While Intel is preparing to move on to a 45nm micro-architecture, AMD is preparing true quad-core processors, and working on a quad-graphics card solution. The technology that will allow for four graphics cards to be stuck in one system will be called "QuadFire", and there are no major details out at this time, other than the name and pictures of supporting motherboards. The chipset supporting "QuadFire" is AMD's own RD790, which is pictured below in MSI's K9A2 motherboard. The RD790 is designed to work with a Phenom processor, has six SATA ports, and two E-SATA ports.

Pictures courtesy of OCWorkbench.

At this year's Games Convention ASUS is showing off their new RD780 M3A-MVP motherboard. It will feature the new Socket AM2+, but it will be able to handle any AM2 CPU along with the new Phenoms. It will also be able to run DDR2 up to 8500 (1066MHz) speeds, and it will feature two PCI-E 2.0 compliant x16 slots.

Taipei, Taiwan, July 16, 2007 - ASUS, the worldwide leader of motherboards, today announced the motherboards that will support Intel's latest Core2 Extreme/Core2 Duo 1333FSB processors. "As the leading motherboard manufacturer, our customers have come to expect the latest solutions from us," said Joe Hsieh, Director of ASUS Motherboard Business. "Our series of Core2 Extreme/Core2 Duo 1333FSB-ready motherboards once again proves our leadership position for the newest and most advanced processors."

Taipei, Taiwan, July 10, 2007 - Catering to enthusiasts who want the latest in innovations and technology, ASUS has released the new ASUS P5K3 Premium motherboard. This motherboard comes with the latest technologies and delivers a brand new innovation - the Turbo D3 Onboard Memory feature. With this cutting-edge feature, users are guaranteed DDR3 overclocking speeds of above 1500 and reduced clock cycle timings by 50% for random data access.

DFI will be showcasing their LANPARTY X38-T2R board over at Computex next week along with their ATI RD790 based LP RD790-M2R board. Both motherboards are creation of two dedicated and top-notch DFI engineers: Oskar and Jarry. Initially DFI will release Intel X38 chipset based board with support for DDR2 only, because of the highly priced DDR3 modules. Another LANPARTY X38-T3R board that supports DDR3 memories will come later. The DFI LANPARTY X38-T2R/T3R boards also support Core 2 Duo/Quad processors with 1333MHz FSB, two x16 PCIe slots for dual graphics + one x4 slot for GPU physics, 8-Phase Digital PWM and special heatpipe cooling for PWM, MCH and ICH.

OCWorkbench has some interesting, but blurry pictures of a RD790 board. It is the successor to the RD580 or 580X chipset. I features four full length PCIe x16 slots and can actually use 4 graphic cards in Crossfire. Turns out there is no real performance gain with such a setup.

Gigabyte United is set to introduce its next generation Ultra Durable 2 series motherboards in early June. There will be five Ultra Durable 2 series motherboards powered by Intel's P35 and G33 Express chipsets - the P35-DQ6, P35-DS3R, P35T-DQ6, G33M-D2SR and G33-DS3R in full and micro ATX configurations. All motherboards will feature ferrite core choke coils, low RDS MOSFETs and all-solid capacitors for increased reliability and longevity.

DFI, the most enthusiast-oriented motherboard designer announced today the self-designed and manufactured LANParty UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R and has launched it into the market with a brand new package design. This motherboard adopts NVIDIA's NF680I LT SLI northbridge and MCP55P southbridge chipsets and furnishes both SLI and Physics rendering solutions. Moreover, it offers the highest-end 6 phase digital PWM technology. The UT NF680I LT motherboard features unique heat pipe cooling solution for the North Bridge. DFI also offers a particular copper-sink for the South Bridge. The DFI LP UT NF680i LT SLI motherboard includes all the features that gamers and enthusiast would ever need: EZ On/Off and EZ reset, that allows you to OC without a chassis. Further, the EZ Clear is the easiest way to clear the CMOS without opening the chassis. Additionally all DFI LAN Party UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R motherboards will come with customized and tweaked BIOS, which will give full control and overclocking potential of your system. It is certain that this model offers many new elements to satisfiy all high-end users.

It looks like that DFI Corp. has released new motherboard featuring NVIDIA's nForce 680i LT SLI chipset and NVIDIA MCP55P southbridge. The LANPARTY UT NF680i LT SLI-T2R mainboard supports all Intel Core2 Duo/Quad/Extreme, Pentium D and Intel Pentium 4 processors with 1333/1066/800MHz FSB. There are also 3x PCI Express x16 slots: two x16 slots for SLI and one x8 for future physics cards. Click here to read the full motherboard specs.

