Earlier today, we covered ECS coming up with two motherboards, based on Intel P55 (LGA-1156), and AMD 785G (AM3). Coincidentally, ASRock has a similar pair which is gearing up for launch at the upcoming Computex event. The P55 Deluxe could be the company's premium LGA-1156 motherboard, while the M3A785GXH/128M a rather high-end board, especially looking at its feature-set, that expands that of the the chipset typically offers.

The P55 Deluxe supports LGA-1156 processors sans the Flexible Display Interface feature (FDI), since it looks devoid of common display connectors. It supports four DDR3 DIMMs, with the Dual-Channel DDR3 memory interface, advertising support for DDR3-2000 (probably by overclocking). The board provides three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, (x16, NC, x4) or (x8, x8, x4, when the slots are populated). Apart from ATI CrossFireX, NVIDIA 3-way SLI support is advertised.

Over to the M3A785GXH/128M, and there is an interesting feature here. Although AMD 785G isn't specified to support CrossFire, ASRock used an external lane switch card to support it. The first two PCI-Express x16 are eletrically (x16, NC) or (x8, x8, when both are populated). The third slot seems wired to the southbridge and is electrically x4. The board supports AM3 socket processors, with four DDR3 DIMM slots offering support for dual-channel DDR3-1600 memory. The Radeon HD 4200 IGP makes use of 128 MB of DDR3 SidePort memory. Standard display connectors such as DVI, D-Sub and HDMI apply. An external storage controller ups the number SATA channels, by providing an internal, and an eSATA port. ASRock wasn't very generous with its photography.

Sparkle Computer today announced its custom-designed GeForce GTX 285 accelerator, boasting of better cooling efficiency and factory overclocked parameters. Sitting atop a blue custom-designed PCB is an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GTX cooler, which also makes use of the company's MX-2 thermal interface material. The fan blades are purple-coloured, a slight hint of customization for the cooler that is fast turning out to be an industry favourite for GeForce GTX 200 series accelerators.

Apart from the cooler, the card features higher clock speeds over the reference NVIDIA speeds: 666/1512/2520 MHz (core/shader/memory). The rest of its specs sheet looks fairly standard for the GTX 285: 240 shader processors, 1 GB of memory across a 512-bit wide GDDR3 memory interface, support for 3-way SLI, CUDA and PhysX.

NVIDIA partners seem to be gaining interest in releasing GeForce GTX 200 series products with double the amount of memory. Several partners have announced 1792 MB variants for the GTX 260 and GTX 275, while GTX 285 with its lavish 512-bit memory interface is facilitating 2 GB of memory. Point of View now has one such model of its own.

The card uses reference clock speeds as far as the GPU goes: 648 MHz (core) and 1476 MHz (shader), while going light with its memory, 1161 MHz against the reference speed of 1242 MHz. The rest of the card is pretty standard: 240 shader processors, acceleration for NVIDIA CUDA, and support for PhysX technology, and 3-way SLI support.

Having begun its GeForce GTX 275 lineup with two cards: the 896 MB base-model (896-P3-1170-AR) and its 1792 MB twin (017-P3-1175-AR), EVGA sought to expand it with factory-overclocked models with its usual overclock-grading scheme. The first in its series is the SuperClocked (SC) model (896-P3-1171-AR). The card features the design and color-theme EVGA used for its GeForce GTX 260 55 nm series. It features 240 stream processors, 896 MB of GDDR3 memory across a 448-bit wide interface, and support for 3-way SLI.

Featuring a tier-one factory overclock, the card comes with clock speeds of 648 MHz (core), 1458 MHz (shader) and 2376 MHz (memory), against the reference clock speeds of 633/1404/2268 MHz (core/shader/memory). Put on pre-order by the EVGA store, the card is set to retail for US $269.99.

Pursuing legal action against Intel for bringing its Intel-compatible platform development to a grinding halt due to legal complications, NVIDIA has kept its platform development for AMD on track. The company has made the nForce 980a SLI platform official, that supports the latest Phenom II series processors from AMD. The company published the product page on its website, and has pictured its reference design motherboard based on the chipset. The motherboard carries the "designed by NVIDIA" marking, which makes it a design that several of its AIC partners such as EVGA, XFX, Zotac, etc., can use simultaneously.

