AMD today announced the flagship installment in the award-winning line of graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest card ever created. The new ultra high-end model joins a growing list of the world's first and only graphics cards to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11 technology and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology.

Designed to support the most demanding PC games at ultra-high resolutions and image quality settings, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 has unlocked overclocking potential, granting access to every bit of power the card has to offer through ATI Overdrive technology. Now shipping from retailers and available in the channel, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 also launches today in new Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktop PCs.

Closely trailing the GA-X58A-UD7, Gigabyte is preparing a new high-end socket LGA-1156 motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset. The GA-P55A-UD7 is touted to lead the new pack of motherboards under the P55A series, which bring technologies such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s integrated for the LGA-1156 platform. Observantly, after a very long time, Gigabyte has made use of an NVIDIA nForce chip on its high-end motherboards, certainly the first time it has made use of the nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip. Gigabyte made some clever use of its real-estate, especially with regards to the PCI-Express bandwidth.

The LGA-1156 socket is powered by a 24+3 phase circuit. It connects to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Its PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link is wired to an NVIDIA nForce 200 chip, which gives out 32 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes to ensure support for 3-way NVIDIA SLI, ATI CrossFireX is naturally supported. There are three PCI-Express x16 slots (which arrange into x16, x16, NC; or x16, x8, x8, depending on how they're populated). A PLX-made PCI-Express bridge chip (probably connected to the PCH) ensures full-bandwidth PCI-Express 2.0 x1 connections to the NEC two port USB 3.0 controller, and the two port SATA 6 Gb/s controller made by Marvell. Apart from the six (color-coded blue) SATA 3 Gb/s ports the PCH provides, the two color-coded white ports on the south are SATA 6 Gb/s, while the two on the north are connected to a Gigabyte GSATA2 SATA 3 Gb/s controller, which also gives out an IDE connector.

AMD released the latest version of its ATI Catalyst software suite. Version 9.10 WHQL brings with it official support for the company's newest ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics processors, adds features that enhance usability under Windows 7, along with the usual list of bug fixes. The driver also adds support for Super Sample Anti-Aliasing, for Radeon HD 5800 GPUs. A complete list of changes can be read in the release notes document. The most important of them are listed below:

• ATI Catalyst 9.10 now includes full GPU support for the award winning ATI HD Radeon 5800 series GPUs.
• Provides support for a new Anti-Aliasing method on the ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series. Users can now experience the high level of anti-aliasing image quality using Super Sampling anti-aliasing while maintaining good performance levels
• Adds GPU acceleration for the Windows 7 Drag and Drop video converting application

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 9.10 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

PC water-cooling components specialist Danger Den is almost ready with its water-block compatible with AMD's upcoming dual-GPU accelerator codenamed "Hemlock". Almost, since the base-plate of the water-block has already been designed and molded, which makes for most of the product in itself, requiring only the top, its sealing, and fittings. The monolithic, full-coverage block base is made of copper. Its top portion reveals its intricately carved water channels. The copper grooves over the areas of the block which make contact with some of the most important components such as the GPU, memory, and bridge chip, increase area of heat dissipation. The block is CrossFire certified, and weighs about 3.00 lbs / 1.37 kg. Danger Den is waiting for an engineering sample from AMD, so it can complete running tests, and name its block after getting clarity on what AMD ends up naming Hemlock. AMD's new flagship graphics accelerator is expected to arrive in time for the crucial X-Mas shopping season.

Gigabyte is readying a new socket LGA-1156 motherboard, the GA-P55A-UD4. Bearing resemblance with the GA-P55-UD4, the motherboard features upgraded connectivity, with support for USB 3.0, and SATA 6 Gb/s. The new model also features an upgraded CPU VRM, with a 12+2 phase design compared to the 8+2 phase design on the GA-P55-UD4. USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s features are provided using additional controllers on board. A Marvell-made SATA 6 Gb/s two-port controller replaces the familiar Gigabyte GSATA2 controller, while an NEC-made controller provides two USB 3.0 ports on the rear-panel. The USB 3.0 ports are color-coded blue, and share the port cluster with the lone gigabit Ethernet connector, while the SATA 6 Gb/s connectors are color-coded white, next to the usual six SATA 3 Gb/s ones the P55 PCH provides.

