While AMD launches WHQL-signed drivers every three or so months, NVIDIA seems to be making a habit of launching one ahead of every major game release. The company's new 344.60 WHQL "Game Ready" drivers, released today, come just in time for the year's biggest shooter, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In addition, the driver comes with an updated PhysX System Software (version 9.14.0702), CUDA (version 6.5), and GeForce Experience (16.13.56.0). Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare doesn't support Windows XP, so NVIDIA didn't bother with an update for that OS. Grab your driver from the links below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 344.60 WHQL for Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit

TechPowerUp is giving away an NVIDIA Shield Tablet, the most powerful handheld game console, which can double up as a conventional Android tablet. Powered by NVIDIA's in-house Tegra silicon, the Shield Tablet has so much processing power, that NVIDIA created its very own game and app marketplace that sells games, which take advantage of that power. And that's on top of Google Play Store, which sells games that just any Android device could play. The tablet comes with an ergonomic game controller, which gives you the kind of control you expect from a conventional game console. To participate, simply "Like" our Facebook page, if you haven't already, and fill up a short form (or have Facebook do it for you). One lucky winner will be randomly picked at the end of the giveaway.To participate, visit this page.

NVIDIA rolled out the GeForce 344.48 WHQL "Game Ready" drivers, timed to launch with Civilization: Beyond Earth, Elite: Dangerous, and Lords of the Fallen. These drivers enable Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR), which debuted on the "Maxwell" based GeForce GTX 900 series, on all older "Fermi" and "Kepler" based GeForce GTX 500, GTX 600, and GTX 700 series GPUs.DOWNLOAD: GeForce 344.48 WHQL for Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit, WIndows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

Under pressure from its own recently launched GeForce GTX 980 cannibalizing its $3,000 flagship GeForce GTX TITAN-Z (you can buy GTX 980 Quad-SLI at $2,200), NVIDIA could finally review its pricing, in the retail channel. The company recently reduced its price for the OEM channel, letting pre-built gaming PC manufacturers source the card at a lower price, whether those price-savings were transferred to the end-users, is a different question. To what measure NVIDIA could lower prices of the GTX TITAN-Z, is not known at this point. Retailers like OCUK were seen offering their GTX TITAN-Z cards at a slightly reduced price, last week. Across the big pond, American retailer Newegg sold-out an ASUS-branded GTX TITAN-Z for as low as US $1,500.

In the wake of GTX 980, AMD cut prices of its dual-GPU flagship product, the Radeon R9 295X2, down to $999. It's hard to imagine that competition from this card, and the GTX 980, are the only factors driving down prices of the GTX TITAN-Z in such a big way. Could NVIDIA be working on its next dual-GPU flagship graphics card already? Perhaps one based on a pair of GM204 chips, with thermal and power requirements as low as those of the GTX 690? Watch this space for more.

At Eurocom, laptop upgradeability is king, and now we are launching another hi-resolution display option for the EUROCOM M4 13.3" high performance monster. Now customers have the option between three hi-res displays starting with the 3200x1800 Quad-HD+ masterpiece, the 1920x1080 Full-HD gem and now the 2560x1440 tour de force with a whopping 1000: 1 contrast ratio. Customers can choose the exact display that suits their needs and budget.

"The three display options coupled with the high performance components of the EUROCOM M4 make it a very desirable product for users who require a high performance laptop that is very thin, light and mobile" Mark Bialic, Eurocom President. A great computing experience is all about great visuals, the M4 does not disappoint with a choice between three beautiful 13.3" 3200x1800 QHD+, 2560x1440 Quad HD matte and 1920x1080 Full HD matte displays powered by powerful NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M graphics.

Even as 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) is beginning to enter the consumer mainstream, with 28-inch displays being priced around $600, and Apple toying with 5K (5120 x 2880), with its next-generation iMac Retina desktops, Japanese display maker Sharp threw a spanner in the works, by unveiling a working prototype of its 8K (7680 x 4320 pixels) display, at the CETAC trade-show, held in Japan.

