SAPPHIRE Technology, a leading manufacturer and global supplier of graphics, mainboard and multimedia solutions has just introduced a new mainboard developed to support the latest A-series Fusion APU family from AMD.

AMD's A-series APUs combine - on a single chip - a Quad core CPU, interface circuitry equivalent to a Northbridge and a DX11 graphics core equivalent to a desktop level graphics card, and also incorporating a 3rd-generation UVD (universal video decoder) for the accelerated decoding of HD and Blu-ray content, including stereoscopic 3D support. This APU series together with the A75 chipset, which has native support for the latest interface standards, such as SATA 6G and USB 3.0 as well as USB 2.0 and PCI-Express Gen2, makes a powerful combination that delivers all the features required in a state-of-the-art PC.

Gigabyte is constantly revising designs of its already-launched graphics cards. This time around, it's the Radeon HD 6970 WindForce 3X (GV-R697UD-2GD). This custom design graphics card sticks to AMD's reference clock speeds, but creates some overclocking headroom with its WindForce 3X cooler, and a strong VRM on the PCB. The new revision 2.0 packs an NEC/Tokin Proadlizer, which is a high-grade multiphase capacitor, that helps in conditioning the power to the GPU.

Apart from this small yet important change, everything else is the same. The PCB uses Gigabyte's Ultra Durable VGA+ construction, which includes 2 oz copper PCB, low RDS (on) MOSFETs, ferrite core chokes, hand-picked tier-1 GDDR5 memory chips by Samsung or Hynix, hand-picked GPU, and clock speeds of 880 MHz core and 5.50 GHz GDDR5 effective memory. There is 2 GB of memory. Expect the new revision to cost roughly the same as the original.

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY"), a global leader in flash memory cards, USB flash drives, solid state drives, High Speed HDMI cables, computer memory upgrade modules, as well as consumer and professional graphics cards, today announced the debut of an innovative product line of Liquid Cooled Graphics Cards. PNY's new Liquid Cooled Graphics solution will be showcased at E3 2011 from now until June 9th.

PNY and Asetek, a leader in CPU thermal management, have combined forces to launch a high-end Liquid Cooled Graphics solution geared towards gaming enthusiasts. Consumers will receive a fully integrated XLR8 GeForce GTX liquid cooled graphics system, with a combination GPU/CPU cooling version available as well. Engineered with a closed loop system, and built with an Asetek sealed water cooler already attached, the PNY design offers consumers an out-of-the-box ready, simple to install and reliable product.

AMD today launched its 9-Series chipset line-up today, helping PC builders to develop next generation high performance desktop platforms. The company also unveiled its 2011 HD Tablet Platform, based on the AMD Z-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), enabling vivid media display and content creation capabilities for the fast-growing market of Microsoft Windows-based tablets. These new AMD products are designed to enable more immersive digital experiences for the PC and tablet markets.

"As consumer appetites for more compelling, lifelike visual experiences increase, there is greater need for high performance, smooth, vibrant graphics as well as unparalleled computing power," said John Taylor, product marketing director, AMD. "From tablets to desktops, AMD is making powerful computing accessible to everyone."

Club 3D B.V. announces the introduction of the Radeon HD 6750 video card based on the Juniper LE chipset, AMD' second generation DirectX 11 cards. Play the latest games in amazing detail with Club 3D Radeon HD 6750 Graphics. With winning performance, advanced technologies and full second generation DirectX 11 support, you're ready to dominate the competition. Now with AMD APP acceleration you can enable smoother video playback, improve your video image quality and enhance your applications performance.

With the latest UVD hardware on board, it considerably reduces the CPU load delivering and decoding stunning Blu-Ray and H.264 content. HDMI has been upgraded to 1.4a for 3D content making it the perfect choice for a HTPC.

Matrox Graphics Inc. today unveils Matrox Avio Series, a new line of fiber optic KVM extenders for graphics intensive design and visualization applications within the process control, automotive, oil & gas, and government and military markets. The KVM extender transmitter/receiver pair enables users to secure the host computer in a climate-controlled machine room by capturing the system's I/O functionality and extending it up to 1000 meters over a single fiber optic cable.

