When Toshiba set out to reset the bar for high performance gaming laptops and revamp its flagship gaming line, the company turned to NVIDIA for its expertise in visual computing. The combined efforts of both companies resulted in Toshiba's most powerful gaming laptop to date featuring the new highly integrated GeForce 9400M graphics processing unit (GPU) along with a pair of NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS enthusiast-class GPUs. The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706, the first pair of laptops to incorporate three powerful NVIDIA GPUs, give users a choice between maximum performance and quiet operation.

The P6T WS Professional workstation motherboard is the ideal foundation for a powerful workstation-capable of delivering powerful and dependable performance; together with unparalleled I/O scalability for the most demanding tasks and upgrades in the future. Through ASUS' innovative design, the P6T WS Professional is able to support both SLI and CrossFireX technologies in order to deliver extreme and incredible graphical processing performance. Furthermore, it is also equipped with 2 built-in SAS connectors and 2 PCI-X slots onboard to allow users the flexibility of choice in multiple storage solutions. With such diverse features; and the capability to deliver extreme power efficiency through the ASUS EPU, the P6T WS Professional is a 'thoroughbred' that delivers both performance and improvements in the quality of work.

ASUS is proud to announce an exclusive partnership with NVIDIA in the creation of the most powerful DirectX (DX) 10 motherboard-the ASUS P5N7A-VM motherboard. A showcase of intelligent and innovative motherboard design, the P5N7A-VM features an LGA775 socket for Intel Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo processors and supports the GeForce 9300 / nForce 730i chipset and memory expansion of up to a maximum of 16 GB with four DDR2 800/667 dual channel memory slots. With support for Hybrid SLI, CUDA and PhysX graphics acceleration, the P5N7A-VM promises to be the most powerful DX10 motherboard in the consumer market today.

ASUS, the world's leading producer of motherboards, today unveiled the most advanced and highest performing enthusiast motherboard at present: the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage II Extreme. In keeping with ROG's commitment to producing cutting-edge, boundary-redefining products for the serious gaming and overclocking community, the ROG Rampage II Extreme incorporates the latest innovations and components into its architecture, such as the latest Intel chipset and SLI/CrossFireX on Demand-delivering blistering performance through its support for the new range of Intel processors and multi-GPU technologies such as 3-Way SLI and CrossFireX. To enable users to push the capabilities of the new platform to the limit, the ROG Rampage II Extreme features ROG Extreme Engine, a true multi-phase power management system-16 phases for the CPU and 3 phases each for QPI/DRAM, the Northbridge and memory-with premium Multilayer type Polymer Capacitors (ML Caps) that keep the power supply stable even under the most demanding loads.

The tier-one partners of NVIDIA, namely EVGA, XFX and BFG, sell motherboards based on NVIDIA nForce chipsets, with motherboards designed by NVIDIA itself, with a few exceptions where EVGA improvised their designs. With NVIDIA licensing SLI to Intel, allowing their upcoming Bloomfield-supportive X58 chipset to support the SLI multi-GPU technology, and for $5 per supportive board, it took less than guess work to think NVIDIA's partners would start using Intel X58 chipsets to grab their share of Core i7 motherboard market as quickly as they can.

In a recent press release, NVIDIA counted EVGA in the partial list of motherboard vendors who are working on motherboards based on the X58 platform, and offer SLI support. In the same press release, Joe Darwin, Director of Technical Marketing at EVGA was quoted saying "By licensing NVIDIA SLI technology, the EVGA X58 motherboard will deliver the ultimate 2-way and 3-way SLI platform to, once again, meet the enthusiast's demand." So we beg to ask: Will NVIDIA actually work on a LGA-1366 chipset, or will the new found love with selling high performance chipsets for the mainstream, such as MCP7A, replace it? Only time will tell. In the mean time, and on a rather comic note, get ready for the first EVGA motherboard to support ATI Crossfire X.