Though the NVIDIA nForce 650i Ultra MCP was launched at the end of last year it took NVIDIA some time to come up with an actual reference design. Again ChileHardware were the first in the business to show some facts. The 650i ultra is the least feature-packed chipset out of the 600i family, with the absence of SLI being the biggest drawback. But if you don't intend to go for a SLI setup then the board will please you with full Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad support. Furthermore we are talking about dual-channel DDR2-800 (four DIMM sockets), a single PCIe x16, two PCIe x1 and three PCI (32bit/33MHz) slots, four SATA II ports and a single PATA port (HDD or optical drive).
The ATX I/O panel is not that crowded either, besides the obligatory PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports there are four USB 2.0 ports, the Gigabit Ethernet connector and the eight-channel audio connectors.
The mentioned Gigabit port supports NVIDIAs FirstPacket prioritizing technology in order to deliver the lowest pings possible while gaming. The SATA ports support Raid arrays (Raid 0, 1, 0+1 and 5) and onboard you will find four additional USB2.0 pinouts to be used with a USB bracket. Its price will be in the 50-100 US$ range, companies like EVGA, XFX, ECS, Biostar will soon adopt this design to their product family. All in all very nice budget solution mainboard that has its strengths.

The Intel based INFINITY P965 motherboard provides users with a perfect solution that not only offers tremendously high performance and "over-clockablity" but also boosts an extremely attractive price. DFI has chosen to use the Intel P965 + ICH8R chipsets to allow the board to support the most advance processors (including Core 2 Quad), DDRII-800 and Crossfire functions. Although the motherboard is a bit late arriving to the market the motherboard and BIOS are brilliantly designed to offer users unsurpassed over-clocking that will not disappoint even the most advanced overclocker. In addition DFI has redesigned the packaging to further accent the fact that DFI's Infinity series have entered the next generation of gaming performance.

XFX debuts its all-new 600i Series Motherboards, designed for gamers by gamers. Our 680i SLI and 680i LT SLI motherboards feature everything you want, and nothing you don't. The result? Gravity-defying graphics and sound quality that will have your neighbors ducking for cover.

The XFX 600i Series is comprised of the 680i SLI and the newly released 680i LT SLI. Both motherboards fully support all Intel Socket 775 including Intel Core 2 processors with 1333FSB. Both motherboards also follow NVIDIA's reference board design and features, so they don't distinguish much from the 680i boards currently in the market. To learn more about the XFX nForce 600i Series Motherboards go to www.xfxforce.com.

Brea, California and Munich, Germany - March 26, 2007 - EVGA Corporation, one of the leading-edge 3D processor and motherboard manufacturers, announces the latest addition to its line of high-performance SLI-ready motherboards, the EVGA nForce 680i LT SLI. En-gineered for the Extreme Gamer, this motherboard features the powerful NVIDIA 680i LT SLI MCP which is specified to run up to 1333MHz front side bus (FSB) and beyond. Award winning NVIDIA overclocking tools provide a complete kit of tools giving everyone from the most veteran enthusiast to the novice overclocker the ability to unleash the hardware in their PC. Available March 26th, 2007, the EVGA nForce 680i LT SLI motherboard brings performance and x16 SLI power at a $199.99 retail price.

NVIDIA has updated its line of motherboard chipsets with the release of nForce 680i LT SLI Edition chipset. The 680i LT is cut-down version of the nForce 680i flagman. The main difference between the two chipsets is the lack of third PCI-E physics slot, which is not presented in the 680i LT model. Other specs remain the same. Motherboards equipped with the 680i LT chipset should cost under $200. EVGA was the first NVIDIA partner to release motherboard, which follows NVIDIA's reference nForce 680i LT design. Reviews of the EVGA motherboad also surfaced all over the big hardware sites.Hot Hardware | [H]ard|OCP | Legit Reviews | Guru3D | nvnews.net | bit-tech | iXBT | The Tech Report

BIOSTAR Microtech Int'l Corp., a professional manufacturer of motherboards has launched TF7050-M2, based on the new NVIDIA GeForce7050PV/ nForce630a Chipset. TF7050-M2 comes with integrated HDMI with on-chip HDCP and High Definition Audio(HDA).

Fudzilla has a brief note about the upcoming RD790 chipset from ATI. The 690 chipset, launched not so long ago, will get a brother in the form of the 790, which is scheduled for late this year.

It will support Barcelona processors and especially the Agena FX as well as similar products that will be natively quad core.

