GPU Support
 Adds support for the newly released GeForce GTX 590, GeForce GTX 560 Ti and GeForce GTX 550 Ti GPUs.

Performance
 Increases performance for GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. v266.58 WHQL drivers. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 580:
 Up to 516% in Dragon Age 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF Very High, SSAO on)
 Up to 326% in Dragon Age 2 (1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF Very High, SSAO on)
 Up to 11% in Just Cause 2 (1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF, Concrete Jungle)
 Up to 11% in Just Cause 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF, Concrete Jungle)
 Up to 7% in Civilization V (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Max settings)
 Up to 6% in Far Cry 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF, Max settings)
 Up to 5% in Civilization V (SLI 1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF, Max settings)
 Up to 5% in Left 4 Dead 2 (1920x1200 noAA/AF, Outdoor)
 Up to 5% in Left 4 Dead 2 (SLI 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF, Outdoor)
 Up to 4% in H.A.W.X. 2 (SLI 1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF, Max settings)
 Up to 4% in Mafia 2 (SLI 2560x1600 AA on/16xAF, PhysX = High)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti:
 Up to 461% in Dragon Age 2 (SLI 1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF, Very High)
 Up to 241% in Dragon Age 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Very High)
 Up to 19% in Just Cause 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF, Concrete Jungle)
 Up to 13% in Just Cause 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Concrete Jungle)
 Up to 6% in Far Cry 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF, Max settings)
 Up to 5% in Call of Duty: Black Ops (1920x1200 noAA/AF, Jungle Map)
 Up to 5% in H.A.W.X. 2 (SLI 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Max settings)
 Up to 4% in Call of Duty: Black Ops (SLI 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF, Jungle Map)
 Up to 4% in Civilization V (1920x1200 noAA/AF, Max settings)
 Up to 4% in Left 4 Dead 2 (SLI 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Outdoor)
 Up to 4% in Metro 2033 (SLI 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, PhysX on)

NVIDIA Update
 This is a new feature in Release 270 and later drivers. NVIDIA Update keeps your PC up-to-date with the latest NVIDIA drivers by notifying you when a new driver is available and directing you to the driver on www.nvidia.com. When you install a Release 270 or later GeForce driver from www.nvidia.com, you will be presented with the option to install NVIDIA Update. Click here to learn more about NVIDIA Update.

CUDA
 Adds support for applications using CUDA 4.0 features such as Unified Virtual Addressing (UVA) and GPUDirectâ„¢ v2.0.

 New profiles added to this release:
 - Crysis 2 - Improves CrossFire performance
 - Dungeons - Improves CrossFire performance with forced on Anti-Aliasing
 - Crasher - Forced on Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center has been disabled
 - Shogun 2 (DX9 version) - Improves CrossFire performance
 - America's Army 3 - Improves CrossFire performance
 - Flatout: Ultimate Carnage - Improves CrossFire performance

Changelog of Catalyst 11.4 Preview
 A number of performance optimizations, as highlighted here.
 Performance enhancement for Shogun 2 (DX11 version) when running Anti-Aliasing
 Includes enhancements to the AMD Catalyst Control Center
 o New task based Display Management controls
 - Simplifies the configuration of displays and display settings
 o New Eyefinity setup group
 - Setting up an Eyefinity group has never been easier
 o New branding (based on system configuration)
 - AMD based platform – AMD VISION Engine Control Center
 - Discrete AMD GPU with Intel CPU – AMD Catalyst Control Centerâ„¢
 o AMD Catalyst update notification (found within the Information Center)
 - Please note this functionality is not yet enabled, but will be in a future AMD Catalyst release
 - This feature will be used to notify users that new AMD Catalyst software packages are available
 Includes fixes where Dragon Age 2 would hang in DirectX11 on ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5800 Series products.
 Includes fixes where MediaEspresso 6.5 and 6.0 may crash while initializing
 Includes a fix for game corruption issues in BulletStorm
 Includes a fix for the AMD Catalyst Control Center install; resolves the issue of not being able to launch CCC after Catalyst has finished installing
 Includes a fix for the Tessellation slider sometimes setting the incorrect value
AMD Catalyst 11.4 Preview can be downloaded from here.

