Without making much noise, ASRock introduced its latest compact PCs, the Vision 3D 135B. Original name aside, the 135B is essentially a mobile-on-desktop system, that is powered by the Intel Calpella mobile platform. At the center of this is a Core i3 370M dual-core processor clocked at 2.40 GHz, and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M DirectX 11 compliant GPU that packs 96 CUDA cores and dedicated memory. There's 4 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1066 MHz memory on board. Apart from these, there's 500 GB of storage, a Blu-ray + DVD-RW slot-in combo drive, and connectivity that includes WiFi b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, 8-channel HD audio, and display outputs that include DVI and HDMI. The unit itself measures 200(W) x 70 (H) x 200 (L) mm, and comes in matte black and silver options. ASRock did not give out a price.

Club 3D rolled out its GeForce GTS 450 graphics card. This design sticks to NVIDIA specifications, except for the PCB being colored blue, a slightly more ventilated cooler shroud, and a slightly different heatsink that has radially-projecting forked aluminum fins. Club 3D's card also sticks to the reference clock speeds of 783 MHz core, 1566 MHz CUDA core, and 900 MHz (3600 MHz effective) memory. Like every other GTS 450, the GPU packs 192 CUDA cores, and connects to 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface. The card supports the latest consumer graphics APIs, including DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4. Expect this card to be priced on par with the base-models out there.

SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today also introduced the Calibre X450G graphics card with Arctic Cooling Solution,providing extremely cooling performance and powerful gaming experience. With more gaming horsepower than ever before and 1024MB of memory, the Calibre X450G graphics card's 192 processing cores make DX11 games such as Dirt2, Metro 2033 feel like the real thing.Its powerful NVIDIA PhysX Technology creates rich, immersive physical effects with stunningly accurate realism. Experience absolute immersion and pure performance boost than prior generation GPUs with the the Calibre X450G graphics card.

NVIDIA CUDA Technology With 192 cores CUDA C/C++ Support and 32 Texture Units
CUDA Technology unlocks the power of the Calibre X450G Graphics Card's 192 processor cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks such as video transcoding. The 32 Texture Units embedded in the GF106 can dramatically improve the texture processing efficient in latest DirectX 11 games, resulting in higher fps than the competitor's products.

EVGA rolled out its fastest GeForce GTX 460 1 GB graphics cards under the FTW variant. FTW in gamer jargon abbreviates "for the win", and is EVGA's highest factory-overclock variant. Available in reference-design (01G-P3-1377-TR) and EVGA's custom-designed "External Exhaust" (01G-P3-1378-TR) models, the FTW cards use clock speeds of 850 MHz core, 1700 MHz CUDA core, and 1000 (4000 MHz effective) memory, as a tiny design deviation from other models, EVGA included MOSFET heatsinks on these cards that cool the VRM area. The external exhaust model is priced at US $269.99, and the standard-design one at $259.99. Both are available at the EVGA Store.

KFA2, the new European premium brand of Galaxy, announced today its launch of two next generation enthusiast graphics card products; the KFA2 GTX 460 SLI pack, aimed at the 3D gamer and the first energy saving KFA2 GTX 460 Green Edition.

The KFA2 GeForce GTX 460 SLI pack is the perfect dual card bundle to give you all of the tools you need to immerse yourself into the new dimension of 3D Gaming. Packed with 2X GTX 460's, this will not only give you the performance that you need, but with amazing DirectX 11 tessellation performance. The GeForce GTX 460 packs highly detailed visuals into your games - without sacrificing high frame rates and with NVIDIA 3D Vision, PhysX, and CUDA technologies, the GeForce GTX 460 powers all of the incredibly realistic effects that your games can throw its way.

Palit is indeed working on a low-profile GeForce GTS 450 graphics card, apart from the full-height model which was pictured earlier. While this card is low-profile (half-height), it occupies two expansion slots, and looks somewhat longer than the full-height card. Other than its size and shape, the card sticks to NVIDIA reference specifications and clock speeds, that's 789/1566/900(3600) MHz core/shader/memory, 192 CUDA cores, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface. It draws power from one 6-pin PCI-E power connector. Palit's low-profile card could cost a small premium over standard cards.

Without making any public announcement (because it's not meant for retail sale), NVIDIA listed its GeForce GT 420 graphics card. This product is available to OEMs only. The GT 420 is derived from the Fermi architecture, and is fully compliant with the latest PC graphics technologies, including DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4. NVIDIA's reference design is low-profile and single-slot, it draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot.