The latest NVIDIA beta driver release 180.42, that was reported in the previous article, has just been uploaded on NVIDIA's home page. As promised this version works with GeForce 200-series, 9-series, and 8800-series desktop GPUs and also enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX. This release is compatible with all major Microsoft Windows operating systems, that includes both Windows XP 32/64-bit and Windows Vista 32/64-bit. Hit the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce Release 180.42 Beta

Expreview has got its hands on the NVIDIA Forceware Beta Driver 180.32 and used it to setup and enable SLI with two Galaxy GTX260-216, on an Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard. The cards scored a 3DMark Vantage score of P21623, compared against a single card score of P10920 gives an approximate 98% increase. Currently it is only possible to enable SLI officially on NVIDIA based chipsets, only AMD's equivalent Crossfire system works on Intel chipsets. It is evident that the 180 series of Forceware drivers from NVIDIA (dubbed Big Bang II) not only brings multi-monitor SLI support, but also paves the way to enabling SLI on the Intel X58 Chipset. In another article, Expreview have also mentioned that the beta driver 180.42, will be officially released from NVIDIA later on today, with the final version set for November 17th this year, coinciding with the launch of Intel's Core i7 and X58.

VR-Zone has posted a preview of NVIDIA's 180.10 drivers also known as the "Big Bang II" that will bring multi-monitor SLI support for GeForce owners. The VR article shows what this driver will offer in terms of SLI with multi monitor support and the performance effects of implementing multiple monitors in SLI mode. NVIDIA was supposed to publish the "Big Bang II" driver in September, but that never happened. There's still no release date, but at least now there's a prove that this driver is in development and will hopefully be ready before the end of this year. Check VR-Zone's preview here. If you want to give the early beta driver a try, you can download it here, but be adviced it's for Windows Vista 64-bit only.

Mom may have been able to help you with your algebra, but all the homemade cookies in the world can't compare with the performance features you get with ultimate "mother," the XFX nForce 750i SLI motherboard.

Our motherboard delivers performance straight out of the box, for the ultimate gaming experience. And, the 750i SLI comes with exceptional game support and bar none the fastest multi-GPU gaming platform available in the performance category.

EVGA is one of the elite NVIDIA partners that sells NVIDIA-designed motherboards based on the nForce chipsets, apart from being a leading graphics card vendor. EVGA for one, added innovation to the NVIDIA designs with its own level of enhancements, such as improved capacitors, more number of CPU power phases than NVIDIA's own designs, among others. EVGA brands these higher-grade motherboards under the "FTW" series. If you've spent long enough time on an internet bulletin board, you would know that FTW means "for teh win".

EVGA decided to give its flagship motherboard, the nForce 790i SLI FTW an improvement with its power circuits. The new board, 790i SLI FTW PWM circuitry a digital upgrade. The board features an 8-phase circuit for the CPU. It also provides digital power management. This is said to push up its overclocking capabilities. The board provides vDroop control and onboard power, reset and clear CMOS buttons. The motherboard supports all LGA-775 socket processors including the ones with 1600 MHz FSB. It supports memory with speeds of up to DDR3 2000 MHz. The nForce 790i SLI FTW DIGITAL PWM is now on sale at $339.99, $40 higher than the older nForce 790i SLI FTW.

Apparently NVIDIA has decided to give all Intel owners a big present by introducing the native support of its SLI technology for Intel Nehalem. This information was published first at The Tech Report by Scott Wasson, and comes directly from the final editors meeting of NVISION. According to Tom Peterson, director of Technical Marketing for MCP products at NVIDIA, the company will authorize native SLI support on Intel X58 motherboards without the need of its nForce 200 chip - under certain circumstances. Those circumstances actually include a certification process of every Intel X58 motherboard at NVIDIA's Santa Clara certification lab. Once in the lab, the boards must pass basic testing for functionality, slot placement, and other criterions. After that the makers of these boards must select from a menu of licensing options available to them. Afterward to be certified boards will also be required to display an "SLI Certified" logo on their boxes and other marketing materials. Once the above steps are completed without a problem, NVIDIA will provide the board maker with an approval "cookie" key that it must embed in the system BIOS. The combination of this approval key and an Intel X58 chipset will then unlock SLI support in NVIDIA's ForceWare driver software. The whole process of certification is reported to be cheaper than the cost of the nForce 200 chip alone, which is around US $30. That's the interesting part you need to know, now we wait. The full story is posted here.

