High Definition Video Card

High definition games are becoming the norm in the PC gaming industry. As the pixel count of these games increase, so does the satisfaction index of the gamers. But not so for everyone since the computing power required to process a high definition game will also grow by leaps and bounds. Without the proper gear upgrade, gamers will not be able to enjoy the best gaming experience the game software is supposed to be capable of. Every so often, gamers need to search for that high definition video card that promises to be the best video card for gaming applications.

The game makers are of a different group than the graphics card makers. The inevitable question is: who is leading whom? Will game makers make games that no hardware can render properly? Or will graphics makers make cards that no game can make use of? The good thing is, these two groups talk and seemingly seems to have an unwritten agreement not to outstep each other. After all, it's for their best interest to do this. The PC gamers also benefit and it's a win-win situation for everyone.

There are only few companies dedicated to the development of graphics hardware to match the requirements of the gaming software available in the market today. Two of the leading ones are NVidia and ATI. These two brands have been battling against each other for leadership in innovating and delivering products that stays in the cutting edge of the PC gaming industry. Recently, NVidia has been featuring a bundle product on its website that promises to deliver 3D experience. Using its latest line of series 200, 8 and 9 GeForce graphics cards, high-tech wireless glasses and advanced software, 3D Vision automatically transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D. In addition, you can watch 3D movies and 3D digital photographs in eye popping, crystal-clear quality.

ATI can give NVidia a run for its money. Especially in the high definition arena, its ATI Radeon%u2122 HD 4890 promises to "go beyond HD". With the arrival of Windows 7 and the much raved about DirectX 10, ATI promises to have gone beyond by giving DirectX10.1.

ATI lists the following features for its latest offering: the Radeon HD 4890:

ATI Radeon HD 4890 Series - Key Features

• TeraScale Graphics Engine -
  The TeraScale graphics engine in the ATI Radeon%u2122 HD 4890 features over one teraFLOPS, nearly one billion transistors and 800 stream processors so you can enjoy the high resolutions and fast frame rates previously only available with dual-card systems4.


• Advanced Memory -
  GDDR5 provides twice the data per pin of GDDR3 memory at the same clock speeds.



• Enhanced Anti-Aliasing & Anisotropic Filtering -
  High performance anisotropic filtering and 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) smooth jagged edges and create true-to-life graphics, for everything from grass to facial features.


• DirectX® 10.1 -
  Play today while preparing for tomorrow with state-of-the-art DirectX 10.1 graphics capabilities.


• ATI CrossFireX™ Technology -
  ATI CrossFireX%u2122 technology with up to quad GPU support offers superior scalability so your system is ready to level up when you are3.



• PCI Express 2.0 -
  Support for PCI Express 2.0 will prepare you for bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications.


• Power to Spare - This GPU has the brute processing power needed for physics, artificial intelligence, stream computing and ray tracing calculations.


• Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD 2) -
  UVD 2 frees up your CPU for other tasks so you get The Ultimate Visual Experience%u2122 for even the most processing-intensive content, including VC-1, H.264 and now MPEG-2. Also, take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with dual-stream, picture in picture (PIP) capabilities1,5.



• Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT) -
  With ATI Stream technology, owners of ATI Radeon%u2122 HD 4800 series graphics cards can help accelerate the conversion of standard and HD video into multiple formats for use on differing consumer electronics devices. The ATI Video Converter, designed to enable GPU transcoding of HD video streams, is currently available.


• Upscale Beyond 1080p -
  Watch the hottest Blu-ray movies or other HD content at full 1080p display resolution and beyond6.


• Enhanced DVD Upscaling -
  Watch standard DVD movies in near high-definition quality with DVD upscaling. The GPU uses post processing algorithms to enhance standard and low resolution videos and movies on your HD display.



• Dynamic Contrast -
  Dynamic Contrast automatically adjusts the contrast and brightness during scenes to consistently deliver a crisp, vibrant picture.


• HDMI -
  Enjoy the latest audio technologies using HDMI with 7.1 digital surround sound support. Also, xvYCC support allows the user to enjoy a wider range of color when connected to a capable HDTV.


• Dynamic Power Management -
  ATI Radeon HD 4890 GPUs deliver high performance when needed and conserve power when the demand on the graphics processor is low.



• Energy Efficient Manufacturing Process -
  Third generation 55nm chip uses the industry's most energy efficient manufacturing process.
  
  

NVidia lists the following features for its flagship product GeForce GTX 295

NVidia GeForce GTX 295 - Key Features

• 2nd Generation NVIDIA® Unified Architecture
  Second generation architecture delivers 50% more gaming performance over the first generation through enhanced processor cores that provide incredible shading horsepower.


• Quad SLI Technology1
  Industry leading Quad NVIDIA SLI® technology offers amazing performance scaling by implementing 4-way AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) for the world's premier gaming solution under Windows Vista with solid, state-of-the-art drivers.


• DirectX 10 Support
  Microsoft® DirectX® 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects for today's hottest games.


• CUDA Technology2
  NVIDIA® CUDA%u2122 technology unlocks the power of the GPU's processor cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks - such as video transcoding - delivering up to 20x performance over traditional CPUs.


• PCI Express 2.0 Support
  Designed for the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture offering the highest data transfer speeds for the most bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications, while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing PCI Express motherboards for the broadest support.


• SLI Multi-Monitor support
  Switch seamlessly between multi-display desktop mode and full screen 3D gaming with SLI. And enjoy full multi-GPU support for dual-display capable 3D games such as World in Conflict, Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, and Flight Simulator X.


• GigaThread%u2122 Technology
  Massively multi-threaded architecture supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next-generation shader programs.


• NVIDIA Lumenex%u2122 Engine
  Delivers stunning image quality and floating point accuracy at ultra-fast frame rates.


• 16x Anti-aliasing Technology
  Lightning fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 16x sample rates obliterates jagged edges.


• 128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR) Lighting
  Twice the precision of prior generations for incredibly realistic lighting effects-now with support for anti-aliasing.


• OpenGL 2.1 Optimization and Support
  Provides top-notch compatibility and performance for OpenGL applications.


• Dual Dual-link DVI Support
  Able to drive the industry's largest and highest resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600 and with support for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP).3


• HDMI Output
  Support for HDMI output enables sending both high-definition video and audio signals to an HDTV via a single cable.


• NVIDIA® PureVideo® HD Technology4
  The combination of high-definition video decode acceleration and post-processing that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video.


• Discrete, Programmable Video Processor
  PureVideo is a discrete programmable processing core in NVIDIA GPUs that provides superb picture quality and ultra-smooth movies with 100% offload of H.264 video decoding from the CPU and significantly reduced power consumption.


• Dual-stream Hardware Acceleration
  Supports picture-in-picture content for the ultimate interactive Blu-ray movie experience.


• Dynamic Contrast Enhancement & Color Stretch
  Dynamically provides post-processing and optimization of High Definition movies for spectacular picture clarity.

NVidia claims to have done some side-by-side comparison in performance between its GeForce cards and a "competitor's fastest GPU and obtained the following result for a 2 hour movie transcoding time:

3.0 GHz Dual Core + Competitor's Fastest GPU - 6 hours and 49 minutes
1.6 GHz Dual Core + GeForce 9600 GT - 49 minutes
1.6 GHz Dual Core + GeForce GTX 280 - 49 minutes

You want to have a taste of these smoking graphics cards now?

BUY: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295

BUY: Radeon HD 4890 1 GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

If you want to explore other options from both brands, you may click the links below:

Other GeForce Cards

Other Radeon Cards