Skip to main content

Nvidia confirms its preshow Gamescom event, promises ‘spectacular surprises’

MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ARMOR 11G OC review
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Nvidia now confirms previous rumors that the company will host a special event just before the Gamescom gaming convention in Germany. Called the GeForce Gaming Celebration, the event will be held off-site on August 20 at a location the company is currently keeping secret. Anyone in the Cologne, Germany area can attend the event by registering here.

“There’s limited space, so make sure you arrive early. Can’t make it in person? Don’t worry, it will be livestreamed,” the company says. “The event will be loaded with new, exclusive, hands-on demos of the hottest upcoming games, stage presentations from the world’s biggest game developers, and some spectacular surprises.”

Related Videos

One of the “spectacular surprises” is expected to be the GeForce GTX 1180 add-in graphics card, and possibly even the GTX 1170 and the GTX 1160. They’re the company’s highly-anticipated next-generation graphics cards based on its new “Turing” design, ignoring the company’s “Volta” design currently used in graphics cards for the professional market.

Rumors of the event surfaced in early July as Nvidia quietly distributed invitations to the press. These invitations were presumed to be the typical all-expenses-paid trips to the then-secret event in Germany, meaning Nvidia likely has more to show than just hands-on demos and game developer presentations. Nvidia will supposedly use this event to introduce its new GTX 11 Series followed by a retail release starting in August.

An alleged leaked email from one of Nvidia’s hardware partners surfaced last week that gave a look into the release schedule for Nvidia’s new graphics cards. Sent to a retailer, the email said the GTX 1180 would arrive on August 30 followed by the GTX 1170 and GTX 1180+ on September 30. Rounding out the 2018 schedule would be the GTX 1160 on October 30.

According to the email, Nvidia and its hardware partners delayed the GTX 11 Series launch due to the current flood of GTX 10 Series cards. That’s a different outlook compared to July 2017 when cards were hard to find — or severely inflated in price — due to the cryptocurrency mining craze. Manufacturers cranked out additional cards to compensate, but now the market is flooded due to the dramatic drop in digital coin mining.

“We have an overstock of 10xx GPUs and we’re in the middle of transitioning our manufacturing over from the 10xx to the 11xx series in preparation for releasing the new cards,” the letter states.” However, because we and other partners and manufacturers have an abundance of unfinished or unsold 10xx GPUs, Nvidia decided to have us delay the release of the 11xx cards.”

That said, Gamescom is the perfect time to reveal new cards and liquidate the current stock with crazy Gamescom-themed discounts. According to Nvidia, the event “will be filled with awesome new PC games running on the latest GeForce hardware” along with “some spectacular surprises.” If you’re in the area and want to attend, register now due to the event’s limited space. First-come, first-served, Nvidia warns.

Editors' Recommendations

Nvidia’s laptop RTX 4080 obliterates its predecessor in a leaked benchmark
Three RTX 4080 cards sitting on a pink background.

Nvidia's RTX 4080 is already out in its desktop version, but all signs point to it soon being released as a laptop GPU. Some people have already gotten their hands on laptops equipped with one of Nvidia's best graphics cards, and we now know the benchmark scores of one such laptop.

The test spells good news for Nvidia's upcoming mobile GPU -- the RTX 4080 was able to beat the RTX 3080 by a whopping 42%. Here's what we know about the upcoming RTX 4080M.

Read more
AMD RX 7900 XTX vs. Nvidia RTX 4090: the ultimate flagship GPU battle
RX 7900 XTX lying on a textured background.

AMD's latest Radeon RX 7000-series is Team Red's response to Nvidia's RTX 40-series. For Nvidia, the current reigning leader of the pack is the RTX 4090, an expensive, but immensely powerful GPU. In the case of AMD, we have two cards sitting near the top -- the RX 7900 XT and the RX 7900 XTX. How does AMD's new headliner, the XTX, compete with Nvidia's flagship?

If you're wondering which GPU will reign as the best of the best, you've come to the right place. We've tested both cards extensively and we know the answer.
Pricing and availability

Read more
Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti might repeat the same mistake as the RTX 4090
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is shown along with a hand holding the power cable adapter.

New leaks regarding the rumored RTX 4060 Ti have left many PC gaming enthusiasts scratching their heads. Not only does the GPU sound pretty unimpressive so far, but it also shows Nvidia's commitment to one strange choice -- the 12-pin power connector. Yes, the exact same one that's been getting so much bad press recently.

Seeing this bizarre decision makes me wonder -- is Nvidia's commitment to the high-end part of the market really the right way to go?
A lukewarm response
https://twitter.com/kopite7kimi/status/1602761028584247298

Read more