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Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 hits Indian shores

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After announcing it last month, Nvidia has launched the GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card in India. The card targets users who game at FHD (1080p) resolution.

The GTX 1660 succeeds 2016’s GTX 1060 GPU that was based on Pascal architecture. Nvidia claims the 12th Generation Turning architecture used in the 1660 requires 120 watts of power to operate at peak efficiency making it more power efficient than Pascal especially when comparing performance per watt. On average, it has a 15% boost over GTX 1060 and is 130% faster than GTX 960.

Coming to the specifications, the GTX 1660 has a base clock speed of 1.5GHz and boost clock speed going upto 1.8GHz. It contains 6GB of GDDR5 memory with a transfer rate of 8Gbps and 1,408 Cuda cores. As it is optimised for Open Broadcaster Software, the card will appeal to round the clock streamers. Additionally, built-in Ansel enables users to capture high quality in-game images or 360 degree photospheres while Freestyle can be used to customize a game’s appearance through the application of real-time post-processing filters.

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 will retail at a price of Rs.21,500 varying based on the partner designs, features and region.

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Nintendo’s new console is Switch

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After the mixed reception and disappointing sales of Wii U, Nintendo has taken an entirely different approach with their new gaming console by making some intriguing changes. The video below provides the first glimpse at Switch, the new home gaming system from Nintendo which lets gamers play the same game title anywhere they want. The console merges the mobility of a handheld to the power of a dedicated home gaming system to accommodate a variety of play styles.

When not on the move, the console rests in the Switch Dock that connects the system to the Television letting players use it to play singleplayer or multiplayer games. But just lifting the console from the dock transitions it to portable mode and the same experience can be enjoyed on the go on a high-definition display.

Detachable Joy-Con controllers from either side can be used in a variety of ways. For example: One player can use a controller in each hand or two players can each take one. The controllers can click back into place or be slipped into a Joy-Con grip accessory to take the shape of a traditional controller. A serious gamer can even use an optional Pro controller instead.

The console is powered by Nvidia’s custom Tegra processor. It is speculated that that the development of Shield 2 was cancelled to incorporate it into the hardware for the Switch. The scalable processor includes an NVIDIA GPU based on the same architecture as the Geforce gaming cards. Various publishers, developers and middleware partners have announced support for it right out of the gate.

Game demos, launch window titles, price and configuration will be shown prior to the March 2017 launch. No specific date for the Indian market has been announced.

Leadtek announces Nvidia Quadro P5000 and P6000

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Graphics card manufacturer Leadtek unveiled the Nvidia Quadro P5000 and P6000 which are based on the latest Nvidia Pascal architecture. The new entries in the professional graphics card series are said to deliver better visualisation and compute performance in comparison to the previous generation as well as support VR.

The Quadro P6000 uses the same Pascal GPU present in the Titan X Pascal. But a key change is the increased number of CUDA cores present in the P6000 which are 3,840 in comparison to the 3,584 present in the Titan X. The P6000 uses 24GB GDDR5X on-board graphics memory and upto 432 GB/s memory bandwidth that delivers upto 80% more visualisation performance than the Quadro M6000 24GB based on Maxwell.

The Quadro P5000 features 2,560 CUDA cores and 16GB GDDRX5 memory. The P5000 delivers upto 70% faster compute and rendering performance along with 2 times faster memory performance than the previous generation Quadro M5000. It can support resolutions of upto 8K (7680×4320) @ 30HZ from a single cable or run upto 4 true 5K (5120×2880) @ 60HZ displays.

The NVIDIA VRWorks suite contains APIs, libraries and engines enabling developers to create high quality VR content. Support for HMD displays also lets developers test and experience the VR content properly.

Offering 3 years warranty, both the cards are available now.

Hitman, The Division free with select AMD and Nvidia hardware

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AMD and Nvidia are offering Hitman and The Division for free with purchase of certain new hardware. The hardware in question is high-end utilizing exclusive technology developed by both competing camps.

AMD giving away Hitman serves to promote the AMD Gaming Evolved program supporting SSAA, DX12 and Eyefinity. For Nvidia, The Division showcases its GameWorks technology like ShadowWorks and PCSS (Percentage Closer Soft Shadows).

Hitman is bundled with AMD Radeon R9 390/390X graphics cards and select 6/8 core FX processors till 30 April, 2016. The Division is bundled with Geforce GTX 970,980,980Ti graphic cards and new laptops powered by a GTX 970M until 21 March, 2016.

Just be sure to confirm the offer with the retailer before making your purchase.

Nvidia teams up with Volvo to test its new self-drive ‘supercomputer’

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At its CES 2016 press conference, Nvidia talked up the potential of its new AI ‘supercomputer’ for self-driving cars – the Nvidia Drive PX 2.

Volvo will launch a public test next year with 100 autonomous cars that will hit the road at Volvo’s homeground, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Nvidia chief Jen-Hsun Huang believes that self-driving vehicles will make a big contribution to society, simply because humans are the most unreliable element in driving today. But the problem, it turns out, is that driving is rather difficult. That’s the key issue for machine learning to solve.

The main thing is that a series of events on any street is not easily predictable. Hazards such as pedestrians and bad driving from other drivers just can’t be legislated for. And there are huge numbers of different objects to be learnt; not every bus will look the same, for example.

That’s where Deep Learning comes in – training on neural networks. This does take time, but GPU acceleration is helping to speed this up.

Over the course of just a few hours, Audi trained a network that can recognise German road signs at a level that beats every hand-coded computer-vision approach. It achieves better perception of road signs than a human could.

Daimler has achieved perfect pixel recognition. Also using the technology is ZMP, a Japanese company creating a self-driving taxi; and BMW, Toyota partner Preferred Networks and Ford.

Nvidia also demonstrated that the technology can now identify different classes of item on the road, such as pedestrians or motorcyclists as well as what the in-car display could look like.

As you’d expect, the Drive PX 2 itself is no slouch, with 8 teraflops of compute power, which Nvidia says is equivalent to 150 MacBook Pros (spec unspecified, of course). There are 12 CPU cores and a Pascal graphics processor – it’s all water-cooled for maximum efficiency (and you can plumb it into existing water-cooled self-drive motors for testing).