GeForce 8 Series
| Release date | November 2006 |
|---|---|
| Codename | G8x |
| Architecture | Tesla |
| Models |
|
| Cards | |
| Entry-level | 8100 8200 8300 8400 8500 |
| Mid-range | 8600 |
| High-end | 8800 GS/GT/GTS |
| Enthusiast | 8800 GTX/Ultra |
| API support | |
| Direct3D |
Direct3D 10.0 Shader Model 4.0 |
| OpenGL | OpenGL 3.3 |
| History | |
| Predecessor | GeForce 7 series |
| Successor | GeForce 9 series |
The GeForce 8 Series is the eighth generation of NVIDIA's GeForce line of graphics processing units. The third major GPU architecture developed by Nvidia, Tesla (microarchitecture) represents the company's first unified shader architecture.
All GeForce 8 Series products are based on Tesla (microarchitecture).
Dual Dual-link DVI Support: Able to drive two flat-panel displays up to 2560×1600 resolution. Available on select GeForce 8800 and 8600 GPUs.
One Dual-link DVI Support: Able to drive one flat-panel display up to 2560×1600 resolution. Available on select GeForce 8500 GPUs and GeForce 8400 GS cards based on the G98.
One Single-link DVI Support: Able to drive one flat-panel display up to 1920×1200 resolution. Available on select GeForce 8400 GPUs. GeForce 8400 GS cards based on the G86 only support single-link DVI.
The GeForce 8 series supports 10-bit per channel display output, up from 8-bit on previous NVIDIA cards. This potentially allows higher fidelity color representation and separation on capable displays. The GeForce 8 series, like its recent predecessors, also supports Scalable Link Interface (SLI) for multiple installed cards to act as one via an SLI Bridge, so long as they are of similar architecture.
NVIDIA's PureVideo HD video rendering technology is an improved version of the original PureVideo introduced with GeForce 6. It now includes GPU-based hardware acceleration for decoding HD movie formats, post-processing of HD video for enhanced images, and optional High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support at the card level.
In the summer of 2007 NVIDIA released the entry-level GeForce 8300GS and 8400GS graphics cards, based on the G86 core. The GeForce 8300 was only available in the OEM market, and as the GeForce 8300 mGPU motherboard GPU. These graphics cards were not intended for intense 3D applications such as fast, high-resolution video games. They were originally designed to replace the 7200 and 7300 models, but could not due to their poor game performance. It was able to play modern games at playable framerates at low settings and low resolutions making it popular among casual gamers and HTPC (Media Center) builders without a PCI Express or AGP motherboard.
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