CES 2009: NVIDIA, OLEDs and D-Link Sidestage

NVIDIA 3D Vision & Ion (Atom Platform)

Nvidia had some cool technology on display and something that caught our eye was their Atom Platform that is code named Ion.

With plenty of I/O options, this thing rocks! It can be used as a Vista media extender or you can hook up a hard drive and use it as a stand alone display output for your HDTV. Its capable of outputting GPU accelerated 1080p video thanks a GeForce 9400 GPU. Coupled with an Intel Atom processor, it promises to be a silent yet powerful bridge between a full on HTPC and media extender.

This photo gives you an idea of how tiny the system is. The Atom Platform will be available from OEMs like HP and Dell. Pricing was not yet available but we will be trying to track that down before we head home on Saturday.

GeForce 3D Vision

Also on display was Nvidias new take on gaming, the 3D Vision. Priced at $199 these glasses will literally change the way you see gaming.

Being skeptical of anything with 3D glasses, I tried them on and jumped into a game of Left 4 Dead and was amazed how much it changed my gaming experience.

As impressive as it is there is more than just the $199 cost of the glasses. Youll need a 8800 class video card (8800 GT or better) to get acceptable performance when using 3D vision. Youre also going to need a display capable of 120Hz for the glasses to work. There are a couple of 120Hz monitors being announced this week, one of which is the Samsung 2233RZ at $399.