In light of the class action lawsuit that accused hardware makers Nvidia and ATI of fixing prices to keep video card prices artificially high, Nvidia proposed a $1.7M settlement.

The settlement, which is pending court approval and would resolve all claims against Nvidia, would see that $1.7 million sum split amongst those that bought hardware directly from ATI or Nvidia websites between December 4, 2002 and November 7, 2007.

Of the $1.7 million, Nvidia has offered to pay $850,000 of the figure. It is assumed that ATI would pay the remaining sum, thought the company has yet to confirm this. After that payment, Nvidia will not need to provide any other compensation, such as legal fees.

Nvidia also announced that it has settled a related price fixing case filed by individuals who bought Nvidia hardware from non-direct vendors. Under the agreement, those individuals will receive a total of $112,500 in exchange for dropping all charges.

However, that $112,500 will only go out to those who filed suit on their own, as the court denied a request classify the indirect purchase case as a class-action lawsuit, which would have encompassed anyone who purchased hardware from a non-direct vendor during the allotted time frame.

While ATI launches new hardware, rival Nvidia today released a new set of drivers that adds support for AGEIA's PhysX physics acceleration technology to the existing GeForce 8, GeForce 9, and GeForce GTX 200-series cards.

The new drivers are part of the free GeForce Power Pack, which also contains a PhysX-enabling mod for Epic's Unreal Tournament 3, the full version of NetDevil's physics-heavy title Warmonger, and a few tech demos, including a fluid simulation.

In addition, the drivers add PhysX support for the PC version of GRIN and Ubisoft Paris' Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. The functionality comes after Nvidia announced plans to acquire AGEIA earlier this year, with many developers since pledging support.

Left, Warmonger. Right, Unreal Tournament 3.

"Seeing really is believing and is the reason why we compiled all of this great PhysX content into a free download," commented GeForce GPU general manager Ujesh Desai. "We can't wait for our customers to jump in, get wet, and tell... Read more

Hardware manufacturer Nvidia is set to add PhysX support to several lines of its graphics cards on August 12, according to Tech Report.

Nvidia GeForce 8, GeForce 9, and GeForce GTX 200-series cards will support the new physics acceleration initially.

PhysX began as Ageia Technologies' attempt at a dedicated hardware physics processor. The idea of an expensive physics processing card never took off, and Nvidia purchased Aegia in February of this year, announcing that it would directly incorporate Aegia's technology into its line of cards.

Game support for PhysX includes released titles such as Epic's Unreal Tournament 3. Users can download the free PhysX Mod map pack, a collection of three UT3 maps that show off special effects such as twirling tornadoes and particle-based hail.

Nvidia claims that PhysX support is also being added to upcoming projects like EA DICE's Mirror's Edge, Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War, and Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands.

Early benchmarks predictably indicate that turning on the flashy PhysX effects will cost users several frames of performance.

For a look at a PhysX-enabled UT3 map, check out the video below. ... Read more

That anti-trust suit against Nvidia and ATI from back in 2006 is still ongoing, with some interesting developments occuring recently. The two graphics chip manufacturers were hoping to keep certain evidence from being presented to a jury, but Judge William Alsup was not impressed. Especially since this was emailed by Nvidia's Dan Vivoli to ATI's Dave Orton in 2002:

"I really think we should work harder together on the marketing front. As you and I have talked about, even though we are competitors, we have the common goal of making our category a well positioned, respected playing field. $5 and $8 stocks are a result of no respect."

The ongoing class action suit alleges that ATI (now AMD) and Nvidia kept prices artificially high by releasing products at the same time and at similar prices. NVidia recently slashed prices after ATI released a highly competitive video card at a much lower price point.

TechReport has the details on Nvidia's follow-up to its monstrous GeForce 9800 GX2 video card, the GTX 260 and GTX 280 Left, GTX 280. Right, GeForce 9800 GX2.

Whereas the massive 9800 GX2 runs in a two-GPU SLI configuration, the GTX 280 and 260 still only have one GPU. However, that single GPU nearly matches and even exceeds the performance of the GX2's two in many tests.

Once Nvidia enables SLI for the GTA 280 and 260 cards, it will most likely result in a near doubling of performance for top-of-the-line PC video cards. AMD-owned rival ATI is also expected to be announcing a new line of ... Read more

Nvidia VP of content business development Roy Taylor believes that the success of consoles "don't threaten PC gaming," but rather provides an "exciting future" as PCs will later receive enhanced editions of console games.