The rest of the feature-set remains largely same, with four DDR3 DIMM slots to support up to 16 GB of memory, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrically x8 when both are populated) supporting ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI, Dolby Home Theater supportive onboard audio, among other standard issues. The Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 will not replace GA-P55-UD4 from the market, it will coexist, albeit priced higher. It remains to be seen if this is the only "P55A" motherboard Gigabyte sells.

MSI is readying a new socket AM2+ motherboard based on the AMD 790X + SB710 chipset. The MSI 790X-G45 is an ATX motherboard that makes use of the chipset's feature-set. The CPU is powered by a 4+1 phase circuit which makes use of MSI's APS (Active Phase Switching) function that turns of redundant phases when the load is low. Supporting most socket AM3, AM2+, and AM2 processors, the motherboard's four DDR2 DIMM slots support DDR2-1066 memory for the K10 generation of AMD processors, and DDR2-1200 by overclocking. Its two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical x8, x8, when both are in use,) provide support for ATI CrossFireX. The SB710 southbridge takes care of six internal SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, an IDE connector for two devices, 8-channel HD audio, and support for Advanced Clock Calibration. Gigabit Ethernet, six USB ports and a serial port, make for the rest of its connectivity. The MSI 790X-G45 will be available in the weeks to come.

Here is what four AMD Cypress GPUs can achieve with some careful overclocking, without needing any third-party cooling. Renowned overclocker Kinc sent us details of his latest achievement using four ASUS Radeon HD 5870 1 GB cards installed in a 4-way CrossFireX setup, all overclocked, and cooled by AMD's reference cooler, taking a shot at 3DMark Vantage (Extreme Preset). The four cards returned a score of X26,332 points, with an average frame-rate of 79.49 fps in GT1, and 74.83 fps in GT2.

To begin with the cards were overclocked to 1035/1290 MHz, up from reference speeds of 850/1200 MHz (core/memory). This was supported by raising the vGPU to 1.330V using GPUTool, from 1.015V. The platform to drive this feat comprised of an Intel Core i7 965 XE processor, cooled by Intel's reference (boxed) cooler, clocked at 4257 MHz. To seat them all was an ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer motherboard. The feat serves as a prelude to what the future holds in two "Hemlock" accelerators, which make use of two Radeon HD 5870 GPUs each.

AMD today launched the most powerful processor ever created, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, and the world's first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products. AMD will initially release two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate the competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX 11, making it a "must-have" consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

"With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cars driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, AMD is changing the game, both in terms of performance and the experience," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. "As the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, an unmatched experience made possible with ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream technology harnessing open standards designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, I can say with confidence that AMD is the undisputed leader in graphics once more."

In a release to its AIB partners, AMD listed out the key features of its high performance GPU in the Evergreen family, codenamed "Cypress". While not getting into the GPU specifications, it lists out the key technologies the GPUs support. It comes as no surprise that AMD will name Cypress-XT and Cypress-Pro as Radeon HD 5870 and Radeon HD 5850, a model number scheme that's been running for the past two generations. While product launches, tentatively on September 22, and (p)reviews keep us busy in September, retail availability can be expected only in October, just in time for that of Windows 7.

• 1GB GDDR5 memory
• ATI Eyefinity technology with support for up to three displays
• ATI Stream technology
• Designed for DirectCompute 5.0 and OpenCL
• Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT)
• Compliant with DirectX 11 and earlier revisions,supports OpenGL 3.1
• ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU support for highly scalable performance
• ATI Avivo HD video and display technology
• Dynamic power management with ATI PowerPlay technology
• 2x DL-DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI
• PCI Express 2.0 interface

ASUS, known for its single-socket workstation motherboards, is preparing the first enterprise-grade socket LGA-1156 motherboard. The ASUS P7P55 WS SuperComputer builds on the features of its socket LGA-1366 cousins, by offering as many as five PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, a massive 16+3 phase CPU VRM, support for DDR3-2133 by overclocking, and the latest multi-GPU standards support.

Based on the Intel P55 chipset, the P7P55 WS SuperComputer makes use of a PCI-E bridge chip that allows it to hold at least four PCI-E 2.0 x16 devices (electrical 4x PCI-E x8), with a PCI-E x16 electrically x4. Both 3-way SLI and 4-way CrossFireX are supported. Connectivity is care of two gigabit Ethernet controllers, 8 USB 2.0 ports on the rear-panel, and another six internal, Firewire, and 8-channel audio with digital IO ports and DTS support.

