Earlier referred to as "Big Bang Conqueror", MSI's next top-end AMD platform motherboard has emerged under its final name, 990FXA-GD80. The socket AM3+ motherboard that supports AMD's upcoming FX series processors, is based on the AMD 990FX + SB950 chipset. The CPU is powered by a 10-phase VRM that makes use of tantalum-core capacitors, and SFC chokes (that don't whine), driver-MOSFETs (DrMOS). Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16, supporting NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX; two PCI-E x1, and a PCI.

Storage is mostly care of the southbridge, all its six SATA 6 Gb/s ports are assigned as internal ports; a third-party SATA 3 Gb/s controller handles rear-panel eSATA. There are two USB 3.0 controllers, driving two ports on the rear panel, and two via an angled internal header. Other connectivity includes 8+2 channel HD audio with THX TruStudio Pro support, gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire. A number of MSI-exclusives are bundled, including MSI-designed graphical UEFI setup program (click BIOS), and OC Genie II that is overclocking with side-wheels. Expect the MSI 990FXA-GD80 to be out in mid-June, at a US $175~$250 price range.

Here is the first picture of the M5A99X EVO, an upcoming socket AM3+ motherboard by ASUS based on the AMD 990X + SB950 chipset designed AMD's FX-Series "Zambezi" 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core procesors. The AMD 990X is designed for discrete graphics with up to two graphics cards in CrossFireX. It is likely that the final iteration has NVIDIA SLI support out of the box. The AM3+ Black socket is powered by 8-phase Digi+ VRM, cooled by a large heatsink that sits next to the northbridge heatsink. ASUS came up with a new heatsink design theme. While the P8P67 series uses heatsinks with curvy/wavy fins, the M5A series uses sharp edges.

The AMD 990X northbridge gives out 16 PCI-Express 2.1 lanes split between two x16 slots. When both slots are populated, the graphics cards run on x8 bandwidth. The third black x16 slot is wired to the SB950 southbridge, and is likely x4. Other slots include two PCI-Express x1 and a PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the SB950 southbridge that support RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 modes; a third-party controller drives two additional SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports. We don't know if there's another such controller handling eSATA.

MSI, the leading Mainboard and Graphics Card manufacturer announces an extension of its lasting partnership with Lucid through the inclusion of the Virtu GPU virtualization technology with the upcoming MSI Z68 Mainboards. Lucid and MSI have enjoyed a fruitful collaboration ever since work started on MSI's Big Bang Fuzion mainboard, world's first mainboard featuring Lucid's HydraLogix chip for true vendor independent multi-GPU technology. Today's announcement is a firm indication of MSI's continuation as a leader in computer graphics products and technologies.

Through the integration of Lucid's Virtu technology. MSI's Z68 based mainboards are able to combine the best features of Intel's HD 2000 and HD 3000 integrated graphics such as Lightning quick video decoding and the power of discrete graphics cards such as MSI's Lightning or Hawk series Graphics cards. Utilizing Lucid's Virtu technology allows MSI's Z68 mainboards to have low power consumption during light graphical workloads, like playing web games or viewing videos and give the graphical horsepower you need when playing 3D games.

NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU technology is going through a rough patch on the AMD platform, with very few NVIDIA nForce 900 series motherboards available/sold. With AMD looking to come back strong in the performance CPU market (which might cause high-end gaming PC users to switch platforms), it is wise on the part of NVIDIA to make SLI available to AMD platform users in some form. NVIDIA is making a cautious move: licensing SLI to motherboard vendors in the same protocol in which it licenses them to provide NVIDIA SLI support on Intel 5-series and 6-series chipset based motherboards.

This move is particularly wise because NVIDIA wouldn't need to invest on making a chipset (though it can) for AMD's upcoming "Bulldozer" CPUs, and still get licensing fees for NVIDIA SLI. That way, it wouldn't have to rely on the platform's overall market success. NVIDIA will offer SLI licenses to motherboards based on AMD's upcoming 9-series chipset, particularly to models that lack integrated Radeon graphics (that's AMD 990FX, and AMD 990X). It will offer 2-way SLI licenses to motherboards running AMD 990X, and 3-way/2-way licenses to boards based on AMD 990FX. It won't offer nForce 200 bridge chips. Further, only those motherboard manufacturers that are currently tied up with NVIDIA for SLI licenses on Intel platform, will be granted SLI licenses on AMD platform.

