New NVIDIA Drivers Released - R270
NVIDIA has just released some new video drivers today, albeit in beta form. The Release 270 drivers (R270) bring with some notable improvements, like new performance gains for GeForce 400/500 cards, up to 250% faster 3D Vision Surround gaming performance, and new 3D Vision features and product support. Of notice to Dragon Age 2 players is an absolutely massive performance jump that was tested on the GeForce GTX 580 and 560 Ti. Compared to the old 266.58 drivers, the new 270.51 drivers deliver up to 326% better performance in DA2 at 1920x1200 resolution with 8x AA, 16x AF, Very High quality preset, and SSAO on for GTX 580 owners. Those running 580s in SLI see a 516% performance improvement, while 560 Ti owners see a 241% improvement at the same settings (4x AA however) and 461% improvement with 560 Ti SLI and 8x AA. Other games see the typical 4-19% improvement rates, but it is just Dragon Age 2 that sees such an massive jump.
Another new feature is something called NVIDIA Update which will automatically notify you of a new driver for your NVIDIA card. You can access that feature either through the NVIDIA Control Panel or by the new icon in the system tray. Users also have full control of update preferences, like when to receive them, whether or not you get notified about beta drivers, and also if the icon in the tray pops up or not. 3D Vision users will see improvements in many games, improved crosshair performance in Half-Life 2 games (including Left 4 Dead and L4D2), as well as having the 3D Vision driver included in the video driver download. There are also new 3D profiles for games like Crysis 2, Dead Space 2, Homefront, and upcoming games like Portal 2, Duke Nukem Forever, and Dungeon Siege III.
NVIDIA video card owners can download the new R270 beta driver from NVIDIA.com and check out performance numbers here.
Read More ...
Google to Build Gigabit Fiber Network in Kansas City, Kansas
Google held a competition last year to see which community would get to have access to a gigabit fiber network it was building. There were many entries and one town even renamed itself to Google. Well, today Google has announced the winner of that contest and Kansas City, Kansas will be getting Google's gigabit fiber network. This is good news for the folks over on the Kansas side of the city, but that town that renamed itself to Google? Well, that just so happens to be Topeka, Kansas which isn't too far away from Kansas City. No word on how those people are feeling, but I am sure all the residents of Kansas City, Kansas are quite happy. Google announced that it will begin rolling out the fiber network soon which will give residents access to it in 2012. Google did also announce that this rollout is merely a beginning so perhaps we will see more communities get access to it before long. In the meantime, anyone interested in moving?
Read More ...
Best Buy Receives Roku XD
Previously, many versions of the Roku player were only available to the public through online purchases on the official site, as no retailers offered selections of the media player. After the company received much success however, partly due to the large advertisement help from Netflix, it has taken its player to the retail store masses. One of the new stores to receive the Roku player, though only the XD version, is Best Buy. Consumers who have been wanting to test out the system before buying online can now visit a local Best Buy store and decide for themselves, though the XD|S version is not available in stores. It is worthy to note however that other retail locations do carry the improved XD|S version such as Fry's Electronics and BJ'S Wholesale Club. The Roku XD is also available currently at RadioShack as well as Fry's Electronics.
Read More ...
No comments:
Post a Comment