ASUS includes its own design enhancements, including XtremePhase VRM, TurboV EVO voltage management, and a probe microchip. It doesn't look like ASUS will add this to its first wave of motherboard launches that coincide with those of Intel's first LGA-1156 processors, but expect this to be out at least in October.

AMD's 790X chipset was featured as one of the first in 7-series chipset family. Based on the RX780 chip, this chipset is essentially identical to the AMD 770, except for that it supports the ATI CrossFireX technology. With the introduction of the 790GX, the 790X was less opted for. The chipset made its comeback with motherboards from Gigabyte and MSI that support AM3 processors and DDR3 memory. ASUS is ready with its competitive motherboard based on the AMD 790X + SB750 chipset. The ASUS M4A79XTD-EVO offers some of ASUS' latest innovations.

To begin with, this socket AM3 motherboard supports DDR3 memory. The CPU is powered by an 8+2 phase power circuit, that is controlled by the ASUS EPU active phase switching controller. The brown PCB uses a 2 oz copper to reduce EMI and enhance electrical stability, a technology found in Gigabyte's UltraDurable 3 motherboards. The 790X northbridge connects to two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical dual x8, when both are populated). Two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI make for the rest of the expansion. The SB750 southbridge supports AMD Overdrive and Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC). Apart from the six SATA II ports it provides, an additional controller gives out one internal port, and an eSATA port. Overclocking is aided by the TurboV feature. VIA VT1708S onboard 8 channel audio, Realtek Gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of the package. ASUS will have this board up in the next few weeks.

ASRock has yet another socket LGA-1366 motherboard up its ranks: the X58 Extreme. This model is distinct from the X58 SuperComputer and X58 Deluxe, which shared the same PCB. It has three PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, from which only two are routed to the X58 northbridge. The CPU is powered by an 8-phase circuit, similar to the other ASRock models. The blue PCI-E x16 slots are connected to the northbridge with full 16-lane bandwidth, while the third orange slot is wired to the southbridge with 4-lane bandwidth. The package bundles only the 2-way SLI bridge, and 3-way SLI is not advertised, although 3-way CrossFireX is. The ICH10R southbridge provides 6 SATA ports, while an additional controller provides IDE and eSATA connectors. ASRock's InstantBoot feature is supported. Looking at the features on offer, we expect this board to sell for a lower price than the X58 Deluxe, which is on the brink of entering the sub-$200 segment.

AMD announced the availability of ATI Catalyst version 9.6 driver suite, that provides driver support for ATI Radeon series graphics processors (driver version 8.62), Hydravision, AMD Southbridge/Chipset driver, and Catalyst Control Center (version 8.62). The new version brings along the following application-specific performance increments:

• Company of Heores - performance gains of up to 25% for the ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series, and performance gains of up to 10% for the ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series.
• Crysis Warhead - performance gains of up to 11% for ATI CrossFireX configurations.
• Crysis - performance gains of up to 13% for ATI CrossFireX configurations.
• World in Conflict - performance gains of up to 30% for settings are were previously CPU limited.

The Linux version of this driver suite adds production support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) and SLED 11. It also provides early support for RedHat Enterprise Linux 4.8.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 9.6 for Windows XP 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit

Release Notes can be read here

Thermaltake Technology, leading manufacturer of computer components, today announced its newest and unparalleled aesthetic power supply unit - the EVO_Blue. Available in 550Watts, 650Watts, and 750Watts, the EVO_Blue comes with several cutting-edge features such as a fancy built in multi-color LED, large size 14 cm whisper-quiet ball bearing fan, robust and dedicated single +12V rail, and advanced cable management system.

Following Thermaltake's most innovative design concept, the EVO_Blue's unparalleled aesthetic exterior design has set itself above all other currently available PSUs in the market. The fancy built-in multi-color LEDs surrounding the fan and the blue LEDs backlight behind the modular cable sockets give users a feel of tough atomic energy. The EVO_Blue is also equipped with an large size 14 cm whisper-quiet ball bearing fan to dramatically reduce overall PC noise and increase thermal efficiency. In addition, the robust and dedicated single +12V output provides superior performance under all types of system loading. The modular cable management design improves internal airflow and reduces cable clutter by allowing you to use only the cables you need.

EVGA expanded its motherboard lineup with the LGA-1366 based X58 SLI LE (141-BL-E757-TR). This ATX motherboard supports the most common standards of EVGA motherboards in the sub-series, at a price-point lower than that of its 3X-SLI series. It is priced at US $239. Making use of only the X58+ICH10R chipset, with no companion nForce 200 chips, the board goes on to feature four PCI-Express x16 slots, for NVIDIA 3-way SLI, or ATI CrossFireX. A 8-channel audio, and one gigabit Ethernet connection make for the rest of the signficant feature set. Popular retailer Newegg.com has already started listing it.

