ASUS today announced the TUF Series SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0, the world's first AMD-based motherboard to feature PCI Express 3.0 for use with next generation high performance graphics cards. Up to three DirectX 11 graphics cards with 28nm GPU technology can be used via NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX to create desktop PCs with formidable graphics performance.

SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 also features renowned ASUS TUF Series thermal design for superior heat removal. Like all TUF Series motherboards, it undergoes military and server-grade testing to ensure absolute stability, reliability, and longevity. SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 is backed by a five-year warranty.

For those interested in taking Crysis 3 Open Beta (multiplayer) for a spin, NVIDIA released the new GeForce 313.95 Beta drivers, which addresses known issues, and is features optimizations for the game. NVIDIA expects performance increments as high as 35 percent. The driver also packs performance enhancements for other AAA titles, such as SLI and single-GPU performance gains of up to 27 percent with Assassin's Creed III, up to 19 percent for Civilization V, up to 14 percent in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, up to 14 percent in DiRT 3, up to 11 percent in Just Cause 2, and up to 10 percent each in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, F1 2012, and Far Cry 3.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 313.95 Beta

Gigabyte launched the Z77X-UD4H, a new socket LGA1155 motherboard model designed to fill the gap between the $155 Z77X-UD3H and $190 Z77X-UD5H. It is built with Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 4 construction, featuring 2 oz copper layer, temperature, humidity, and electrostatic protection features. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 11-phase VRM that draws power from an 8-pin EPS connector. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (electrical x16/NC/NC, x8/x8/NC, x8/x4/x4, depending on how they're populated). 3-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX are supported. Other expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and a legacy PCI.

Straightaway, you'll notice that Gigabyte did away with the mSATA slot featured on the Z77X-UD3H and Z77X-UD5H. In addition to the two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s ports that the Z77 PCH provides (all of which are wired as internal ports), Gigabyte added two additional 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, which provide two each of internal SATA 6 Gb/s, and eSATA 6 Gb/s. The board features a total of eight USB 3.0 ports, six on the rear panel, and two by headers. In addition to the four ports the Z77 PCH provides, a 4-port VLI-made host controller is used.

Cyberpower Inc., a global manufacturer of custom gaming computers, today announced its Fang Taipan, the most customizable gaming laptop with twin NVIDIA GPUS, 3rd Generation Intel Core Processors and enough memory and add-ons to make the most demanding games and applications sizzle.

The CyberpowerPC Fang Taipan is a laptop beast that wields a lethal dose of power. It can accommodate two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680Ms in SLI mode ; a full range of Intel Core i7 CPUs including the fastest i7-3940XM (3.0GHz) Extreme Edition Ivy Bridge Mobile Processor; and features up to 32 GBs of dual-channel DDR3 memory for gaming at unparalleled speeds. According to CyberpowerPC, this triple-threat marks the absolute pinnacle of mobile computing power.

Gigabyte Technology has today unveiled yet another memory-enriched graphics card, a factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 660 Ti with 3 GB of VRAM (1 GB more than 'normal'). Dubbed GV-N66TOC-3GD, the card features an Ultra Durable VGA design, a triple-fan/dual-slot WINDFORCE cooler, a 192-bit memory interface, GPU Base/Boost clocks of 1032/1111 MHz (915/980 MHz stock), a memory clock of 6008 MHz, SLI support, plus dual-DVI, (gold-plated) HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.

Gigabyte's 3 GB GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC can be found on pre-order priced at 329 Euro.

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today pushes the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti to extremes with the new limited edition ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition goes beyond the AMP! Edition and raises the engine clocks an extra six-percent higher for a greater performance boost in the latest games and applications.

"We wanted to build the ultimate GeForce GTX 660 Ti based graphics card. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition is the result with its 13-percent performance boost from standard versions," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

Following launches of its GeForce GTX 660 and GTX 650 graphics processors earlier this day, NVIDIA released the latest stable version of its GeForce driver suite. GeForce 306.23 WHQL was released for Windows 7/Vista and Windows XP. This is NVIDIA's first WHQL-signed driver launch after GeForce GTX 660 Ti was launched last month. Hence, it includes official support for GeForce GTX 660 Ti, GeForce GTX 660, and GeForce GTX 650. The company also notified that the next WHQL-signed drivers will remove support for legacy GeForce GPUs such as 6-series and 7-series.

GeForce 306.23 WHQL also adds GPU and game-specific performance improvements. Along with the latest patch by its developer, Total War: Shogun 2 will see up to 60% performance improvement with GeForce GTX 680. Performance is also significantly improved for games such as Batman: Arkham City, Dragon Age II, STALKER: Call of Pripyat, and Battlefield 3 (in SLI). SLI profiles were added or improved for a large number of games. The drivers provide early support for applications built with CUDA 5 Preview.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 306.23 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

A list of changes follows.

