Chinese website IT168 posted slides leaked from the GeForce GTS 450 press presentation. The slides reveal the final specifications of the upcoming GPU, as well as show the market positioning. To begin with, the GTS 450, as mentioned in numerous occasions, has 192 CUDA cores, 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface, and clock speeds which include 783/1566/900 MHz (core/shader/memory); but the slides confirm that NVIDIA's reference design cooler looks nearly identical to the GeForce GTS 460, at least as far as the cooler shroud and fan goes. Other specifications confirmed are the TMU count: 32, four Polymorph engines (should translate into 16 ROPs), power input being just one 6-pin PCI-Express connector, and card max power draw of just 106W, nearly 2/3 that of the GTX 460.

NVIDIA is positioning this SKU to be the successor to the popular GeForce GTS 250, which held the sub-$200 and later sub-$160 markets for NVIDIA, for quite some time. Its target buyers are those which need a light on the pocket graphics card for LANParty rigs. The card can afford users smooth gameplay of the latest DirectX 11 titles at 1680x1050 with 4xAA. Unfortunately, what we're looking out for the most (price), isn't mentioned. Perhaps NVIDIA will stabilize the price of this SKU based on how it plays out against competing SKUs. Speaking of which, the ATI Radeon HD 5700 series is in this card's crosshair.

DFI LANParty today introduces its new motherboard, the Blood Iron BI P43-T34, after the launch of the high-end P55 motherboard. BI P43-T34 makes LANParty Blood Iron series a more complete product line. For those who like LANParty products, it is the best value motherboard.

To provide consumers with better value platform, BI P43-T34 is equipped with exclusive LANParty ABS II, CPU auto upgrade technology. CPU performance can be automatically promoted!! As long as users choose ABS II started while boosting system at the first time, the system's performance can be upgraded immediately. Therefore, users do not have to spend a lot of time and effort to set up for better performance. That is, even with limited budget, consumers still can obtain higher performance easily and fast.

Possessing industrial grade technology, DFI LANParty is going to launch the newest Blood Iron series product, 785G-M35 Micro ATX motherboard. Accommodating AMD 785 chipset, BI 785G-M35 incorporates integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200, which supports DirectX10.1, Shader Model 4.1, and UVD 2.0. With 128MB DDR3 Sideport Memory, graphics performance of BI 785G-M35 can be improved up to 10%~15%. What is more, it comes with LANParty exclusive "ABS II" CPU Auto Upgrade technology and leading-edge digital PWM so as to let users enjoy the ultimate high performance and simultaneously save a huge amount of budget and electric pay.

CPU can be upgraded. Users do not need to spend a huge amount of money on high degree CPU, but still can obtain the same high performance. "ABS II" CPU Auto Upgrade Technology exempts users from complicated set-up steps. As long as users choose upgrade option at the first boost time, ABS II then will detect CPU and upgrade it automatically. As a result, performance is improved easily and money is saved accordingly.

Equipped with Industrial grade technology, DFI LANParty motherboard is always the best choice of enthusiasts in terms of performance and quality. This time, DK P55-T3eH9 does not only deliver brilliant performance, but also includes several exclusive and advanced technologies to satisfy user's needs. Accommodating Intel newest single chipset, P55, DK P55-T3eH9 comes with processor socket of LGA 1156. It also supports dual channel DDR3-1333 express memory. As for its unique features, DK P55-T3eH9 is provided with exclusive "ABS II" CPU auto upgrade technology, pioneering digital PWM of high power efficiency , as well as superior extreme cooler design. What is more, DK P55-T3eH9 adopts Creative X-Fi extreme fidelity technology and BIOSecure technology, providing marvelous audio and 100 % recovery of BIOS crash.

Using exclusive "ABS II" CPU auto upgrade technology, DK P55-T3eH9 can save around 35% budget for high degree CPU, when still rendering the same high performance. Without complicated set-up steps, CPU performance can be improved automatically as system is turned on. In addition, with the pioneering digital PWM, the power efficiency of DK P55-T3eH9 is much higher than traditional one's. By virtue of this, energy can be saved all the time. Besides, more stable power can be provided and then component lifespan can be extended.

DFI's retail-grade pack of motherboards for socket LGA-1156 platform will be lead by the LANParty Dark P55-T3eH9. Dressed in black and orange, the P55-T3eH9 sports a fairly standard feature-set for the Intel P55 chipset. The CPU socket is powered by a 6+2 phase VRM, and is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16, depending on what's under the heatsink south of the CPU socket, the orange slots could be (dual x16 or x8). The black slot looks like PCI-E x4, wired to the PCH. Two PCI-E x1 and PCI slots make for the rest of the expansion.