2560x1600: At 2560x1600, the AMD Radeon HD 6970 dominated the pack, outperforming even that much more expensive NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. The Radeon HD 6950 easily beat out the GeForce GTX 570, and even the Radeon HD 6870 performed better for us than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

1920x1200: At 1920x1200, the AMD Radeon HD 6970 gave us a "best in show" performance, allowing the highest possible in-game settings with 4X MSAA at a nice performance level for a smooth and enjoyable gameplay experience. Even the Radeon HD 6950 allowed the highest in-game settings, but was not powerful enough to give us AA with that. The inexpensive Radeon HD 6870 came close to maximum settings, but fell just short. Interestingly, the $200 video card matched the performance level of the $490 GeForce GTX 580. The GTX 570 came in just a little shy of the performance offered by the GTX 580.

1680x1050: At 1680x1050, the GeForce GTX 580 gave us a good experience, but was still outperformed by the Radeon HD 6970. The GeForce GTX 570 was just shy of allowing maximum in-game settings, but SSAO proved to be too much for it. The Radeon HD 6950 had no problem with SSAO at this resolution. The GeForce GTX 560 Ti struggled to keep up, but was ultimately outmatched by the Radeon HD 6870, which managed maximum settings without AA.

Obviously, performance is seriously degraded on NVIDIA video cards, when compared to AMD video cards. A quick Google search showed us that the problem is widespread, with very little outward activity on it from NVIDIA. This performance issue has been a problem since the Dragon Age 2 demo. Before the retail game was released, NVIDIA released a series of beta drivers, citing improved compatibility with Dragon Age 2. In our investigation, we found that "improved compatibility" does not necessarily mean "improved performance." NVIDIA and BioWare have some work to do to get this game running faster on GeForce video cards.

Basic instructions:
1. Once you have unziped place anywhere you want.
2. Delete any autoexec.cfg files found in the Crysis 2 root folder. (if you're asking what that is, don't worry about it)
3. Delete any target commands you may have put on the shortcut as they will override the autoexec.cfg that is created
4. Run the Crysis2AdvancedGraphicsOptions.exe
5. Hit apply once all settings are set
6. If no settings are applied, try running the program in administrator mode.

Performance wise the GTX 590 is a beast, the performance level where it operating in is truly amazing stuff to witness. We'll get into that in am minute. Temperatures remains roughly at 80 Degrees C on this card, and that is when it is completely maxed out and stressed. That is exemplary. TDP wise we measure roughly 350W, considering the perf level; thrown at you, that isn't bad either.

Performance then, you will receive a product that exhausts near silly numbers in terms of frame rate. You can flick on 8xAA and the card really isn't bothered.

As always you do need to keep in mind that a card needs an appropriate PC. Even our Core i7 Nehalem based quad core processor clocked at 3750 MHz still will run into some CPU limitation with the somewhat aging DX9 titles we used. Here also we need to state though that CPU limitations / bottlenecks are not necessarily a bad thing. As long as you pass 60 FPS or your maximum monitor refresh rate -- honestly who cares? So do feel free to enable all image quality settings a game offers you. I mean, if I take Battlefield 2 Bad Company, which is massively GPU dependant and enable all and only the very best image quality settings, apply 8xAA and we still get 106 FPS on average in a monitor resolution of 1920x1200, which is just staggering.

Driver compatibility wise in terms of multi-GPU support, we did not have problems at all. All tested titles worked perfectly fine and overall scaling was pretty snazzy as well, except Crysis Warhead which was producing lower numbers opposed to another beta driver we initially tested. NVIDIA has been very strong on multi-GPU support and once big titles launch, they often release a new driver alongside with it. It would not hurt NVIDIA to release drivers on a more regular basis. It is a complaint as of lately that we are seeing often in our forums, especially when it comes toward multi-GPU driver support this is very important.

Cards like shown today are for the true elite gamers out there. You need that muscular PC, a monitor resolution that starts at 1920x1080/1200 or heck, even three monitors as remember, one GTX 5890 supports surround vision with up-to three monitors as well.

Given the limited size of the demo, the limited available graphics options, and the limited video card sample set for the demo, there are few conclusions that we can draw here. What we do know is that, on a price scale, competition between NVIDIA's offerings and AMD's offerings seem to be dead even. When the Radeon HD 6990 is added to the mix in the final retail version of this game, we hope that it earns its price against the GeForce GTX 580.