The chipset also has the edge in the graphics department, as it can support multiple R600 cards and Quad FX. It comes with at least two PCIe 16X slots and two 1207+ sockets. Moreover, it supports Hypertransport 3. As with all ATI chipsets, it supports Crossfire.

XFX to release nForce 680i SLI LT motherboard

XFX was showing off an unreleased nForce 680i SLI LT motherboard on its stand at CeBIT. We reported some info about NVIDIA's upcoming 680i SLI LT chipset a while back and it looks like manufacturers are catching on. It is also interesting to see more and more companies from the video card business enter the motherboard segment too.The sample from XFX looks very similar to the reference NVIDIA board.

SiS, announced today that it will unveil the most advanced chipsets supporting Windows Vista at CeBIT 2007. The SiS672FX series, SiS671FX series, and SiS771 series chipsets are SiS special innovations. They are designed for optimum compatibility with Windows Vista, and support mobile PCs and desktop PCs platforms. For Intel platform, SiS presents SiS672FX, SiS672, SiSM672MX, SiS671FX, SiS671, SiS671DX, and SiSM671MX chipsets; for AMD platform, SiS unveils the SiS771 chipset.

Sapphire today announced its AMD 690G/SB600-based motherboard, the PURE Innovation HDMI PI-AM2RS690MHD. The new PURE Innovation HDMI board supports AMD processors designed for Socket AM2. It also has four memory slots supporting DDR2-800/667/533 modules with maximum capacity of 8GB. Sapphire's PURE Innovation HDMI board is based on the AMD 690G chipset with integrated Vista Premium certified graphics and DVI-D, HDMI, TV plus VGA outputs capabilities. The HDMI output is HDMI 1.2 compliant with support for HDCP and output resolutions up to 1080p. Other expansion slots include one PCIe x1 and 2x PCI slots, 10x USB 2.0, 1x PATA133 and 4x SATA 3.0Gbps ports. Integrated HD Dolby Digital Live audio with eight-channel analog and S/PDIF audio output as well as Gigabit Ethernet and two IEEE 1394 ports are also presented.

'Driver fine-tuning' is the reason why mainboards based on the MCP68 (GF7050-630A) won't be available this month. Instead it will take some more weeks for NVIDIA to come up with a solution, though many websites attest prerelease boards a good performance already.

Like Intel's Viiv-logo the AMD-LIVE! logo allows you to select compatible multimedia hardware components but this time of course it suits the needs of your AMD LIVE! notebook/PC/Home Cinema and Media Server. If you look around at your local dealer or internet shop the Logo will guide safely around the dozens of premature Set Top Boxes, TV Tuners and Web Cames and whatnot right to the ones which work flawless (at least I hope so).

For more information look at the AMD-LIVE! website.

Elitegroup Computer Systems, Inc. (ECS), will reveal their newest Intel Bearlake-based motherboards at CeBIT 2007. The new P35T-A, G33T-M and Q35T-M motherboards feature the next generation chipsets and will be continued by the current P965, G965 and Q965 Broadwater-based motherboards, offering across-the-board performance benefits. All these new motherboard chipsets are validated to perform flawlessly with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad processors. The P35T-A is designed for gaming and performance users and provides PCI Express X16 slots (X16, X4) with dual graphics solutions. The ECS G33T-M and its integrated graphics core is designed for the digital home, and the Q35T-M brings more functionality to enterprise and office users. The Barelake based motherboards support 45nm-process microarchitecture CPUs, 1333 MHz FSB, DDR3 memory and work with Intel's new ICH9 Southbridge I/O chip. More information and pictures will be available after CeBIT 2007 starts.

Intels current mobile platform Napa get's a successor named Santa Rosa at the beginning of May. It comes in two versions, the PM65 and the GM965 featuring an integrated graphics core (DirectX 9.0c, up to 256MB shared memory).
The Santa Rosa platform will come with the new pin-grid array based 'Socket P' which is keyed differently than the current Socket M. Together with the Santa Rosa Intel will introduce Socket P CPUs. These special Meroms get a higher FSB (800MHz) than their Socket M counterpart but will come with frequencies as high as 2.8GHz. Sadly this Core 2 Extreme X7900 will be released somewhat later in the second half of this year.

It appears that German journalists are a little bit faster then their English counterparts. Like the folks at MSI the guys at Global FOXCONN department are a bit slow in posting press news. But we still have the brave Germans at FOXCONN who post tidbits sometimes. So they did this time announcing three new mATX-sized motherboards for the Socket AM2. All of them feature the integrated ATI Radeon X1250 graphics solution and a single PCIe x16 slot just in case you want to upgrade. They will be available soon.