While they may be somewhat late to the game, Nvidia has finally introduced its GeForce 400 series of graphics processors at PAX. The GTX 470 and 480 are Nvidia’s first DirectX 11 compatible graphics cards, while ATI has been shipping DirectX 11 compatible cards since September 2009. The Nvidia GTX 480 comes in at a whopping $500 and promises to be the biggest, baddest, fastest consumer graphics card on the market. The closest single card competition comes from ATI’s Radeon HD5870, which can be found for around $400.More

Nvidia’s latest lineup of graphics cards is using their next generation architecture called CUDA, formerly codenamed FERMI. This new architecture is the first to offer ECC or Error Checking and Correction as well as a true, multi-level caching hierarchy (L1 + L2 cache + on-board RAM). The other super cool tech the new Nvidia graphics cards introduce is something called "3D Vision Surround." What this does is take three LCD displays and, in conjunction with a pair of glasses, sends the left-most image to the left eye and the right-most image to the right eye, thus giving the viewer a truly immersive 3D experience.

What do all these things mean to us as the end user? Not much until software and game developers really start taking advantage of both the "3D Vision Surround" and, more importantly, DirectX 11. Currently there are only 6 games available that support DirectX 11. Another 6 titles are either launching or receiving a DirectX 11 compatibility update during the remainder of 2010. There is also a need to be running Windows 7 for any of these games to work in DirectX 11 mode. For a full list of DirectX 11 compatible games click here.

While the Nvidia GTX 470 and 480 are most likely to be the fastest (and most expensive) single card consumer graphics solution on the market, will they be something you need? Only time will tell.

Check out Nvidia’s own launch page for their GeForce 400 lineup of graphics processors here. You can also check out the following video for some benchmarks against the former single card graphics processing champ, the ATI Radeon HD5870, as well as a glimpse at the new "3D Vision Surround" technology in action.

Httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpdPSZB8A8E

What card are you running in your PC? Do you need more power? Are you planning on getting one of these new cards when available? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Joystiq