For now, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 is the card to beat for this game, while it's a dead-heat between the GTX 570 and the AMD Radeon HD 6970. For gamers with tighter budgets and smaller monitors, the Radeon HD 6870 looks like it could be a great value for Crysis 2. Of course, this could all change when the final retail game hits the shelves. Stay tuned for our full gameplay performance and image quality analysis of Crysis 2 after it is released on the shelves.

So what sort of performance-overhead are we talking about here? Is DirectX really that big a barrier to high-speed PC gaming? This, of course, depends on the nature of the game you're developing.

'It can vary from almost nothing at all to a huge overhead,' says Huddy. 'If you're just rendering a screen full of pixels which are not terribly complicated, then typically a PC will do just as good a job as a console. These days we have so much horsepower on PCs that on high-resolutions you see some pretty extraordinary-looking PC games, but one of the things that you don't see in PC gaming inside the software architecture is the kind of stuff that we see on consoles all the time.

On consoles, you can draw maybe 10,000 or 20,000 chunks of geometry in a frame, and you can do that at 30-60fps. On a PC, you can't typically draw more than 2-3,000 without getting into trouble with performance, and that's quite surprising - the PC can actually show you only a tenth of the performance if you need a separate batch for each draw call.

Now the PC software architecture – DirectX – has been kind of bent into shape to try to accommodate more and more of the batch calls in a sneaky kind of way. There are the multi-threaded display lists, which come up in DirectX 11 – that helps, but unsurprisingly it only gives you a factor of two at the very best, from what we've seen. And we also support instancing, which means that if you're going to draw a crate, you can actually draw ten crates just as fast as far as DirectX is concerned.

But it's still very hard to throw tremendous variety into a PC game. If you want each of your draw calls to be a bit different, then you can't get over about 2-3,000 draw calls typically - and certainly a maximum amount of 5,000. Games developers definitely have a need for that. Console games often use 10-20,000 draw calls per frame, and that's an easier way to let the artist's vision shine through.'

Today we are happy to announce an updated version of our 3D Vision wireless glasses kit for a new low price of $149 (US), $50 less than the original price. Plus, the glasses provide 50 percent longer battery life from a single charge, 60 hours compared with 40 hours before, giving you even more time of uninterrupted 3D entertainment.

With over 1,000 products in the 3D Vision ecosystem, including notebook and desktop PCs, displays, TVs, projectors, GPUs, video applications, cameras and games, 3D Vision lets you experience the best quality 3D in many different ways on your PC. In addition, we’re also lowering our price of extra wireless glasses for only $119, so that it’s easier to share the 3D experience with your friends.

It’s never been better to be a 3D Vision owner, with new 3D games available such as Bulletstorm and Crysis 2. If you haven’t done it yet, download the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo from GeForce.com and experience one of the most anticipated games in 2011 with 3D Vision. And, pair 3D Vision with the brand new GeForce GTX 550 Ti – also available today for $149 – and you have the perfect gaming upgrades for your PC.

Beyond gaming, 3D Vision is also adding new dimensions to your videos and photos. Visit 3DVisionLive.com where we’re hosting over 5,000 3D photos and videos available to stream via your PC. You can even upload your own 3D photos and share them with friends, or the world.

The GTX 550 Ti is positioned in a very price sensitive segment of the market, as is the case with all sub $200 graphics cards. This is because casual and mainstream gamers alike tend to look for the best performing product at the lowest price point possible. Also, graphics cards in this segment tend to have a four year upgrade cycle, which makes long term performance extremely important. When taking these into consideration, the GTX 550 Ti is a very impressive graphics card, as it gives gamers a performance increase over previous generation’s mainstream graphic cards, yet it also has increased memory bandwidth, which could potentially allow this card to be used for years before becoming obsolete. As shown in our testing, the 550 Ti also scales very well in SLI, so even if a system using this card started to stutter in games, a second card could easily be added for additional performance.

The two cards we looked at in this review both have increased performance in comparison to the reference models, as both the Palit and MSI GTX 550 Ti models have higher clock speeds. This translates into better performance across the board, further increasing the price-to-performance ratio of the 550 Ti. In addition, both the graphics cards we looked at operated at a near silent level, even when the fan speed setting was increased. So while you get improved performance, both the MSI and Palit models also offer outstanding acoustics via their custom thermal solutions.