The feature-rich Avio Series supports uncompressed dual single-link DVI or one dual-link DVI video-at full resolution and frame rate-keyboard, mouse, stereo analog audio, and multiple USB HID and USB 2.0 peripherals, while making available a secondary user to access the host computer from the transmitter unit. Avio's flexible design is compatible with Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix operating systems, allowing IT departments to standardize on one solution for enterprise-wide deployments. Matrox will be showcasing the Matrox Avio technology at InfoComm 2011 in Booth 4063, from June 15-17, 2011.

Here are the first pictures of ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) MATRIX GTX 580 graphics card, this triple-slot single-GPU monstrosity is designed to humble every other air-cooled GTX 580 graphics card in the market. The card packs a NVIDIA GF110 graphics processor with high out of the box clock speeds. It is ready for overclocking and easy voltage modifications. The card features redundant BIOS ROM chips to provide a fallback if flashing the BIOS fails. Apart from one-touch BIOS selection, there are buttons on the card itself that gives you on-the-fly fan control.

The ROG MATRIX GTX 580 comes with out of the box clock speeds of 816/1632/4008 MHz (core/CUDA cores/memory effective), and packs 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory over a 384-bit wide memory interface. The card features a number of ROG-exclusive features such as iROG and fancy illuminated MATRIX logo. The card is powered by a large 19-phase VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. The beast is cooled by a large triple-slot fan-heatsink that uses two large fans to ventilate a complex heatpipe-fed heatsink. Display connectivity includes two DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. There's no word on the availability.

KFA2, the European premium NVIDIA only brand, announced today its launch of the two New Geforce GTX 560 series Graphics cards - The KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 1GB 256bit (standard) and the KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 EX OC 1GB 256bit (Dual flip fan cooler).

The KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 series Graphics Cards are the ideal card for DX11 gaming, are SLI ready and has NVIDIA 3D Vision surround capabilities, PhysX. Produced in a standard model to cater for mass market requirements and a Custom EX (extreme overclocked) OC model to bring the ultimate gaming experience with maximum cooling efficiency using our custom "Dual Flip Fan" design.

With no new GPUs in the works by either of the two main manufacturers, AMD and NVIDIA, this year's Computex event isn't going to be a very big exhibition of graphics cards. Instead, Intel's LGA2011 and AMD's AM3+ platforms are going to steal the show. It does leave graphics card manufacturers some attention, if they come up with something really out of the ordinary. PowerColor wants to be one of them. Flexing its in-house engineering muscle, the company is readying a dual-GPU graphics card that makes use of two 40 nm "Barts" GPUs for a CrossFire on-a-stick solution.

The two Barts chips will feature the BartsXT (Radeon HD 6870) configuration, with the card being designed to offer performance on par with HD 6870 CrossFire, with 3-GPU and 4-GPU CrossFireX support, and lower power draw than two single-GPU HD 6870 cards. The PCB design is the same as every dual-GPU AMD card ever made, there are two GPUs sitting on either sides of a PLX-made PCI-Express bridge chip, and each GPU system having its own VRM. There's 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface per GPU. Power is drawn from two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. The cooling solution is not pictured, but expect a multi-fan heatsink that spits hot air into the case.

ASUS displayed a huge new graphics card based on the AMD Radeon HD 6970 GPU. The EAH6970 DirectCu is perhaps the largest among the company's graphics cards that use a "direct-copper" GPU cooler in which heat pipes make direct contact with the GPU die. Such is the size of the cooler, that the card requires three expansion slots in your system. To make optimal use of the expansion brackets, ASUS wired out all TMDS links from the GPU, yielding a display connectivity consisting of two DVI and four full-sized DisplayPort 1.2 connectors.

The GPU cooler makes use of a large aluminum fin array which uses at least three 8 mm thick copper heat pipes. The aluminum fins are cooled by the airflow of two 120 mm fans. The card uses 2 GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface, it packs 1536 VLIW4 stream processors. The card also seems to be using a 9-phase VRM that allows software voltage control. Power is drawn in from two 8-pin PCI-E power connectors.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, today kicks off the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show with the H67-ITX WiFi - a miniature 2nd Generation Intel Core platform. The ZOTAC H67-ITX WiFi takes the mini-ITX form factor to new heights of performance, energy-efficiency and integrated graphics capabilities.