Lancool launches the DragonLord "K" series of mid tower chassis at Computex. These SECC steel cases are the perfect complement to a PC gamer's needs. The completely tool-less design which filtered down from Lian Li's high end aluminum cases makes this chassis both feature rich as well as friendly on price.

The cases come in four different models, ranging from the budget PC-K56, PC-K58, PC-K60 with the high-end PC-K62 dominating. They are all constructed with ease of use, and ease of installation in mind. The patented too-less HDD cage combines with patented anti-vibration rubber grommets to suspend the HDD's in a noise free environment. The ODD bays are mounted using a tool-less device to secure the drives fast, while dampening the noise from the mechanical moving parts. The power supply unit is clipped via a clasp with rubber anti-vibration support and also requires no tools. The all-new tool-less aluminum clasps for holding the PCI cards and tool-less cable clamps combined with innovative design features such as the unique vent holes below the PSU and special anti vibration fan mountings. The removable top cover and front panel, as well as special covered holes for water pipe installations make this series stand alone in terms of the price performance ratio. The case supports 8 PCI slots as well as VGA cards up to 285mm long, so for those who need to install 3-way SLI or CrossFireX, they will have the necessary space to do so.

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.

SilverStone is going for the (over)kill with a 1500W enthusiast-grade PC power supply. The Strider Series 1500W (model: SST-ST1500) is one of the first 1000+ Watt PSUs to carry the 80 Plus Silver efficiency rating. This PSU made for an early-sighting at this year's CeBIT event, and is gearing up for launch very soon. It delivers 1500W of continuous, and 1600W of peak power. It features a 100% modular cable design, meaning that even the 24-pin ATX and EPS cables are modular unlike in most modular PSUs.

The unit measures 150 x 86 x 220 mm (WxHxD). Under the hood are eight +12V rails, that belt out up to 120A of current. Active PFC is available. The ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI certified PSU features four 6+2 pin, and eight 6-pin PCI-Express power connectors. High-grade Japanese capacitors are used. A 135 mm fan with a minimum noise-output of 19 dBA keeps this beast cool. Applications? Plenty: an enthusiast could run a highly-tweaked multi-GPU PC, and be able to directly power one or two thermo-electric coolers.

DFI LANParty AMD series motherboards, including the highest end 790FXB family and multi-media 790GX family, have proved excellent performance on Phenom II overclocking. Now, LANParty team is focusing on "Main stream Overclocking", DK 790X-M2RS is the first product that aims this segment.

Compared with the high-end 790FXB family, the DK 790X-M2RS has the equivalent overclocking BIOS settings and also retains exclusive overclocking features such as "debug LED", "built-in power/reset button", and "six fan connectors". Therefore, the DK 790X-M2RS is really a cost-effective overclocking motherboard.

Remember EPoX? A reminiscent of that company now operates under the name SUPoX, and seems to have an entire range of PC motherboards including the Core i7 compatible AP58+ GTR. The company is gearing up to cater to the LGA-1156 socket processors with a new feature-rich motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset called AP55+ GTR. The socket supports Core i5 series processors, along with support for Intel Flexible Display Interface (FDI), that relays display handled by embedded graphics controllers on Intel processors to their DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI outputs. The PCI-Express x16 slots (electrical configuration not known) support ATI CrossFireX, although NVIDIA SLI support for most LGA-1156 motherboards largely remains unknown. Along with support for as much as 16 GB of DDR3 memory, the motherboard provides connectivity in the form of gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1, and WiFi. The motherboard should release towards the end of Q3 2009.

There is a new X58 "SuperComputer" motherboard, this time not from ASRock, but from ASUS. The company is ready with a new LGA-1366 single-socket workstation motherboard that concentrates quite heavily on its PCI-Express expansion slots. THe motherboard packs seven full-length PCI-Express slots. To support these, ASUS used a clever design: two 16-lane PCI-Express channels from the X58 northbridge provide connectivity to an NVIDIA nForce 200 (BR-03) chip each. Each of these chips in turn broadcast the connection to two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots (blue slots). The blue slots with a neighbouring black slot further have PCI-E switching logic that can divert 8 lanes to the black PCI-E x16 slots, when populated. As a result, it has seven slots worked out in all. The board supports ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI.