Another aspect where both the Palit and MSI graphics cards really stood out was in overclocking, with each having their own strong points. The MSI board had better overclocking potential when it came to increasing the GPU clock speed, as it was able to surpass 1100MHz which gave it a 14% increase over the factory setting. The Palit card on the other hand was able to increase the memory further than the MSI version and just came up a bit shy of reaching a 1025MHz (5000MHz effective) memory clock speed. Even while the GTX 550 Ti graphics cards already have high clocks speeds, there is room to push them even further for added performance.

The GTX 550 Ti is also a nice introductory graphics card for gamers looking to take advantage of features such as PhysX, 3D vision and 3D Surround (two graphics cards are required for 3D Vision). All of these features add to the gaming experience, however a little more horsepower might be needed to utilize these technologies at their full potential. The 550 Ti should have no issues running them in games at lower resolutions though.

All of these factors make the GTX 550 Ti an excellent solution for gamers looking for a decent level of performance for a low premium. However, the mainstream market is extremely competitive and higher performance graphics cards can be found for as little as $20 more than the GTX 550 Ti. This could make it hard for the GTX 550 Ti to stand out as mainstream market is currently crowded with DX11 graphics cards from the likes of both AMD and Nvidia. The GTX 550 Ti is being released into a very competitive market, but it has performance, features and great SLI scaling backing it. In addition, Nvida's AIB partners such as Palit and MSI are releasing their graphics cards with increased clock speeds, which makes either of the models reviewed today a great choice for gamers looking for a great out-of-the-box experience.

The Kinect for Windows SDK is being developed and released by Microsoft Research (MSR) in collaboration with IEB. It will be available this spring as a free download, and will give academic researchers and enthusiasts access to key pieces of the Kinect system—such as the audio technology, system application programming interfaces and direct control of the Kinect sensor itself.

Supporting this community and enabling creativity around natural user interfaces (NUI) is important to us, and our hope is that this SDK will ignite further creativity in an already vibrant ecosystem of enthusiasts. We are very excited by this announcement. Not only does it showcase our investment in this important technology trend, but it ensures that people have the tools they desire to revolutionize how people interact with technology.

The possibilities are endless. Natural and intuitive technologies such as Kinect can be more than just a great platform for gaming and entertainment. They open up enormous opportunities across a wide variety of scenarios, including addressing societal issues in areas such as healthcare and education.

 * Minimum: 2GHz Core 2 Duo / A64 X2 CPU, 2GB RAM, 8800GT / HD3850, 512MB Video Memory, DX9.0c, Shader Model 3.0, Windows XP, 20fps @ 1024 x 768
 * Recommended: 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo / A64 X2 CPU, 3GB RAM, GTX280 / HD4870, 1GB Video Memory, DX9.0, Shader Model 3.0/4.0, Windows XP, 30fps @ 1650 x 1080
 * Highly Recommended: 3GHz Core i7 4GB RAM, GTX560Ti / HD4870 X2, 1.8GB Video Memory, DX11, Shader Model 3.0/4.0, Windows 7, 30fps @ 1920 x 1200

Performance Improvements:
 * Call of Duty: Black Ops:
 o Performance increases up to 11% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing enabled
 * Batman Arkham Asylum:
 o Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series single configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 11.2 software suite for Windows 7. These include:
 * Corruption is no longer randomly observed running the Unigine Heaven benchmark.
 * Texture corruption is no longer observed when running the Unigine Heaven benchmark with Super AA enabled in the Catalyst Control Center.
 * HAWX no longer intermittently displays corruption when running in DirectX 9 mode.
 * Visual corruption is no longer seen when running Lost Planet in DirectX 10 mode.
 * Playing a 720p WMV format file no longer randomly causes laggy system performance.
 * Video corruption no longer intermittently affects the display when playing a SD format DVD using Windows Media Player.
 * Choppy video playback is no longer observed when playing a DVD with interlaced content using WinDVD 10.
 * 8x Anti Aliasing is now correctly listed as available with certain 3D applications.
 * The AMD Ladybug demo no longer freezes when viewed in camera mode.
 * DirectX 9.0 games no longer show intermittent corruption at the bottom of one of the cloned displays.

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
 * Flickering is no longer randomly observed when applying Video Gamma settings.
 * The system no longer hangs intermittently when playing Medal of Honor.
 * Civilization V no longer generates a VPU Recovery faulty when Crossfire mode is enabled.
 * Warhammer – Dawn of War 2 no longer randomly displays a wireframe when running at High game settings.