NVIDIA announced its newest performance-segment graphics card, the GeForce GTX 660. Based on the brand new GK106 silicon, the GPU packs 960 CUDA cores, 80 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. It features a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. The 2-way SLI-capable card needs power from just the one 6-pin PCIe power connector. The card ships with reference clock speeds of 980 MHz core, 1033 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz memory (GDDR5-effective). The card features a PCI-Express 3.0 interface, and supports the latest consumer graphics APIs, including DirectX 11.1. Available from various add-in card (AIC) partners, in custom-design and factory-overclocked models, the GeForce GTX 660 starts at US $229.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched their latest overclocking powerhouse Z77X-UP7 motherboard, featuring the industry's most robust 32+3+2 power design with Ultra Durable 5 high current capable components including 60A rated IR3550 PowIRstages chips from IR.

"With the Z77X-UP7 and its 32+3+2 power phase design featuring Ultra Durable 5 technology, we have created the very best CPU power design of any motherboard available today," commented HiCookie, GIGABYTE In-house Overclocking Expert. "Not only does this help extreme overclockers to reach 7GHz+ on their Intel Core i7-3770K CPUs and take down benchmark records, but it also provides System Integrators with a platform cool and stable enough to withstand the rigors of an always-on, overclocked water cooled system for their customers."

MSI showed off its top socket FM2 motherboard, the A85XA-G65. Based on the AMD A85 FCH chipset, the board supports upcoming AMD "Trinity" APUs in the FM2 package. MSI designed the A85XA-G65 with its Military Class III construction. The FM2 APU is powered by an 8-phase VRM. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory; and two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (x8/x8, when both are populated). Given that it supports both NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire, it's a little strange that MSI didn't name this model "A85XA-GD65." Other expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and two legacy PCI.

All eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the A85 FCH are wired out as internal ports, with no eSATA. Display outputs include one each of DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Other connectivity options include four USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, and 8+2 channel HD audio. The A85XA-G65 features quite a few OC-friendly features, including voltage-measurement points with lead-holders, OC Genie, ClickBIOS II UEFI BIOS, etc. It will be among MSI's first socket FM2 motherboards to be launched, a little later this quarter.

AVADirect, a leading custom computer integrator, has begun offering the AMD HD 7970 mobile graphics card for sale on their website. AVADirect is one of the first outlets to offer the AMD HD 7970M in Clevo P150EM and P170EM gaming notebook models. AVADirect has already begun taking pre-orders and plans to ship out the notebooks with dedicated AMD HD 7970M graphics cards to expecting customers within 2-3 weeks.

As mobile graphics cards continue to shape the way gamers look at mobile solutions, such as NVIDIA's mobile GTX 670 and 675 graphics cards, AMD closely follows with the HD 7970 mobile graphics card solution. As it appears, from data previously leaked and officially released by AMD, the HD 7970 provides a considerable amount of performance over an NVIDIA GTX 580M SLI setup; this is an unbelievable increase in performance, especially with the 7970M being $120+ more expensive than a single GTX 675M. Cost to performance ratio is exactly where an enthusiast wants, and makes it easy to consider over current mobile NVIDIA solutions. Specifications for the AMD HD 7970M can be seen below.

A little later this week, NVIDIA will launch its third SKU based on the GK104 silicon, targeting key performance-segment price points, the GeForce GTX 670. It is possible that NVIDIA will allow AIC partners to come up with custom-designs from day one. One such designs is Galaxy's, which needs no more than one expansion slot in your system. Galaxy's single-slot GeForce GTX 670 appears to use an NVIDIA reference-design PCB, albeit in its signature shade of blue. One could tell so, with the VRM area appeared to be located towards the front, and the PCB appearing to be cutting off at two-thirds the length of the card (where the PCIe power connectors are located).

The extra length of the card is productively used to position a lateral-flow fan. Since there is no PCB, the fan compartment is more roomy, which could mean a bigger fan, with the possibility of intakes on the reverse side of the card. This could result is a slower, quieter cooler. The fan guides air through an aluminum channel stack, with some of the channels being made of copper. It's likely that Galaxy is using a vapor-chamber plate to transfer heat from key components over to the air channels. The portion of the heatsink over the VRM MOSFETs has cylindrical structures, which reminds us of Radeon HD 4850 VRM area.

