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XFX Will Make Fashion Statement with New PSU Line

Paul Lilly — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:57:50 -0500

XFX has been full of surprises this past year. Five months ago, the one time Nvidia partner announced it would start selling ATI-brand videocards, and now the GPU maker wants to start dabbling in power supplies. An increasingly popular segment, OCZ, Corsair, and BFG are all semi-recent entrants into the PSU landscape.

For XFX's part, the GPU maker looks to kick off its PSU line with the XFX 850 Black Edition (XPS-850W-BES). According to a PowerPoint being shown at Computex, the modular unit boasts "high quality Japansese brand capacitors (105C)," 850W of continuous power at 50C, up to 88 percent efficiency (enough to qualify for the 80 Plus Silver badge), and a single +12V rail providing up to 70A, or 840W.

Though modular, the Black Edition PSU will sport a handful of fixed connections, namely a single 20/24-pin ATX connector, both a 4/8-pin and 8-pin EPS12V connector, and two 6/8-pin PCI-E connectors. Modular cables include two more PCI-E 6/8-pin, a whopping 11 SATA connectors, eight 4-pin Molex connectors, and two 4-pin FDD connectors.

Image Credit: Crisp Brand Agency via PCPerspective

XFX Adds ATI's Flagship HD 4870 X2 to Its Lineup

Paul Lilly — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:55:37 -0600

XFX surprised a lot of people when the company announced it would begin selling ATI videocards, and perhaps none more surprised than Nvidia. Formerly exclusive to Nvidia, XFX made its ATI debut last month with five Radeon videocards, the HD 4870, 4850, 4830, 4650, and 4350.

Curiously missing from the lineup was ATI's flagship 4870 X2 graphics card, but that's no longer the case. XFX has just released the dual-GPU card in time for Valentine's Day.

"Love is power, if you’re a gamer, that is," XFX wrote in a press release. "Which is why if you—or the object of your affection—is into speed, power, or better yet, the most amazing combination of both, the new XFX Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 graphics card is truly cupid’s arrow."

Unless your significant other is a hardcore gamer, you're probably better off sticking with diamonds, chocolate, and flowers on the upcoming Hallmark holiday (and don't call it that in front of her). But if she's a true geek, what better way to show your love than with one of the fastest videocards on the planet with a lifetime warranty to boot?

Image Credit: XFX

Confirmed! AMD and XFX Announce Partnership

Paul Lilly — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:11:36 -0600

Less than a week ago, Fudzilla claimed it managed to confirm rumors that XFX would defect from Nvidia as an exclusive partner, but until now, no official confirmation existed. That's no longer the case, as AMD announces XFX is joining the fray of AMD add-in board partners.

"In the world of PC gaming, XFX is synonymous with the extreme performance that enthusiasts crave,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “Their decision to partner with AMD and launch AMD GPU-based XFX graphics cards, including the ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2, widely regarded as the world’s fastest graphics card by technology enthusiasts around the world, speaks to the level of excellence achieved by the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series."

Michael Chiu, Chairman and CEO of Pine Technologies Holdings, makers of XFX graphics cards said it wasn't just AMD's ability to catch up on the gaming front that led to its decision to branch out; XFX also took a keen interest in AMD's multimedia performance.

According to AMD, XFX will kick off its new partnership starting with the Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs sometime in early 2009.

Rumor: XFX to Start Selling ATI Videocards in 2009

Paul Lilly — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:45:06 -0600

Rumors that XFX might be defecting from Nvidia have been stirring for months now, and at the time, Evga was also being mentioned. More recently, it's just been XFX at the center of speculation, and according to Fudzilla, it's a done deal.

"We've managed to confirm that XFX will join the ATI camp at the start of the new year," Fudzilla writes. "XFX won't drop Nvidia products either, but obviously, Nvidia won't be thrilled by this turn of events."