Equipped with the Intel H67 Express chipset, the ZOTAC H67-ITX WiFi supports the latest LGA1155 2nd Generation Intel Core family processors including 2000 series Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. The ZOTAC H67-ITX WiFi goes beyond the capabilities of the 2nd Generation Intel Core platform and accommodates processors up to 130-watt TDP - above the 95-watts required by the fastest Intel Core i7 processor - for additional overclocking headroom that appeals to the most demanding enthusiasts.

Gigabyte also rolled out a new performance-segment Radeon HD 6870 graphics card that is optimized for overclocking, and is overclocked out of the box as well. The GV-R687OC-1GD from Gigabyte features the company's in-house PCB and cooler designs. The PCB looks to be around 10-inches long, and makes use of Ultra Durable VGA+ construction. The WindForce3X GPU cooler makes use of a large aluminum fin array and three 80 mm fans to keep the card cool.

The GPU is clocked at 915 MHz against reference speeds of 900 MHz, and memory at 1050 MHz (4200 MHz GDDR5 effective). The card features 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface. Display connectivity includes two each of DVI and DisplayPort; and one HDMI. Gigabyte did not announce its price.

Quite some time after releasing the GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock (SOC) graphics card, Gigabyte managed to design a high-performance PCB that facilitates better overclocks for the GeForce GTX 480, under a new SKU, the GV-N480SO-15I. Its most notable features include the WindForce 3X cooler, Ultra Durable VGA+ construction, and GPU Gauntlet (GPU selected out of a performance binning process). The card sports a blue PCB, and makes use of a strong VRM to support out of the box clock speeds of 820 MHz (core, vs. 700 MHz reference), and 950/3800 effective MHz (memory, vs. 924/3696 MHz).

The cooler makes use of three 90 mm fans to circulate air through a large aluminum fin array to which heat is conveyed by heat pipes and a copper plate. The PCB holds a strong 12+2 phase VRM to give the card enough juice for the clock speeds it comes with, plus keep some room for DIY overclocking. The Ultra Durable VGA+ construction gives the card high-grade components such as low-latency memory chips, 2 oz copper PCB, ferrite-core chokes, and low RDS (on) MOSFETs. The card also features two BIOS chips, which are selectable using a switch. Unlike many graphics card vendors that use a similar feature leaving one BIOS holding a high-performance profile and the other holding a failsafe reference clock profile, Gigabyte loaded both BIOS ROMs with high-performance profiles, one holding an SOC profile (with the above mentioned speeds), and another "LN2" profile perhaps holding even racier clocks and/or voltage settings, but requiring liquid-nitrogen cooling to sustain stability. Gigabyte's latest creation will release soon, priced at around 440 EUR.

AMD today introduced the next generation of PC gaming, the AMD Radeon HD 6800 series, designed to be "perfect graphics cards" for gamers by delivering unprecedented game performance starting at $179 SEP. The new AMD Radeon HD 6800 series graphics cards provide more than 30 percent greater game performance than competing products, harnessing AMD's second-generation Microsoft DirectX 11-capable architecture, best-in-class energy efficiency, and an unmatched feature set, including AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology. The AMD Radeon HD 6800 series is available immediately from etailers worldwide.

"AMD is the market share leader by a landslide in DirectX 11 graphics," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD. "Through our sweet spot strategy and our open, industry standards approach, we've worked to deliver the best possible experience for gamers. Today, our laser focus on gamers continues with the introduction of what we think is far and away the best graphics card series today, the AMD Radeon HD 6800 series. With exceptional game performance, an unrivaled feature set including breathtaking DirectX 11 gaming, AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology, AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, and more, the AMD Radeon HD 6800 series will have all gamers wanting to get Radeon in their systems."

Knowing that every organization's computing needs are as diverse as the people they employ, Acer America Corp. is extending its professional all-in-one desktop line for the U.S. market. The newest model is the sleek Veriton Z410G boasting a brilliant high-def 21.5-inch display and full desktop performance. Acer also enhanced its value focused Veriton Z290G all-in-one model featuring an 18.5-inch display with a convenient touch panel and a more powerful Intel Atom processor.

Svelte and simple, the new silver and black Veriton Z410G and Veriton Z290G are attractive and easy to set up. The new all-in-ones include Windows 7 Professional and will be available via Acer's authorized resellers in October with prices beginning at just $599.

