Palit's subsidiary Gainward has a low-profile GeForce GTS 450 graphics card in the making, much like Palit's card. Both these are yet to ship to major markets. In the mean time, Korean website Brainbox.com did a picture preview of Gainward's card, called GTS 450 GOOD Low-Profile. The pictures reveal a neatly-designed PCB and cooler assembly modeled along the lines of high-end graphics cards in which hot air is directed right out of the case. The assembly includes a blower, a shroud that directs air-flow, a large heatsink with densely packed aluminum fins that channel air through, and a heatsink over the MOSFETs.

The PCB seats the GF106 GPU right in the middle. While it looks long, it's only because the PCB is half-height to give that illusion. In reality the PCB is 7.4" long, not longer than the full-height NVIDIA reference PCB, and should fit in most SFF cases that have two expansion slots. The PCB uses a simple 4-phase VRM driven by an ON-Semi controller, there are four GDDR5 memory chips on either sides of the PCB, totaling 1 GB. The clock speeds stick to NVIDIA reference: 783/1566/900(3600) MHz, display outputs include and are limited to one DVI and an HDMI. Power is drawn in from one 6-pin PCI-E power connector facing downwards à la Radeon HD 4870 X2. Gainward's card may charge a slight premium over the full-height cards, for the convenience it offers. More pictures at the source.

Less than a day after releasing the ATI Catalyst 10.9 WHQL driver suite, AMD rolled out the Catalyst 10.9a Hotfix driver for users of the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 and Radeon HD 4850 X2 graphics accelerators. Applicable for Windows Vista and Windows 7, Catalyst 10.9b Hotfix improves performance of the said graphics cards, eliminating a bug that lets the OS make use of only one of the two GPUs.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.9a Hotfix

AMD released an untimely Catalyst 10.8b Hotfix driver specifically targeted at users of the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 and HD 4850 X2 graphics cards on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The new driver claims to improve multi-GPU performance scaling, and improves image-quality in Tom Clancy H.A.W.X. 2 by forcing anisotropic filtering from ATI Catalyst Control Center.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.8b Hotfix

Here are some of the first performance figures of AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 5870 published by a media source. Czech Gamer posted performance numbers of the card compared to current heavyweights including Radeon HD 4870 X2, Radeon HD 4890, and GeForce GTX 285. Having not entered an NDA with AMD, the source was liberal with its performance projections citing AMD's internal testing that include the following, apart from the two graphs below:

• Radeon HD 5870 is anywhere between 5~155 percent faster than GeForce GTX 285. That's a huge range, and leaves a lot of room for uncertainty.
• When compared to GeForce GTX 295, its performance ranges between -25 percent (25% slower) to 95 percent (almost 2x faster), another broad range.
• When two HD 5870 cards are set up in CrossFire, the resulting setup is -5 percent (5% slower) to 90 percent faster than GeForce GTX 295. Strangely, the range maximum is lesser than that on the single card.
• When three of these cards are setup in 3-way CrossFireX, the resulting setup is 10~160 percent faster than a GeForce GTX 295.
• The Radeon HD 5850 on the other hand, can be -25 percent (25% slower) to 120 percent faster than GeForce GTX 285.

AMD reportedly used a set of 15 games to run its tests. Vague as they seem, the above numbers raise more questions than provide answers. The graphs below are clear, for a change.

AMD's Phenom II TWKR 42 quad-core CPU was made with only one objective: to deliver record-setting CPUs to more professional overclockers than thought was possible. Having rolled out at least 100 units, AMD opened a door for several world-record attempts. Some of the most important ones took place at the SF3D OC Gathering in Finland. The new world record the group of overclockers put up was 7.00 GHz. The record was attempted on a DFI LANParty 790FXB-M3eH7 motherboard, and involved (from what the validation page shows) a bus speed of 250 MHz, and 28.0x bus multiplier. Its voltage remains a secret-sauce.

Other highlights include a run of 3DMark06 with the CPU clocked at 6.54 GHz, on a different bench. 3DMark06 tests the stability of this clock speed, as the test includes the CPU test score. The bench was aided by two ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 GPUs in CrossFireX mode. The same bench was used for a run of 3DMark05, with the CPU clocked at 6.67 GHz. This time however, the CPU test was not part of the score.

ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG), a brand synonymous with gaming and overclocking, today presented a host of innovations and products designed to provide users with the ultimate experience in high performance gaming and overclocking. These include ROG's exclusive MemOK! one-click memory rescue tool for effortless and worry-free memory upgrades, the limited edition ASUS ROG MARS GTX 295 graphics card that shatters all existing graphics benchmarks, and the world's most intelligent graphics card-the ROG MATRIX GTX 285. Other highlights include a 120 Hz 3D-ready Gaming Monitor that provides users with an immersive gaming experience, and the ASUS W90 notebook-a mobile gaming powerhouse that has recently set a Guinness World Record in overclocking. With such an impressive line-up, ASUS is once again poised to set the gaming and overclocking scene alight.

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.

AMD is attempting to revive its competitiveness that took a beating with NVIDIA's introduction of 55 nm G200b-based graphics accelerators. The method AMD seems to be adopting is by giving its existing flagship GPU, the RV770, a series of design improvements that facilitate higher clock-speeds, in turn, better performance on offer.

A lot has been said about RV790 till date, with each commentator coming up with a new version of the story. It has been more or less established that the RV790 will be a improvement over the RV770, though not a revolutionary one. Fresh information gathered by PC Games Hardware places a realistic estimate on up to where RV790 is going to push the performance envelope for AMD.

In yet another overclocking feat using AMD's Phenom II series processors, Team Finland set a new 3DMark06 world-record score of 35,698 3DMarks. The team consisted of renowned overclockers Petri "SF3D" Korhonen Sampsa Kurri and Sami "macci" Mäkinen. The team used AMD's DDR3-supportive AM3 platform and used high-performance DDR3 memory to demonstrate its overclocking capabilities. The bench consisted of:

• AMD Phenom II X4 6187MHz (4500MHz NB) under Dragon F1EE pot, liquid nitrogen cooling
• ASUS M4A79T Deluxe (790FX chipset)
• Corsair XMS3-2133 2x1GB DDR3-1800 CL7-7-7-1T
• 2x Radeon HD 4870 X2 830/950MHz with stock cooling
• Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W

As NordicHardware notes, for the first time in ages, an AMD-platform topped 3DMark06 Hall of Fame, crossing the previous record holder by 150 3DMarks. Validations of the score can be found here. A video of the feat has been posted on YouTube, and can be viewed here.

ASUS chose last month's CES event to announce its flagship gaming notebook, the W90. Usual high-end specifications aside, the most distinct component used in it is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2, AMD's flagship mobile graphics platform, which is on the brink of snatching the performance crown away from NVIDIA for the platform. A North American sales representative for ASUS tells GPU Café that the W90 will be available from February 23, which perhaps makes it the launch-date for the Mobility HD 4870 X2. It is also noted that the Mobility HD 4670 will be out around the same time, while Mobility HD 4850 will arrive a week or two later.

XtremeSystems forum member Kinc posted some early performance numbers relating to the Mobility HD 4870 X2, featured on the ASUS W90 with an Intel Core 2 Quad T9400, which effortlessly overclocked to 4 GHz on the notebook's stock cooling system. The Mobility HD 4870 X2 carried clock speeds of 600/900 MHz (core/memory). The notebook used Intel's X38 core-logic. At the said parameters, it was put through 3DMark 06. The notebook secured a score of 20,284 3DMarks at default setting. When released, the Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2 will replace NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX SLI as the fastest mGPU solution, replicating a similar feat by its desktop cousin.

Intel is planning on a newer flagship desktop CPU to lead the Core i7 Extreme Edition pack: the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition (XE). The model surfaced at an XtremeSystems forum thread where overclockers FUGGER and Mikeguava took a shot at the 3DMark05 world record of 45,474 3DMarks, set by AMD at its presentation of the Phenom II X4 processor running at speeds of around 6.30 GHz. The overclockers used a bench consisting of the new Core i7 975 XE, Gigabyte GA-EX58 Extreme motherboard, two Radeon HD 4870 X2 accelerators in a CrossFireX setup, powered by a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W PSU. The CPU was cooled by a custom-made copper cooling pot. At a clock speed of 5,239 MHz and the graphics cards running at reference speeds, the bench cracked the world record to reach 47,026.

During the course of this feat however, we get to know more about the Core i7 975 XE. The new premium offering by Intel comes with a clock speed of 3.33 GHz. It achieves this frequency using a bus multiplier of 25X. Intel built this chip on the new D0 revision of the Bloomfield core, on which the company also plans to release fresh batches of the Core i7 920. Apart from the unlocked bus multiplier and the broader QuickPath Interconnect bandwidth of 6.4 GT/s, other features remain standard: 4 processing cores supporting 8 threads with HyperThreading enabled, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, 8 MB of shared L3 cache, and a triple-channel DDR3 memory interface.

AMD started its marketing offensive against NVIDIA's new dual-GPU GeForce GTX 295, and single-GPU GeForce GTX 285 accelerators, in an attempt to put the Radeon HD 4800 X2 series accelerators ahead of its competition in terms of performance on a "broad scale", and used the cards' availability in non-reference designs as a USP against NVIDIA's offerings using a uniform company-specified design. All this, in an internal presentation leaked to Donanim Haber. As for those wondering why, ATI and NVIDIA have a history of picking on each others' flagship products by means of such presentations, with which they intend to influence OEMs and channel vendors, though it always happens so, that these presentations reach public domains. Viral marketing or something plausible? Find out for yourself:

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.

Bringing the highest levels of graphics and gaming performance ever seen in the PC, SAPPHIRE Technology - the leading innovator of ATI-based graphics solutions - is now introducing the amazing single slot, liquid cooled ATOMIC Edition of its HD 4870 X2.

Featuring a closed loop liquid cooled system, the SAPPHIRE HD 4870 X2 ATOMIC brings workstation class cooling to the PC, enabling faster clock speeds and quieter operation - and delivering the fastest graphics performance ever seen in a single slot solution. Both GPU's in the SAPPHIRE HD 4870 X2 ATOMIC are clocked at 800MHz and each has 1GB of DDR5 memory clocked at 1000MHz, making a total of 2GB of memory on board. The streamlined single slot cooler assembly on the graphics card evenly cools both GPU's and their associated memories - enabling this dual graphics system to run with a high level of stability even when delivering the highest levels of performance - currently the fastest PC graphics available.

A Chinese technology portal, IT168 has conducted a preliminary performance evaluation of the upcoming GeForce GTX 295 graphics card. The card will be a flagship offering by NVIDIA. It will feature two G200b graphics processors. Also provided are the first pictures of the finished product, along with a burst-shot of the card and its cooling assembly. Across several game tests, the evaluation showed the GTX 295 to outperform the HD 4870 X2 by up to 80%, while providing superior power characteristics.

Introducing the Caldera cooling system for AMD HD4870X2 graphics cards from Swiftech. The Caldera 4870X2 is a hybrid cooling system for AMD HD4870X2 reference graphics cards. It is composed of two separate elements: a water-block that cools both GPU's, and a passive heatsink to cool the rest of the components such as the GDDR5 memory, voltage regulators and the I/O chip. The Caldera 4870X2 water-block utilizes Swiftech's proven Diamond Pin Matrix technology and premium copper baseplate for the highest cooling performance. Additionally, there's a built-in white LED that illuminates throught the clear acrylic sides of the GPU water block when in operation. The full-cover water block weights in 411g and has a MSRP of $159.95. It is available now. Inside the package you'll also find 1/2" barbs, (2) plugs, thermal pads, Arctic Céramique thermal grease, mounting screws and installation guide.

SAPPHIRE Technology is now introducing the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2, an exclusive new dual GPU water cooled version of the standard ATI HD 4870 X2 card. Because the article is written in Greek which is not my strongest language, I'll stick to the specs and pics, after all that's all we need. As usual, the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2 comprises of two complete HD 4870 graphics systems on a single PCI-Express card connected by an on-board PCI Express Gen 2 bridge chip. Each GPU has 1GB of GDDR5 memory, making a total of 2GB on-board memory. Core clock speed for this model is 800MHz, there are 2x800 stream processors, the memory clock speed is 1000MHz with 512-bit memory interface. What's so special in this model is the full cover liquid cooling provided by the famous OEM cooling expert Asetek. The water-block cools both GPUs, all memory chips, the bridge chip and all the power elements. Two Dual Link DVI outputs are provided as well as TV-Out. Additionally the card's bundle includes a CCL UV lamp and Sapphire USB memory stick with drivers. The card will be available starting December 18th for a MSRP of $649.

Sources in the industry point out that the 7 GT/s GDDR5 memory chip made by Hynix (model: H5GQ1H24AFR), which was announced earlier in this week, would make it to several major graphics board SKUs by both AMD and NVIDIA. The two companies have chosen TSMC and its 40nm fabrication process as the foundry partner for their upcoming 40nm graphics processors, namely AMD RV870 and NVIDIA GT212.

Both these chips would feature GDDR5 memory bus capabilities, and there are indications of the 7 GT/s DRAM chip being incorporated into graphics boards based on these GPUs. Additionally, there is also word that AMD will be using the said DRAM chip in its current flagship graphics card, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 in the near future. Both AMD and NVIDIA are expected to have taped out their 40nm GPU designs within Q1, 2009.

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.

Gainward, a subsidiary of Palit, has announced the Radeon HD 4870 X2 Golden Sample. The graphics card is identical to the Revolution R700 Deluxe by the parent company Palit, while going with Gainward branding to cater to the company's target markets. Gainward focuses on the Asian markets, where it has most of its influence on. The other subsidiary of Palit, XpertVision, is reportedly being dissolved into the parent brand, as brand Palit has started to have market presence in XpertVision's target market.

The card spans across three expansion slots for its massive cooler. It features two RV770 graphics processors by ATI aided with 2 GB of total memory based on the GDDR5 memory standard. It features a dual-link DVI, a D-SUB, a DisplayPort and a HDMI port. The availability and pricing of this card, is intended to be synchronized with those of the Palit card, they might reach markets at the same time, just that they release in different parts of the world. More pictures could be viewed here.

Palit is ready with what appears to be, a monstrous graphics card based on the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 (R700) design with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, called the Palit Revolution R700 Deluxe. What makes it monstrous apparently is its width that spans across three expansion slots. Under the shroud of the cooler is an elaborate cooling system designed by Palit itself.

The cooler comprises of a large heat radiator, through which several heat-pipes conduct heat from contact blocks for the GPUs, memory, and the PCI-Express bridge chip, with seperate cooling blocks for the VRM area. Two fans of identical sizes blow air on the two thermal zones for the card: GPU and power circuitry. The card boasts overclocking features and company marketed overclocking potential highest for any R700 design so far, while shipping with reference clock speeds of 750/3800 MHz (core/memory). The card is fueled by the usual 6+2 pin and 6 pin power connectors, which are right-angled for accessibility.

The battle for supremacy in the current generation of consumer graphics hasn't calmed down as yet. Just as reports came in of NVIDIA giving the GeForce GTX 260 a boost with its shader compute power by enabling 24 shader units, taking on the Radeon HD 4870, GeForce GTX 280 seems to be enjoying its $420~$440 price-tag. For sure it isn't the fastest graphics accelerator but its compelling price tag is what is drawing buyers away from the HD 4870 X2.

AMD had already announced in its press release for the Radeon HD 4870 X2 launch that it would release a HD 4850 X2 at a roughly $400 price range. That moment seems to be coming closer, when ATI has a graphics card for $399, that outperforms the GeForce GTX 280. Three slides from the company have surfaced. The first one lists out its vital specifications, including its maximum power draw, rated at 230W. The memory bandwidth of this card is 128 GB/s, and it ends up with 2 GB of GDDR3 memory.

If Danger Den water blocks aren't for your taste, EKWaterBlocks is here to offer an alternative. On the same date DD showed its GPU block for ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, EKWaterBlocks also said it will have a full-cover water solution for HD 4870 X2 that weights nearly a kilo (970g) and will be available after 20.8.2008. Typically for EK, there'll be three models of the same block design:

• EK-FC4870 X2 CF - made of electrolytic copper with acrylic glass top
• EK-FC4870 X2 - CF Nickel - base is made of electrolytic copper brushed to look like nickel, top is made of quality acrylic glass
• EK-FC4870 X2 - Acetal CF - same as the first, with the only difference being the top made out of quality POM acetal

The prices for the three GPU water blocks are 109.96EUR, 119.50EUR and 114.95EUR respectively.

Fluid-cooling specialist Danger Den is ready with its Radeon HD 4870 X2 series water blocks designed to provide high-levels of thermal control to facilitate overclocking. The block provides full coverage cooling to the front part of the PCB that holds all the main components. The memory chips on the rear of the cards might still require passive cooling by means of heat-sinks.

CoolIT Systems, the leading innovator in liquid cooling technology, announces the Dual Drive Bay VGA Cooler designed to aggressively cool AMD's new ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Graphics card. The unique form factor enables extreme computing performance for PC Enthusiasts and Gamers. In recent testing, the liquid cooled cards were stably clocked up to 880MHz (13.5% Increase) core clock speed and the GDDR5 memory pushed to 1GHz (11% increase).