A little earlier this month, NVIDIA spent quite some money on premium courier to send us a package that wasn't exactly light. On opening it, we found a fun-size steel crowbar with an NVIDIA logo inscribed on it, and a message that read "for use in case of zombies or..." which was pretty cryptic. We thanked NVIDIA for the back-scratching tool, and got back to work. While Gabe Newell made the crowbar a pop-culture symbol, there is only one socially-acceptable use of this otherwise boring tool: opening wooden crates, which were used to ship stuff overseas, before modern containers came to be. One such crate made its way to our doorstep, not floating over the sea, but gliding its way over the Autobahn aboard another expensive "same day" courier.

The top of the crate sure was catchy, which cautioned us of "weapons grade gaming power". Its side had a geekspeak print. "0b1010110010" is binary for "690" (0b is a binary prefix). The other two lines make no sense. Upon opening the crate, and a sheet of foam, there it is, something we'll be toying with for the better part of this week.

EVGA has today officially introduced a fresh pair Kepler cards, the GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature and GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature+ which feature a 5 phase PWM design, 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors (stock models come with two 6-pin plugs), and increased frequencies - 1084 MHz (1006 MHz stock) for the base clock, 1150 MHz for the boost clock (1058 MHz) and 6208 MHz (6008 MHz) for the 2 GB of on board GDDR5 memory.

These two tweaked GTX 680s also have 1536 CUDA Cores, a 256-bit memory interface, PCI-Express 3.0 support, SLI and 3D Vision Surround capabilities, and four display outputs - two DVI, one HDMI and one DisplayPort. The GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature has a price tag of $529.99 while the GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature+, which comes equipped with a backplate, costs $549.99. Neither model is available at this time.

MAINGEAR, an award-winning PC system builder offering custom desktops, notebooks, workstations and media centers has updated their high performance 17" desktop replacement, the Titan 17, with the all new GeForce GTX 675M, and built-in 3D option powered by Nvidia 3D Vision 2.

MAINGEAR's Titan 17 is the most powerful desktop replacement with the latest technology available on the market. The Titan 17 is powered by Intel Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition desktop processor clocking in at up to 3.90 GHz, and the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M in SLI that offers the ultimate graphics for any task. The GTX 675M is 60% faster than the previous 660M GPU and can also be configured in SLI offering up to twice the performance scaling on today's hottest games and entertainment applications.

CyberpowerPC Inc., a global manufacturer of custom gaming machines and Intel's 2011 Performance Client Innovation award winner, today announced it will feature the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 graphics card, the fastest single GPU video card, across its entire desktop gaming PC line.

The GeForce GTX 680 offers the fastest, smoothest and richest graphics experience of any single GPU on the market with its eye-popping visual technologies, blazing performance and superior power efficiency as well as support for multiple displays including NVIDIA's stereoscopic 3D Vision technology.

NVIDIA's big GeForce GTX 680 launch is just around the corner, but performance figures are already trickling in. Last week, we were treated to a wide range of benchmarks covering a single GeForce GTX 680. Today, VR-Zone posted a performance-preview of the GeForce GTX 680 in 2-way SLI configuration. A set of two GTX 680 cards were put through 3DMark 11 in Entry, Performance, and eXtreme presets. It should be noted here, that the GTX 680 cards were clocked at 1150 MHz core, and 1803 MHz (7.20 GHz effective) memory.

In the Entry preset, GTX 680 2-way SLI scored E22878; it scored P16860 in Performance preset; and X6243 in eXtreme. 2-way SLI of GTX 680 should be fit for 2560x1440/1600 resolution gaming. The rest of the test-bench consisted of Intel Core i7-3930K six-core processor clocked at 5.00 GHz, with 16 GB of quad-channel DDR3-2133 MHz memory, and ASUS ROG Rampage IV Extreme motherboard.

Here comes one of the first online-store listings of the GeForce GTX 680. Branded by ZOTAC, this GTX 680 is listed on Dutch online-store ComCom.nl, for 426.20€ excluding taxes, and 507.18€ including it. The store is accepting orders, stating that it will begin shipping in 2-5 weeks. There's practically no quantity limit, so those picking four cards for 4-way SLI, can step right up. The ComCom listing doesn't reveal much about the card, except its clock speeds of 1006 MHz (core), 6008 MHz (memory effective), 2 GB memory amount, and display connectivity that includes two DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. "In winkelwagentje" is Dutch for "Add to cart". Find the listing here.

While rival manufacturers flooded CeBIT with their Z77 motherboards, EVGA has been rather low key and only today decided to give us a look at what it's preparing for next's month's Ivy Bridge launch. Seen below is one high-end LGA 1155 board EVGA is currently working on. There's no name to go with the image (best guess is Z77 FTW) but plenty of specs can be identified like, well, the Ivy-ready LGA 1155 socket, four DDR3 memory slots, 10-phase power, two 8-pin power connectors to 'feed' the processor plus two 6-pin PCIe plugs catering to graphics cards, a PCIe bridge chip (likely made by PLX), and five PCI-Express x16 slots (at least two should be PCIe 3.0) providing SLI and CrossFireX capabilities.

