NVIDIA GeForce 7800 Receives Widespread Game Developer Endorsement

Industry’s Premiere Game Developers Proclaim NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX GPUs Platform of Choice for Next-Generation Game Development

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that the world’s leading game developers are singing the praises of the new GeForce 7800 GTX graphics processing unit (GPU).

The new NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX GPU is the most powerful graphics hardware platform, delivering more than twice the performance of the previous generation. In addition, the NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX features a rearchitected architecture supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0, the most recent industry-standard application programming interface (API) from Microsoft that game developers have migrated to for the creation of their upcoming PC and next-generation game console titles. For over a year, NVIDIA has been the only graphics processor manufacturer offering hardware with support for Shader Model 3.0, making NVIDIA GPUs an ideal platform for game developers to use when creating their future titles.

"For over a year NVIDIA has supported HLSL (High Level Shader Language) Shader Model 3.0 and the latest API," said Dave Pottinger technical director at Ensemble Studios. "By using Shader Model 3.0, we can do advanced effects in Age of Empires III, such as true high dynamic range lighting and film-quality real-time water effects that enhance the overall experience in our game."

Featuring a redesigned shader engine optimized for modern programming techniques, the GeForce FX 7800 GTX GPU delivers a 30 percent increase in shader engines with up to 200 gigaflops of shading horsepower, providing developers with a platform that enables them to create content that is more visually arresting while running at higher frame rates.

At the heart of the GeForce 7800 GTX GPU is its exceptional visual quality thanks to new features such as transparency supersampling and multisampling antialiasing. These new antialiasing modes deliver unrivaled performance and image quality in today’s and tomorrow’s games.

"Battlefield 2 is set in large outdoor environments that make heavy use of transparent and semi-transparent textures. NVIDIA transparency AA improves the detail and quality of those textures with stunning results," said Torbjorn Soderman, rendering programmer of DICE. "The transparency AA feature of GeForce 7800 GTX enables antialiasing of effects that was not possible before."

In addition, the GeForce 7800 GTX is the only GPU with support for the next killer feature that game developers who work on PC and next-generation console games demand: high dynamic-range lighting, or HDR. Game developers are using HDR to bring film industry color, lighting, and shadows to the gaming industry.

"We had a picture in our head of the high dynamic range lighting we wanted to use in Unreal Tournament 2007, but transferring that to the computer screen proved impossible without NVIDIA hardware," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "The GeForce 7800 GTX GPU is the only graphics processor on the market with all the features that you need to make games look stunning. We are recommending it as the development platform to all our game licensees, regardless of their target platform."

Over the last year, support for NVIDIA SLI technology has also proven to be a key factor for developers. With support for SLI technology, the GeForce FX 7800 GTX GPU gives developers the opportunity to further push the capabilities of their titles in development, and provides artists with more visual freedom.

For information on where to buy GeForce 7800 GTX-based add-in cards and systems, visit the Company’s Web site at www.nvidia.com.