The motherboard sports the nForce 980a SLI chipset, paired with the nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip. The motherboard features a GeForce 8300-class IGP, with DVI-D and D-Sub outputs. It supports NVIDIA 3-way SLI and Quad-SLI. As an AMD platform, the chipset supports AM2, AM2+ and AM3 socket processors, with DDR3 and DDR2 memory support (depending on the processor). A 5-phase digital PWM circuit powers the processor. The nForce 980a SLI and nForce 200 chips are located adjacent to each other, and are cooled actively by a fan-heatsink. The product design looks production-grade and may attract partners to sell it.

MSI introduced its first line of graphics cards under the 'SuperPipe' branding the company came up with. The name is derived from the heatpipes employed in the cooler, which have varied thicknesses. The two cards on offer are identical, but for the clock speeds they come with. Based on the GeForce GTX 285, the cards feature 1 GB of GDDR3 memory and 3-way SLI support. The base-model features reference NVIDIA clock speeds: 648/2474 MHz (core/memory), while the overclocked variant comes with speeds of 680/2500 MHz (core/memory).

The characteristic feature of these cards is the MSI Twin Frozr cooler. Under the shroud is the central GPU block from which 6 mm thick copper heatpipes arise to the central portion, while thicker 8 mm heatpipes arise towards the periphery. The heat is conveyed to a dense block of aluminum fins on which two fans circulate air. The cards have started to get listings in Europe, where they are priced under 340 Euro.

EVGA is set to announce the X58 Classified motherboard. The Intel Core i7 compatible motherboard is set to be one of the most feature-rich and expensive LGA-1366 motherboards till date. The design focus of this motherboard is based on the power-circuitry that fuels its various components. A 1.33 MHz 10-phase digital PWM circuitry with dual 8-pin 12V inputs, along with 4-phase circuit for the DDR3 memory, and 3-phase NB power. Four PCI-E x16 slots driven by the Intel X58 chipset in conjuction with NVIDIA's nForce BR-03 chipset adds 3-way SLI + an additional slot for a GeForce accelerator dedicated to process PhysX. Elaborate heatpipe-driven coolers over the board's northbridge and VRM areas keep temperatures under check. The X58 Classified is priced at US $449, and will start selling shortly. The product has made it to EVGA's catalogues and its product page online. A demonstration video of the product by EVGA can be viewed here.

ASUS is reportedly preparing a new variant in its GeForce GTX 285 lineup: the ENGTX285-UL/HTDI/1GD3 "Ultimate". ASUS seems to have done away with using the "TOP" branding to denote the fastest variant in a given graphics card series. ASUS stuck with the NVIDIA reference design for this variant, while looking to squeeze out the most factory overclocking the reference design has to offer.

The ASUS GeForce GTX 285 Ultimate boasts clock speeds of 712/1620/1380 MHz (core/shader/memory). The card finds competition in EVGA's GeForce GTX 285 FTW, which has similar, albeit slightly higher clock speeds. The rest of its specifications remain standard, having the 55 nm G200b core, 240 stream processors, 1 GB of GDDR3 memory across a 512-bit wide memory bus, and support for 3-way SLI. ASUS may look to price it in the US $449 price point.

EVGA, having launched its X58 3X SLI motherboard which received raving reviews for its features, performance and price-point, looks to up the ante with a new flagship motherboard based on the Intel X58 platform for the Core i7 processors. While X58 motherboards start at the US $200 point, over a period, there has been a faint seggregation of the motherboards based on the prices and features, starting with a $200~240 range sans SLI support, $250~300 with SLI and >$300 enthusiast-grade range.

EVGA's upcoming motherboard fits into the top-range of motherboards, which finds competition in the likes of ASUS Rampage II Extreme and MSI X58 Eclipse Plus. VR-Zone conducted a detailed preview of this upcoming motherboard dubbed "X58 SLI Classified", with "classified" meaning that its brand name is yet to be announced. Looking at the way EVGA has been branding its flagship motherboards in the past, it could be safe to speculate it that it could be something along the lines of "FTW".

NVIDIA Corporation today reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 ended October 26, 2008.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2009, revenue was $897.7 million compared to $1.12 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2008, a decrease of 20 percent. For the nine months ended October 26, 2008, revenue increased to $2.94 billion compared to $2.90 billion for the nine months ended October 28, 2007, an increase of 2 percent.

When ASUS selected the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 GPU for its new CG6155 extreme gaming machine, it wasn't simply because of its raw graphics horsepower. Creating the best gaming PC used to be a simple matter of using CPUs and GPUs with highest available raw power to deliver the fastest gaming experience. But while CPU performance and raw graphics rendering are still important, new advances in physics, multi-GPU technology, 3D stereo, and parallel computing have amplified the importance of the GPU, making the right GPU a critical component in consumers' buying decisions.

