Hands-on test of new NVIDIA products

Stellar new products from NVIDIA reveal a push into GPU-centric computing

NVIDIA is showing off some amazing new products at CES, starting with the jaw-dropping 3D Vision.

The technology, which we tested extensively in the booth, is amazing because it can be used with any game, requires minimal config, and – get this – actually works. (Samsung has offered a similar tech for some time but it is very hard to config.) In Tomb Raider Underworld, for example, you can see the cruves…of mountains and rocks (natch) in 3D glory. In a demo for a racing game, the shards of glass flick up to the screen in realistic fashion. And, the Guitar Hero game for PC (sorry, no console versions) appears to have life and limb. NVIDIA showed off the tech last year; now it is a shipping product, released today. The 3D goggles come with the software, which is easy to install and use. The driver renders one game image for the left eye and one for the right, a clever and affordable trick.

Similar demos in the booth showcase the new push for GPU processing. In a photo demo, images cascade across the screen in a new visual; search. In another, video files render in real-timne. The QUADRO CX demo is also stunning: it works in conjunction with Adobe CS4 to pump power directly to the 64-bit app such that Photoshop filters render in moments instead of milleniums. Much of what NVIDIA is doing reveals that they are more than a graphics card company and want to change computing from CPU-driven to GPU-driven.