"The console is a baseline, the PC is going to be an improved version," he explained to Eurogamer. "If you look at Gears of War or Assassin's Creed...the PC versions had additional aspects to them that also made them attractive, whether you owned the console version or not. The PC version was better. That's an exciting future."

Echoing the sentiment of Crysis developer Crytek, Taylor expects to see less PC-exclusives as a result of rampant piracy and the "value of consoles," but noted that PCs should see more digital authentication and "service" releases in the future.

"You're going to start out with a basic service, which is the game, and then increase the value of that service through patches, mod packs, expansions, maps and so on," Taylor explained. "Most PC gamers also own consoles--not all of them, but a lot of them."

"PC gaming is changing and consoles don't threaten PC gaming. They're just different, he concluded. "That's why I don't see anything threatening about consoles at all."

Nvidia content relations VP Roy Taylor said that PC gaming has moved beyond reasonable justification for pirating PC games.

The executive suggested that it was unfair to steal content from the same developers who are struggling to keep the PC gaming market alive in a market dominated by surging console sales.

"I think that we've arrived at a point now where I don't know how anyone could ever possibly justify pirating a game," Taylor told Eurogamer. "I just don't know how anyone could consider that a cool thing to do - it's not. It sucks."

"One of the things that I find frustrating is that PC gamers tend to be very passionate, and they love the people that make great PC games. If you ask any PC gamer what they think of John Carmack, they'll say he's a hero. What do they think of... Read more

In the face of a changing PC landscape, graphics card manufacturer Nvidia is now hoping to market their products in a way that makes more sense to average consumers.

"It is a challenge that we're looking at right now. There is a need to simplify [the Nvidia product line] for consumers, there's no question," said Nvidia business VP Roy Taylor to GamesIndustry.biz.

The company has frequently been criticized for its confusing product names. For example, Nvidia's 8800 GT outperforms the 9600 GT, which many would assume to be more powerful due to its higher number.

"We think that the people who understand and know GeForce today, they're okay with it--they understand it. But if we're going to widen our appeal, there's no doubt that we have to solve that problem."

Nvidia has recently been making more of an effort to target mid-range users. The launch of the GeForce 9600 GT last February marked the first time a mid-range card debuted a product line for the company.

Recently released documents from Microsoft reveal that drivers for Nvidia PC graphics cards were the cause of roughly 29% of logged crashes in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, Ars Technica reports.

The documentation details that Nvidia drivers caused 479,000 crashes out of a total of 1,663,748 logged by Microsoft across an unspecified period in 2007. Microsoft's own drivers followed at roughly 18%. Rival video card manufacturer ATI clocked in at fourth with 9.3%, and Intel at fifth with 8.8%.

The information was found within 158 pages of internal emails made public as part of an ongoing lawsuit against Microsoft for their hand in alleged artificial inflation of computer prices during the 2006 holiday season.

Numerous reports of users experiencing difficulties with Nvidia drivers on Vista had surfaced at the time of its debut, leading many to label the operating system as a buggy or unstable system. The revealed statistics represent the first publicly available hard data on the root cause of Windows Vista instability.

Microsoft recently released Vista Service Pack 1, which reportedly boosts gaming performance on the platform.

Graphics processor manufacturer Nvidia today launched a line of products with a midrange card for the first time in its history as a company.

The GeForce 9600 GT, the first card in the GeForce 9 series, will retail for $169-189 according to HardOCP.

Nvidia typically debuts new card lineups with pricey top-of-the-line models. The sub-$200 9600 GT is seen as a significant departure for the company, at a time when the PC gaming industry has taken flak for being too complex and costly for consumers to follow.

Earlier this week Nvidia became a founding member of the PC Gaming Alliance, a consortium of PC-invested companies with the goal of streamlining PC gaming and promoting the platform.

Hardware manufacturer Nvidia today announced its plans to acquire physics technology developer AGEIA, with the company stating it will integrate AGEIA's PhysX technology into its future line of GeForce graphics cards.

"By combining the teams that created the world's most pervasive GPU and physics engine brands, we can now bring GeForce-accelerated PhysX to hundreds of millions of gamers around the world," said Huang.

Founded in 2002, AGEIA made a name for itself by inventing the Physics Processing Unit (PPU) chip, the world's first dedicated hardware physics processor for personal computers. The company also develops physics software, boasting a list of over 140 games across multiple platforms that utilize PhysX technology.

