graphics

Updated at 3:50 p.m. PST: correcting for Intel GN40 graphics support and adding pricing information for target market.

Acer launched a PC Tuesday that attempts to bring PC-class performance to Atom-processor-based PCs.

The Acer AspireRevo is the first Atom-based PC from a major PC supplier to use Nvidia's Ion chipset that packs GeForce 9400M graphics, the same graphics used in the Apple 13-inch MacBook and MacBook Air.

By design, Atom is a more power frugal and, concomitantly, slower processor than Intel's mainstream Core 2 chip architecture.

The AspireRevo's marquee external feature is the diminutive size: … Read more

Updated at 10:45 p.m. PST with additional system specifications.

The aesthete buys an Apple. This dig in the latest Mac-attack Microsoft ad contains a kernel of truth.

Here's the essential choice: A Dell with a pedestrian design but all the fixin's or a gorgeous Apple MacBook that doesn't offer quite as much. (Whether the prospective buyer needs a maxed-out laptop is a pertinent question too.)

The Dell paradigm is how many people define practicality, i.e., you get more box for the money. Hewlett-Packard of course falls into this category too.

I use both a … Read more

The official covers of two 3D graphics cards, the ATI 1GB Radeon HD 4890 and the Nvidia 896MB GeForce GTX 275, came off Thursday morning.

At $250 for the baseline cards (overclocked models will be available for each for $10 or so more), these cards establish a new midrange battleground, filling the gap between the $150 and $300 price points we covered earlier this year.

Each of these cards, respectively from Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia, has a two-slot PCI Express design that requires two six-pin cable connections to your PC's internal power supply. They also support each vendor's respective multicard technology, Crossfire for ATI, and SLI for Nvidia.

The Radeon HD 4890 doesn't introduce much in the way of new features, though it has a clock speed bump over its Radeon HD 4870 cards released last year. The core clock has gone from 750MHz on the 4870 to 850MHz on the 4890, and the memory from 900MHz to 950MHz.

AMD's ATI made a few other tweaks to memory bandwidth and fill rates, but for the most part, the two cards are very similar. The Radeon HD 4890 is available now at various online retailers, and prices so far reflect ATI's suggested $249 baseline.

Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 275 is slated to become available for purchase on April 14. And while we don't imagine that Nvidia could simply make a new 3D card appear overnight (nor do we necessarily know which vendor actually started taping out its new card first), we find it interesting that mere days after ATI called us for a briefing on the Radeon HD 4890, Nvidia got in touch regarding its own new product. … Read more

It was to be expected. When a one-time tech powerhouse winds up bankrupt and sold off for chump change, that's bound to ignite the daily bloviation fest.

So it was that one and all are today offering their dutiful ruminations on the cosmic import of SGI's acquisition by Rackable Systems for a paltry $25 million.

This is not so complicated. SGI was a comet, soaring through the tech firmament during its brief moment of glory. But it's only one in a list of former high-flyers to come crashing back to earth, a roster that includes the likes … Read more

Nvidia was hit by a Standard & Poor's ratings downgrade Wednesday, according to a Dow Jones report, adding to the graphics chipmaker's woes.

Standard & Poor's ratings services ratcheted down its outlook on Nvidia from positive to stable, according to Dow Jones. S&P cited concerns about the graphics chipmaker's sinking revenue and profitability.

The ratings agency maintains a junk-level BB- grade on the company, and S&P noted that revenues from Nvidia's recent efforts to expand into cell phones, handheld devices, and supercomputer applications is small, according to Dow Jones. Nvidia also … Read more

Wish you could play Crysis in your Web browser? Two influential organizations are banding together to try to bring accelerated 3D graphics to the Web, a move that eventually could improve online games and other Web applications.

The Web is gradually becoming a better foundation for applications with splashy, sophisticated interfaces, but 3D graphics on the Web remain primitive. Now, though, Mozilla, the group behind the Firefox browser, and Khronos, the consortium that oversees the widely used OpenGL graphics interface technology, are trying to jointly create a standard for accelerated 3D graphics on the Web.

In response to a Mozilla … Read more

Senior Localization Producer Patrick Riley called into The 404 this week to talk with us about MadWorld, the new M-rated Wii game from Sega that has raised the eyebrows of media watchdog agencies such as the NIMF. Together we discuss the responsibilities that parents must endure when it comes to M-rated gaming, and how education about the ESRB's rating system needs to have a more public presence.

Download the interview

MadWorld, developed by Platinum Games, is a surreal, ultra-violent, over-the-top beat-'em-up game that borrows its art style from that of a graphic novel. Black, white, and red are … Read more

ChemicalBurn is a free, attractive screensaver that simulates a data transportation network with a colorful, fast-moving array of "self-organizing" nodes and packages. You don't need any special knowledge to enjoy this screensaver's ever-changing, high-tech display, but networking enthusiasts will appreciate the simulation's veracity (as packages attempt to find the fastest way to their destination) and they'll love tinkering with detailed settings, including control over traffic and distance weighting (for example, as linear, square, log, and exponential functions). ChemicalBurn's calculations can be CPU-intensive--proportional to the cube of the number of nodes selected--so casual users … Read more

Updated at 1:20 p.m. PDT with correction about the extent to which the Nvision conference is being scaled back.

Nvidia paid out $43.6 million to cover costs associated with graphics chip defects in its 2009 fiscal year, and in a separate development, a spokesman said Monday the company has no plans this year to hold the large-scale Nvision conference that it hosted last year.

In a Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nvidia said it paid $43.6 million in fiscal year 2009 "in deductions towards warranty accrual associated with incremental repair and … Read more