Nvidia was founded in 1993. California developers for many years been creating graphics cards for various purposes. Starting from budget and ending with powerful gaming solutions - anything can be found in the company's product range. A long history implies the presence of many generations of technologies that replaced each other almost every year. This is what will be discussed in this article. Description of all Nvidia GeForce, a list of video cards by power and year of release - read about everything below.
A little bit about the company
Nvidia is the largest manufacturer of computer components in the field of video accelerators. The company employs more than 8 thousand employees. The whole world knows the company's rivalry with AMD (the second largest manufacturer of video cards). In the history of the company there are several key events that influenced its further development.
In 1995, the company released its first product called NV1. In 1999, the first generation Nvidia Quadro appeared on the market. This graphics processor is designed specifically for workstations.
2006 was marked by the release of the legendary 8800GTX graphics card. She showed the best performance for several years, which attracted buyers. In addition, this accelerator was the first to implement DirectX 10 support.
In 2008, the company introduced the development of its own physics engine called PhysX. Since 2012, Nvidia has joined the Linux Foundation.
Nvidia Geforce: list of graphics cards
The first generation of GeForce appeared in 1999. The device was developed on the technological process of 220 nm. The video card supported the DirectX 7 interface and had a 128-bit bus. The product came in two versions - with 32 and 64 MB of video memory. For the present time, these figures seem ridiculous and frivolous, but at the end of the 20th century this development was breakthrough.
GeForce 2 was announced in 2001. This generation has already been developed on a more advanced 180 nm process. The amount of video memory remained unchanged. The second version is the first generation, which supports the first generation pixel shaders. From that moment, the company began a quick climb uphill.
The most productive and breakthrough in the world of graphics technology were Nvidia Geforce graphics cards. The list of power is presented in the order of output of each generation.
The fourth generation of GeForce 4 appeared in early 2002. In this development, the creators have already completely abandoned 32 MB of video memory in favor of large volumes. Now the minimum memory size has become 64 MB, and the maximum - 128 MB. In the spring of the same year, the overclocked version of the GeForce 4 Ti was released, which supported DirectX 8 of the first version.
The GeForce 5 series was launched in March 2003. This generation was the first in which there was a video memory equal to 256 MB. Devices supported DirectX 9 and were developed on the 150 nm manufacturing process. The new generation received a new indexation, which helped to distinguish them by power. The youngest version was indicated by the index 5200, and the most powerful - 5950. Overclocked versions received the prefix Ultra.
The GeForce 6 Series was released at the end of 2005. This generation received 512 MB of video memory in the performance of 6600 GT. 7 series was announced in 2007. Differences from the previous generation are not as many as we would like.
Legendary graphics processor
If we take a comparison of all Nvidia GeForce video cards in terms of power and contribution to development, then the eighth series of GeForce was a breakthrough. This is especially true for two versions of video cards - these are 8600 and 8800. Both devices were available in versions of GTX and Ultra. For the 8800, a GTS version was also provided. The amount of memory for the product was chosen not quite familiar - 324 and 484 MB, depending on the version. It was in this generation that DirectX 10 support was implemented.
GeForce 9 appeared a year later, but the revolution, as it was with its predecessor, did not work. In parallel with the 9th series, the company begins to release new developments that give rise to a new model range of video cards. It is about him that we will discuss later.
Nvidia Geforce Graphics Cards : Power List
- In 2009, Nvidia announced a series of GeForce 100 and 200. Both versions are the first in the world, whose video memory can reach 1 GB.
- In 2011, the GeForce Series 400 is released. The amount of video memory increased to the maximum possible 3 GB for that period of time. Support for DirectX 11 appeared. Video cards are built on the 40 nm manufacturing process.
- The next GeForce 500 series is coming out the same year. The developers improved existing technologies and tightened gaming performance. It was decided to abandon the minimum memory capacity of 512 MB in favor of 1 GB. The maximum volume has become equal to 3GB. All devices had a 128-bit bus. The cheapest video card in the series cost about $ 60, and the most powerful and expensive - more than $ 500.