Two of the industry's biggest graphics processor makers, NVIDIA and AMD, reacted similarly to the development, calling 8K "a great challenge." Currently, neither company has a GPU that can handle the resolution. 8K is four times as many pixels as 4K. Driving an Ultra HD display over DVI needs two TMDS links, and DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 have just enough bandwidth to drive Ultra HD at 60 Hz. To drive 8K, both NVIDIA and AMD believe you would need more than one current-generation GPU, the display should connect to both cards over independent connectors, and somehow treat the single display as four Ultra HD displays. We imagine Sharp demoed its display at a very low refresh rate, to compensate for the bandwidth limitation. After 10 years of Full-HD tyranny, display resolutions are finally beginning to see their normal rate of development. It's time now for GPU developers and display interconnects to keep up.

Eurocom is adding MXM 3.0b based NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M graphics to the Eurocom line of high performance, fully upgradeable laptops. "Our customers will surely welcome the incredible performance from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M's 1536 CUDA cores, running at 1038 MHz and 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2500 MHz inside their fully upgradeable Eurocom notebook" Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

Having the ability to customize your Eurocom system allows users to have the perfect configuration for their needs and pay for only what they need. A variety of performance levels are offered in the line of graphics to allow customers to choose the precise performance level they need. With a combination of incredible performance and exclusive gaming technologies, NVIDIA GeForce GTX delivers a fast, fluid, lifelike experience. Next generation gaming includes support for Direct X 12. "Our customers will be very excited to have the option of upgrading their existing, fully upgradeable Eurocom notebook with NVIDA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M graphics or to configure it into their new system" Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

ORIGIN PC announced today the availability of their latest award-winning EON15-S, EON17-S, EON17-SLX and EVO15-S high-performance laptops with NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 900M series graphics cards for gamers, artists, professionals and enthusiasts. Powered by NVIDIA's next-gen Maxwell architecture, the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M deliver an incredible mobile gaming experience with a staggering 50% increase in performance over the previous generation, up to 8GB of GDDR5 Memory, and support for NVIDIA's latest advanced technologies such as Cone-Traced Global Illumination (CTGI), GeForce Experience, and NVIDIA Game Stream. Also featuring support for up to 4K-quality gaming and DirectX 12, the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M bring desktop-class gaming performance inside your next ORIGIN PC laptop like never before.

Powered by the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, the ORIGIN PC EVO15-S thin and light will also soon be available with a stunning 4K-Ready display enabling a beautiful, buttery smooth, 4K gaming experience on the go! Experience true next generation PC gaming on any ORIGIN PC EON or EVO laptop today with the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M graphics cards!

Apple's next iMac desktop could flaunt the company's "Retina Display" moniker, which stands for pixel density that matches that of your retina. Apple's idea of Retina display on a 20-something inch desktop is 5K, which is 5120 x 2880 pixels, or four times the resolution of WQHD (2560 x 1440), or sixteen times HD (1280 x 720). Early betas of Apple's OSX "Yosemite" feature references to display resolutions upwards of 5K, including 5760 x 3240, and 6400 x 3600.

At 27-inch, 5120 x 2880 would give the Mac a staggering 217 ppi of pixel density, which is not very far from the 263 ppi which 9.7-inch iPads offer, with their 2048 x 1536 resolutions. To put 217 ppi into perspective, a 28-inch Ultra HD display offers 157 ppi, and Apple's current 27-inch iMac with WQHD display offers just 108 ppi. A mainstream 24-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) display offers just 91 ppi. The GPUs that drive these next-gen iMacs are anyone's guess. Both current-generation AMD, and NVIDIA's new GTX 980 cap out at digital resolutions of 4096 x 2160.

