The GeForce 8000 series graphics processing units (GPUs). Offering unprecedented processing power and unparalleled levels of graphics realism and special effects, the only other "un" that comes to mind is "unbelievable"!Based on the revolutionary NVIDIA GeForce 8 graphics architecture, the GeForce 8000 series GPUs are the industry's first DirectX 10 compatible GPUs and are the reference GPUs for the DirectX 10 development and certification.A fully unified shader core that dynamically allocates processing power to geometry, vertex, physics, or pixel shading operations and unified stream processors that efficiently process geometry shader programs, while reducing dependence on the CPU for geometry processing, the GeForce 8000 series feature NVIDIA GigaThread technology that supports thousands of independent simultaneous threads for maximum GPU utilization. Shader Model (SM) 4.0 enables more complex operations on the GPU and reduces the load and CPU cycles.Stream out enables programmers to add more detail without having to re-render the entire pipeline and geometry shaders permit geometry creation and tessellation for smooth curved surfaces and more lifelike character animation, including more realistic facial expressions and hair.