- The GeForce 600s were renamed to previous generation graphics cards. This is done because they remained the same, but with increased power. The new generation begins only with version 650. In the most powerful version, the GeForce 690 graphics card offers the user 4 GB of video memory, DirectX 11.1 support.
- The GeForce 700 comes out in 2013 and immediately jumps in performance. The 750 Ti version even in 2016 gives decent performance in testing and can compete with the junior and medium models of the 900 series. A modern solution from AMD is also a worthy competitor. The rating of GeForce and Radeon video cards includes this video card, which occupies positions close to Radeon middle-end class video cards.
- As part of this generation, the GTX Titan appears in 2014. This "beast" is equipped with 6 or 12 GB of RAM and a bus of 384 bits. The cost of the device is about 1 thousand dollars and above. Accelerator performance is at the highest level and bypasses all the proposed solutions from AMD. But the price for this pleasure is appropriate.
GeForce 900 Series
2015 and the GeForce 900 series. This generation includes 6 graphics cards. The first is the 950 GTX. The youngest, but this is not the weakest graphics card compared to competitive solutions. The device is equipped with 2 GB of video memory and supports DirectX 11. Support for DirectX 12 in all 900 series devices is implemented only at the software level. Hardware support is provided only with Radeon video cards.
The second solution is the GTX 960. Tests by Nvidia's video processors show that this video card is optimal in terms of performance and cost. The only thing that upsets many users and gamers is the use of the 128-bit bus at a time when competitors from AMD have long been using the 256-bit bus. This allows you to increase throughput and thereby increase productivity.
The GTX 970 is the most dubious device in the series. A significant increase in performance compared to 960 is not observed, but the cost of the device is much higher. Nvidia also claims that this video card has exactly 4GB of video memory installed. However, in fact, it turned out that inside the graphics accelerator is only 3.5 GB of memory.
The GTX 980 and 980 Ti are high-end graphics cards. Show the highest results in all performance tests and overtake all competitive solutions from AMD. Video cards have a trump card in their sleeves - the temperature and power consumption of Nvidia GPUs is much lower than that of Radeon. That is why they do not require additional cooling and work stably even under increased load and in hot weather.
GTX Titan X stands apart from the entire series. This video card has transcendental characteristics. The device is equipped with 8GB of video memory and uses a 384-bit bus. The cost of "Titan" is estimated at $ 1,000 for the original version without overclocking from third-party manufacturers.
New generation
In 2016, a new generation of the 10 Series was announced, which includes only two devices - the Gtx 1070 and 1080. All Nvidia video cards, the main characteristics of which are presented above, fade in performance against the background of the new generation. Each video card has 8 GB of video memory and uses a 256-bit bus. The approximate cost is estimated at 800-900 dollars. It remains to wait for competitive video cards from AMD and compare the results of all tests to once again determine the leader in the endless race for performance and lower power consumption.
Mobile video cards
Video cards for laptops began to be released with the GeForce 2 generation and were designated by the Go prefix. After the release of the full 8th series of video cards, the company decided to release mobile versions of devices with the prefix M.
Today, all laptops can be equipped with mobile solutions from Nvidia, from 700m to 980m. Generation 10 Series is not yet adapted for mobile platforms. Nvidia GeForce video cards, the power list of which is described above, have much higher performance compared to the M series. This is due to the structure of laptops and the inability to fit a full-fledged graphics card there.
Quadro Series
These solutions are designed for professional work with 2D and 3D applications and the development of computer games. Their cost is much higher than custom gaming video cards, but the capabilities are much higher. An interesting point is that these video cards may not perform well in game performance, despite their power. Therefore, they are used only in workstations.
Total
The history of the Nvidia line of graphics cards is rich in various solutions and breakthrough technologies. Long-term competition with AMD is pushing the company to develop and improve its products more and more. The slogan “choose your video card Nvidia” fits perfectly: in the assortment of the company you will find solutions for any tasks and needs.