When Toshiba set out to reset the bar for high performance gaming laptops and revamp its flagship gaming line, the company turned to NVIDIA for its expertise in visual computing. The combined efforts of both companies resulted in Toshiba's most powerful gaming laptop to date featuring the new highly integrated GeForce 9400M graphics processing unit (GPU) along with a pair of NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS enthusiast-class GPUs. The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706, the first pair of laptops to incorporate three powerful NVIDIA GPUs, give users a choice between maximum performance and quiet operation.

NVIDIA's engineering team was given a challenge: deliver a desktop GPU which integrates full system I/O and discrete-level performance in one-half the size of previous integrated graphics solutions. The result: a 16-core CUDA-capable graphics architecture that enables mainstream PC users to play the latest top-selling PC games and enjoy silky-smooth, high-definition Blu-ray video playback-all without breaking the bank.

NVIDIA Introduces the GeForce 9400 and 9300 motherboard GPUs for desktop PCs on the Intel platform.

MCP7A series are one of NVIDIA's first nForce chipsets for the Intel platform with a monolithic design. The chipset isn't split-up into northbridge and southbridge anymore. This space-saving design is supposed to be very economical for the company to produce, and for motherboard vendors to come out with attractively priced boards. The chipset embeds a GeForce 9300-class IGP, and supports energy efficient Hybrid SLI and GeForce Boost technologies. The IGP itself is DirectX 10 compliant, and supports Purevideo HD.

MSI on its part, seems to be ready with two such micro-ATX boards, as pictured by Fudzilla. The P7NGM-Digital (black PCB) is the higher end board, with HTPC-friendly features. It features an HDMI port, along with DVI and D-Sub ports for display. It features four DDR2 DIMM slots supporting DDR2-800 memory. It uses a 100% solid state capacitor design. The P7NGM-FI (red PCB) is the value offering, that aims to spread the GeForce advantage at a low price-point. It features two DIMM slots, a single D-Sub port, and solid capacitors restricted to the CPU and chipset power circuits.

Apple's switch to x86 and Intel was seen as a change for the better. The company seems to have gone on a visual-computing drive, with closer associations with NVIDIA, and increased inclusion of NVIDIA's technologies into its products. Word is, that the next update to the Macbook Pro, could have NVIDIA's core-logic (chipset), with the likely candidate being MCP79. There's also widespread speculation in the industry, that some models of the Macbook Pro could come with two GPUs.

It is certainly possible, that the MCP79 could provide Hybrid SLI support. The chipset embeds a GeForce 9300 class integrated graphics processor (IGP), and provides additional PCI-Express connections to an external GPU. In this case, Apple could use a powerful GeForce board that handles graphics. The IGP could work in tandem with the GeForce board, or handle graphics all by itself, to save power. Pictures of the new Macbook model had surfaced yesterday, revealing the slick new Macbook Pro chassis. The range could start for as low as US $899.

Graphics giant NVIDIA has just announced their latest generation of notebook GPUs, GeForce 9M Series, and NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology will become available in over a hundred notebook models beginning this summer. "Beginning this summer, GeForce 9M GPUs and Hybrid SLI, paired with AMD and Intel CPUs, will enable a new breed of notebooks," said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of the GPU business at NVIDIA. "These new notebooks will be optimized to deliver a visual experience and raw computing performance that traditional cookie-cutter notebooks with integrated graphics simply can't touch." The new GeForce 9M family is said to deliver up to 40% faster performance than the previous generation GeForce notebook GPUs and 10x the performance of integrated graphics solutions. The new Go cards will also feature new PureVideo HD video processing features, full support for the latest Blu-ray advancements including BD-Live and dual-stream video playback, extensive multi-display connectivity (DVI, HDMI 1.3, Display Port 1.1, and VGA) and support for the new MXM version 3.0 graphics module specification. For more information please go to NVIDIA.

PC users love the visual realism that high-performance graphics processors give their PCs, but would rather do without the noise and power consumption typical of modern entertainment and gaming PCs. Starting today, however, they can have the best of both worlds, thanks to the new NVIDIA platforms based on the company's Hybrid SLI technology. These new platforms are the foundation for a new breed of PCs that deliver a richer visual experience while reducing energy consumption and costs, fan noise, and even heat. The new technology is available immediately with new NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI and GeForce 8 Series based motherboards.