Under the hood is a 40 nm graphics core (perhaps GF108), it has 48 CUDA cores, and connects to 2 GB of memory across a 128-bit wide DDR3 memory interface, with 28.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The core is clocked at 700 MHz, CUDA cores at 1400 MHz, and memory at 900 MHz (1800 MHz effective). Display outputs include DVI, HDMI (full-size), and a detachable D-Sub connector. The card has a maximum power draw of 50W. Later down the line, one can expect NVIDIA to make a consumer GeForce SKU with the same specifications.

SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today unveils the SPARKLE GeForce 210/GT220/GT240 PCI Express x1 Graphics Cards, creating upgrade possibility for user's generic PC, providing 1080p HD video acceleration, DX10.1 gaming and premium Windows 7 experience for ordinary users.

With latest PCI Express technology, SPARKLE GeForce 210/GT220/GT240 PCI Express x1 Graphics Cards use PCI Express x1 bus type, they can be added on the motherboard which have at least one PCI Express x1 slot as the second graphics card, providing multiple monitors supports for computer users and certain industries, in addition to industrial users, they also support the upgrading of Intel Pine Trail motherboard which has only one PCI Express x1 slot.

Colorful has come up with beastly-looking GeForce GTX 460 graphics card, that makes use of a shark-inspired GPU cooler design, coupled with an equally capable VRM design to facilitate a core clock speed of 900 MHz (vs. 675 MHz reference). The Colorful iGame GTX 460 custom-design PCB of the card makes use of a 6+1 phase VRM, with voltage-measure points. With two BIOS EEPROM chips installed, a switch allows users to choose between the two BIOS chips when the system is powered down. Apart from helping maintain two clock and fan profiles, the feature protects against overly-ambitious BIOS modifications by adding some redundancy. Apart from 900 MHz (core), the CUDA cores are clocked at 1800 MHz, and the memory at 1050 MHz (4200 MHz effective).

The cooler makes use of aggressive-looking shroud design that is inspired from shark-fins. Underneath it is a dense aluminum fin array that sits right on top of the GPU. The GPU base has four 8 mm thick heat pipes that make direct contact with the GPU. Two of these heat pipes convey the heat to the main aluminum fin array, and two to a smaller aluminum fin array that is positioned right on top of the VRM area. A backplate decks up the reverse side of the PCB. Colorful will release this card to the Asian market in September.More pictures follow:

What happens in Gainward, stays in Palit. Barely a week after Gainward showed off its GeForce GTX 460 graphics card with 2 GB of memory, its brand owner Palit has its own model of the same kind, called the Palit GTX 460 2 GB Sonic. This non-reference design graphics card has Palit's own design PCB and cooler, has 2 GB of memory across a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, and factory-overclocked speeds of 700 MHz core, 1400 MHz CUDA cores, and 900 MHz (3600 MHz effective) memory. Display connectivity includes two DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. The is said to be priced around 240 EUR.

Zotac is yet another AIC up with a GeForce GTX 460 based graphics card that features double the memory size, with its new 2 GB GDDR5 model. Zotac's new card uses a non-reference design PCB, and makes use of a slightly modified Accelero TwinTurbo Pro VGA cooler from Arctic. Featuring the same configuration as the 1 GB model, the card places 16 GDDR5 memory chips across a 256-bit wide memory interface to achieve that capacity.

The cooler makes use of a dense aluminum fin array to which heat is conveyed by four 6 mm copper heat pipes. Air is circulated by two 92 mm fans. Zotac used four display outputs (of which two can be used simultaneously), which includes two DVI, and one each of HDMI (full-sized) and DisplayPort. Like every other GTX 460, the GPU has 336 CUDA cores to work with, a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, and DirectX 11 support. There's no word on the availability or pricing.

GIGABYTE Technology Co. LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to launch the latest overclocked GeForce GTX 460 series: GV-N460OC-1GI and GV-N460OC-768I. With extraordinary overclocking ability, GIGABYTE overclocked GTX 460 series deliver ultimate gaming experience. Featuring GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA quality components, GTX 460 further enhances overclocking capability and system stability. GV-N460OC-1GI and GV-N460OC-768I are equipped with GIGABYTE's latest in-house cooling design WINDFORCE 2X, which provides better cooling than reference fan sink by 11%. Also, GV-N460OC-1GI and GV-N460OC-768I feature a wide range of the latest graphics technologies, including DirectX 11, NVIDIA CUDA, 3D Vision Surround, and PhysX technologies.

Global renowned graphics card and mainboard manufacturer, MSI officially launched today the N460GTX Cyclone series graphics cards, including the N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 and N460GTX Cyclone 1GD5. Equipped with the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 GPU and top Military Class components, N460GTX Cyclone series releases the overclocking potential up to 30% through MSI Afterburner Over voltage function of GPU.

