPad as you'd expect. I do wish that Apple had brought the A6 to the mini, however something has to give in pursuit of the lower price point.

The LTE version of the iPad mini has an RF window at the top of the unit similar to the standard iPad, although it does blend in a bit better on the black model. by lai shimpi

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October

Since our last monthly update, Nvidia launched three new graphics cards: the GeForce GTX 650, 650 Ti, and 660.

The GeForce GTX 650 is essentially a GeForce GT 640 with a higher-clocked 1058 MHz core and 1250 MHz GDDR5 (instead of 891 MHz DDR3 memory). That increased memory bandwidth immediately uncorks this card's performance, putting it head-to-head against the Radeon HD 7750. A $120 price point sounds about right until you hop online and see AMD's Radeon HD 7750 selling for $105. The notably faster Radeon HD 7770 goes for $125. After a series of price drops from AMD, the GeForce GTX 650 needs to get closer to $105 before it's really competitive.

Next, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is built around the same GK106 GPU found on Nvidia's GeForce GTX 660, but with a single GPC cluster disabled. The result is a processor with 768 shaders, 64 texture units, and two ROP partitions capable of 16 raster operations per clock. The card's core operates at 925 MHz, and its GDDR5 memory runs at 1350 MHz. All told, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti outperforms AMD's Radeon HD 6850 and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 460, nearly reaching the same performance levels as the GeForce GTX 560 and Radeon HD 6870. Unfortunately, a rather narrow 128-bit memory interface hampers frame rates at higher resolutions with MSAA enabled. Nevertheless, GeForce GTX 650 Ti is the highest-performing $150 card on the market
.
You might think that this fact alone would earn the GeForce GTX 650 Ti an easy recommendation. But AMD's counter-strike cannot be ignored. A discounted 1 GB version of the Radeon HD 7850 for $170. The 650 Ti is quite a bit slower, and saving $20 doesn't make up the difference. Nvidia's other issue is that street prices on the GeForce GTX 650 Ti are notably higher than $155. We'd want to see wider availability in the $140 to $150 range for this new card to earn more than an honorable mention.
Finally, the GeForce GTX 660 employs an uncut version of the same GK106 processor, giving it 960 cores, 80 texture units, and three ROP partitions. It sports a 980 MHz core clock rate and 1502 MHz GDDR5 memory on an aggregate 192-bit interface. Selling for $230, it's very attractive next to a $250 Radeon HD 7870. But because it takes a performance hit when MSAA is applied, it shares our recommendation around $240 with AMD's Radeon card.by don woligroski

Nvidia announces GeForce GTX 650 Ti and Assassin's Creed 3 bundles

PC gamers looking to improve their graphics quality without emptying their wallets can check out graphics cards based on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti available Tuesday at a starting price of $150. The GTX 650 Ti uses the same Kepler architecture found in other GTX cards such as the $380 GTX 670, but at a far lower price point. You could get an even lower price by snapping up the GTX 650, but for about an extra $30 Nvidia says the GTX 650 Ti is up to 40 percent faster than the regular 650. Select versions of the GTX 650 Ti also come with a free copy of Assassin's Creed 3.

Nvidia

Assassin's Creed 3

The reference design for Nvidia's new GTX 650 Ti features a 925 MHz core clock, 768 CUDA cores (double the amount in the GTX 650), and 1 GB of dedicated memory. The card uses one 6-pin PCI Express connector, and offers one HDMI and two dual-link DVI ports. Nvidia says you can expect the GTX 650 Ti to offer performance of about 42 frames per second on Battlefield 3, and around 40 frames per second on Borderlands 2 and similar games, on a 1920 x 1080 display. The GTX 650 Ti can support up to four separate monitors simultaneously depending on the version you purchase.

Nvidia

The reference design is only six inches long and takes up one slot.

Card manufacturers may ship versions of the GTX 650Ti in different configurations. One example is Zotac's ZT-61103-10M, which will include 2GB of frame buffer memory and a DisplayPort connector. Clock speeds of different cards may also vary from one model to the next.

Nvidia

Zotac ZT-61103-10M

The reference design is one slot wide and less than six inches long, so may fit in compact cases. Power consumption is rated at 110 watts, so most PC power supplies should be able to handle the load.
Not every card will be as small as Nvidia's reference design. Gigabyte's GV-N65TOC-2GI will offer dual cooling fans to help cool down an overclocked GPU. Overclocked cards may also draw more power, but power consumption is still low enough to enable them to run in most PC systems with 350W or greater power supplies.