In its 25th anniversary year, Antec, Inc., the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, today announced it has set two new world records on 3DMark06 and 3DMark03, using Antec's renowned High Current Pro series HCP-1200 power supply to simultaneously power four high-end intensive graphics cards with a power consumption up to 1700 watts.

The world record scores of 48,096 marks on 3DMark06 with four Radeon HD 5870 graphic cards in 4-way Crossfire, and a 3DMark03 score of 233,433 marks in 4-way SLI-configuration with GeForce GTX 580 cards were achieved by Nick Shih, current world-wide leading overclocker. Both scores represent the unrivaled overclocking capabilities of Antec's HCP-1200 PSU and how the unparalleled performance of Antec's HCP-1200 is engineered to satisfy the needs of PC enthusiasts and overclockers for high-performance, compatibility and stability.

World-renowned graphics card and mainboard manufacturer, Micro-Star International (MSI), officially launches the most powerful graphics card - N590GTX-P3D3GD5, adopting dual GeForce GTX 500 GPUs with 1024 CUDA Cores and 3GB/768bits GDDR5 memory. Featuring GPU Overvoltage by Afterburner, it can increase OC potential up to 38%. Through NVIDIA 3DVision Surround technology, users can enjoy the 3D games with 3 displays using one N590GTX-P3D3GD5 graphics card; the best choice for the enthusiast gamers.

One of NVIDIA's principal partners, EVGA, released no less than four special edition SKUs for the GeForce GTX 590 graphics card. The SKUs bear EVGA's coveted "Classified" brand extender, which is used on only the most high-end products by the company. First, there's the EVGA GTX 590 Classified Hydro Copper Quad SLI (03G-P3-1599-A2), which is two GeForce GTX 590 graphics cards prepped for water-cooling with HydroCopper water-blocks, packed into one box; next there's the EVGA GeForce GTX 590 Classified Quad SLI (03G-P3-1598-A2), that's two reference design cards in one box; then there are single-card water-cooled (03G-P3-1599-AR) and single-card reference design (03G-P3-1598-AR) packages.

The dual-card (QuadSLI) packages include some EVGA memorabilia, a black t-shirt and a large mousepad. All four SKUs pack cards with the same clock speed profile: 630 MHz core, 1260 MHz CUDA cores, and 864 MHz (3456 MHz effective) memory. The HydroCopper cards feature full-coverage water-blocks. As for pricing, the water-cooled QuadSLI pack is priced at $1,729.99; reference-design QuadSLI pack at $1,429.99; water-cooled single-card at $879.99; and reference-design single-card at $729.99.

Club 3D B.V. is pleased to announce the introduction of the next generation gaming video card. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550Ti CoolStream OC Edition supports DirectX 11, CUDA, and Nvidia PhysX technologies to provide the best experience on your favorite games with up to 3x the performance of previous generations.

With NVIDIA 3D Vision technology you can now use two Gefore GTX 550Ti CoolStream OC Edition cards in NVIDIA SLI configuration to project across three displays with NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology.

PC gaming just got a lot more fun today with the introduction of the GeForce GTX 550 Ti graphics processing unit (GPU) with an estimated e-tail price of £119. The GTX 550 Ti is the latest in NVIDIA's Fermi line of consumer GPUs, designed to deliver stunning DirectX 11 performance. It brings a new level of price/performance to mainstream PC gaming, while maintaining exceptionally quiet acoustics and requiring minimal power.

Like all NVIDIA "DX11 Done Right" GPUs, the GTX 550 Ti delivers the world's fastest performance in its class for DX11 games. Compared with the closest competitive product, the GTX 550 Ti is up to 50 percent faster in today's newest DX11 tessellated games, and 38 percent fasteri in previous-generation DX9 and DX10 games. And with NVIDIA SLI technology, the industry's most scalable multi-GPU platform, gamers will be able to increase their PC's gaming performance by adding a second GeForce GTX 550 Ti.

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY") is set to introduce the newest addition to their line-up of NVIDIA GTX 500 series GPUs: the XLR8 GTX 550 Ti 1024MB graphics card. PNY's XLR8 (ac-cel-er-ate) GeForce GTX 550 Ti Enthusiast Edition graphics card allows you to enter the incredibly detailed world of DirectX 11 for all the latest games. Driving up to 6x the gaming performance of previous generation graphics cards, GeForce GTX 550 Ti transforms your PC into a next-gen gaming rig.