Moreover, adopting MSI exclusive Cyclone thermal design with 9cm PWM fan, dual heat pipes and nickel-plated copper base which effectively decrease temperature, MSI N460GTX Cyclone series generates 15.7% lower noise than reference cooler at full speed to create a quiet environment for users.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, mini-PCs and small form factor platforms, today unleashes two new affordable GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards - the new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 1GB and GeForce GTX 460 Synergy Edition. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 series deliver class-leading features and technology to gamers, enthusiasts and all PC users looking for a thrilling visual experience.

Stunning visuals are made possible with the powerful NVIDIA Fermi architecture that delivers superior graphics processing power and Microsoft DirectX 11 technology that powers the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 series. Hardware tessellation takes 3D games to the next level of visual realism with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 series by enabling increased visual details in every object and environment in the latest games DirectX 11 powered games for a cinematic gaming experience that rivals the latest CGI-animated Hollywood masterpieces.

NVIDIA today announced the latest addition to its Fermi-class of graphics processing units (GPUs), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 -- which delivers a great DX11 gaming experience and is priced right at the market's $199 sweet spot.

Built from the ground up for DirectX 11 tessellation, GeForce GTX 460 GPUs deliver monster tessellation performance with up to 4x tessellation performance over competing GPUs. The GTX 460 brings the ultimate next-generation DX11 gaming experience to a new price segment, enabling more gamers than ever to experience incredibly detailed characters, terrain and game environments with blazing fast performance and awesome visuals.

Acer, the world's second largest vendor in the PC market, today announced its newest Acer Aspire "Predator" gaming desktop PC is armed for combat and ready to do battle in the U.S. A force to be reckoned with, the power-packed AG7750-U2222 gaming rig harnesses the pinnacle of processor, graphics and memory technologies for conquering the fiercest opponents.

Taking bold style and performance to a killer level, the Aspire Predator is designed for avid gamers with a "take no prisoners" attitude. It's a monster machine outfitted with plenty of ammo, including Intel Core i7 quad-core processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 graphics with 3-way SLI support and a whopping 12GB DDR3 memory for blowing away the competition.

Sources in the hardware industry leaked some interesting pictures of a new, supposedly reference-design NVIDIA GF100 GPU graphics card PCB, watermarked by board partner Little Tiger. The pictures reveal a PCB that's similar to that of the GeForce GTX 480, but with a stronger VRM that makes use of better high-C surface-mount capacitors (completely doing away with cylindrical capacitors), and draws power from two 8-pin PCI-Express power inputs. The design can deliver up to 375W of power (that's not the board power we're talking about).

This also opens up speculation about what NVIDIA would do with this design. The most talked about theory as of now points to a new high-end SKU by NVIDIA based on the GF100, that enables all streaming multiprocessors (SMs) physically present on the GF100, taking the CUDA core count up to 512, and ROP count to 64. The most likely marketing name for this SKU is GeForce GTX 485. Apart from higher CUDA core and ROP count than that of the GTX 480, slightly higher clock-speeds for the GPU are also on the cards. The memory subsystem remains untouched, at 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 924 MHz (effective 3.7 GHz), over a 384-bit wide memory interface. NVIDIA could release this SKU this fall.

One of the first pictures of NVIDIA's upcoming GF104 graphics processor has come to light, with a Chinese source picturing a GF104 qualification sample. The sample is based on the A1 silicon. The GPU package is similar to that of the GF100, it makes use of an integrated heat-spreader (IHS) to disperse heat from the die underneath it. The package is rectangular rather than square (probably a move to reduce board footprint, translating into more compact boards) The GPU is built on TSMC's 40 nm process, and is said to have significantly lower TDP compared to the GF100. One of the first SKUs built around it is the GeForce GTX 460.

Contrary to older reports, Expreview's report suggests that the GeForce GTX 460 will have 336 CUDA cores (instead of 256), and 768 MB of memory across a 192-bit GDDR5 memory interface. Its TDP is expected to be around the 150W mark, similar to that of a GeForce GTS 250. It will target price-point slightly above the $200 mark, while other SKUs carved out of this silicon will be lesser.

NVIDIA today released GeForce 257.21 WHQL driver suite for GeForce series graphics cards and NVIDIA ION platforms, this is the first WHQL-signed driver in its 256 series of drivers, which archives two main goals as far as driver packaging goes: unifying desktop and mobile GeForce drivers; and unifying GeForce 400 series drivers with that which supports GeForce 6 thru GeForce 300 series into one package (NVIDIA initially had a separate package for GeForce 400 series). GeForce 257.21 also packs a boatload of changes, including a large number of game-specific performance increments, new technologies, updates key extra components, and fixes bugs.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 257.21 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit
A complete list of changes follows.