Apart from all the features the P55 PCH provides, including six SATA II ports, an additional controllers add two SATA II, an eSATA and one IDE connector for two devices. Connectivity is care of one gigabit Ethernet controller, and a number of USB ports, including one mini-USB. A high-grade HD audio codec also provides digital audio connectivity through optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors. The LANParty Dark P55-T3eH9 is expected to be priced at 175€.

From now on, amazing performance becomes available on affordable motherboards. In addition to the development of high-end overclocking motherboards that set world record in performance, the LANParty team has recently committed to a research program called "top performance at affordable prices", allowing more consumers to enjoy low-price yet high-performance motherboards.

The BI P45-T2(R)S Elite family is the first wave of the "top performance at affordable prices" series. High-end hardware layouts, excellent BIOS design, and ex-factory overclocking stress test are totally migrated to the product. With the price under USD $110, it can surprisingly challenge $150-level products in terms of performance.

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.

DFI LANParty, one the most famous mainboard brands worldwide, will hold the first session of global online overclocking competition during April to May of 2009. In addition to a handsome sum of money as prize and awards to the top three, the top ten candidates will also be honored as "LANParty certified overclocker".

"LANParty certified overclocker" enjoys the priority to obtain information on the new products, directly talk with R&D engineers and provide suggestions for the products under development. For more information, please visit this page. For registration or inquiries mail to wr@dfi.com.tw.

Surprisingly, VR-Zone today posted pictures of the LANPARTY UT P55 board, a twin of the recently spotted DFI LANParty Dark P55 T3eH6, that packs several interesting features. Quick introduction, the board uses Intel's P55 chipset for the upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. The board has a total of four DDR3 DIMM slots, three PCI-E x16 slots, digital power circuit and DFI's usual color theme. Also note, that there's a slot on the motherboard for NAND flash installation. Additionally, a mini USB port is located on the I/O backpanel. For now the presence of this NAND flash slot remains mystery. DFI will showcase the motherboard at Computex Taipei 2009 where we hope they will say what is it for.

Famed for its LANParty JR "junior" series high-end mATX motherboard lineup, DFI is preparing an addition: the JR 790GX-M3H5. This one features the AM3 socket, made for the latest AMD processors supporting DDR3 memory. Respecting the constraints this form-factor has, the board goes on to cover every feature one would expect from a larger ATX motherboard, which is the ideology behind the LANParty JR.

The CPU is powered by a 4+1 phase VRM circuit. Expansion includes two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrically x8 when both are populated), a PCI-E x1, and a PCI slot. The 790GX IGP is assisted by 128 MB of DDR3 sideport memory. Display outputs include DVI-D and HDMI. The SB750 southbridge provides six SATA II ports with RAID support. This board will hit the shelves by the end of April.

Prolimatech packs the large CPU cooler design ideology with DFI's LANParty branding from DFI. The company started off with the Megahalems cooler that received good reviews. PC Games Hardware sourced pictures and drawings of some really fascinating, yet large CPU coolers in the works by the company, from German retailer Caseking.de, before officially listing the products. To succeed the Megahalems, the company has three new coolers named Genesis, Jericho, and The Mammoth.

Some of the most audacious designs ever imagined, have taken shape, and may be ready to hit the market. The drawings show Jericho to be a medium-to-large cooler with stacked aluminum-fin blocks, and a fan that circulates air. The Mammoth and Genesis have a peculiar staged heat-column design. For The Mammoth, the CPU contact-block gives out numerous heatpipes that convey heat to two staged aluminum fin arrays with dedicated air-flows, both of which are along the plane of the motherboard. The Genesis, on the other hand uses a slightly different design, with an array perpendicular to the plane of the motherboard. There is no word on exactly when these coolers get listed.

DFI finally added an AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 790FX chipset to its lineup. The LANParty Dark 790FXB-M3H5 makes it to the tier of motherboards that are based on the AMD 790FX + SB750 chipset, and support DDR3 memory. Looks and feature-wise, this board is near-identical to the LP DK 790FXB-M2RSH, except for the fact that it features the AM3 socket, supports the latest AMD AM3 CPUs out of the box, and supports DDR3 memory. DFI advertises this board to be "the best OC platform".

The board features a 4+1 phase CPU power circuit. It features two full-length electrically 16-lane PCI-Express 2.0 slots to support ATI CrossFireX. The third full-length slot is electrically x4. The board supports DDR3 800/1066/1333 MHz memory, and DDR3-1600 by overclocking. DFI uses the Marvell 8056 gigabit Ethernet controller, which is advertised to be 15% faster than competing models. Audio is care of Realtek ALC885 HD audio. LANParty ABS II on the fly overclocking feature, backed by DFI's iconic Genie BIOS, make for the rest of the feature-set.

