Big Bang Timeline

Okay, time to check out the timeline NVIDIA laid out for their "Big Bang 2".

Yes, you will be able to try out the new Release 180.42 ForceWare beta driver yourself today! However, it will not support multi-monitor SLI or PhysX on a dedicated GPU.

Conclusion

Will the Big Bang 2 save NVIDIA from their ignominious slide downwards? Or is it just more fluff than substance?

The Release 180 drivers certainly offers quite a few new features that NVIDIA users have been clamouring for, like multi-monitor SLI support and the ability to make use of older NVIDIA graphics cards to accelerate PhysX. However, those features will not be available just yet. In fact, it remains to be seen if they can get those features to work properly in time for the launch of the Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 Express chipset.

Even if they deliver the goods on time, the success of NVIDIA's Big Bang 2 appears to depend a lot on third parties like motherboard manufacturers and game developers.

NVIDIA needs a boatload of manufacturers to license their SLI technology for their motherboards or risk getting sidelined by Intel's decision to license the competing ATI CrossFireX technology for inclusion in ALL Intel 4-series and 5-series motherboards. They also need droves of software developers to start churning out PhysX titles so that there is some genuine demand for graphics cards that support PhysX acceleration.

If all that doesn't pan out, the NVIDIA Big Bang 2 could very well turn out to be one big fizzle....

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