Posted 10/12/09 at 03:41:00 PM by Paul Lilly

One thing's for sure - no one can accuse BFG of jumping into the gaming notebook market half-assed. On the contrary, BFG, best known for it's lineup of GPUs, today announced the Deimos X-10 SLI gaming laptop that looks as sexy as its spec sheet.

"The Deimos X-10 SLI notebook is perfect for gamers and media enthusiasts who demand desktop performance but prefer the portability of a notebook," said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. "Deimos X-10 comes fully locked and loaded to deliver the ultimate HD mobile gaming and multimedia experience."

The Deimos X-10 sports a spacious 18.4-inch full HD widescreen display, and underneath the hood, users can choose between an Intel Core 2 Duo, Quad, or Extreme processor. Up to two NVidia GTX 280M graphics cards come configurable to get your mobile SLI groove on. Other specs include an optional Blu-ray drive, full size keyboard with 8 touch sensor instant keys, up to 1.5TB of storage space (SSD or HDD), up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, 8 macro gaming keys, 2MP webcam, HDMI output, four USB ports, and more.

BFG says its new notebook will start shipping on October 30, but those who preorder before then will receive 10 percent off their order. Pricing starts at $1,860.

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Posted 09/03/09 at 08:30:40 AM by Paul Lilly

Running a pair of dual-GPU GTX 295 videocards gives gamers quad-SLI bragging rights, but if you're really serious about driving Crysis cranked up on your swank 30-inch display, EVGA's new 4-way motherboard might be just what you're looking for.

EVGA's X58 Classified 4-Way SLI board supports up to four videocards and coincides with the company's 4-way compatible GTX 285 Classified videocard. Currently the fastest single-GPU videocard on the planet, four GTX 285 cards should trump two GTX 295 cards in just about any situation.

All that design decadence comes at the cost of case real estate and you'll need a chassis that supports the XL-ATX form factor. Measuring 13.5 inches by 10.3 inches, EVGA warns you'll need a case with 9 or more expansion slots, or handy modding skills.

The 4-way board is available for pre-order now for $450 direct from EVGA.

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Posted 08/18/09 at 09:44:18 AM by Paul Lilly

Three years from now, two-thirds of all new desktop systems will be mutli-GPU capable and of those, 30 percent will be rocking multiple graphics chips. Or at least that's the not-too-distant future Jon Peddie Research Group (JPR) laid out last week in a report on the history, technology, and future of multi-GPU computing. But are we really on the verge of widespread multi-GPU computing?

Not so fast, says Arstechnica. The JPR report points to the desire for high performance computing as the driving force for multi-GPU setups, noting high performance workloads are highly parallel and unsuited for CPU applications. But according to Arstechnica, JPR hasn't thought through the manufacturing angle.

"GPUs are composed of many parallel processing units, so any multi-GPU system involves simply ganging together still more of such small, simple processor cores," Arstechnica writes. "Because the cores are small and the workload is parallel, there is no limit on core count analogous to the limit on the number of processors that can profitably be used in a single x86 CPU. The limits on single-die GPU horsepower are manufacturing limits."

But it's not just about manufacturing. As Ars points out, only two percent of all desktop PCs sold last year came with multiple GPUs, and in Q4 of last year, only 15.2 million out of 38.5 million PCs sold came with even a single discrete graphics card. It's hard to imagine such a dramatic shift towards multiple GPUs in just three short years from now.

There's more to Ars' argument, which you can read here.

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Posted 08/17/09 at 01:20:16 PM by Paul Lilly

You can finally find Nvidia's dual-GPU GTX 295 videocards in stock at pretty much any e-tailer who carries the part, but if you've waited this long, you might want to consider holding out a few more months. According to the latest rumblings, Nvidia plans to replace the flagship part with a dual GT300 card.

News and rumor site Fudzilla claims to have confirmed the rumor, but other details, including exactly when it will ship, remain sparse. If all goes to plan, Nvidia might have a demo ready in late Q4 2009 and start shipping in January 2010, but that remains to be seen.