Featuring the award-winning GeForce GTX 280 GPU and a motherboard built around the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI MCP platform technology, the ASUS CG6155 gaming PC supports NVIDIA 3-way SLI technology enabling ASUS customers to equip their PC with one, two or even three GeForce GTX 280 GPUs. The CG6155 is a true "extreme gaming" machine, designed for hardcore gaming aficionados who want the maximum visual and physics fidelity possible.

The tier-one partners of NVIDIA, namely EVGA, XFX and BFG, sell motherboards based on NVIDIA nForce chipsets, with motherboards designed by NVIDIA itself, with a few exceptions where EVGA improvised their designs. With NVIDIA licensing SLI to Intel, allowing their upcoming Bloomfield-supportive X58 chipset to support the SLI multi-GPU technology, and for $5 per supportive board, it took less than guess work to think NVIDIA's partners would start using Intel X58 chipsets to grab their share of Core i7 motherboard market as quickly as they can.

In a recent press release, NVIDIA counted EVGA in the partial list of motherboard vendors who are working on motherboards based on the X58 platform, and offer SLI support. In the same press release, Joe Darwin, Director of Technical Marketing at EVGA was quoted saying "By licensing NVIDIA SLI technology, the EVGA X58 motherboard will deliver the ultimate 2-way and 3-way SLI platform to, once again, meet the enthusiast's demand." So we beg to ask: Will NVIDIA actually work on a LGA-1366 chipset, or will the new found love with selling high performance chipsets for the mainstream, such as MCP7A, replace it? Only time will tell. In the mean time, and on a rather comic note, get ready for the first EVGA motherboard to support ATI Crossfire X.

NVIDIA had been a little behind AMD for releasing high-performance chipsets supporting HyperTransport 3.0 interface for the Phenom series processors. The green giant managed to release the nForce 780a and 750a chipsets. It was recently, that AMD released a new overclocking algorithm call Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC), that basically puts clock-generators into the chipset for fine-tuning clock speeds. The companion SB750 southbridge by AMD handled this feature, on some of the newer 790 FX and 790 GX motherboards. As for NVIDIA, the 780a isn't really a SPP + MCP design. The so called northbridge here is the MCP itself (MCP78A), and the so called southbridge on 780a motherboards, is actually an nForce 200 chip that handles PCI-Express lanes and broadcasts data to multiple graphics cards, so the MCP had to be equipped with the feature.

The release version of the upcoming enthusiast-grade motherboard by MSI, based on the Intel X58 chipset for the upcoming Core i7 series processors, has been pictured at Coolaler. The close-up snaps show the motherboard to be packing quite some booty. It also shows that MSI hasn't used exorbitant cooling for the motherboard. There are two independent cooling units for the chipset and VRM areas. The board sports Dr-MOS component protection, and MSI seems to have spread the MOSFETs evenly, not to congest them at one place. The board provides a diagnostic display feature called D-LED 2, a small LED screen that shows diagnostic information, similar to the LCD poster that ASUS packs with some of its motherboards.

The board features an extensive set of expandability options. It features three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots that support both ATI CrossfireX and NVIDIA 3-way SLI for multi-GPU operations. It uses overclocker-friendly features on-board, including the peculiar turbo button. There are also 10 SATA ports, four of which, route to an external controller. All in all, the board looks promising. It isn't the highest MSI would be offering for the X58 plaform, with an even higher motherboard planned. For more pictures, browse through the thread.

Although it was speculated by many that 3-way SLI would be a standard feature with the GeForce 9800 GT graphics cards, reference designs of the card were just a little more than an improvement over the 'previous generation' 8800 GT. 3-way SLI didn't turn out to be a feature standard to all 9800 GT cards, at least not the reference NVIDIA designs. ASUS took up the initiative and prepared the ASUS EN9800GT HybridPower. This non-reference design supports 3-way SLI multi-GPU technology, uses 4-phase VRM circuitry, and the signature ASUS Glaciator GPU fansink. It uses 512 MB of GDDR3 memory. There's no word on the card's parameters or pricing yet.

As of today, AMD is close to over a year and a half behind Intel with the implementation of the DDR3 system memory standard, and it doesn't look like we are going to see a DDR3 AMD platform only until late this year or early next year. Chilian website CHW.net published slides of the roadmaps for AMD chipsets in the months to come, also published are slides refering to the details of the next generation southbridge by AMD, even though the latest entry, the SB700 is only teething and only the latest motherboards with 7-Series chipsets feature this.