PC Gamers trust GeForce GTX to supply them with the graphic ammunition they need to rule their competition. From NVIDIA 3D Vision to Surround multi-monitor gaming, PhysX and the unbeatable power of NVIDIA SLI -- with GeForce GTX you know you are well armed. The new GTX 550 Ti graphics card offers tremendous gaming power at a sub-$150 price point, as well as a Lifetime Warranty.

The dust seems to have settled down, after AMD's launch of the Radeon HD 6990, extending the red-team's performance lead previously held precariously by the Radeon HD 5970, to the GeForce GTX 580. It looks like NVIDIA will challenge the performance leadership with GeForce GTX 590, a dual-GPU graphics card that uses two GF110 GPUs (the ones on GTX 570 and GTX 580), for an SLI-on-a-stick solution. Rumors of NVIDIA working on this card became concrete as early as in November 2010, when NVIDIA's reference board became public for the first time.

Latest reports suggest that NVIDIA has chosen March 22 as the launch day of GeForce GTX 590. Incidentally, that is also the launch date of EA/Crytek's much-hyped, initially DirectX 9 action/shooter game, Crysis 2. GeForce GTX 590 uses two GF110, though the shader configuration and clock speeds are not known. Since NVIDIA is chasing the top-spot, you can expect the most optimal configuration for the GF110s. A total of 3 GB (1536 MB per GPU system) on board, and NVIDIA's workhorse PCI-E bridge, nForce 200 will be the traffic cop and radio station between the two GPUs. The card will be able to do 3DVision Surround (NVIDIA's multi-display single head technology comparable to ATI Eyefinity) on its own, without needing a second card.

Overclockers Elmor and kinc last gathered to set a singl-card 3DMark Vantage world record, the duo and SF3D got together in Sweden to set another record, of the highest multi-GPU 3DMark Vantage score with a single processor. Vantage multi-GPU records are lead by multi-processor (dual LGA1366) setups. The team achieved a Vantage score of P75892 points. For this feat, the team used a single Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition processor 6213 MHz (177.5 MHz x 35.0) with all cores and threads enabled, backed by 4 GB of dual-channel memory by ADATA clocked at 887.5 MHz (actual), running on ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard with ROG Xpander to enable 4-way SLI capability.

Leading the graphics department were four ASUS GTX 580 DirectCu graphics cards clocked at 1105/1301/2210 MHz (core/shader/memory). The setup was powered by two Antec HCP 1200W PSUs. Liquid nitrogen cooling was the weapon of choice, the CPU was cooled by SF3D OC Inflection Point LN2 evaporator, and four Kingpin Tek-9 6 Slim evaporators for the graphics cards.

World-renowned mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI has released the latest board to support Inte's Sandy Bridge processors and aimed towards enthusiasts: the P67A-GD80 (B3) mainboard. Utilizing MSI's various P67's exclusive specifications and technologies, such as the Military Class II Components standard which symbolizes high quality and stability, the comprehensive OC Genie II one-touch overclocking system, the uEFI-based ClickBIOS technology, and the SuperCharger function that provide mobile devices with the optimal charging. It also has a built in 12 phase DrMOS power supply and 3 sets of PCI-E x16 2.0 expansion slots, providing a more stable power supply for overclocking and for support up to a maximum of three-way multi-GPU computing.

Thermaltake, leading computer DIY components brand, introduces the brand new TR2 Bronze series of mainstream power supplies. With the 80 Plus Bronze certification these power supplies offer up to 88% efficiency and the 99% Active Power Factor Correction guarantees lowest power loss. The TR 2 Bronze series comes in six wattage models thereby catering to individual user needs. The 380W, 450W 500W, and 600W models are specifically targeting mainstream setups, while the TR2 700W and 800W models are certified for 2-way NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFireX supporting more demanding enthusiast and gaming configurations.
The entire series use a dedicated single 12V rail with built-in PCI-E 6pin and PCI-E 6+2pin connectors for support of all high end graphic cards available on the market today.