The functionality of NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire on the same motherboard isn't something new, we saw Intel's high-end D5400XS "Skulltrail" support it, where it used BR-04 chips made by NVIDIA to support the SLI functionality. Not much has changed with NVIDIA's plans on cashing in on the first wave of Nehalem LGA-1366 processor even though it's not ready with a native chipset for the new Intel chip, the nForce 200 (BR-04) chips will be used on some motherboards based on the Intel X58 chipset, thereby making the motherboard support both NVIDIA SLI technology. ASUS will release a high-end motherboard targeted at the gaming and overclocking community branded under the Republic of Gamers (ROG) banner. This board, according to a recent presentation by ASUS supports SLI and Crossfire.

Derek Yu, responsible for the R.O.G. series, told NordicHardware that the new NF200 is already performing adequately in most cases, and above expectations in other. He also revealed that the NF200 (BR-04) chip is hot (temperature-wise), like so many other chips form NVIDIA, and that ASUS has had to look at a variety of cooling solutions to keep the temperatures at bay.

Intel is readying its first wave of processors based on the Nehalem-derived Bloomfield core which should hit shelves sometime this autumn. Meanwhile motherboard manufacturers seem to be in a rush to bring in supportive LGA 1366 motherboards based on the spanking-new Intel X58 chipset around that time. Intel had reportedly preponed launch of the Bloomfield processors till September. It was then known that motherboard manufacturers wouldn't be able to keep up and would take a little later (as in late October) to deck their shelves with supportive motherboards.

Bit-Tech interviewed Richard Liu of ASUS (read here). It can be read that ASUS would be out with not only Intel X58 based motherboards by the (new) launch date of these Intel processors, but also have NVIDIA SLI-supportive motherboards with BR-04 chips ready by that time.

NVIDIA Corporation today reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2009 ended July 27, 2008. For the second quarter of fiscal 2009, revenue decreased to $892.7 million compared to $935.3 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2008, a decrease of five percent. For the six months ended July 27, 2008, revenue increased to $2.05 billion compared to $1.78 billion for the six months ended July 29, 2007, an increase of 15 percent.

PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

Industry sources indicate that NVIDIA has acquired a QPI license to manufacture desktop core-logic (chipset) for the upcoming Nehalem-based processors. NVIDIA looks at a quick-fix solution to offer SLI support for the upcoming LGA-1366 motherboards. It's too late for them to prepare a full-fledged chipset since X58 is dressing up to go to office and that's slated for as early as Q4, 2008. The quick-fix solution is that NVIDIA offers a certain chip that can be used on X58 motherboards that allows those boards to support NVIDIA SLI. This solution is in many respects similar to the Intel D5400XS "Skulltrail" board, where two NForce 200 (BR-04) chips were used alongside the Intel 5400A northbridge that allowed 2-way SLI. The NVIDIA BR-04 chip costs US $30 for motherboard manufacturers.

As for Lynnfield, NVIDIA will try to debut a full-fledged LGA-1160 motherboard since there is ample time to work on that. The quick-fix ensures that when LGA-1366 X58 does come out, and NVIDIA doesn't have a chipset ready, the advantage of multi-GPU doesn't go to ATI since X58 supports ATI Crossfire and is already touted to support 4-way ATI Crossfire X technology. LGA-1160 boards lack QuickPath interconnect as a chipset bus. Since NVIDIA lacks access to QuickPath technology, it can continue to use its competitive HyperTransport link which it's been using since the NForce 2 days.

Don't expect too many of these SLI LGA 1366 boards soon though. Reason being that each BR-04 chip costs $30, requires motherboard makers to re-design their motherboards (since most vendors seem to be ready with their X58 board designs), and a redesign would push back entry by a few months (for release of these SLI supportive boards).

As of today, AMD is close to over a year and a half behind Intel with the implementation of the DDR3 system memory standard, and it doesn't look like we are going to see a DDR3 AMD platform only until late this year or early next year. Chilian website CHW.net published slides of the roadmaps for AMD chipsets in the months to come, also published are slides refering to the details of the next generation southbridge by AMD, even though the latest entry, the SB700 is only teething and only the latest motherboards with 7-Series chipsets feature this.

