Alienware introduced its fleet of high-performance gaming PCs based on Intel's newest Core i7 processors. The range is branded as Area 51 X-58. Its range starts from US $1,349, with the base model using the Core i7 920 processor, which is configurable to Core i7 940 and the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition. Memory options go up to 12 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, and base graphics card being the ATI Radeon HD 4870, configurable up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 SLI or Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX.

There are options for up to 2 TB of storage, or the option to pick performance over storage, with two WD VelociRaptor 300 GB drives in RAID 0. Parallel to this brand is Alienware's other brand, the ALX X-58. The ALX comes with the same base CPU and memory, but ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 or two GeForce 9800 GTX, 2 TB of storage, along with the option of a Blu-Ray burner. The ALX X-58 starts at $3,699. These systems come equipped with 700, 1000 or 1200W power supplies depending on the hardware opted for.

Overclockers Kinc and Elmor from NordicHardware, have managed to break the 3DMark06 world record this weekend using two of ATI's latest dual GPU video cards. With Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (C1 stepping) @ 5.719GHz (439.9x13), ASUS P5E64 WS Pro motherboard, 2x ASUS EAH3870X2 TOP overclocked to 990MHz/1125MHz core/memory and Windows Vista OS they were able to reach 32,601 3DMark. The cooling used for the CPU was liquid nitrogen (LN2) while both graphics cards were air cooled.

Catering to avid users who require exceptionally fast graphical solutions, ASUS has today introduced the overclocking version of the latest generation of AMD dual RV670XT GPUs with the ASUS EAH3870X2 TOP/G/3DHTI/1G graphics card. Equipped with the fastest DRR3 0.8ns memory modules, the EAH3870X2 TOP provides peak performance with GPU memory clock boosts of 6%; while both the EAH3870X2 TOP/G/3DHTI/1G and EAH3870X2/G/3DHTI/1G utilize specially designed dual fansinks for efficient heat dissipation compared to reference designed single fansink solutions. The EAH3870X2 TOP/G/3DHTI/1G also comes exclusively with two extra DVI outputs for a maximum of four-display video output; as well as the hottest DX10 game: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts.

As a result of the now officially driver lined CrossFireX support, Alienware has updated their elite ALX desktop computer to include pair of Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards, delivering 2GB of graphics memory to the already hi-end gaming station. Claimed to be "the first-ever quad GPU gaming solution supporting DirectX 10.1," the Area-51 ALX also utilizes the power of a 3GHz Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor overclocked to 4GHz, 2GB of low-latency RAM, two 10,000 rpm 150GB WD drives and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi. Adding the dual Radeon HD 3870 X2 CrossFireX option bumps the price by $500 up to $5,649. The company expects to ship the Alienware ALX CrossFireX systems by early April. For more information, please visit Alienware.

TUL Corporation today announced that it is introducing a high-end graphics solution, PowerColor HD 3870 X2 with Samsung GDDR4 memory that is designed to bring incredible performance and life-like graphics to all gamers.

ComputerBase.de has released a BIOS editor which allows to modify the BIOS of all ATI Radeon HD3870 X2 cards. You can edit BootUp Clocks, 2D Clocks, Low Power 3D Clocks, High Power 3D Clocks, UVD Clocks and the VCore voltage.

ATI BIOS-Editor 0.9 Beta

After Chinese New Year (that is, after February 11th) Sapphire Technology will start selling a Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card with factory water cooling setup, they call it "Atomic WaterCooled" and claim to offer ultra high performance. By the looks of it below, it first reminds me of the soon released CoolIT water block, secondly of the Leadtek WinFast PX8800 ULTRA Leviathan. In fact, if you look closely at the Leviathan card you'll notice they both use the same cooling unit, perhaps the difference comes in the water block design only. Pricing and clock speeds of the Atomic WaterCooled X2 are unknown at this stage.

Admittedly this isn't the first review of AMD's new 3870 X2 running in CrossFireX, but it does seem to give a better indication of real world performance. As in the previous test, this article shows unimpressive 3DMark scores, but as the author is quick to point out, 3DMark06 is known to be quite heavily dependent on the CPU so doesn't always give a reliable indication of real world GPU performance. More interesting are the benchmarks of Call of Juarez and F.E.A.R., which show performance increases of around 50% and 75% respectively. It's important to remember that AMD's CrossFireX driver is still in development, but these figures should give a rough idea of what is to be expected. You can read FPSLABS' full article here.

EK Water Block today caught up with Danger Den and CoolIT, by introducing their full cover water block for Radeon HD 3870 X2. The EK's water block is available in three versions:

• EK-FC3870 X2 CF: base made of electrolytic copper, top made of quality acrylic glass and back ram heat sinks made of black anodized aluminium.
• EK-FC3870 X2 - Acetal CF: same as the original acrylic block, but the top is made of quality POM Acetal.
• EK-FC3870 X2 - CF Nickel: base is made of nickel plated copper, while top is made of quality acrylic glass and back ram heat sinks are made of black anodized aluminium.

All three versions weight about 920g and convert the HD 3870 X2 into single-slot cooled video card. The basic EK-FC 3870 X2 CF costs 109.95EUR, while the Acetal and CF Nickel models are priced at 114.95EUR and 119.95EUR respectively. All products should be available for direct purchase from EKWaterBlocks.com SHOP.

