Nvidia’s GTX 480 takes center stage at Pax East 2010

Nvidia kicked off day one of Pax East 2010 by launching its next-generation GTX 470/480 in front of a packed and excited audience.

Company spokesperson Drew Henry explained that the GTX 470 and 480 were debuted at Pax East to emphasize Nvidia’s commitment to the PC gaming world.

“There is no better venue than this to launch the GPU in front of you, the gamers! The GTX 480 is the best and most complex GPU we ever built. It is also the fastest on the planet,” said Henry.

“The card features three billion transistors, which is what you would find in four Intel quad core i7 CPUs. It definitely lets you crank it up and blow shi*t up in style! It offers up to a 2.5X performance gaming increase compared to the GTX 285 and is capable of rendering interactive ray tracing in real time.”

To illustrate his point, Henry showcased a free application known as Design Garage which allows users to practice real time ray tracing by customizing ultra photo-realistic images of various sports vehicles.

“We are packaging Design Garage free of charge with every GTX 470 and 480 shipped. It features a dozen different cars, with a dozen different environments, along with realistic camera angles and effects. It is pretty shockingly real and shows people what can be done with our next generation architecture.” 

Henry also demoed Nvidia’s 3D Vision Surround, which flawlessly rendered a number of 3D games across three screens, including Battlefield Bad Company 2, Metro 2033 (particularly frackin’ awesome!), Need for Speed and World of Warcraft.

Lastly, Henry showed off a new application known as “Supersonic Sled” which  is set in a fully tessellated world and illustrates the raw horsepower offered by the GTX 480. 

Both the GTX 470 ($349) and 480 ($499) are currently in full production and expected to arrive in stores within 14 days.