Nvidia might not be thrilled at losing an exclusive add-in-board (AIB) partner, but AMD should be, and rightfully so. While AMD's graphics division has finally caught up with Nvidia in terms of performance, some enthusiasts found their buying decision coming down to brand. XFX, Evga, and BFG all offer lifetime warranties and other end-user perks, and all have been exclusive to Nvidia. If Fudzilla's confirmation turns out to be correct, AMD gains a major player for its graphics division, and one has to wonder how long it would be until Evga and BFG start playing both sides as well.

Rumor: Are XFX and Evga Defecting from Nvidia?

Paul Lilly — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:19:39 -0500

Either Charlie Demerjian is drinking some seriously spiked Kool-Aid, or The Inquirer reporter really is privy to what could turn out to be the hottest story this summer. According to the latest rumor (and this one's unconfirmed), two high profile Nvidia add-in board (AIB) partners are jumping ship. And by high profile, Demerjian's talking about XFX and Evga, two of only three Nvidia partners (BFG being the other) to offer a generous lifetime warranty on their videocards.

As if the rumor wasn't already unfathomable, it gets even more shocking. According to the story, which, again, hasn't been confirmed by any other source, not only have XFX and Evga already defected (The Inq claims "paperwork has been signed"), but they're not heading for the hills of ATI. Huh? That's right; the rumor says XFX and Evga aren't following Gainward's lead (yet another defection rumor), so if it turns out to be true, then where could they be going?

If Nvidia and ATI (and by association, AMD) are out of the picture, than that just leaves Intel. Not only does Intel have the financial muscle to pull off a coup of this caliber, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that it might also have the desire (think Larrabee). Moreover, Intel could also have the motive to stick it to Nvidia, as the two have been struggling to come to an agreement over licensing SLI for Nehalem (look for a Maximum PC update on this soon).

For Nvidia's part, the company has been struggling to maintain damage control over a batch of faulty notebook GPUs failing at an "abnormal rate," the fallout of which has resulted in a tumbling stock price, and the company finds itself doing battle with a suddenly competent ATI.

Still, no company is without its share of turmoil, and without any confirmation from XFX, Evga, Nvidia, or any other news outlets, the unconfirmed rumor is best viewed as just that. Makes you wonder though, doesn't it?

Evga's GTX 280/260 Reimbursement Program Gives Cash Back to Early Adopters

Paul Lilly — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:09:45 -0500

More than a few early GTX 280 and GTX 260 adopters are catching a break thanks to vendors stepping up to the plate with cash back offers. XFX announced it would give its qualified customers up to $120 back in the wake of Nvidia's aggressive price cuts, and Evga has opened up a similar program. Evga customers must have purchased their GTX 280 or 260 videocard between June 16, 2008 and July 7, 2008 to be eligible for the kickback, and those eligible can choose between $75 in Evga bucks or $60 cash back (GTX 260), or $150 in Evga Bucks or $125 cash back (GTX 280). Other terms and conditions include:

Must be a new purchase from an authorized Evga reseller. Step-ups do not qualify
You have 14 days to register and upload a qualified invoice to claim your Evga Bucks
Only customers who purchased the Evga GTX 280 or GTX 260 at the full Manufactured Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) will qualify for the Reimbursement Program

So far this marks two Nvidia partners (that we know of) offering relief to early adopters affected by the quick price cuts, and it's anyone's guess if more will follow. Who thinks BFG will be next?

Image Credit: Evga

XFX Giving Early Geforce GTX 280/260 Owners Cash Back

Paul Lilly — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:54:45 -0500

Being an early adopter doesn't always net you bragging rights. Just ask your neighbor how his HD-DVD player is working out for him, or your co-worker what he bought with his Apple gift card after being one of the first to own an iPhone. And in the world of PCs, being the first to own a Geforce GTX 280 means you're stuck watching others pay $499 for the same videocard you plopped down $649 for just weeks ago.