Nvidia

Gigabyte GV-N65TOC-2G

Nvidia is aiming the GTX 650 Ti at users who may be stepping up from older 9600 GT budget cards. At well under $200, the GTX 650 Ti is aimed at price conscious gamers who only upgrade every couple of years, and aren't willing to spend more than $200.
The Assassin's Creed 3 bundle offering won't be offered with every version of the GTX 650 Ti, so you need to check that the card you're buying includes a download coupon for the game. A quick check on Newegg showed versions of the GTX 650 Ti from Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, and Zotac all included the Assassin's Creed 3 bundle. Prices on Newegg started at $155.

Best Gaming CPU: $200 And Up Price Range

Core i5-3570K
Codename:
Process:	22 nm
CPU Cores/Threads:	4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo):	3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz)
Socket:	LGA 1155
L2 Cache:	4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache:	6 MB
Thermal Envelope:	77 W

The Core i5-3570K is  300 MHz faster than the Core i5-3450 at stock speeds,The K-series' unlocked ratio multiplier is a must-have for overclockers looking to unleash significant performance improvements. It is for this reason alone that a gamer should shell out the extra $30 over Intel's slower model. After all, the pricier chip's HD Graphics 4000 is hardly relevant when you plan to use a discrete card anyway.
If you don't plan to overclock, then we think that there's little reason to look past the Core i5-3450.
Read our review of the Ivy Bridge-based CPUs
CPUs priced over $230 offer rapidly diminishing returns when it comes to game performance. As such, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Core i5-3570K, especially since this multiplier-unlocked processor can be overclocked to great effect if more performance is desired.,it meets or beats the $1000 Core i7-990X Extreme Edition when it comes to gaming.

But now that LGA 2011 is here, there's certainly an argument to be made for it as the ultimate gaming platform. LGA 2011-based CPUs have more available cache and as many as two more execution cores than the flagship LGA 1155 models. Additionally, more bandwidth is delivered through a quad-channel memory controller. And with 40 lanes of third-gen PCIe connectivity available from Sandy Bridge-E-based processors, the platform natively supports two x16 and one x8 slot, or one x16 and three x8 slots, alleviating potential bottlenecks in three- and four-way CrossFire or SLI configurations.

Although they sound impressive, those advantages don't necessarily translate into significant performance gains in modern titles. Our tests demonstrate fairly little difference between a $225 LGA 1155 Core i5-2500K and a $1000 LGA 2011 Core i7-3960X, even when three-way graphics card configurations are involved. It turns out that memory bandwidth and PCIe throughput don't hold back the performance of existing Sandy Bridge-based machines.
Where we do see the potential for Sandy Bridge-E to drive additional performance is in processor-bound games like World of Warcraft or the multiplayer component of Battlefield 3. If you're running a three- or four-way array of graphics cards already, there's a good chance that you already own more than enough rendering muscle. An overclocked Core i7-3960X or -3930K could help the rest of your platform catch up to an insanely powerful arrangement of GPUs.

 while we generally recommend against purchasing any gaming CPU that retails for more than $220 from a value point of view (sink that money into graphics and the motherboard instead), there are those of you who have no trouble throwing down serious money on the best of the best, and who require the fastest possible performance available. If this describes your goals, the following CPU is for you:

Best Gaming CPU for $570:
Core i7-3930K

Core i7-3930K
Codename:	Sandy Bridge-E
Process:	32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads:	6/12
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo):	3.2 GHz (3.8 GHz)
Socket:	LGA 2011
L2 Cache:	6x 256 KB
L3 Cache:	12 MB
Thermal Envelope:	130 W

Take the $1000 Core i7-3960X, remove 3 MB of L3 cache, and drop the base clock rate by 100 MHz. What do end up with? Four hundred dollars and change left over, and an Intel Core i7-3930K.
The 100 MHz difference in clock rate is hardly relevant, given unlocked multiplier ratios benefiting both CPUs. And you'd be hard-pressed to quantify the advantage of 15 MB of shared L3 cache over 12 MB. Moreover, a greater-than-$400 savings lets you buy a nice motherboard and cooler, while still getting the same four-channel memory subsystem and 40-lane PCI Express 3.0-capable controller.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB

Just a month ago, NVIDIA released its GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which was received to rather critical acclaim. Specs-wise, the card isn't too far off from the GTX 670 which costs $100 more. But at $300, the card wasn't exactly "affordable" by all standards. NVIDIA knew it had a duty to finally deliver a mainstream Kepler part as close to $200 as possible, and that's resulted in the $229 non-Ti GTX 660.
The GTX 660 is equipped with 960 cores, vs. 1344 with the Ti. That comparison alone can give us an idea of what to expect here. Well, it would be easy if NVIDIA, in its usual way, didn't give the core clock a nice boost on the non-Ti edition. Lesser cores, but +65MHz to the clock. An interesting move, and not one that anyone will complain about.

Memory density and general architecture layout remain similar between the two cards, although while the 660 Ti is based on the GK104 chip, this non-Ti version uses GK106. Whereas typical GPCs, or Graphics Processing Cluster, have two SMX units per, GK106 splits one right down the middle, as the following diagram shows:

This is an odd design, but won't result in some sort of bottleneck as all SMX modules interface with their respective raster engine rather than each other.
Though this non-Ti edition of the GTX 660 drops the core count quite significantly, its increase in core frequency negates some of the additional power savings we would have seen. For that reason, the non-Ti is rated at 140W, vs. 150W of the Ti.

	Cores	Core MHz	Memory	Mem MHz	Mem Bus	TDP
GeForce GTX 690	3072	915	2x 2048MB	6008	256-bit	300W
GeForce GTX 680	1536	1006	2048MB	6008	256-bit	195W
GeForce GTX 670	1344	915	2048MB	6008	256-bit	170W
GeForce GTX 660 Ti	1344	915	2048MB	6008	192-bit	150W
GeForce GTX 660	960	980	2048MB	6000	192-bit	140W
GeForce GTX 650	384	1058	1024MB	5000	128-bit	64W
GeForce GT 640	384	900	2048MB	5000	128-bit	65W
GeForce GT 630	96	810	1024MB	3200	128-bit	65W
GeForce GT 620	96	700	1024MB	1800	64-bit	49W
GeForce GT 610	48	810	1024MB	1800	64-bit	29W

Alongside the GTX 660, NVIDIA has also launched the GTX 650, although availability at this point is nil. Despite being briefed on both of these cards at the same time, I haven't found a single review online of the GTX 650, so it's to be assumed that NVIDIA isn't rushing that product out too fast, and if I had to guess, it's a card that exists only to finish off the sequential numbering system. Laugh all you want, but imagine the table above without the GTX 650. That'd look rather odd, wouldn't it?
That aside, for NVIDIA to call it the GTX 650 is a bit of an insult to the GTX name. In no possible way does this GPU deserve it - GTX has traditionally represented cards that could more than handle games being run with lots of detail and at current resolutions. "GTX" is certainly suitable for the 660, but how did NVIDIA deem the 650 worthy when it slots just barely in front of the $100 GT 640? Maybe next we'll see Porsche release a 4 cylinder 911 Turbo S.
Rant side, the vendor to provide us with a GTX 660 sample is GIGABYTE. Unfortunately, it's an "OC Version", which means we are unable to deliver baseline GTX 660 results (I am not keen on forcing turbo adjustments). Making matters a bit worse, the OC isn't that minor. Memory remains the same, but the core gets +73MHz tacked on. An OC like this is great for consumers, but tough on reviewers who'd like to compare GPUs fairly.

With all of the launches NVIDIA's done in the past couple of months for Kepler, it was difficult to explore GTX 660 with anything more than minimal enthusiasm. However, from what we've seen throughout all of our testing, the GTX 660 is actually quite an impressive card, and possibly one of the most important to NVIDIA's entire 600 series line-up.
The reason for that boils down to the affordable price-point, and the performance it delivers. A $229 card that can handle a graphically gorgeous game like Battlefield 3 at Ultra detail at 1080p? Do I really need to explain why that's awesome?
Unfortunately, we didn't have a GPU that was directly comparable to this one, so there's really no apples to apples comparison. AMD's Radeon HD 7850 comes closest, at about $200. In that match-up, we saw the GTX 660 consistently perform better than the HD 7850, with the lowest gains being seen in the heavily AMD-favored DiRT: Showdown. Performance increases of 10-20% were not uncommon. In the also AMD-favored SHOGUN 2, the GTX 660 averaged 50% faster.