The new card will apparently be DirectX 11 compatible and built to run parallel processing CUDA, DirectX compute, or OpenCL. It will also go toe-to-toe with AMD's upcoming dual RV870 card.

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Posted 08/11/09 at 11:20:29 AM by Paul Lilly

Nvidia on Monday announced that Intel and leading motherboard manufacturers have licensed the graphic chip maker's SLI technology for use in Intel's P55 Express chipset. This will include boards from Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte, and MSI.

"Nvidia technology is a perfect complement to the processing prowess of our new Core i7 and Intel DP55KG desktop brand," said Clem Russo, VP and General Manager of Intel Client Board Division. "Nvidia and Intel share a combined passion for furthering the PC as the definitive platform for gaming, and this combination will surely be attractive to anyone building or purchasing a brand new PC this fall."

By adding the P55 chipset under SLI's licensing umbrella, SLI is now available for all consumer PC platforms, including the Intel Core i7, Core i5, Core 2 Quad, and Core 2 Duo processor, in addition to those based on the AMD Phenom II CPU, Nvidia points out.

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Posted 07/24/09 at 08:30:45 AM by Paul Lilly

Maingear claims its new eX-L18 laptop is the "World's Most Power Gaming Notebook," and while we've seem some desktop replacements built around the Core i7 platform that might dispute that title, the eX-L18 is at least one of the fastest spec'd Core 2 notebooks on the block.

Sporting a generous 18.4-inch LCD, Maingear's latest lappy comes configurable with up to an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9300 processor (2.53GHz), 4GB or 8GB of DDR3-1333 memory, up to three 2.5-inch SATA or SSD drives with RAID support, a DVD or Blu-ray optical drive, and the crème de la crème of mobile gaming hardware: A pair of GTX 280M GPUs in SLI. 

"Maingear has equipped the eX-L18 with the world's fastest notebook graphics solution," said Rene Hass, GM of the notebook business unit at Nvidia. "With Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, Maingear's customers will experience breathtaking in gaming physics from titles such as Terminator Salvation or Darkest of Days and are ready for GPU computing applications such as Badaboom, vReveal, and Arcsoft SimHD."

Gamers will also experience a noticeably lighter wallet with pricing starting out at $3,000 for a base configuration. All configurations include a "Nighthawk Black Automotive Finish."

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Posted 07/02/09 at 09:35:33 AM by Paul Lilly

EVGA set out to prove it's not the size of the motherboard that matters, but how you use it. And with the release of the X58 SLI Micro, you can use any speed grade Core i7 processor you want along with a pair of Nvidia graphics cards all in a micro-ATX package.

In addition to 2-way SLI support, the new mobo also crams 6 DDR3 memory slots (supporting up to 12GB of triple channel DDR3-1600MHz+) and 6 SATA II 3GB/s ports onto the mATX board. Other features include 100-percent solid state capacitors, VDroop control, an onboard temperature monitor, support for up 12 USB ports, a single LAN port, a passive heatsink for cooling the chipset, RAID 0/1/0+1/5 and JBOD support, and 8-channel onboard audio, all decked out in a red and black color theme.

The board is available now for $200.

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Posted 04/08/09 at 08:21:12 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Taiwanese VGA card manufacturer Sparkle has introduced what it claims is the world’s most powerful single-GPU graphics card. According to Sparkle, its GeForce GTX 285 is the only single-GPU graphics card to feature up to 2GB GDDR3 memory. However, on closer inspection of its claim, we found another company with a similar offering.

Palit Microsystems began offering a custom-built GTX 285 with 2GB memory in February. From the face of it, Sparkle’s entire staff was probably marooned on a remote island – or away on an intergalactic excursion, and therefore had no idea what was going around.

The GTX 285 runs at a core clock frequency of 648MHz. Sparkle has also promised its card will deliver “30% faster performance than competing single GPU graphic card solutions.” But the company is mum on pricing.

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