"Nvidia is the perfect fit for us," added AGEIA CEO Manju Hegde. "They have the world's best parallel computing technology and are the thought leaders in GPUs and gaming. We are united by a common culture based on a passion for innovating and driving the consumer experience."

Processor manufacturer AMD was rumored to be eyeing AGEIA for purchase in November, but had since denied the claims. Competitor Intel picked up physics software developer Havok last September.

The deal is all but final, with only customary closing conditions in the way. More details of the acquisition will be available following Nvidia's quarterly conference call on Feb 13.

An extended PC demo of Valve Software's 2007 hit (and Shacknews Game of the Year by both readers and editors) Portal (PC, PS3, X360) will be made available for free to gamers with NVIDIA graphics cards, the developer announced today.

The demo, called Portal: First Slice, comes as part of a recent agreement between Valve and NVIDIA to "collaborate on development, distribution, events, and more." Gamers equipped with NVIDIA graphics cards looking to give the test chambers and deathtraps of the Aperture Science labs a trial run must allow Steam to auto-detect their NVIDIA cards to unlock the demo.

First Slice and the collaborative campaign between the two companies marks a departure from the former marketing team-up between ATI and Valve, shifted by an increase in NVIDIA hardware use among Steam gamers. "More Steam gamers, including myself, play on NVIDIA hardware than any other GPU," said Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi, citing Valve's frequent gamer hardware surveys.

Portal: First Slice is available for immediate download from Steam—provided, of course, that you've got an NVIDIA card under the hood. Like Valve's previous free game offer for ATI users, this download also includes Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, as well as Peggle Extreme.

Financial publication Forbes has named PC graphics card manufacturer Nvidia its 2007 Company of the Year, as reported in the January 7, 2008 issue of the magazine.

Forbes points to Nvidia's current advantage in the graphics market as well as its incredible growth as a company, over the last five years and in the last year particularly, as the reasoning behind the honor--the company's revenues are at $4 billion, up 33% year over year, and its profits are at $900 million, up 50% year over year, while its share price is up 2100% since its 1999 IPO.

The success of the Santa Clara, California-based company is pinned on CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who cofounded it in 1993. As Nvidia competes with Intel's integrated graphics solutions on the low end, and new AMD subsidiary ATI's dedicated cards on the high end, Huang indicated he plans to continue running Nvidia the way that has brought its current success: by constantly iterating and improving its core product.

Meanwhile it provides the graphics chip for the PS3, is expanding out into the non-gaming arena of research analysis hardware, and hopes to drive sophisticated graphics in less-hardcore areas such as web interfaces. "What if Google Earth had a 3D representation of every single building, every single square meter on Earth, and you could access it in the blink of an eye?" Huang asked. "The more content there is, the more visual interest there can be, the more processing horsepower people need."

New drivers are now available for AMD/ATI- and NVidia-powered video cards. For ForceWare 94.24 drivers for Windows XP go here. Radeon owners can find new Catalyst drivers at the AMD website.

NVidia has finally released new XP drivers for 7 series cards. The 94.24 drivers are available here. In addition, the 158.22 8 series drivers are also out enabling TurboCache. You can grab those in 32bit and 64bit flavors.

New ForceWare drivers for GeForce 8x00 powered videocards running under Windows XP and Media Center are now available. The 158.22 release offers numerous game and application compatibility fixes and performance increasements, and adds GeForce 8800 Ultra support. Thanks Blues.

Over at the NVidia site you can find new ForceWare drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, adding support for newly released GeForce 8x00 GS/GT/GTS videocards. According to release notes, there are fixes for games like Oblivion, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, Serious Sam 2 and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic among others.

Forgot to mention yesterday yet another NVidia Vista driver release. These ones are somehow WHQL certified if you can believe that. They are listed as 8800 specific but actually work for 6/7 series cards as well. Grab the 32bit and 64bit builds.

Companies are rolling out the third GeForce 8 GPU based product today, the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB. Similar to the previous 8800 GTS, memory has been halved resulting in a lower price point. The new card(s) have been tested at HardOCP, AnandTech, PC Perspective, I4U, MadShrimps, Bjorn3D and Guru3D.

NVidia has opened a Vista Quality Assurance page on their website, noting that "NVIDIA is committed to supporting Microsoft Windows Vista on current and previous GPU generations". There are also plans for monthly driver releases. Thanks Tech Report.