MSI announced a variant of its GeForce GTX 970 Gaming OC graphics card, which goes easy on the factory-overclock, dubbed LE (lite edition). The card is identical in design to the GTX 970 Gaming OC, which launched last month, but features clock speeds of 1076 MHz core, 1216 MHz GPU Boost in OC mode, and 1064 MHz core with 1203 MHz GPU Boost, in "Gaming" mode; and NVIDIA-reference speeds of 1051 MHz core and 1178 MHz GPU Boost, in silent mode. The card is still based on a custom-design PCB that features a strong VRM, which draws power from a combination of 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors; and the company's new TwinFrozr V cooling solution. MSI didn't announce pricing.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading creator of high performance server hardware, is happy to announce today the release of its G210-H4G. Developed in partnership with Carri Systems, a French specialist of GPU computing & HPC solutions, this product is a 2U rackmount housing 4 blades capable of receiving one NVIDIA GRID, Tesla or AMD FirePro card each.

In the context of an unfolding GPU virtualization market and the vast amount of new possibilities that it opens, the G210-H4G is an elegant solution designed with simplicity and flexibility in mind to let organizations, big and small, enjoy the benefits of this fast-growing computing trend.

NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology is rivaled by AMD's project Freesync, which is based on a technology standardized by the video electronics standards association (VESA), under Adaptive Sync. The technology lets GPUs and monitors keep display refresh rates in sync with GPU frame-rates, so the resulting output appears fluid. VESA's technology does not require special hardware inside standards-compliant monitors, and is royalty-free, unlike NVIDIA G-SYNC, which is based on specialized hardware, which display makers have to source from NVIDIA, which makes it a sort of a royalty.

When asked by Chinese publication Expreview on whether NVIDIA GPUs will support VESA adaptive-sync, the company mentioned that NVIDIA wants to focus on G-SYNC. A case in point is the display connector loadout of the recently launched GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970. According to specifications listed on NVIDIA's website, the two feature DisplayPort 1.2 connectors, and not DisplayPort 1.2a, a requirement of VESA's new technology. AMD's year-old Radeon R9 and R7 GPUs, on the other hand, support DisplayPort 1.2a, casting a suspicion on NVIDIA's choice of connectors. Interestingly, the GTX 980 and GTX 970 feature HDMI 2.0, so it's not like NVIDIA is slow at catching up with new standards. Did NVIDIA leave out DisplayPort 1.2a in a deliberate attempt to check Adaptive Sync?

Well, that was fast! NVIDIA gave WHQL signing to the GeForce 344.16 Beta drivers it released earlier this week. The drivers still support just GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards. The release notes document (PDF) is still not clear on exactly what these drivers bring to the table, over the recently released 344.11 WHQL, but we believe it could be an important bug-fix specific to NVIDIA's new GPUs.DOWNLOAD: GeForce 344.16 WHQL

MSI, world leader in motherboard technology, is proud to announce its latest motherboard, the Z97S SLI Krait Edition. Inspired by and developed in cooperation with the world's elite case modders, the new Z97S SLI Krait Edition is equipped with an arsenal of new features, improvements like NVIDIA SLI certified for enthusiasts looking to pair up multiple graphics cards. On-board M.2 and SATA Express provides the latest storage technology with transfer speeds up to 10 Gb/s, with flexible solutions for using preferred devices. Military Class 4 provide all the stability you need through carefully selected and thoroughly tested components and materials. The Z97S SLI Krait Edition motherboard caters to those looking for a feature rich motherboard with a unique look & feel.

MSI is reportedly holding off on launching an overclocking-grade GeForce GTX 980 graphics card that you can ride into record-setting competitions, based on its coveted OC Series Lightning brand. The company probably wants to avoid a repeat of last year, when launch of its GeForce GTX 780 Lightning graphics card was closely trailed by NVIDIA's launch of the inherently faster GeForce GTX 780 Ti, and resulting price-cuts for the GTX 780, throwing MSI's inventories in jeopardy. The year before that, MSI launched the Radeon HD 7970 Lightning just weeks before AMD launched the faster HD 7970 GHz Edition.