HABEY USA, a leading manufacturer of embedded computer and server storage products, releases BIS-6620-IV, a new addition to the BIS-6620 ultra-compact fanless PC family based on the Intel Atom Z5xx processors. It is available for sale to resellers, system intergrators and major online retailers. This new model is integrated with a HDMI 1.3 port with digital audio. It also supports Microsoft's Windows Embedded Standard 7 and compatible with Intel's latest Embedded Graphics Drivers (EMGD). Configured with DXVA support media player, the BIS-6620-IV is the best Intel Atom platform that can take the full advantage of the Intel ultra-low power US15W chipset's GMA500 HD video hardware decode capability, supporting full HD playback of .mkv, .mp4, .mov, .flv and more video formats.

In the view of the demand for an ultra-low power platform with fan-less design strongly inquired from customers, MSI IPC debuts the IM-PV-N based on thelatest Intel Pineview-D D525/D425 processor and the Intel ICH9R chipset to provide the latest ultra-low power platform. With a compact 6.7"x6.7" size, IM-PV-N is designed with rich I/O functionality and has the new levels of performance and graphics for customer's demanding in network security applications such as VPN (Virtual Private Network ), VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol ) and NAS (Network Attached Storage ). Powered by the Intel Pineview-D D525/D425+ICH9R chipset, consisting of the Intel Integrated Graphics GMA 3150 Engine, MSI IM-PV-N delivers high performance and powerful graphics.

MSI IM-PV-N supports 4 Gigabit LAN, and 2 LAN support Bypass function relay modes. With two DDR3 800 MHz So-DIMM sockets up to 4GB system memory, IM-PV-N is for better memory supply. For the storage application, it supports 4 SATA ports. Onboard I/O advantages include 10 COM ports and 6 USB 2.0 ports. Moreover, it features one compact flash slot, two PCI, one PCIex1 slot and one mini-PCIe slot for easy expansion.

ASUS today announced the latest addition to its Fermi series of high-performance DirectX 11 graphics cards - the ENGTS450 DIRECTCU Series. Powered by the NVIDIA GeForce GTS450 graphics processor, the ASUS-designed PCI Express 2.0 card is a gamer's dream come true. ENGTS450 DirectCU performs 20% cooler and 35% quieter with DirectCU thermal technology and overclocks full throttle to 150% faster than reference via Voltage Tweak. The use of top quality components ensures that the ENGTS450 DirectCU Series stays stable during overclocking and durable for long-term use. Plus, the self-designed ENGTS450 DirectCU TOP is certified to deliver 118% faster speeds.

Even as NVIDIA is taking its own sweet time to complete building its lineup of DirectX 11 compliant GPUs to target all market segments, AMD, which got a 6 months' headstart into releasing its lineup, which ended up targeting all market segments in a span of 5 months, is readying the Radeon HD 6000 series for launch well within this year. Just as the Radeon HD 5000 series GPU family was codenamed Evergreen with its members codenamed after evergreen trees (such as Cypress, Juniper, Redwood, Cedar), the Radeon HD 6000 is codenamed "Southern Islands", with its members codenamed after islands in the Caribbean (not islands in the Mediterranean).

"Bart" (after Saint Barthélemy island) is the codename for the performance/upper-mid segment GPU, a successor to the "Juniper" Radeon HD 5700 series. "Cayman" (after Cayman Islands) is the enthusiast GPU, successor to Cypress, and will go into making SKUs that succeed the Radeon HD 5800 series. Finally, the king of the hill is codenamed "Antilles" (after Antilles Islands), it is the dual-GPU SKU that makes use of two Cayman GPUs, successor to the Radeon HD 5970 "Hemlock". AMD partners will be in a position to sell graphics cards based on these by November 2010. The Radeon HD 6970 "Antilles" should be out by December 2010. The lower-half of the family will likely release next year.

