GeForce (the word an allusion is to the English term g force/gee force; dt. acceleration due to gravity) is a label name for Desktop Grafikkarten of the company nVidia.

Beside the models for the the acct agony set there are also GeForce maps for the Notebook range (GeForce Go) and models for mobile telephones. Professional diagram maps of nVidia are driven out under the name Quadro.

The GeForce Grafikkarten competes with the wheel on series of the company ATI.

History

With the GeForce series from first to the fourth generation NVIDIA could the performance leader shank keep and against competitors such as 3dfx, Matrox and last above all ATI become generally accepted. The fifth generation marked with FX 5xxx had however from the outset difficulties and never really reached the achievement of the wheel on maps of competitor ATI. The first representative of the sixth generation, which GeForce 6800 Ultra with the again developed NV40-Chip, has itself meanwhile with first tests as clearly more efficient than all past chips proven, was displaced however few days later by ATIs competition product R420 again scarcely by the Leistungsspitze. The two maps are in the achievement in approximately equal and differ actually only in the used techniques, ATIs after-put Refresh chip R480 could the performance crown however later actually tear.

The row GeForce-FX-5 uses the Shader Model version 2.0a, while the previous models support only version 1.3. Since the GeForce-6-Reihe sets NVIDIA on the Shader Model version 3.0, which was supported as the first play of far Cry. Main competitor ATI could after-put only in the autumn 2005 with the Radeon-X1-Generation an appropriate competition product with support for the Shader Model version 3.0. Likewise since the GeForce-6-Serie offers NVIDIA the possibility, diagram maps assistance of the Scalable left to interface technology, briefly SLI, co-operates to leave. Divide two identical diagram maps the computation expenditure, which leads to increases in output of maximally 80 % opposite an individual map.

The performance crown does not become with plays the current time (February 2006) NVIDIAs top model, who on 22 June 2005 before racks GeForce 7800 GTX (code name G70) assign. Since 24 January 2006 has ATI with the X1900 XTX the nose in front. For in the middle of 2006 "„a quasi-successor "“the GeForce 7800 GTX is planned, from which so far only the code name admits G80 is. Up to then it will give still another Refresh of the G70-Chips under the code name the G71 runs and in 90-nm-Fertigung is manufactured. In April 2006 new diagram processor appeared the CN G71, forms now the High end reference of the GeForce series. One differentiates between the fastest version GeForce 7900GTX and the 7900GT, which are to be gotten concerning the price momentarily 200 "€ more favorably, as approximately equal fast 7800GTX.

The Quadro Grafikkarten is professional versions of the GeForce row, i.e. for CAD applications and the like sketched. Although in the hardware hardly differences to the GeForce models show up, higher prices are due because of validating, driver support for different applications (AutoCAD etc.) for appropriate diagram maps. In the Internet are however often also guidances, how one can convert normal GeForce Grafikkarten by manipulations at the Grafikkarten BIOS into Quadro models.

When launched diagram solution for Notebooks by NVIDIA the GeForce Go line, which is characterised in relation to the Desktop variants by smaller heat development and current savings functions. In addition NVIDIA for it developed the MXM interface for the diagram card slot, with which Notebook Grafikkarten of different manufacturers can be exchanged simply. This card location becomes generally accepted more and more as standard, which is used already by many "„small "“diagram map manufacturers and in the meantime also by the largest NVIDIA competitor ATI.

Auxiliary designations for GeForce Grafikchips

• LE, XT - usually the weakest model of a series, lowered clock rate and/or closed pipelines
• Gs - Budget version of more efficient chip
• no suffix or "„non Ultra "“- "„the normal "“chip
• MX - with the GeForce-2-Chipsatz the Mainstream models, with the GeForce-4-Serie the weaker partial series (derived from the GeForce2-MX-Technologie)
• Ti, GT, GTX, GTS - more efficient chip, partly also as standard equipment normal chip; Ti is with the GeForce-4-Serie the stronger partial series
• Ultra - as standard equipment more highly clocked GT-chip, ran out for marketing reasons with the GeForce-6000-Serie

Driver support

The drivers for NVIDIA Grafikchips are constantly developed further and to appear in irregular distances. For some years beside the drivers for Macintosh and Windows also drivers for Linux and FreeBSD are manufactured, meanwhile in addition, for Solaris.Die diagram driver had up to the version 4x.xx the designation "„Detonator "“. Starting from the version number 5x.xx, these of NVIDIA "„ForceWare "“are called. In the meantime there are the versions 8x.xx. Most drivers improved WHQL zertifiziert.Bei Linuxanwendern to also have the NVIDIA Grafiktreiber a good reputation, ore rival ATI in this area lately however.

Also under ZETA meanwhile all well-known GeForce maps are supported. The drivers are constantly developed further in the Haiku project. For all GeForce maps to NV18 meanwhile also HW-OGL is implemented.

