The NVIDIA Ninja Graphics Tech Report

After a rather long hiatus, NVIDIA has finally launched their Kepler microarchitecture and its flagship graphics card, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. Amongst Kepler's many new features and improvements is the NVIDIA GPU Boost Technology, which gives the GeForce GTX 680 a further boost in its performance by dynamically overclocking it for apps that aren't so graphics intensive.

However, many gamers are wondering - why would you need to further overclock the GeForce GTX 680 for games that aren't graphics intensive? The GeForce GTX 680 should have no problem delivering frame rates in excess of 60 fps for such games. So there is really no need for GPU Boost. Well, apparently, NVIDIA has something up their sleeves for Kepler-based graphics cards - the NVIDIA Ninja Graphics Technology!

Now, this does not appear to be ready for launch, or perhaps, isn't meant for public knowledge at all. You will see why when we show you what it does.

A New Gaming Advantage

Although the NVIDIA Kepler architecture emphasizes improved performance with a focus on performance per watt, NVIDIA realized that ramping up performance alone isn't "sexy" enough to encourage gamers to buy the new GeForce 600 series of graphics cards. As far back as the GeForce 400 series, NVIDIA was already struggling to convince gamers to upgrade their G92-based graphics cards to something newer (at that time), like the GeForce GTS 450.

In fact, NVIDIA specifically made a point to journalists all over the world that "the new GeForce GTS 450 will be a great upgrade option for gamers who are still using older G92-based graphics cards like the GeForce GTS 250, the GeForce 9800 GTX+ or even the GeForce 9600 GT."

From that statement, one can tell that NVIDIA had recognized then that there were plenty of gamers who were perfectly happy with their older NVIDIA graphics cards. They don't need anti-aliasing or PhysX. They just need a good frame rate. If turning off AA and/or PhysX allows them to play newer games without upgrading, that's what they would do.

Eye candy alone isn't going to help, not with such gamers. NVIDIA had to find something that would give gamers a real advantage. Even better if it's an advantage their competitor will not have. Well, it sure took them a long time, but they think they finally found it. Let's have a look and see what Ninja Graphics is all about.

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