Colorful, one of the biggest AICs in Asia, announces their new product - a single-slot GTS450, named iGame450-1024M Buri-SLIM. We had seen the PCB of this item before, which quipped 3+1 phases VRM, all high-C POSCAP capacitors onboard, and driven by ONSENMI MOSFET. And the chocks attract many peoples' eyes- they are threaded installed on the PCB. And also, the PCB is ventilated, so it could improve the thermal performance for the components on the PCB.

Today, we are glad to see Colorful announces the full sample. The card uses a cooper base radiator. The air is leaded to left-top side by the vents which are tightly installed on the cooper base, and the exhaust will be radiated from the vents on the cooler cover and top side.

NVIDIA today announced that NVIDIA SLI technology has been licensed by the world's leading motherboard manufacturers -- including Intel, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and EVGA -- for use on their Intel P67 Express Chipset-based motherboards designed for the upcoming Intel Sandy Bridge processors.

As a result, customers who purchase a SLI-certified P67-based motherboard and a Sandy Bridge processor can equip their PCs with a single or a dual combination of NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, including the recently released GeForce GTX 580 GPU and GTX 570, the world's fastest DX11 GPUs. 3-way SLI is also available on supported platforms.

Antec, Inc., the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, today announced its newest premium line of consumer power supplies, the High Current Pro series. Available in four 80 PLUS Gold certified models, the High Current Pro series boasts unrivaled server-grade efficiency and reliability for powering the most demanding system builds.

The High Current Pro series uses a one-of-a-kind high-performance full-bridge topology for a higher DC-to-DC voltage regulator module working frequency that stabilizes output voltage, making the system more reliable and energy-efficient, and features none of the annoying pitch noise typically found in higher-power 80 PLUS Gold certified PSUs.

Galaxy is working on a new GeForce GTX 460 graphics card that uses a single-slot cooling solution. The company earlier surprised many, when it unveiled a single-slot GeForce GTX 470. Galaxy's new single-slot GTX 460 bears a long PCB, and a cooling solution that looks to make lavish use of copper. It also doesn't compromise on the clock speeds in any way, with the GPU running at 675 MHz, and memory at 900/3600 MHz effective. There is 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. The 40 nm GF104 core is DirectX 11 compliant, and has 336 CUDA cores enabled on this card. The card draws power from two 6-pin power inputs. It is SLI capable. Galaxy didn't give out details about pricing and availability, importantly if it will be available to the western markets in the first place.

Zotac is another NVIDIA partner who isn't pleased that the GeForce GTX 480 isn't holding performance leadership, but has the engineering potential to outdo it. Earlier in June, Galaxy showed off a dual Fermi graphics card that makes use of two GF100 graphics processors in the GeForce GTX 465 configuration. Zotac waited for a more mature implementation of the Fermi architecture, found out that the GF104-based GeForce GTX 460 isn't lacking much in performance compared to the GTX 465, with vastly better thermal specifications, and went on to design its latest high-end card, which it now refers to as the Zotac GeForce GTX 460 X2. The card makes use of two GeForce GTX 460 1 GB GPUs in an internal SLI, much like every other dual-GPU NVIDIA card.

The card uses an NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chip to semaphore and broadcast data between the two GPUs, a dual 3+1+1 phase VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCI-E power connectors, and display connectivity is relayed to the rear-panel from both the GPUs, that's four dual-link DVI, and one mini-HDMI. What this also means is that with just this one card, you can use the 3D Vision Surround feature, while retaining SLI multi-GPU scaling. If that's not all, there's a SLI connector, which lets you pair this with another card of its kind, for GTX 460 Quad-SLI. Zotac is yet to finalize a cooling solution to suit it best. GF104 could be NVIDIA's easiest route to a dual-GPU graphics card that establishes performance leadership. The GF104 physically has 384 CUDA cores (336 on Zotac's card, since it's in the GTX 460 configuration), and has shown to be capable of high GPU/Shader clock speeds. More details about Zotac's card are awaited.

KFA2, the new European premium brand of Galaxy, announced today its launch of two next generation enthusiast graphics card products; the KFA2 GTX 460 SLI pack, aimed at the 3D gamer and the first energy saving KFA2 GTX 460 Green Edition.

The KFA2 GeForce GTX 460 SLI pack is the perfect dual card bundle to give you all of the tools you need to immerse yourself into the new dimension of 3D Gaming. Packed with 2X GTX 460's, this will not only give you the performance that you need, but with amazing DirectX 11 tessellation performance. The GeForce GTX 460 packs highly detailed visuals into your games - without sacrificing high frame rates and with NVIDIA 3D Vision, PhysX, and CUDA technologies, the GeForce GTX 460 powers all of the incredibly realistic effects that your games can throw its way.