MSI could stick to selling its Gaming Series GTX 980, equipped with the new Twin Frozr V cooling solution, even offering factory-overclocked variants of the card. This also leads one to wonder if NVIDIA has a third, high-end graphics card based on the GM204 silicon, on the 'cards,' one with higher clock speeds, or a higher temperature-based clock speed throttle, which is currently at a hair-trigger 80°C on the GTX 980.

Shortly after rolling out the GeForce 344.11 WHQL drivers following the launch of its GeForce GTX 900 series GPUs, NVIDIA slipped out GeForce 344.16 Beta drivers. The driver only supports GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 GPUs, and doesn't come with a working release notes link, and so we're left to guess that NVIDIA found a bug specific to the GTX 980 and GTX 970 that needed immediate fixing, and rushed out the 344.11 Beta. Grab it from the link below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 344.16 Beta

Inno3D is excited to announce the launch of the iChill and Inno3D GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970. The GeForce GTX 980 is the world's most advanced graphics card, powered by the new incredibly fast, power-efficient NVIDIA Maxwell architecture. With twice the performance of prior-generation graphics cards and exciting new gaming technologies, this innovative GPU provides an elite experience on virtual reality, HD, and ultra-resolution 4K displays.

Enjoy hyper-realistic real-time lighting with advanced NVIDIA Cone-traced global illumination, as well as NVIDIA G-SYNC display technology for smooth, tear-free gaming. Plus, you get Super Resolution technology that delivers a 4K experience on a 1080p display. The GTX 980 even delivers great gaming to go with NVIDIA GameStream technology, that lets you stream PC games to NVIDIA Shield devices.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 980/970 are the world's most advanced GPUs. Powered by next-generation NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, it delivers incredible performance, unmatched power efficiency, and cutting-edge features like NVIDIA Super Resolution Technology. With up to twice the performance of prior-generation cards and breakthrough graphics technologies, the EVGA GeForce GTX 980/970 provides an elite gaming experience on virtual reality, HD, and ultra-resolution 4K displays.

Most graphics card manufacturers only focus on one aspect when designing their cooling solution and neglect all other aspects of the fan design and heatsink. With EVGA ACX 2.0, we focused on the details that make a real difference, not just marketing jargon. In fact, did you know that the power consumption of a fan can directly affect your overclocking ability? Modern NVIDIA graphics cards have a maximum power ceiling that takes into account the fan power consumption, meaning the lower the power consumption from the fan, the more power available for the GPU! Triple fan coolers from competitors increase power consumption, thereby lowering your maximum overclocking headroom. When it comes to graphics cards cooling, less is more!

MSI announced a pair of minimalist lateral blower-equipped GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970-based graphics cards, under the OC V1 series. The two don't feature flashy TwinFrozr cooling solutions, or even over the top features, but offer PCBs that are close to NVIDIA's reference design, albeit with MSI's own copper channel-flow heatsinks. The GTX 970 OCV1 offers factory-overclocked speeds of 1076 MHz core, 1216 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory. The GTX 980 OCV1, on the other hand, offers clock speeds of 1152 MHz core, 1252 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory. Both cards feature 4 GB of memory across 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interfaces.

As the leading brand in enthusiastic graphics market, Gainward proudly presents the brand-new GeForce GTX graphics, base on the next generation MAXWELL architecture, GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 series. Gainward GeForce GTX 980 and 970 series are the world's fastest, most advanced graphics cards. The next generation MAXWELL architecture delivers incredible performance and unmatched power efficiency. With this MAXWELL powered GPU, the Gainward GeForce GTX 980 and 970 series offer cutting-edge features like advanced sampling and Dynamic Super Resolution technology that delivers 4K (UHD) fidelity - even on 1080p displays.