It's because of this that XFX's latest announcement comes as an epic win for its customers. The company says it wants to "thank you for your loyalty and believing in the XFX brand," and to prove it, XFX is issuing up to $120 cash back for anyone who purchased an XFX-brand Geforce GTX 280 or 260 videocard between June 16, 2008 and July 11, 2008. This from the same company that offers a double-lifetime warranty on all its videocards.

XFX says it will be posting more details in the next few days, and in the meantime, eligible customers are being asked to provide their name and email address.

Image Credit: XFX

XFX nForce 780i SLI

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:35:25 -0600

We knew something was up when Nvidia officials were light on details concerning its 780i chipset during a recent press briefing. Normally quite happy to toot its hardware horn, Nvidia practically skipped the PowerPoint slide on the chipset.
Why? Like Intel’s x48, the 780i isn’t really that new. In fact, those familiar with the 680i are well acquainted with the 780i, which is pretty much a 680i with an extra chip (interestingly named the Nforce 200) thrown in to add PCI-E 2.0 support and a full x16 tri-SLI mode.

Despite this, the XFX Nforce780i SLI is still worth taking a gander at. In the hardware department, it has some nice enthusiast touches, such as a POST LED and surface-mounted reset and power switches, but it’s pretty bare-bones next to the Asus board. While we can see not including 802.11n or the wacky pre-boot stuff in the XFX 780i, where are the eSATA ports?

In the I/O arena, the XFX 780i board features three physical x16 slots. Two slots operate at full x16 PCI-E 2.0 data rates while the third runs at x16 PCI-E 1.0 rates. When running tri-SLI mode, the two PCI-E 2.0 slots are actually slaved to the nForce 200 chip, which plumbs directly into the north bridge, while the third x16 PCI-E is routed through the south bridge. There’s been some criticism of this design, which is a bit like going from your kitchen to the living room by crawling though the bathroom window and cutting across the yard. Can you truly synchronize three GPUs if one has to take such a circuitous route? Nvidia says it’s not an issue because the cards actually do most of their talking across the big SLI bridge that’s clipped to the top of the cards. The board includes bridges for tri- and dual-SLI configurations.

Also supported out of the box in the 780i is Nvidia’s Enthusiast System Architecture, which lets a PC talk to new ESA-enabled smart components such as power supplies, water coolers, and case enclosures. We’ve seen early ESA implementations, and we like it so far.

What is truly a differentiator between the 680i and the 780i is support for Intel’s 45nm Penryn CPUs. Although Nvidia officials initially indicated that they expected quad-core Penryns to work on 680i boards, to the chagrin of enthusiasts everywhere, they were wrong. Due to limitations with existing board designs, the current 680i inventories won’t work with Penryn quad cores, such as the Core 2 Extreme QX9650 or the upcoming budget quad Penryns. For those, you need a board like the XFX 780i.

You’re not completely CPU-safe though. While the 780i supports 1,333MHz Penryn CPUs, it isn’t clear if it will work with the upcoming 1,600MHz FSB Core 2 Extreme QX9770 CPU. Nvidia has been cagey concerning this issue, saying that it can’t comment on compatibility until Intel releases a shipping part. In our tests, however, it’s a no go. Using a 3.2GHz/1,600FSB Core 2 QX9770, the XFX 780i board wouldn’t work even with the CPU and FSB downclocked to a 1,333MHz FSB. Nvidia has a point that it’s still waiting for final silicon to finish validating it, but come on. Aren’t Nvidia and Intel even communicating here? We must note that the QX9770 worked fine with the Asus X48 board.

This is perhaps the most troubling aspect of the XFX 780i board, and the entire chipset lineup. Add that to talk of a soon-to-be-released 790i chipset with DDR3 support and you have a chipset and board that have fairly limited appeal. Although performance was quite good and it erases the performance gap we saw in our January showdown between the x38 and 680i, we’re pretty damned worried that it’ll be obsolete faster than you can say 45 nanometer.