A large heatsink cools the lower cluster of chips that include the board's ICH10R southbridge, and the two nForce 200 chips. Heatpipes distribute heat to an elaborate array of heatsinks over the northbridge and the board's VRM areas. The board features six DDR3 memory slots for supporting up to 24 GB of memory. Storage is care of the southbridge and an additional controller to provide extra internal SATA ports along with the eSATA connectivity. 8-channel audio, and two gigabit Ethernet controllers, and an ASUS-exclusive system diagnostics card make for the rest of the equation. The P6T7 SuperComputer is yet to hit stores.

A relatively unknown company, Triplex, has designed a Radeon HD 4830 graphics accelerator that does not require the 6-pin PCI-Express power connector. This is especially interesting for two reasons: that it is RV770, and that it runs at reference clock speeds despite shedding its traditional power design. Spotted on XtremeSystems, this engineering sample PCB features a 2+1 phase power design, that draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot.

Also featured are 512 MB of 256-bit GDDR3 memory, DVI-D, HDMI and D-Sub outputs, and a seemingly two-slot cooler design that is yet to be pictured. The card lacks CrossFireX fingers. The GPU has 640 stream processors, DirectX 10.1 compliance, and a 256-bit memory interface. It has AMD reference clock speeds of 575/900 MHz (core/memory). For reference the third picture shows a Radeon HD 4670 accelerator of the same make, and PCB length.

Adding to its now 6-strong lineup of motherboards for the Intel Core i7 processors, that includes the recently pictured X58M micro-ATX board, the company is preparing yet another full-sized motherboard, the X58Pro-E. This board is designed to be a notch above the X58Pro thanks to support for the GreenPower design. This is perhaps to compete with similar offerings from other manufacturers, under the $220 price-point.

MSI has taken care of the essentials with this one. A basic 4+1 phase VRM powers the CPU, which uses the company's proprietary Driver-MOSFET (DrMOS) technology. Six DDR3 memory, three PCI-Express x16 slots supporting ATI CrossFireX technology, seven SATA II ports (six routed to the ICH10R, with one on the board routed to an external controller, the same controller providing an eSATA port), several USB ports, IEEE-1394 and gigabit Ethernet, make for all of this board's feature set. We predict this board to be launched alongside the X58M. Many thanks to one of our readers for providing the pictures.

AMD clinched the performance crown from NVIDIA, and retained for a significantly long amount of time with the dual-RV770 based Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics accelerator. The company recently introduced the RV790 GPU, which went into making the Radeon HD 4890 graphics accelerator. Our reviews of this card, especially the AMD Radeon HD 4890 CrossFire review, brought forth some interesting findings with regards to how the accelerator works in tandem with another of its kind.

Holding significantly higher clock-speeds than the Radeon HD 4870, the accelerator managed to consume lesser amount of power in a pair than a single Radeon HD 4870 X2 accelerator. As a solution, it emerged faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295. The findings of several such reviews sparked of fresh speculations surrounding AMD planning a dual-RV790 accelerator with which it could potentially regain the performance crown. All such speculations were laid to rest by David Cummings, AMD's director of product marketing of discrete desktop graphics, under the graphics product group, in a recent interview with X-bit Labs (read here). Cummings claims that the company has no plans to create a "Radeon HD 4890 X2", at least not yet. The Radeon HD 4890 fills the gap between the HD 4870 and HD 4850 X2, while the HD 4870 X2 holds post at $399. A dual-RV790 card would not be feasible keeping the global economic climate in mind. The HD 4890 accelerators though, are capable of running in tandem with up to four cards of its kind, provided the system supports such a configuration.

Thermaltake Technology is pleased to announce its high performance line of power supply, Toughpower series, has been added an 80PLUS Silver power supply - Toughpower 700W (W0295). With Thermaltake's commitment to offer users quality products, the 800W / 1200W (all 80PLUS Silver ready) will also be ready in Q2.

80 PLUS is a cutting-edge, electric utility-funded program whose mission is to integrate energy-efficient power supplies into desktop computers and servers. The 80PLUS Silver standard certifies PSU that has 85%, 88%, and 85% or higher energy efficiency rate at 20%, 50%, and 100% of loading, respectively. This requirement makes an 80 PLUS Silver certified power supply considerably more efficient than any other traditional 80 PLUS power supplies.