Gainward GeForce GTX 980 board comes with 4096MB memory, gives you twice the performance of previous-generation cards (GTX 680). And Gainward GeForce GTX 970 series leads by GTX 970 Phantom 4GB, which is factory over-clocked at 1152MHz base clock (1304MHz boost clock) and 3500MHz memory clock speed, Gainward GTX 970 Phantom 4GB performs up to 9% more than NV's GTX 970 reference clock speed under games and benchmark score. To compete with previous-generation GTX 770, it gets up to 45% performance enhancement and 35% less power consumption. The Gainward GeForce GTX 970 4GB, with standard clock speed, offers two-slot fan cooling and better C/P value for your choice.

Following the launch of its GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards, NVIDIA announced discontinuation of three of its top-selling high-end graphics cards, the GeForce GTX 780 Ti, the GeForce GTX 780, and the GeForce GTX 770. The $549 GeForce GTX 980 cannibalizes the GTX 780 Ti and GTX 780; and is cheaper to make, with 2 billion fewer transistors, four fewer memory chips, and a lighter VRM; while the GTX 970 targets several key sub-$350 products, blasting the GTX 770 to irrelevance. NVIDIA also tweaked pricing of its GeForce GTX 760 performance-segment graphics card, which now starts at $219. The company is expected to launch its replacement, the GeForce GTX 960, some time in October, 2014.

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.

Ahead of its launch later this week, even more details of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 980, and the 28 nm "GM204" silicon it's based on, tumbled out. To begin with, the GM204 silicon is confirmed to be built on the 28 nm silicon fab process. The chip bigger than that of the GK104, with a die area of 398 mm², yet smaller than the GK110, which measures 581 mm². Its transistor count is 5.2 billion, about 2 billion more than the GK104.

The component hierarchy of GM204 is similar to that of the GM107 silicon, on which the GTX 750 Ti is based. The GPU features a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, and PCI-Express 3.0 x16 bus. The GigaThread Engine dispatches workload between four graphics processing clusters (GPCs), the basic subunit. Each GPC has a common raster engine shared between four streaming multiprocessors Maxwell (SMMs), which each hold 128 CUDA cores. The total CUDA core count is hence 2,048. The L2 cache has been quadrupled over GK104. The chip features 2 MB of it, compared to 512 KB on its predecessor. The GM204 features 64 ROPs, double that of the GK104, and should hence come with a strong geometry processing muscle. The chip features a revolutionary new 3-bit delta color compression technology that makes the most of the limited memory bus width of this chip.

Apparently, NVIDIA is convinced that it has a pair of winners on its hands, with its upcoming GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards, and is preparing to price them steeply. The GeForce GTX 980 is expected to start at US $599, nearly the same price as the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. The GTX 970, on the other hand, will start at US $399, danger-close to cannibalizing the GTX 780.

Across the brands, the GTX 980 is launching at the same pricing AMD's Radeon R9 290X launched at; and the GTX 970 at that of the R9 290. AMD's cards have since settled down to $449 for the R9 290X, and R9 290 at $350. Both the GTX 980 and GTX 970, will be available in non-reference board designs, although reference-design GTX 980 will dominate day-one reviews. Based on the 28 nm GM204 silicon, the GTX 980 features 2,048 CUDA cores, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs; while the GTX 970 features 1,664 CUDA cores, and 104 TMUs. Both feature 256-bit wide memory interfaces, holding 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.

With its next-generation GeForce GTX 980 graphics card, NVIDIA has taken the initiative to help phase out DVI, the digital display connector that has had its reign since the dawn of flatscreen monitors. In its place, NVIDIA is promoting DisplayPort. A picture of the rear I/O shield of a GeForce GTX 980 graphics card reveals that the card features no less than five display connectors, a staggering three DisplayPorts, and one each of HDMI 2.0 and dual-link DVI (with analog/VGA pins for compatibility with D-Sub only monitors). The rear vent pattern has been revamped to triangles, so vents can be cut through in vacant spaces between the connectors, without compromising on the shield's structural rigidity. This pattern made its debut with the dual-GPU GeForce GTX TITAN-Z.