NVIDIA is preparing an addition to its GeForce 9 series, the GeForce 9500, slated for a July 29, 2008 launch. This product is positioned at an entry-mid range level, consists of two variants, the GeForce 9500 GDDR3, and a DDR2 model. Early tests prove this graphics processor (GPU) to be close to three times faster than the previous-generation 8500 GT. Unlike the reference 8500, this GPU supports 2-way SLI.

The nomenclature isn't certain yet. While the GDDR3 variant could be named 9500 GT, it remains to be seen what the DDR2 variant would be named. Provided, are images (in order) of the DDR2 and GDDR3 variants, followed by the specifications sheet.With inputs from Hardspell, Images courtesy Tom's Hardware

Corsair today announced the HX1000W power supply unit (PSU), the world's first 1000 watt PSU to be certified under the newly-created 3-way NVIDIA SLI Technology Certification Program from NVIDIA Corporation. The Corsair HX1000W will be debuted at the CeBIT 2008 show next week in Hanover, Germany on Corsair's stand.

Well, really, the title says it all. Everyone buying a 9800GT will get the great and wonderful 3-way SLI technology, should they desire to run three graphics cards in one PC. While the 9800GT does run off of the G92 core, what really sets it apart to allow for three-way SLI is the second SLI connector on each card, and quite a few modifications to the G92 chip. The entire GeForce 9x00 series should be released by the middle of March.

4Gamer, prior to the soon to be announced formally Intel Skulltrail platform, has posted some first look benchmark results. You may consider this as full review perhaps the first full review of Intel Skulltrail, since the system was fully assembled and running with the Intel D5400XS Extreme Desktop Board, 2x Core 2 Extreme QX9775 (3.20GHz, 2x6MB L2 cache) processors, 2x 2GB Micron PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM FB-DIMM, and pair of ELSA GLADIAC 988 GTX 768MB (GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB) in SLI configuration. The Google translated review can be accessed here. Enjoy the system and don't try to calculate the overall price (each CPU is expected to cost USD $1,399).

CHIPHELL has managed to get hold of a couple of NVIDIA's upcoming 9600 GT samples, and as you can probably guess that means only one thing: SLI. The two regular 9600 GTs were benchmarked in a system running with an Intel E6850 processor at 3.0GHz, an nForce 680i motherboard and 2GB DDR2 memory at 800MHz, using Windows Vista as the operating system. By itself, a single 9600 GT scored 10036 points in 3DMark06, but when combined in SLI the two cards managed an impressive 13080 points - over 900 points above the score of a GeForce 8800 Ultra (12142) on the same system. Meanwhile in 3DMark05 the 9600 SLI hit 18805 points and the setup reached over 55000 points in 3DMark03. Not bad for a mid-range card.

Now that Intel Skulltrail is due to be out in the beginning of February, we can confirm this will be the first Intel motherboard to fully support NVIDIA's SLI multi-GPU Technology. Below is a proof picture of the SLI bridge included with the motherboard's bundle.

NVIDIA today announced the industry's first hybrid technology for PC platforms - Hybrid SLI - that addresses two critical issues: increasing graphics performance and reducing power consumption. NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology will be incorporated into a wide variety of graphics and motherboard desktop and notebook products that the Company is rolling out for both AMD and Intel desktop and notebook computing platforms throughout 2008.

While the G92-based 8800GTS is on track for a December 11th release, and NVIDIA three-way SLI will be released at a similar time, neither will be compatible with the other. It would seem as though NVIDIA is trying to keep three-way SLI an exclusive club for the more expensive offerings from the graphics giant. At this point, only the 8800GTX and 8800Ultra are confirmed to work with three-way SLI, and there is the possibility that the 8800GT will be able to use three-way SLI. While three-way SLI may be possible through software rendering at some later point in time, chances are it will be slow and buggy. The main giveaway for the lack of three-way SLI is the lack of a second SLI bridge connector on the 8800GT.