Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) is kicking off today with Jen-Hsun delivering a now-traditional keynote address from his kitchen, spatulas and all, and you can watch it right here from 8.30am PDT, 11.30am EDT, and 4.30pm UK. If you sit through the whole thing, and really pay attention, Nvidia might even give you a GeForce RTX 3090 in reward for your efforts.
Nvidia teased some surprises at the event with a short 30 second video which included Morse code and eventually leads to the 'first hidden treasure' page (via Tom's Hardware). The page outlines further 'Easter eggs' hidden in Jen-Hsun's keynote today, and promises that it will reward twitterers with "a few coveted items (like a GeForce RTX 3090!)" if they spot the clues and use the right hashtags.
Given the shortage of GPUs at the moment, I wonder what exactly Nvidia considers to be 'like a GeForce RTX 3090'? But if it's any kind of GPU that'll be like catnip to us silicon-starved gamers.
"We thought we’d have a little bit of fun," reads the page, "by adding a few 'Easter eggs.' These are clues & hidden treasures for those with eagle eyes to discover. Watch closely, and if you see anything out of the ordinary let us know! There may be rewards waiting…"
But, aside from some spring time bunny eggs, what else do we expect Jen-Hsun to be dropping in the GTC 2021 keynote today? Honestly, we're not expecting a whole heap of announcements on the gaming side of Nvidia. The GPU Technology Conference has traditionally been where the green team talks up the professional side of its business, focusing on its AI work, its automotive efforts, and the server-based circuitry it creates.
And where Jen-Hsun encourages people to drop a few million on some shiny new Nvidia DGX servers. The more you buy, the more you save, etc.
Best CPU for gaming: the top chips from Intel and AMD
Best graphics card: your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: get into the game ahead of the rest
But for graphics cards we can jam into our PCs it's been historically pretty thin, with only the Titan Z springing to mind in terms of actual graphics card announcements.
We are likely to see a new Nvidia Atlan SoC for the automotive side of the business, sporting an Ampere-Next GPU and Grace-Next CPU. Other than that, Nvidia itself claims: "Huang will share the company’s vision for the future of computing from silicon to software to services, and from the edge to the data center to the cloud."
With an apparent highlight being some other 'Dave' who is exploring Nvidia's vision for manufacturing. Yeah, there are other Daves.
But if you want to see what Nvidia's big pro plans are for 2021 and beyond, or are just keen to get another look at that fine spatula collection, tune in today for more kitchen-based shenanigans at the GTC 2021 keynote.