EVGA's incoming motherboard also includes PCIe disable switches, a debug LED, an angled 24-pin ATX power connector, four SATA 6.0 Gbps and four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, Gigabit Ethernet, an undetermined number of USB 3.0 ports, Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons, 7.1 channel audio, and it seems even a Thunderbolt port. Now where's that 'Like' button?

A serious player in the PC motherboard industry, the world's 3rd biggest (in terms of volumes) at that, ASRock is one brand that has accumulated the engineering potential to make anything. It's far from finished with its LGA2011 motherboard lineup, and made sure visitors at its CeBIT booth had their jaws on the floor. Enter, the ASRock X79 Extreme11. This motherboard is designed for not just extremely-overclocked PCs, but battlestations holding their own huge storage arrays. This monster is built in the EATX form-factor.

The LGA2011 socket is powered by a 16+2 phase DigiPower VRM, which draws power from two 8-pin EPS connectors. It is wired to eight DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR3 memory with speeds of over DDR3-2400 MHz by overclocking. The memory areas are powered by 4+4 phase VRM. Apart from the 24-pin ATX connector, and the two EPS connectors, the board also draws power from two 4-pin Molex connectors. The board makes use of Japanese-made solid-state capacitors almost throughout.

BIOSTAR, the world's famous manufacturer of mainboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and computer peripherals, proudly announces the BIOSTAR TZ77XE4 motherboards within the CeBIT 2012. The most frequent word combination in description of the new flagship lineup will be "for the first time" because the TZ77XE4 boards house a great deal of innovative technologies not found even in premium desktop solutions.

The TZ77XE4 boards are based on the latest Intel Z77 chipset, which for the first time incorporates tri-gate transistors manufactured using the 22-nm fab process which, for the first time, delivers a native support for the high-speed USB 3.0 interface and fast SSD caching with the Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT). Fully compatible with the second-generation Intel Core CPUs (Sandy Bridge), the new boards for the first time support the third generation Intel Core CPUs codenamed Ivy Bridge, also manufactured with the 3D-transistors using the 22-nm fab process and designed for the popular LGA 1155 socket.

Super Flower launched its new value 430W PSU that's 80Plus Gold-certified, at an introductory price of 369 RMB (US $58.5). Rated at 430W, the PSU features active-PFC, and can handle up to 10% overload while maintaining over 89% efficiency. It is non-modular, and features Japanese-made capacitors and MOSFETs. It is cooled by a 120 mm fan. Its connector loadout is not revealed yet, though with its NVIDIA SLI certification, one can assume it has at least two PCIe power connectors.

Leaving AMD to deliver on the hardware front, NVIDIA has today rolled out its first official graphics driver of 2012, the beta-tagged GeForce 295.51. This build has support for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 series desktop cards and for ION GPUs, it comes with updated versions of the PhysX software (v9.11.1111) and HD Audio driver (1.3.12.0), and it brings new and up-to-date SLI and 3D Vision profiles.

Windows 7/Vista 32-bit / Windows 7/Vista 64-bit / Windows XP 32-bit / Windows XP 64-bit

When it first made news, it drew some shock and awe reactions from the community. LucidLogix' Hydra Engine promised enthusiasts the ability to mix and match multiple GPUs of any make, model, and generation, a model that threatened to shatter AMD CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI. When it was finally introduced it worked, the performance scaling between identical GPUs wasn't spectacular compared to native technologies (SLI/CrossFire), but it worked as advertised.

A report by Overclockers Ukraine suggests that Lucid is finding hardware-based Hydra Engine technologies obsolete since there's close to zero patronage, and that both Intel and AMD chipsets are supporting both SLI and CrossFire (with some riders). Hydra as a concept, itself evolved to Lucid Virtu and XLR8. An MSI representative told OCUA that the company doesn't have any products in the pipeline that uses Hydra. MSI designed a few motherboards in the past, based on Lucid Hydra.

Rampage IV GENE continues the legacy of Republic of Gamers motherboards by delivering gamers with enhanced performance that places a premium on fidelity and speed. SupremeFX III EMI-shielded audio guarantees better in-game sound, Intel Ethernet LAN and ROG GameFirst technology boost online multiplayer performance, while ROG Extreme Engine Digi+ II digital voltage regulation promotes improved overclocking.

The board further uses Black Metallic capacitors and NexFET Power Block MOSFETs for added durability and heat resistance. Unlike budget micro ATX boards, it supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX.