Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Graphics Cards Announced

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) manufacturer Nvidia has just unveiled its latest graphics card. Dubbed the GeForce GTX 1080, the next generation GPU is based on Nvidia’s newest Pascal architecture and is claimed to be twice as fast as the company’s current flagship Titan X.

The GeForce GTX 1080 is also faster than two GTX 980 graphics cards running in SLI mode. The graphics card is made using Nvidia’s new 16nm FinFET manufacturing process, which makes it both faster and power efficient. The card packs 8GB of GDDR5X RAM.

The GTX 1080 is being positioned as the ultimate graphics card for gamers. The company showed off the card’s capabilities by having it power gaming titles such as The Division and Rise of the Tomb Raider. All the games ran on maxed out settings and high resolution with frame rates of over 60 fps.

In addition to the GTX 1080, Nvidia also launched GeForce GTX 1070 having 8GB of GDDR5 RAM.

Nvidia claims that the R & D budget for its latest generation of graphics card(s) was several billion dollars, and the GPUs were in development for more than two years.

The GTX 1080 is priced at $599 and will be available starting May 27, while the GTX 1070 will be available from June 10 at a price of $379.

In addition to the graphics cards, Nvidia also released a few new software based features aimed at developers. The first is ‘Ancel,’ a tool designed to take in-game screenshots at resolutions higher than those supported by the monitor.

Apart from that, ‘VR Works Audio’ is a technology that allows developers to model audio as it is reflected back from surfaces. Lastly, ‘Simultaneous Multi-Projection’ is a new rendering pipeline for graphics cards based on the Pascal architecture.

Recently, Nvidia launched a new lunchbox-sized computer for self-driving cars with Volvo as its first customer.