At the Game24 event held at several locations around the world, and online, NVIDIA launched its next-generation GeForce GTX 900 series high-end graphics cards, led by the GeForce GTX 980, and the GeForce GTX 970. The two are based on the company's new 28 nm GM204 silicon, derived from the "Maxwell" GPU architecture. The GeForce GTX 980 leads the pack, featuring 2,048 CUDA cores, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory.

The GeForce GTX 970, on the other hand, features 1,664 CUDA cores, 104 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and the same memory configuration. Both cards feature TDP rating of under 170W, and clock speeds above the 1 GHz mark. The GTX 980 features clock speeds of 1126 MHz core, 1216 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory. The GTX 970, on the other hand, offers 1050 MHz core, 1178 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory. Both cards offer 224 GB/s of memory bandwidth, but feature technologies that help them make the most of it, such as 3rd generation Delta-color compression, a lossless texture compression algorithm. The GeForce GTX 980 starts at US $549, while the GTX 970 starts at $329.

NVIDIA announced Game24, a worldwide, multinational event spanning 24 hours, celebrating PC gaming. Scheduled for 18th September, 2014, The event will be held across seven locations around the world, and live-streams of each will be broadcast the world over. NVIDIA didn't put out specifics about the event, but we're guessing it will be full of game developer interactions (with the gamers), multiplayer gaming events on NVIDIA-powered gaming PCs, and the odd next-generation high-end GPU launch (GeForce GTX 980, GTX 970). You can pick up any of the event's streams, and RSVP for events near you, on this page.