Criticism

By aggressive marketing for the diagram chip "„Riva TNT "“(code name NV4) attained NVIDIA the attention of the press, above all the new 32-Bit-Rendering was applied. With the Riva TNT2 the achievement could be further increased, two Voodoo2-Karten in the SLI mode obtained however in the 16-Bit-Modus higher power ratings (with lower diagram quality).

The marketing Hype around with the GeForce 256 introduced T&L technology split the 3D-Grafikkarten-Enthusiasten into two camps. The one saw in geometry acceleration an important innovation, the others considered this less important. It succeeded to NVIDIA however to convince the technical literature from T&L to although considerable software with T&L support did not become available during lifetimes of the GeForce 256 and so that the use of T&L for the buyers of a GeForce 256 afterwards appears doubtful. The software support runs the abilities from 3D-Grafikbeschleunigern frequently afterwards, T&L was only a much discussed at the beginning of this development.

NVIDIA made also again and again with bench mark Cheats of itself talks. Here it acts over "„optimizations "“in the driver, which increases the results of bench mark with careless methods. All larger diagram chip manufacturers in the course of their firm stories made themselves its several times guilty, however the Cheats used by NVIDIA is dreist of some critics as particularly and/or regarded frequently applied. An objective statement can be only heavily met concerning this, since experts assume hardly all Cheats is discovered - it is just as conceivable therefore that the competition can hide their Cheats only better. Regardless of this fact the provable optimizations (for example in 3D-Mark) prove, what an unbelievable potential in the present GPUs partly put.

Diagram processors

The diagram processors (GPUs) of the GeForce products have an identification of the form NVxx and/or Gxx/Cxx. The numbering corresponds to a simple pattern: full 10er-Stellen is always the first product of a series/a product family and mostly also their flagship. With processors with higher numbers thus not necessarily diagram achievement was improved, then the NV20 (GeForce 3 Titanium 200/500) within many ranges is faster than the NV34-Chipsatz, which in the GeForce FX 5200 use finds.

• GeForce
  • NV10 GeForce 256 (2000)
  • NV15 GeForce 2 (GTS/Ultra/Pro/Ti) (2000)
  • NV17/18 GeForce 4 (MX420/440/460/480)
  • NV11 GeForce 2 MX (200/400)
  • NV20 GeForce 3 (Ti200/500) (2001)
  • NV25 GeForce 4 (Ti4200/4400/4600/4200-8x/4800SE/4800) (2002)
  • NV30 GeForce FX 5800 (Ultra) (2003)
  • NV31 GeForce FX 5600 (XT, Ultra)
  • NV34 GeForce FX 5200 (LE, Ultra), GeForce FX 5500
  • NV35 GeForce FX 5900 (XT/FR/Ultra) (2004)
  • NV36 GeForce FX 5700 (LE/VE/Ultra)
  • NV38 GeForce FX 5950 (Ultra)
  • NV40 GeForce 6800 (LE/GT/Ultra) (2004)
  • NV43 GeForce 6600 (GT/GT AGP) (2004)
  • NV41 GeForce 6800 PCIe
  • NV42 GeForce 6800 PCIe (110nm manufacturing)
  • NV42 GeForce 6800 (XT-AGP/GS PCIe with 512 MT) (2006)
  • NV44 GeForce 6200 Turbocache
  • NV44A GeForce 6200 AGP
  • NV48 GeForce 6800 (LE/GT/Ultra PCIe)
  • G72 GeForce 7300 GS/LE
  • G73 GeForce 7600 GT/GS, GeForce 7300 GT
  • G70 GeForce 7800 GT/GTX (2005)
  • G70 GeForce 7800 GTX 512 (2005)
  • G70 GeForce 7800 gs AGP (2006)
  • G71 GeForce 7900 GT/GTX (2006)
  • two G71 Geforce 7900/7950 GX2 (with (512 MT) 1024 MT) (2006)
  • C51 GeForce 6100, 6150
  • G80 GeForce 8xxx (at the end of of 2006)

Related links

• Website of nVidia
• Rank list of all diagram maps

Articles in category "GeForce"

We found here 17 articles.

Related Websites

We found here 6 related websites.

• Enthusiast
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  NVIDIA GeForce 7800 The new NVIDIA


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  The top-to-bottom family of NVIDIA


• nVidia
  Maker of the Riva128, TNT and Geforce graphics accelerators.


• OpenGL for NVIDIA Graphics Hardware
  Download page for drivers, applications, tools and games for NVIDIA processors.


• Performance
  Technical specifications of the GeForce 6 Series of GPUs. ... NVIDIA SLI supported solutions of select GeForce PCI Express GPUs, and nForce4 SLI/SLI X16 ...