Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Nvidia (GPU)

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 15:31, 14 June 2012 by Alexgbelov (talk | contribs)

Introduction

Nvidia is a chip making company that create the Geforce line of GPU.

Geforce

The GeForce line of graphics cards were introduced in 1999 with the GeForce 256.

GeForce Naming Scheme

GeForce 7 series to 9 series

With earlier series of cards the names are broken up into a 4 digit model number, with an occasional suffix on the end. As an example we can use the GeForce 8600GTS. The first digit is the series the card belongs to, in this case an 8 series. The second digit, the 6, is to signify the cards power range within that series. A 6 signifies a mid-range power, 8 for high end enthusiast card, and a 4/5 for low-end cards intended mainly for multimedia uses. The "00" are meaningless. The suffix can indicate minor changes from the base card, such as over-clocking or additional RAM. As in this example the 8600GTS comes with a 675mhz core, compared to the 8600GT with a 540 MHz core. The GS suffix indicates a inferior version of the base card (e.g. 7600 GS performs poorer than 7600 GT).

GeForce 100 Series and beyond

With the 100 series introduced in 2009 Nvidia changed their naming scheme for GeForce cards. This time they come with a small fixed prefix, and a 3 digit model number. As an example we can use the GTX 460. It is much the same as the older models, the first digit signifying the series, in this case the 400 series. The second digit signifies the power range, once again a middling card signified by the "6". And the "0" is once again meaningless, though may occasionally updates to a card may lead to a card coming with a 5 instead of the common 0. Though in this case the GTX465 is a weaker card.

Furthermore there are only three prefixes: GT (low end) < GTS (mainstream) < GTX (performance and high end).

As said, a card has now a fixed prefix, e.g. there is no GTS 460. Occasionally the suffix "Ti" can indicate a more powerful version (e.g. GTX 560 Ti > GTX 560).

PhysX

PhysX is a physics API originally created by Ageia and integrated into the GeForce line of cards from the 8-series onward. It allows the Nvidia CPU to perform physics calculations instead of the CPU, allowing for enhanced realism and CPU performance.

CUDA

CUDA is a GPGPU API created by Nvidia for use in GeForce and Quadro range of cards. It allows common computer programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, to use the GPU card in your PC to boost certain parallel computing tasks.

Optimus

Nvidia Optimus is an optimization technology created by Nvidia to save battery life by automatically switching the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU) off when it is not needed and switching it on when needed again. The technology mainly targets mobile PCs such as notebooks. When the GPU power is off, the driver redirects graphics commands to the integrated graphics chip (e.g. Intel GMA). Currently only Windows 7 is officially supported, however the open source project Bumblebee brings support to Linux.

Troubleshooting

As far as I know, this is only an issue on my laptop. However, in case anyone has a problem where the dedicated graphics card is not working, you should try to re-install your BIOS. In order to do this, go to your manufacturer's website and download the latest BIOS file. Store it on a flash drive, put it in a USB spot, then restart your computer. After you turn on your computer, go to the BIOS screen, select easy flash, and go to the file on your flash drive.

External links