AMD, Austin have managed a benchmark score of X12515 in the 3DMark Vantage benchmark using two Radeon HD4870 X2 cards in CrossfireX, a feat that takes three GeForce GTX 280 cards in 3-way SLI to achieve. The R700 boards were clocked at 778 MHz core, while the GDDR5 memory was clocked at 980 MHz QDR (effectively 3.92 GHz). This brings the total on-board video bandwidth to a stellar 250.8 GBps.With inputs from TG Daily

A little joy for today, one week before the official announcement of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 cards. Here's a little sneak peak on what to expect from three NVIDIA GeForce GTX280 cards in tri-SLI configuration, an overclocked Intel QX9650 processor to 4GHz and the 3DMark Vantage Vista DX10 benchmark. Clock speeds of all three cards can be seen in the photo. The end result is 21350 marks.

Built explicitly for PC enthusiasts, NVIDIA 680i SLI Chipset is the right one for them. ASRock proudly announced its NVIDIA 680i SLI motherboard to you today with ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi! Why did I say proudly announce? The reason is simple. ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi is the worldwide only 680i SLI MB that supports Intel Penryn Quad Core Yorkfield CPU & 3-Way SLI. ASRock once again proved its creativity, cost-effectiveness and considerate. There is a wide range of CPU selection for this motherboard, from the mainstream Core 2 Duo E6550 CPU, Q9300, Q9400 CPU to the high-end QX9770 CPU.

ASRock looks set to continue its drive towards reaching the higher end of the motherboard market with its upcoming Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi. The board comes equipped with an nForce 680i chipset and three PCI-E x16 slots, which makes it capable of running a 3-way SLI system. It supports the newest Yorkfield and Wolfdale processors with up to 8GB of DDR2-800 RAM, and features onboard gigabit LAN, WiFi, Realtek ALC890 HD audio, six SATAII ports and eSATA support. There's no official word on pricing or availability yet, but this board is likely to be one of the more affordable options when building a 3-way SLI system.

Even though ATI CrossFire setups are at the top of the 3DMark05 and 06 charts, it's time for NVIDIA to make its way to the throne. Finnish extreme legend Sampsa has managed to break the 3DMark03 world record and score 103,888 points using: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 @ 4706MHz cooled by a rotary cascade, EVGA, MSI & Leadtek GeForce 8800 Ultra @ 720/1760/1180MHz in 3-way SLI with custom SLI bridge, EVGA nForce680i SLI motherboard, 2x Kingston KHX6400D2ULK2/2G @ CL3-3-3-3 1T memory modules, Silverstone 1200W PSU, Windows Vista 32-bit and ForceWare 169.25 WHQL drivers. Unfortunately, the world record can not be published in the ORB, because 3Dmark03 doesn't detect the QX6850 CPU, but we can still enjoy the screenshots.

Now that 3-way SLI is released, NVIDIA has updated the ForceWare family to 169.25 BETA. This release adds:

• BETA driver for GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.
• Added support for NVIDIA 3-way SLI Technology.
• Added support for GeForce 8800 GTS 512 GPU.
• Recommended driver for the latest DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL applications.
• Numerous game and application compatibility fixes. Please refer to the release documentation for more information on features, driver fixes, and known issues.

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Extreme gaming just got a whole lot better. NVIDIA Corporation has extended its SLI technology, which enables the use of multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) on a single computer, allowing up to three GeForce graphics cards to be used in a single machine. Now hot, new, graphics-intensive titles, such as Call of Duty 4, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Unreal Tournament 3, can be played at the highest resolution possible, with all the graphics settings cranked to the max, and antialiasing applied for the first time.

As NVIDIA is preparing to launch 3-way SLI technology soon, it's time for the first "underground" scores to emerge. Initial testing results from the 3-way SLI configuration made up of C73 reference board (nForce 790i SLI) with 3x GeForce 8800 Ultra cards and a Core 2 Duo E6750 show that the performance improvement between 2-way and 3-way SLI in 3DMark06 at 1920x1440 resolution (8 sample AA with 16x AA Quality and 16x AF) is 26%. Without AA and AF, the performance boost is only 5.6%. Notice that Forceware 167.10 Vista beta drivers were used for 3-way SLI. NVIDIA is still working on final 3-way SLI drivers, that should improve performance.