Water cooling expert Danger Den is also rushing to release water cooling solution for ATI's HD 3870 X2. Danger Den's offer is a brand new full cover, single slot copper R680 water block designed to fit only on the HD 3 Series X2 cards. Pictures below show one of the prototypes, while the final product should be available in 5-7 business days.

Right on the heals of AMD announcing the availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 earlier this month, CoolIT Systems debuts the third installment in the Reference Series line of liquid cooling systems designed to quietly and effectively cool Advanced Micro Devices' highly anticipated performance graphic cards, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2. In recent testing, the liquid cooled cards were stably clocked up to over 900MHz core clock speed and the memory pushed to 1GHz with no thermal issues.

AMD today announced the immediate availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics processor, expanding the visual boundaries of PC entertainment well beyond the 1080P High Definition (HD) threshold. The industry's first graphics processor to break the Teraflop (one trillion floating point operations per second) barrier, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 nearly doubles the performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 3870 introduced in November 2007.

The title says it all. Sounds monstrously, but in reality benchmark results are not so promising. Maybe this is due to the fact that there aren't any official ATI X2 drivers at all, but time will show. Test system: INTEL Core 2 Duo QX9650, MSI X48 Platinum, Samsung M378BZ873CZ0-CF8 2x1024MB DDR3, Seagate Barracuda 10 SATAII 750GB (ST3750330AS/P，7,200rpm), Windows Vista. Read the full story here.

VR-Zone has learned that Radeon display driver 8.45 v1.3 will improve performance and compatibility on the Radeon HD 3870 X2 over the current 8.45 v1.0 driver. The current set of drivers is facing game performance issues so benchmarks on it are not reflective on the actual gaming performance of the card. The new Catalyst will be out before 28th January according to AMD.

ASUS, producer of top quality graphic solutions, unveiled today two more graphics cards - the ASUS EAH3870X2/G/3DHTI/1G and EAH3870X2/G/HTDI/1G, powered by the world's first dual RV670XT GPUs from ATI. The EAH3870X2/G/3DHTI/1G comes equipped with 1GB of DRR3 0.8ns memory modules working at 1800MHz, and two exclusive extra DVI outputs. On top of the two GPUs working at 825MHz, ASUS has decided to install specially designed heatsink with dual fans, one for each core - ensuring efficient heat dissipation. Further more, the ASUS EAH3870X2 Series will also come bundled with Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and the well-known leather CD wallet.

I'm afraid that all potential ATI HD 3870 X2 buyers will have to wait one more week until they get their hands on the new cards. TweakTown alerts that the launch of AMD's Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card has been pushed back to January 28th. AMD's new dual GPU graphics card was supposed to launch tomorrow but for unknown reasons, the launch has been pushed back. One possible version could be due to the fact that AMD is looking to have good stock quantity for this launch as it probably is a product that could do well for the struggling company.

The guys over at PConline.com.cn have managed again to be the first to post a full review of a graphics card that should be available later next month, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB (R680). First thing you'll notice is that the card beats NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 Ultra in every Futuremark benchmark and almost every game by quite a margin. Have a good time reading the full story here.

A Dutch site called Salland Automatisering has started to accept pre-orders for AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card, which has an expected release date of 23rd of January. Earlier reports suggested a retail price of $449 US, although the Dutch site has set a price of €425 which works out at around $615. Admittedly taxes in Europe are higher, and this site may have added a premium as it is the first to allow pre-orders, so $449 in the US isn't completely out of the question.

Although plenty of Radeon HD 3870 X2 pictures have found their way onto the internet, there has been relatively little to look at when it comes to cooling. CHIPHELL has managed to get hold of some nice close-ups, which you can see below. Based on initial impressions, the cooler doesn't look too impressive, but at the end of the day it's real world performance that counts so we'll have to wait and see.

According to TG Daily, AMD will be releasing its dual-processor R680 graphics card one week early. The NDA on all the technical specs was due to lift on January 28th, but apparantly ATI/AMD have decided to step on the pedal and deliver the card on January 23rd. The upcoming R680 contains two graphics processors on a single board and will eventually allow four processor CrossFire mode on select motherboards. Pictures of the card as well as some early benchmarks can be found on our front page. Also note that the story is yet to be confirmed from anyone at AMD/ATI.

Thanks to Asian website ITOCP, we can get an idea of how fast the first ATI Radeon 3 series dual GPU graphics card will be. Benching on Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 processor at 2.4GHz and 2GB of RAM, the system managed to score 9573 marks (SM2.0: 4494, SM3.0/HDR: 4476) on Futuremark 3D Mark 2006 set to 2560x1600 resolution. The GPU Core/Memory of this card is rated at 770MHz / 2250MHz (2x512MB). Lower resolution benchmark numbers are not mentioned in the original article.

Still no specs yet unfortunately, but AMD is showing off its Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card at CES. As you can see, the card has been installed in a system, which would suggest its working - to some extent at least.

A picture is worth a thousand words and this one is surely worth that many. I guess this time we're talking about Radeon HD 3870 X2 for real, it's even working in CrossFire mode. The Radeon HD 3870 X2 has two Radeon HD 3870's on board and is set to be released in Q1 2008 if all goes well. The second, third and fourth pictures show AMD's "Spider" gaming platform running AMD 790FX motherboard and four ATI Radeon HD 3870 video cards in CrossFireX mode.