Zotac has jumped the gun on this one a little bit, pre-announcing its new motherboard based on NVIDIA's upcoming nForce 750a chipset. This will be the first AMD chipset from NVIDIA since the nForce 590 was released back in May 2006, and will offer features such as Hybrid SLI, Hybrid Power and GeForce Boost. The board won't be capable of running triple SLI as there are only two PCI-E slots, but Quad SLI with two GeForce 9800 GX2 cards will be supported. The board should work with past, current and future AMD CPUs, provided that AMD maintains compatibility between AM2+ and AM3 processors. Zotac reckons it will be able to sell the motherboard for less than $150, which wouldn't be a bad price for someone wanting to use high-end AMD processors and NVIDIA graphics.

NVIDIA representatives notified its board partners this week that its new Hybrid SLI technology has been delayed. NVIDIA's Hybrid SLI technology offers pretty much what the already launched AMD Hybrid Crossfire technology has. NVIDIA Hybrid SLI consists of a NVIDIA Hybrid SLI ready motherboard with integrated graphics, plus a discrete NVIDIA video card. When the PC is doing non-GPU intensive tasks the discrete GPU shuts down entirely, leaving all tasks to the integrated graphics for better power efficiency. When a 3D application or a game is started, both cards start working together, resulting in improved overall performance. NVIDIA is planning to start utilizing Hybrid SLI in all its future motherboards, from the bottom end to the top end expensive mobos. Back on the topic, the delay notification reads, "We are still experiencing delays in getting the kits sent as the product is experiencing delays, drivers are being fine-tuned and sales tools are being finalized." NVIDIA goes on to promise that Hybrid SLI samples will reach vendors in the second half of April, which means retail availability has been pushed into late May. The company does not state the reason for the delay. Cards that currently support Hybrid SLI include the GeForce 8500 GT as well as the GeForce 8400 GS. The chipsets that support Hybrid SLI include the NVIDIA nForce 720a and the nForce 730a.

NVIDIA today announced the industry's first hybrid technology for PC platforms - Hybrid SLI - that addresses two critical issues: increasing graphics performance and reducing power consumption. NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology will be incorporated into a wide variety of graphics and motherboard desktop and notebook products that the Company is rolling out for both AMD and Intel desktop and notebook computing platforms throughout 2008.

NVIDIA is planning a new technology called Hybrid SLI which can boost the graphics performance for systems that have NVIDIA's IGP (integrated graphics processor) and discrete GPUs, while it can also increase the battery life of notebook PCs. Hybrid SLI will turn off discrete GPUs and only run the IGP when the user is operating normal 2D applications. On the other hand when the user is running 3D applications, the technology will automatically turn on the discrete GPU and boost performance without the need to reboot the system and manually switch between the two graphics processors. NVIDIA expects to use the new technology on both desktop and notebook PCs. The technology is predicted to appear by the end of the year, according to Jen Hsun Huang - chief executive of NVIDIA Corp.

While some would say that the whole "4 or more GPU" thing happened several months ago, it wasn't exactly a very clean quad-SLI solution. You could only stick one monitor on it, and good luck if you had a widescreen. Even then, there were features missing, the drivers were buggy, support was sketchy, and there were a lot of rendering problems/crashes. So, SLI 2.0 (after getting a much more marketing-friendly name) will be able to support something it's first version didn't see- three or more GPU's in a single system with no features disabled. Whether or not SLI 2.0 would be able to use one of those cards for physics is yet to be seen.

NVIDIA is working on a new version of SLI technology, which allows users to shove more than one graphics card in their system. This new version is so far a very big secret, so the specs are unconfirmed. However, it should allow for two or more completely different cards to be in SLI mode. SLI 2.0 is also said to allow more than four graphics cards to be in a system at one time. Where we'll find the power supply, motherboard, or case to support an eight GPU system is unknown, however a six GPU system is (somewhat) reasonable for this new technology.