[trinibwoy]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/....php?p=3162512

SLI connectivity features
Display connectivity
Quality improvements
Performance improvements
OpenGL 3.0

Given Big Bang I was SLI any ideas what Big Bang II could be? Something like PhysX support would seem pretty weak compared to the impact SLI had....

[Albuquerque]

Could we start a "shared framebuffer" rumor for NV's SLI like we did for ATI's CF?

That's all I've got.

[Dooby]

A GPU thats big enough and draws enough power to actually implode in on itself, creating a warp in time and space?

This time, it may not just a clever name....

[neliz]

Hmm .. Big Bang? I hope it's not NV's Boom Shaka Laka.

actually, looking at the timeframe, i'st just a WHQL'd Detonator with PhysX support.

[suryad]

Originally Posted by Dooby

A GPU thats big enough and draws enough power to actually implode in on itself, creating a warp in time and space?

This time, it may not just a clever name....

thanks for that.

[DegustatoR]

Big Bang II - [???]
New HW features
SLI connectivity features
Display connectivity
Quality improvements
Performance improvements
OpenGL 3.0

[nicolasb]

Unsurprisingly Charlie Demerjian has chimed in on this: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...ang-ii-nothing

Charlie's main source seems to be Chile Hardware: http://www.chw.net/foro/nvidia-lanza...ml#post2166398

Mr D says:

WHAT DO YOU do when you suddenly find yourself in second place, trailing badly with no hope for the rest of the year? You stop artificially crippling your drivers and spin it to the users as magnanimous, welcome to Nvidia's Big Bang II.

The good folk at Chile Hardware were the first to notice it on a blurry slide. The obvious inference is to 'Big Bang', aka the SLI introduction, which was a big deal. Big Bang II is simply not. It is the code name for Release 180 drivers, and they are coming from September 08 to February 09.

R180 has five bullet points, 10-bit displayport support, OpenGL 3.0, SLI on multi-monitors, transcoding on the GPU, and some performance 'optimisations' over R177. Come autumn, they will be catching up to ATI on several key checkboxes, this is a big bang?

The only one in there worth getting excited over is SLI on multi-monitors, and that is kind of a sham. Nvidia will obviously tout it as the greatest thing since sliced bread, but they are just unbreaking the driver. They could have turned it on any time they wanted to, it works just fine in the Quadro line. Nvidia hurts their most loyal customer base by artificially turning it off in the normal card line. Why anyone thinks they deserve kudos for stopping breaking drivers is beyond me.

In any case, Big Bang II is a small step forward and it brings a few nice features and one very needed one. It is a real pity that their hand had to be forced to stop hurting users for margins though, but that is the way they operate.

[suryad]

Wow I just dont see the point of deliberately hiding your featuresets over competitors...thats kinda not intuitive. That said I am interested about those driver sets because who does not love performance/feature upgrades? I just find it hard to believe Nvidia would cripple itself on purpose...he does have a point with the SLI multimonitor support thing though.

[INKster]

Originally Posted by nicolasb

Unsurprisingly Charlie Demerjian has chimed in on this: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...ang-ii-nothing

Charlie's main source seems to be Chile Hardware: http://www.chw.net/foro/nvidia-lanza...ml#post2166398

Mr D says:

"Mr. D" said something so despicable (ignored the tragic loss of innocent lives and focused on the "the world got rid of another email spammer/we're all a little happier now" angle of the story) this morning that even i stopped having fun reading his Nvidia rant of the day a few minutes afterwards.
In fact, even The Inq's editor himself felt the need to apologize for Charlie and pulled his story from the site.
Next to that story (which i can't find anymore, unfortunately) Nvidia-hate is meaningless and it truly shows a man's character.

[TimothyFarrar]

Originally Posted by INKster

Next to that story (which i can't find anymore, unfortunately) Nvidia-hate is meaningless and it truly shows a man's character.

No kidding!

A GL3 driver is awesome news for some of us!

[DegustatoR]

Originally Posted by Charlie

this is a big bang?

Depends on what "performance 'optimisations' over R177" will look like.

[WaltC]

Does anyone else remember nVidia's infamous "Detonator" drivers from several years ago?...

If "Big Bang II" turns out like the Detonators (presumably "Big Bang 1") then it's sure to be a dud...

[ChrisRay]

Charlie couldnt be more wrong. I've already hinted at some of these upcoming changes in previous threads here.

[BRiT]

So what part of the following is wrong?

R180 has five bullet points:

• 10-bit displayport support
• OpenGL 3.0
• SLI on multi-monitors
• transcoding on the GPU
• some performance 'optimisations' over R177.

[Skrying]

What else could they introduce with the drivers that would be a big deal? Performance optimizations would clearly be the biggest things Nvidia could do at this point and by a rather massive margin.

[Silent_Buddha]

That blurry picture of a slide also mentions "Quality improvements".

Interesting to see what comes of that.

Regards,
SB

[ChrisRay]

There are tons of flexibility improvements that can be made to Nvidia drivers as of now. Many including PhysX, SLI, AA driver controls.

[Florin]

Originally Posted by ChrisRay

There are tons of flexibility improvements that can be made to Nvidia drivers as of now. Many including PhysX, SLI, AA driver controls.

And maybe they could go back to the classic control panel while we're at it!

Ah well, a man can dream.

[Dooby]

SLI connectivity features

Too Little. Too Late. Much too late. One of the reasons I hated SLI was having to change configuration to use SLI, then it wouldn't remember my previous settings when I went back to dual monitor. Had to reset everything every time I came out of a game. It just wasn't on.

Oh well, not only did I dump my GTXs, I bought two 4870s. Other than the heat, so impressed was I that I've ordered two 4870X2s. NV just lost out to the tune of 6 GPUs from me alone.

The Big Bang they are referring to must be the rush of air into the gap in their accounts where a health profit used to be. They got kicked around this generation, and I'm disgusted it took this to get what should be standard features. I paid nearly £700 for my two 8800s. I didn't pay a heck of a lot more for all four 4870(X2) cards.

[fbomber]

Originally Posted by ChrisRay

There are tons of flexibility improvements that can be made to Nvidia drivers as of now. Many including PhysX, SLI, AA driver controls.

And they´re calling it "Big Bang II"? Indirectly comparing it to the reintroduction of SLI?

Man, when I think I had seen everything from Nvidia PR, they come and surprise me!

[ChrisRay]

Drawing onclusions based off a slide with limited information and alot of heresay always comes as a surprise to me too. But hey thats why we have Charlie,. To keep us entertained.

[Florin]

The lynchmob is just getting drunk so far, wait till the pack hits the streets

[ChrisRay]

Originally Posted by Florin

The lynchmob is just getting drunk so far, wait till the pack hits the streets

Thanks for the warning. I'll look for the nearest bomb shelter to hide in

[trinibwoy]

Originally Posted by ChrisRay

There are tons of flexibility improvements that can be made to Nvidia drivers as of now. Many including PhysX, SLI, AA driver controls.

Sadly, if that's all it is, not many people will care. It has to be something that actually has a tangible impact on the experience - AMD has very rigid driver controls and no PhysX and those things aren't dampening the popularity of RV770 at all. So far there doesn't seem to be much of a bang, far less a big one......

[ShaidarHaran]

Transcoding on the GPU would be a "big-bang" for me. I get ~5.4x realtime speedup in Procoder 3.0 on my 4GHz E8400. Would be nice to see a 100x speedup from my o/c'd 8800 GT

Think of it as the "killer app" for GPGPU (at least until someone figures out how to turn people's 2d digital camera photos/movies into 3d images).