DFI seems to be almost ready with a motherboard based on Intel's P55 chipset, that supports the company's upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. This motherboard did not get the limelight at this year's CeBIT event. It doesn't seem like DFI finalized the board's cooling, hence the pictures don't show coolers over the chipset and VRM areas. The rest of the board's features are pretty visuals:

• 6+2 phase CPU power circuit,
• Four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR3 memory
• P55 chipset used without any additional PCI-Express bridge chip
• Three PCI-E x16 slots, most likely two of them are routed to the CPU, arrange as x8, x8 with both populated, while the third is routed to the P55 chipset's 8-lane PCI-E hub
• Six SATA II ports from the PCH, two from an onboard controller, the same controller also provides an IDE connector

The rest of its features seem pretty standard for motherboards of its class. DFI may introduce this motherboard in some of the first waves of product launches following Intel's launch of compatible processors.

AMD finally seems to have put a realistic assessment of its processors, with its claims of the Phenom II X4 having "massive headroom" with its overclocking potential being validated once again, this time by Team Finland, at a CES overclocking event. Team Finland was able to overclock a Phenom II X4 940 processor at its highest stable clock speed of 6.30 GHz using extreme cooling. Earlier attempts to overclock the chip beyond the 6 GHz mark only yielded in test-beds that were able to POST, boot and display the clock speed using CPU-Z. This attempt however, was a benchmark-stable overclocking feat.

The bench consisted of a Phenom II X4 engineering sample, DFI LANParty Dark 790FXB-M2RS, OCZ DDR2-1066 memory, two Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards in CrossfireX and Windows XP. The CPU cooling employed was liquid helium, which dropped the temperature to -242 degrees Celsius. To achieve a clock speed of 6.30 GHz, the processor's vCore was set at 1.84V, its bus speed at 280 MHz and a multiplier of 22.5 was set. The HyperTransport frequency multiplier was set at 8. The Radeon HD 4870 X2 accelerators were set at 800 MHz (core) and 950 MHz (memory). The machine was put through 3DMark05, where it ended with a world-record score of 45,474.

DFI made additions to its Core i7 compatible motherboard lineup today by releasing two new motherboards under the LANParty Dark and LANParty Junior series. While pictures and specifications of the LANParty JR X58-T3H6 surfaced earlier, its introduction makes it a one of its kind mATX motherboard supporting the Core i7 platform. DFI started its Core i7 motherboard series with the enthusiast-grade LANPARTY UT X58-T3eH8. Its newest entry that comes to surface is its LANParty Dark motherboard: the LANParty DK X58-T3eH6.

The LANParty DK X58-T3eH6 uses essentially the same PCB layout as the LANPARTY UT X58-T3eH8, except for a few changes: the CPU power ciruit and the component cooling. While the UT board comes with digital-PWM, the DK board comes with standard choke-based 6-phase CPU power circuit. It uses chipset and VRM coolers identical to those of the LANParty JR board, comprising of a simplistic northbridge cooler that propagates into the VRM cooler, while a heatsink cools the southbridge. It provides three PCI-Express x16 slots (electrically x16, x8, x8 or x16, NC, x16). These two motherboards are expected to reach retailers soon.

DFI is ready with the first LGA 1366 motherboard in the micro-ATX form factor, the DFI LP JR X58-T3H6, dubbed LANParty Junior, which supports the latest Core i7 processors by Intel. The motherboard measures 245 x 245mm. Despite its smaller size, it has a respectable feature-set: 6-phase CPU power circuit, six DDR3 DIMM slots for triple-channel memory, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots supporting both ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI, an additional PCI-Express x4 slot, and HDCP capable ALC 889A HD audio.

The BIOS features CMOS Reloaded, Voltage Tuning for vDIMM, vNB, vCore, vSB, vHT, frequency tuning in increments of 1 MHz, adjustable CPU multiplier, and ABS technology system. The board features as many as 7 fan headers, onboard power and reset switches, and diagnostic LED display. There is no word on the pricing or availability at this point in time.

AMD declared new CPU information in mid November 2008; in consumer market, the AM2 based 45nm CPU which named "PhenomTM II" will be ready in January 2009; then, the new CPU which supports DDR3 will be released in February. In order to catch up the upcoming CPU, DFI LANParty already finished the compatibility test of the existed motherboards. Customers who bought DFI LANParty AMD 790FX/ 790GX motherboards can update the latest BIOS from website for supporting AMD 45nm Phenom II.

The DFI LANParty Phenom II ready motherboards are listed below:

• UT 790FX-M2R
• DK 790FX-M2RS
• DK 790FXB-M2RS
• DK 790FXB-M2RSH
• DK 790GX-M2RS
• JR 790GX-M2RS

The LANParty (DFI) P45 series has received numerous favorable comments. It is no matter whether we speak of the DK P45-T2RS and DK P45-T2RS Plus which have created a new Super Pi world record, or the most powerful microATX mainboard JR P45-T2RS which has created excellent achievements in DDR2 platform.
LANParty will release the DK P45-T3RSB Plus with DDR3 supports in November which inherits the circuit design of three former star products, providing more choices of mainboards for fans.