Nvidia touts 'enormous performance' of Kepler-based graphics cards

High-end cards introduce 28nm architecture

Nvidia has introduced the first graphics cards to utilise its Kepler GPU micro-architecture, which the company claimed is its "greatest technical achievement", capable of delivering unparalleled performance.

The company said that the GeForce GTX 680 cards would target early adopter markets, including gaming enthusiasts and high-performance media applications.

The cards will utilise the PCI-E third generation interface.

Additionally, Nvidia is placing the Kepler chips in a notebook form factor with the GT 640. The card will initially be aimed at the ultrabook market.

The Kepler architecture will be Nvidia's first to use the 28nm manufacturing process. The company estimates that the new cards perform up to 300 per cent better in DirectX testing than the previous generation of GeForce cards.

Both the mobile and desktop cards will also support 3D display output.

"The Kepler architecture stands as Nvidia's greatest technical achievement to date," said Nvidia senior vice president of GPU engineering Brian Kelleher,.

"It brings enormous performance and exceptional efficiency.

The release comes as Nvidia sees its sales soaring.

Last month the company logged its first $4bn fiscal year behind strong sales for its Tegra architecture.

Kepler's debut also arrives as graphics hardware has taken a more prominent role in high performance computing tasks.

With parallel processing loads increasing, researchers and engineers have sought to utilise graphics hardware for multi-threading tasks in areas such as modelling, engineering and simulations.