### Unleashing Innovation: NVIDIA's Pioneering Path in Small Form Factor Gaming

#### The Dawn of a New Era with NVIDIA's SFF-Ready Initiative

NVIDIA showed just how serious it is about the gaming market by unveiling its latest line of GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards at Computex 2024. The company didn’t want this unveiling to just be a way to sell high-end gaming hardware. Instead, it would also usher in the next generation of ultra-small gaming PCs. Its introduction of the Small Form Factor (SFF) Ready market initiative indicates how NVIDIA sees the future of the PC gaming hardware market moving, and how it intends to usher in a new era of more geek-friendly gaming hardware. In order to get the SFF-Ready badge, a graphics card cannot be larger than 304 mm in length, 151 mm in height, and 50 mm in thickness. This size is not just a suggestion, but a seal of NVIDIA’s intent to push-forward innovation with the PC gaming hardware market.

#### NVIDIA: Redefining Gaming Spaces

Strongly encouraging GPU makers to produce SFF-Ready graphics cards, and helping case makers to produce SFF-Ready chassis, will help enthusiasts build the small-footprint, powerful, minimalist rigs they want. The increasing size of graphics cards is clearly not sustainable, given the ever-decreasing size of displays and gaming stations. It’s time to stop the madness. NVIDIA’s vanguard scenario is that these smaller, more efficient systems remain high-performance in absolute terms and respond to the way many gamers want to live their lives. To make sure the products are truly SFF-Ready, NVIDIA has strict standards: all cards and chassis must fit within the SFF-Ready guidelines, and the cards must preserve the high end-game performance that drives the sector.

#### The Heart of Innovation: GeForce RTX 40-Series Cards

The beating heart of NVIDIA’s SFF-Ready programme are its enthusiast-segment GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs. These cards are the poster children for what’s possible when size doesn’t have to come at the expense of performance. But they’re also the physical manifestation of NVIDIA’s resolve when it comes to what’s feasible in small form factor design. And the fact that it doesn’t have to be a compromise is a message that NVIDIA reiterates across its entire suite of hardware.

#### Unpacking the SFF Compatibility: Cases and Beyond

While this might be the beginning of NVIDIA’s disruptive tech hogging the limelight, surely the real kicker will be the wealth of third-party PC cases that have been primed to take advantage of that tech: NVIDIA worked with SFF case manufacturers to ensure that their SFF standards are met, such that they’re ready to receive a GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics card – but equally, a gamer might not want to go anywhere near one of those cases. By working with other case-makers, NVIDIA is making sure that gamers have plenty of options to choose from (both to match their brief and their tastes) – all of which will need to meet NVIDIA’s SFF standards. We’re pleased to see NVIDIA setting standards that shape the design and manufacture of more products beyond its own.

#### Communal Insights: The Voice of the Gaming Community

Their comments around what their definition of SFF-Ready is, or what they expect from SFF-Ready products, have been really critical to informing NVIDIA of where we can improve.’ Input from the gaming audience is a key component to what makes the NVIDIA SFF-Ready ecosystem tick. From what type of case SFF-Ready products should have been tested on (it turns out, their fans wanted to know that their SFF build would fit into the Fractal Terra or Ridge) to the dimensions of the PCIe cards themselves, users’ comments ultimately inform how NVIDIA and its partners tweak their products.

#### Looking Towards the Future: NVIDIA's Vision

NVIDIA is hoping that the SFF-Ready standard will guide how future GeForce RTX ‘Blackwater’ series graphics cards and new PC cases are made as it transitions to the next generation of GPUs. Just as people will always want to buy more powerful and faster GPUs at the same size, NVIDIA will continue to be on the cutting edge of micro-architectural advancements and smaller and more powerful PCs for gamers. Moreover, the SFF-Ready standard is not only about scaling the size of PCs down to smaller spaces, but reimagining how future GPUs can achieve ultra-high performance at ultra-low power levels.

### About NVIDIA

NVIDIA has long been a leader in computing hardware, breaking new ground in GPUs for graphics. At its core is a philosophy about the future: one in which technology and human ingenuity blend to create new levels of possibility, let alone experience. From the invention of the GPU to the creation of breakthroughs in AI and beyond, NVIDIA pushes the boundaries of the possible forward, making it a leading innovator of its time. From product to product, NVIDIA offers the world a window into the future: an augmented reality in which the digital world is richer and available to all of us, in increasingly fulfilling experiences.