While every NVIDIA GPU since GeForce 8 series, with over 256 MB of memory supports the CUDA GPU compute technology, and with it PhysX GPU acceleration, the prospect of dedicated GPUs for computing PhysX interests many, especially enthusiasts, after NVIDIA stopped production of the PhysX processor from erstwhile Ageia. EVGA first devised a graphics card that has a high-end GPU processing graphics, and a mainstream GPU dedicated to PhysX processing, with its GeForce GTX 275 Co-op. Building on the same principle, Galaxy designed an enthusiast-grade graphics card that uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 for DirectX 11 compliant graphics processing, while its sidekick on board is a 40 nm GeForce GT 240 GPU.

The GeForce GTX 480 sticks to specifications, complete with 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit wide, while the GT 240 has its own 512 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide interface. Both GPUs share the system bus over an NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chip, which gives both GPUs a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link. The GTX 480 GPU packs 480 CUDA cores, and features the latest GPU technologies, including 3D Vision surround. Since it is independent from the GT 240, the GTX 480 can pair with three more of its kind for 4-way SLI, without affecting the functionality of the GT 240 in any way.

Gigabyte rolled out its first graphics card based on NVIDIA's newest GPU, the GeForce GTX 465. The card features Gigabyte's own design, which makes use of the Ultra Durable VGA construction, a combination of PCB with 2 oz thick copper layers, Japanese solid-state capacitors, grade 1 memory chips, ferrite-core chokes and low RDS on MOSFETs. The cooler uses a large aluminum fin block which is cooled by two 80 mm fans. Though geared for overclocking, the card comes with NVIDIA reference clock speeds of 607/1215/3206 MHz (core/shader/memory). The GTX 465 SKU is derived from the GF100 die, it features 352 CUDA cores, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide interface. It is priced at a standard $279.

Gainward released a new custom-design GeForce GTX 470 graphics card, which is based on the Gainward GTX 470 GOOD Edition that was launched a month ago, replicated as Palit GTX 470 Dual-Fan. The factory-overclocked model is designated with the Golden Sample (GS) identifier. It packs clock speeds of 650/1301/850(3400) MHz (core/shader/memory), against reference speeds of 607/1215/837(3348) MHz.

As with the GOOD Edition design, it features a slightly longer PCB at 10.5 inches, custom dual-fan GPU cooler, and display outputs which include two DVI-D, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort (though only two displays can be connected at a time). The DirectX 11 compliant GeForce GTX 470 packs 448 CUDA cores, and 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 320-bit wide memory interface. It is expected to be priced at a slight premium of the GOOD Edition.

AMD today announced the appointment of Manju Hegde as corporate vice president, Fusion Experience Program. A renowned parallel and visual computing innovator, Hegde previously served as vice president of CUDA Technical Marketing at NVIDIA before joining AMD to lead the AMD Fusion Experience Program, an initiative focused on identifying innovative computing solutions and applications poised to take full advantage of the forthcoming AMD Fusion family of Accelerated Processing Units (APU). Hegde reports to Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Products Group.

"We are thrilled to be able to attract an experienced industry leader like Manju Hegde to the AMD team, a sign of the quality of talent we are able to attract to AMD on the strength of our Fusion roadmap," said Bergman. "Manju brings prized expertise in developing the ecosystem for enabling breakthrough and heightened experiences on new architectures to AMD. As Manju and his team work with the ecosystem to usher in a new era of visual computing, we expect a wide range of industry leaders to embrace the future of accelerated computing through the combination of the GPU and CPU -- a combination only AMD can deliver with its AMD Fusion technology."

The latest Folding@Home GPU client core released by Pande Group adds support for NVIDIA's latest GeForce 400 Series GPUs, using the NVIDIA CUDA GPU compute technology. Dubbed GPU3 core, this beta release of the Folding@Home client core packs several optimizations to harness the new GPUs. Apart from GeForce 400 Series, the core supports the full range of GPUs, although the developers don't recommend using it with ATI GPUs, as the software doesn't offer any advantage, and could instead be buggy. They are, however, working on improving the software for ATI GPUs. The graphical and console clients using this core can be downloaded from here.

NVIDIA reported revenue of $1.0 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 ended May 2, 2010, up 2 percent from the prior quarter and up 51 percent from $664.2 million in the same period a year earlier. On a GAAP basis, the company recorded net income of $137.6 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2011. That compares with $131.1 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, in the previous quarter and a net loss of $201.3 million, or $0.37 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Gross margin increased to 45.6 percent for the first quarter fiscal 2011 from 44.7 percent in the previous quarter and 28.6 percent in the same period a year earlier.

• Revenue grew 2 percent quarter-on-quarter to $1.0 billion
• GAAP net income increased to $137.6 million, or $0.23 per diluted share
• GAAP gross margin improved to 45.6 percent