Well placed sources seem to have finally pieced together specifications of NVIDIA's GeForce GTS 450 graphics card, the company's mid-range offering that competes with ATI Radeon HD 5700 series products. In the run up to this, we've come across reports showing that the SKU is based on a GPU codenamed GF106, then we came across NVIDIA reference design PCB drawings, followed by clock speeds, and finally, pictures of the GPU itself revealing quite a bit about the die size. The most recent report affirms the specs we know till now, plus revealed the CUDA core count, which is 192. The CUDA cores are clocked at 1566 MHz, and that the memory is clocked at 902 MHz (3608 MHz effective).

So as a quick recap of the tech specs of the GeForce GTS 450, it's based on the new 40 nm GF106 silicon, the die area is roughly 240 mm². The GPU has 192 CUDA cores, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 789 MHz, and memory at 902 MHz (3608 MHz effective), translating into 57.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth, CUDA cores at 1566 MHz. It supports 2-way SLI, and gives you access to the latest PC graphics technologies, including support for DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.x, along with support for a wide range of NVIDIA-exclusive technologies. NVIDIA's GeForce GTS 450 will be released by mid-September.

Thermaltake, the world's leading brand in performance PC chassis, high-efficiency power supplies and innovative DIY computer peripherals, is proud to announce the world's one and only NVIDIA certified full-tower chassis for next-generation ultra-high performance graphics cards, the Thermaltake Element V NVIDIA Edition with support for the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 GPUs. With the additional support for eATX form factor motherboards users enjoy a maximum of expandability for future upgrades.

Thermaltake, the world's leading brand in performance PC chassis, high-efficiency power supplies and innovative DIY computer peripherals, is proud to announce the world's one and only NVIDIA certified full-tower chassis for next-generation ultra-high performance graphics cards, the Thermaltake Element V NVIDIA Edition with support for the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 GPUs. With the additional support for eATX form factor motherboards users enjoy a maximum of expandability for future upgrades.

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd. launches the PC-8FI mid tower series. The hair-line brushed all-aluminum chassis is positively sexy and available in a red spider-edition, as well as black and silver, taking looks to a new level. Lian Li's signature tool-less installation features and customization capabilities make the PC-8FI series a must have for the gaming enthusiasts and professional gamers.

The same fan design is used for all three models with two 120mm @1200rpm intake fans on the front panel and one 120mm @1200rpm exhaust fan mounted on the back panel. All the fans have anti-vibration mountings. Additionally, the top panel offers users one 140mm fan hole, should they desire to mount an additional fan. The red spider-edition's side panel features a large, spider-shaped, transparent window, exposing the interior of the chassis and the rear panel's exhaust fan, lit with red LEDs. On the black edition's front panel, the intake fans are lit with blue LEDs.

The MSI Big Bang-XPower is making its much anticipated debut in April of this year. MSI, a leading mainboard and graphics card maker, with over 23 years of R&D and manufacturing experience, has made its name catering to performance-hungry gamers. The Big Bang-XPower is another exceptional mainboard from the Big Bang series with astonishing performance and reliability. MSI is confident that the Big Bang-XPower will again be selling like hotcakes to users worldwide.

MSI's Big Bang-XPower mainboard is built with Military Class components that includes a Hi-c CAP (highly-conductive polymerized capacitor), Solid Cap (solid capacitor), and Icy Choke for longer lifespan, better thermal reliability, and stability. The Hi-c CAP has excellent physical properties of thermally stable, reliable, performs under stress, and lasts 8X longer than traditional solid capacitors. Icy Choke is a new generation ferrite choke that features low temperature and longer lifespan. Military Class Solid CAP lasts longer than traditional capacitors, up to 10 years of lifespan. All these Military Class components add up to a stable and long lasting mainboard that will keep running even under high stress conditions.

NVIDIA released its latest version of the GeForce driver suite, version 197.55, specific to the GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards. The WHQL-signed drivers don't announce any more changes than a major feature change - official support for 4-way SLI on both GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470. The drivers only work with GeForce 400 series products. No Release Notes documents were published along with the drivers.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 197.55 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit