GIGABYTE plans to introduce its latest NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP chipset based motherboard, the GIGABYTE N680SLI-DQ6 by the end of January 2007. Designed specially for enthusiasts and gamers, this motherboard has All-Solid Capacitors, Quad-Triple phase power, Quad BIOS and Quad Gigabit LAN, the first one to have four Gigabit LAN cards. Other features include Silent-Pipe2 and Crazy Cool2 technology by newly design Triple-Heat pipe, 3x PCIe slots (two x16 + one x8) for SLI+ Physics, 4x eSATA2 ports, 8 channel Realtek ALC888DD High Definition Audio.

The first AMD/ATI graphics chip is about to be delayed again because of serious problems. The last revision of the prototype chip - upon which a certain "pre-review" is based - suffers from problems which are serious enough to get another re-spin. This re-spin puts a hold on the launch for another couple of weeks, and now R600 is looking like an early March launch, probably the week before SnowBIT in Hangover. However, AMD/ATI is making severe changes to the whole line up and when the card is finally ready to roll, it promises to shock the 3D industry with performance. Just remember this is not official, it's a "somebody told me" story by theINQ.

We reported just a few days ago that Level505.com had posted benchmarks of test samples of the R600. However, there is a good chance that those benchmarks were doctored. For one thing, if AMD had released test samples of it's next graphics card, the R600 series, there would have been a press release. The website had went online just before releasing those benchmarks, there were no pictures of the R600, and there was some odd benchmark data (like a strangely slow G80 in Oblivion). Basically, The entire thing just doesn't look official, and looks more like a marketing gimmick in favor of AMD's R600.

Newly created site Level 505 has leaked benchmarks and specifications of AMD's upcoming ATI R600 graphics processor expected in January 2007. Some of ATI's R600 preliminary specifications are: 64 4-Way SIMD Unified Shaders, 128 Shader Operations/Cycle, 512 bit Memory Controller, full 32 bit per chip connection, GDDR3 at 900 MHz clock speed (January)- total bandwidth 115 GB/s, GDDR4 at 1.1 GHz clock speed (March, revised edition)- total bandwidth 140 GB/s, consumer memory support 1024 MB, DX10 full compatibility with draft DX10.1 vendor-specific cap removal (unified programming), 230W TDP PCI-SIG compliant, CrossFire support. Click here to read all twelve pages of the article posted on Level 505.

Apple recently patented a wireless "hybrid" mouse that would lower power consumption. It would be a low powered mouse by only turning on the optical tracking feature when absolutely necessary, leaving a manual scroll wheel to do the rest to save power, making the mouse "hybrid". It would use bluetooth tech to be a wireless mouse. There is no mention on how Apple plans on deploying the mouse (replacing the current Macintosh mouse with this one or selling it as an extra), and there is no specified release date.

AMD's first chipset with integrated DX10 graphics has some very impressive features. Among them, the most important are...

• 52 PCI Express lanes, enough for 3 x16 slots and 1 x4 slot.
• HTX Support.
• Hypertransport 3.0 ready, meaning support for AM2+ and Socket F processors from AMD.
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet.
• Independant mainboard cache which should lower latencies and improve bandwidth.

AMD's RD790 should be released in 2007.

While NVIDIA has had some trouble getting into the entry-level GPU market in the past, the company should have some better luck this time. The G84 series will be the first entry level DX10 GPU, set to replace the 7300 series as a graphics card for people who do not want to spend a fortune on graphics. It has an unknown level of pipelines, but it will be a stripped down version of the G80. The G84 will support Shader Model 4, have unified shaders and be fully compatible with SLI. The G84 should be announced at CeBIT in March.

Jimmy Sales, the founder of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, is planning a search engine called Wikiasari to compete with search giant Google. It will use a similar theme to Wikipedia by relying on volunteers to fine tune search results so they suit everyone better. Users will have the ability to re-rank search results and change the order in which they appear in. By collecting how the majority of users change results, Wikiasari will then decide the order in which results are shown to everyone else. Google controlled 49.5% of searches in December this year, so the competition from them will be fierce, but Wikipedia was a huge success.

Sapphire Technology, a leading manufacturer of ATI graphics cards, has a new card nicknamed The Godfather. The card features two X1950pro graphics processing units and has been built to the 9" riser board standards, utilising a single 16x PCI-Express slot. According to Sapphire, this card performs similarly to two X1950pros in Crossfire. If the card uses the same speeds as standard X1950pros then it can be expected to have core speeds of 575MHz and memory at 700MHz, although this might be reduced if there are heat issues. The card appears to be crossfire capable, so it is likely that two of them could be used together for "Quad-Crossfire".

In an interview with CVG, Phil Harrison - Sony's head of Worldwide Studios - has admitted that he wouldn't guarantee a March launch for the Playstation 3 in Europe. Although Sony quickly issued a statement to say that it would be ready on time, this has still lead to speculation about the console's release date. A launch by April is still likely, however CVG claim that a source has told them the PS3 won't be available in Europe until September 2007 due to component shortages. People needn't worry yet because this is only a rumour, but Phil Harrison's comment would suggest that Sony themselves aren't sure when it will be ready.

Yet more news about the Wii. Apparently spring 2007 could wield a "re-launch" of Nintendo's latest console. This isn't anything to get too excited over though - by re-launch they mean a new price tag of $200 (down from $250) and the introduction of some new colors. Although it's been no secret that Nintendo was planning different variations of the Wii this is the first suggestion that's been given of when they will be released. However, this data does not come from Nintendo directly but from a Toys 'R Us manager, so it could be unreliable, but it does sound quite possible.

This year, Intel boasted at IDF about being the only company shipping 65nm chips. This is about to change.

The Inquirer reports that system integrators already have their hands on AMD's 65nm X2 CPUs. They have been shipping for 2 weeks already. The CPUs will be available to the public early 2007, yet they will be nothing more than a re-designed 90nm part.

If you're lucky, you could find one of these in an assembled HP or Dell AMD machine this year.

Below is a picture of AMD's 65nm X2 CPU:

Both Corsair and OCZ have new 4GB dual-channel kits, consisting of 2x 2GB sticks, in the works. Early products are expected to run at DDR2-667, but we will see DDR2-800 chips eventually.

The memory will be intended for those that plan to multi-task a lot. The 64-bit version of Windows Vista will be capable of addressing all this memory. Sounds like an ideal match for Intel's Quad-core CPUs.

Probably all of us are eagerly awaiting the R600 from ATI. The news floating on the internet is mixed - some report that the chip runs cool and doesn't draw a lot of power, while others tell us the contrary.

Hexus.net managed to find out some information about how ATI plans to cool the chip. Apparently, NanoFoil technology will be used. The technology works by having ultra-thin nanolayers of aluminium and nickel that can be controlled by heat, electricity or mechanical or optical stimulation, causing a reaction that gives off heat in a controlled fashion. The technology has been around since 2003, but hasn't yet been used to cool computer components.

Information on Apple's iPhone leaked

Some specs from about the upcoming Apple iPhone have found their way onto the internet. The Inquirer has a link to a video supposedly discussing the new iPhone and some of its features. The most important details you might be interested in are that it will have independent batteries for both the phone and MP3 player, a touch screen and 4GB and 8GB versions priced at $249 and $449 respectively.

While there were initially predictions about low GDDR4 yields and high costs, AMD has announced that they will only put GDDR4 memory in the R600 series. The R600 series will also be compatible with Stream computing (maybe even a second version).