Unigine launched version 2.1 of its Heaven cross-platform, cross-API 3D Graphics benchmark. The popular free benchmark application uses the builds on Unigine Heaven 2.0, with two major changes. To begin with, it supports OpenGL 4.0, a 3D graphics API that is technologically comparable to DirectX 11. Heaven 2.1 uses all of the latest features of GL 4.0, including hardware tessellation support. The second major change is the support for stereoscopic 3D, including support for several stereo 3D viewing modes such as Analygraph, separate images, 3D Vision, and iZ3D. Several other stability fixes were also introduced.DOWNLOAD: Unigine Heaven 2.1

BFG Technologies today announced their exit from the graphics card category. The company will continue to sell their line of BFG Tech power supplies as well as their Deimos gaming notebooks and Phobos gaming systems.

"After eight years of providing innovative, high-quality graphics cards to the market, we regret to say that this category is no longer profitable for us, although we will continue to evaluate it going forward", said John Slevin, chairman of BFG Technologies. "We will continue to provide our award-winning power supplies and gaming systems, and are working on a few new products as well. I'd like to stress that we will continue to provide RMA support for our current graphics card warranty holders, as well as for all of our other products such as power supplies, PCs and notebooks."

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announces the new MultiSync PA Series, successor to the critically acclaimed MultiSync 90 Series, by introducing the MultiSync PA241W. Designed for professional graphics applications, this 24-inch desktop display is ideal for digital photography, video editing, print production and any environment in which color accuracy is crucial.

The PA241W continues the MultiSync 90 Series' tradition of delivering crisp, accurate images while adding improved color coverage, sleeker industrial design and enhanced connectivity. The display features 102% coverage of NTSC and 99.3% of Adobe RGB, an increase from 72% in the MultiSync LCD2490WUXi². With a 38% smaller footprint size, the display provides users with more desktop space and decrease costs in shipping and storage. Improved cable management enables simpler setup of the monitor, while its new 10-bit DisplayPort and USB hub add to an already diverse set of input connectors.

NVIDIA today released a new version of its GeForce driver suite. Version 196.21 is WHQL signed, and brings in a number of changes including SLI multi-GPU optimisations for several new and upcoming PC games, updates to the PhysX system software component, and a number of bug fixes as described in the Release Notes documents (for Windows 7 and Vista, and Windows XP). The GeForce 196.21 WHQL driver suite provides system software for NVIDIA GeForce desktop and mobile graphics processors, NVIDIA ION platform, along with Graphics Plus components such as CUDA, PhysX, 3D Vision, etc. A list of changes in the new version is as follows:

• Adds SLI and multi-GPU support for many top new gaming titles including Avatar Demo, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, City Bus Simulator, Dirt 2, Ferrari Virtual Race, GREED: Black Border, Mass Effect 2, Mortal Online, Ninja Blade, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Demo, Planet 51, RUSE, Serious Sam HD, and Wings of Prey.
• Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.09.1112.
• Includes numerous bug fixes.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 196.21 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

World-renowned mainboard and graphics card manufacturer, MSI, today officially released H57/H55 Intel chipset products that offer outstanding performance, effective heat dissipation and remarkable power efficiency and stability. After installation of the 32nm Intel Core i5 and Core i3 processors with graphics cores integrated, ultra-strong display performance and outstanding multi-display capability complement MSI's exclusive OC Genie one-second overclocking technology. This enhances 3D performance by up to 45%, allowing smooth BD movie playback, and seize the advantage while gaming.

MSI H57/H55 Series mainboards with built-in industry leading OC Genie auto overclocking technology: Just press the OC Genie button on the mainboard and within one second; enjoy auto overclocking and an optimized processor. Memory module and chipset setting values give overall 3D performance a boost of up to 45%. Whether users want to watch a high bit-rate HD movie or go online for some head-to-head gaming, both can be enjoyed with image performance that is smoother and lag-free.

Support for the latest generation of Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 takes the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi to performance levels previously unattainable by the mini-ITX form factor. The ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi supports Intel QuickPath technology for lightning-fast communications to high-speed dual-channel DDR3 memory for superior bandwidth and quicker memory access that delivers the chart-topping performance enthusiasts and performance-hungry users desire.

"Since Intel announced its latest generation of Nehalem CPUs, there's been great demand for a mini-ITX platform for the CPUs, unfortunately the power consumption and heat output of the original Intel Core i7 900 series would've been too high for such a small form factor," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International (MCO), Ltd. "With the latest generation of Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, greater energy efficiency and improved thermal management, the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi is able to deliver a mini-ITX platform capable of accommodating the new high-performance processors with no compromises."