Other interesting news today. Apparantly Asrock opened up Crossfire compatibility with their nForce 740 motherboards. They are demonstrating this at CeBIT.

As you know, ATI and NVIDIA are not exactly keen on each other. As such, NVIDIA always has prevented to allow Crossfire setups to run with their motherboards. Currently the only chipset platform that doesn’t support CrossFire is the NVIDIA nForce series.

ASRock devised a BIOS for its nForce 740i based N7AD-SLI motherboard that enables support for CrossFire. AMD’s Catalyst drivers were able to detect the motherboard as a qualified platform and enable CrossFire between two installed ATI Radeon accelerators. The setup was able to show performance increments during a 3DMark06 session. ASRock is reportedly working out similar BIOS firmware for several other motherboards made by it, and wants to enable CrossFire, CrossFireX for all its nForce motherboards.

Incoming search terms:

• armor plus ati 4890x2
• hybrid crossfire 3000 7700 enable ubutu
• opteron 1385 qualified motherboard

It seems that Zotac is working on a dual-GPU version of the GeForce GTX 460.

Now history has proven that these photo’s accidentally leak out, create some hype and then you never hear from the actual product again (very cheap advertising). Still we’ll see … the card has two GeForce GTX 460 1 GB GPUs in SLI configuration, much like every other dual-GPU NVIDIA card.

The card uses an NVIDIA nForce 200 chip to transfer 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.

This way you could also manage 3D Vision in Stereo, although admittedly with this setup, that solution would be massively underpowered. Here’s some photo’s, courtesy of the owner.

Incoming search terms:

• dual gpu
• geforce gtx 460
• tilera sdk
• dual gpu nvidia cards
• 65w evga 275 gtx chip
• dual-GPU
• G-FORC GTX 460 GAME WARD
• EVGA EPOWER GTX480
• ASUS Xonar Essence One stereo setup
• ZOTAC GeForce GTS 450 ECO sli x2

This is a new driver release for the 260 family of drivers. This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, and 400-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs.

New in Release 260.89

Performance

* Increases performance for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. v258.96 WHQL drivers. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 480:
+ Up to 10% in StarCraft II (2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF Ultra)
+ Up to 14% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 16% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (SLI – 2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 6% in Aliens vs. Predator (SLI – 1920×1200 noAA – Tessellation on)

GeForce GTX 460:
+ Up to 19% in StarCraft II (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Ultra)
+ Up to 15% in Battlefield Bad Company 2 (SLI – 2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 12% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2560×1600 noAA)
+ Up to 9% in Aliens vs. Predator (1680×1050 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
+ Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (1680×1050 noAA – Tessellation on)
+ Up to 11% in Dirt 2 (SLI – 2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 12% in Crysis:Warhead (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF Gamer)
+ Up to 13% in Far Cry 2 (2560×1600 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 12% in H.A.W.X (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF SSAO Very High)
+ Up to 5% in Just Cause 2 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
+ Up to 22% in Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (1920×1200 noAA)
+ Up to 5% in 3DMark Vantage (Extreme Preset)

NVIDIA 3D Vision

* With Release 260 drivers, the installation process for 3D Vision has changed.
* Adds NVIDIA 3D Vision streaming support for Firefox 4 and Google Chrome web browsers.
* Adds support for Sony’s 3D Sweep Panorama picture format added to NVIDIA 3D Photo Viewer (Sony digital cameras that can capture 3D Sweep Panorama pictures include NEX-5/NEX-3, Alpha a560/a580 and Cyber-shot DSC-WX5/DSC-TX9/DSC-T99 models).
* Adds support for new 3D Vision Desktop LCD monitors: BenQ X2410 and NEC F23W2A
* Adds support for new 3D Vision projectors: Sanyo PDG-DWL2500 and ViewSonic PJD6251
* Added the following 3D Vision game profiles:

o Arcania: Gothic 4
o Fallout: New Vegas
o FIFA 11
o Formula 1 Racing
o Final Fantasy XIV Benchmark
o Guild Wars 2
o Kane & Lynch 2 – Dog Days
o Lead and Gold
o Lego Harry Potter
o Live For Speed
o Lost Planet 2
o Moonbase Alpha
o Serious Sam HD – The Second Encounter
o Shrek Forever After
o Singularity
o Vitua Tennis 2009
o Virtua Tennis 3

* Update the following 3D Vision game profiles

o Drakensang: The Dark Eye – updated in-game compatibility text
o Mafia II – updated profile to properly for 3D Vision-Rating
o StarCraft II – fixed profile to properly recognize the retail game executable name and match the 3D Vision rating of “Good”
o Super Commander – fixed HUD elements
o TRINE – new profiles fixes that allow the game to be rated “3D Vision-Ready” when used with the TRINE patch v1.08, available via Steam.

NVIDIA SLI

* Adds or enhances SLI profiles for the following PC games:

o City of Heroes: Going Rogue
o Alien Swarm
o Dead Rising 2
o Front Mission Evolved
o Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days
o LEGO: Harry Potter

Other Improvements

* Adds support for OpenGL 4.1 for GeForce 400 series GPUs.
* Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0514.
* Improves compatibility for older PC games (DirectX 7 to DirectX 9) running on Windows 7 (examples: Gothic, Gothic II, Falcon 4.0: Allied Force, Links 2003, Independence War II – Edge of Chaos, and X2: Wolverine\\\’s Revenge).
* Adds drag and drop display arrangement support to the “Set up multiple displays” page.
* Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.
* Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver.

Additional Information

* Supports the new GPU-accelerated features in Adobe CS5.
* Supports GPU-acceleration for smoother online HD videos with Adobe Flash 10.1. Learn more here.
* Supports the new version of MotionDSP’s video enhancement software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here.
* Supports DirectCompute with Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
* Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

Download

GeForce Forceware 260.89 Windows XP 32-bit
GeForce Forceware 260.89 Win 7 | Vista 32-bit
GeForce Forceware 260.89 Win 7 | Vista 64-bit

ZOTAC just announced the world’s first Quadruple-display capable ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 graphics card. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 3DP enables multi-monitor computing with up to four simultaneous displays from a single graphics card for enhanced productivity, gaming and multimedia.

The card is capable of driving up to four independent displays simultaneously with a combined resolution up to 6400×1200.Three DisplayPort connectors enable the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 3DP to support resolutions up to 4800×1200 across three independent displays for true spanned triple-monitor computing. A dual-link DVI output enables connectivity to extreme high-definition displays with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 3DP for connectivity to a single monitor at resolutions up to 2560×1600 for users without DisplayPort capable displays.

* ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 3DP
* Engine clock: 710 MHz
* 336 Unified Shaders
* Shader clock: 1420 MHz
* 1GB GDDR5 memory
* 256-bit memory interface
* Memory clock: 3600 MHz
* Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands game bundle
* Dual-link DVI & 3 DisplayPort outputs
* PCI Express 2.0 interface (Compatible with 1.1)
* Microsoft DirectX 11 with Shader Model 5.0 and DirectCompute support
* OpenGL 4.0 compatible
* NVIDIA CUDA & PhysX ready
* NVIDIA SLI ready (2-way)
* NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
* ZOTAC Boost Premium software bundle included

Though 2D might be fine, but 3D rendering at such resolutions with just the one card is a serious no-go performance wise … let’s just hope that at least SLI is properly supported with these custom resolutions. Also bare in mind that the GTX 460 can go maximum 2-way SLI.

Incoming search terms:

• zotac video cards
• zotac geforce® gtx 560 3dp 10bit
• gtx 560 3dp 10bit
• zotac geforce gtx 560 1gb 3dp review

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd. today announces two additional V-series – PC-V1020 mid-tower chassis & PC-V2120 full-tower chassis for the professional PC users.

Continuously following the layout from the previous V-series models, Lian Li also upgrades functionality to the latest requirements of performance computing. Huge internal space for the largest graphics cards, support for 8 or 11 PCI slots, enough space for the gigantic HPTX motherboard, easily removable motherboard tray, front door for security and quality…plus the front grill design with holes are all the advanced features of this series. No matter if it’s for professional workstation, server or high-end system, gamers or pro-users, the all aluminum alloy with simple and yet stylish look of Lian Li’s PC-V1020 & PC-V2120 are made for users looking for absolute choices.

The Lian Li PC-V1020 Mid-Tower Chassis
Dimensioned at 220x562x505mm(W.H.D.), weights only at 9.15kg, stunning front grill design with holes, and available in three colors of black, silver and red. The PC-V1020 features 5.25″ standard optical drive x3; 5.25″ to 3.5″ converter optical drive x1; 3.5″ HDD x7; 2.5″ HDD x1. It supports ATX/Micro-ATX motherboards mounted on a motherboard bay that slides out on the back easily. Equipped with 8 PCI slots which can hold three or more graphics cards up to 305mm length supporting Crossfire™ and SLI™, this case allows full graphics power.

The Lian Li PC-V1020 is designed for an outstanding supply of cool air, offering two 140mm blue/red LED fans at the front, special cage for a 140mm at the top and one 120mm fan at the rear to draw the hot air out. Last but not least, an air filter is available to cover the vent underneath the mounted power supply unit at the bottom of the PC-V1020.

It is worth to mention that there is a set of wheels at the base of PC-V1020, for users to move the case around and lock the wheels in position. Other friendly package of Lian Li’s PC-V1020 includes all I/O ports on the top cover for easy access; a PCI bracket connecting USB3.0 cable from I/O ports to the motherboard; the removable motherboard trays and thumb screw; tool-less optical drive mounting with rubber padding as well as tool-less HDD cage; an opening hole for cables as well as patented cable management clamp; and finally, an optional PCI Cooling Kit with 140mm fan for direct cooling of the expansion cards.

The Lian Li PC-V2120 Full-Tower HPTX Chassis
Dimensioned at 235x635x630mm(W.H.D.), it is designed to handle even the largest motherboard on the market for power users. Despite the enormous size and echoing internal space it only weights 14.4kg. The Lian Li PC-V2120 has a huge internal space that supports HPTX motherboards as well as 11 PCI slots for graphics cards up to 335mm long, and still enough room to fit five 5.25″ standard optical drives and 13 hard drives. The motherboard tray slides out on the back of the chassis, making it easy to set up the system despite of the size of the components. Access to the front bays is secured with lockable door with noise reduction foam, while the side panels can be secured with locks. The door opening direction can be easily changed from left to right swing.

For air flow the PC-V2120 has three 140mm cooling fans in the front, one 120mm fan on the back, plus three pre-cut 120mm fan mounting holes on the top cover for more fans or watercooling radiators. A tray is separating the motherboard compartment from the PSU and storage space on the bottom of the case. Besides having openings for cable management it also offers mounting holes for two 2.5” drives for an easy access compared to the narrow confines of the 3.5” bays. On the front there is a fan controller for users to adjust the fan speed and get the best balance between silent and cooling. Just like the PC-V1020, there is an optional PCI Cooling Kit with 140mm fan for direct cooling of the expansion cards, vents on the PCI brackets, plus fire protected vents below the power supply unit with an air filter for dust protection.

The wheels design enables easy moving of the heavy system. Other details like the USB 3.0, easy I/O ports access, noise reduction on side panels, cable management clamp, motherboard thumb screws and etc. make the PC-V2120 most ideal for professional workstations, small server and the ultimate gaming rig.

For more details on features and extras availabilities, please check out the product pages of Lian Li PC-V1020 and Lian Li PC-V2120.

PC-V1020 Mid-Tower Chassis:

* Support ATX/Micro-ATX motherboards
* Motherboard tray sliding out on back
* 5.25″ standard optical drive x3
* 5.25″ to 3.5″ converter optical drive x1
* 3.5″ HDD x7 and 2.5″ HDD x1
* 8 PCI slots for VGA cards up to 305mm length
* Two 140mm blue/red LED fans at front
* One 140mm fan at top
* One 120mm fan at rear
* USB3.0 x 4 / e-SATA x 1 / HD Audio I/O ports
* Availability: Arriving at local distributors end of September
* MSRP for PC-V1020 (VAT not included): US$289 for PC-V1020A/B (silver/black); US$349 for PC-V1020R (red)

PC-V2120 Full-Tower Chassis:

* Support ATX/Micro-ATX/HPTX motherboards
* Motherboard tray sliding out on back
* 5.25″ standard optical drive x5
* 3.5″ HDD x10 and 5.25″ HDD x3
* 11 PCI slots for VGA cards up to 335mm length
* Three 140mm fans + one 120mm fan at front
* Three 120mm fan holes at top
* One 120mm fan at rear
* USB3.0 x 4 / e-SATA x 1 / HD Audio I/O ports
* Availability: Arriving at local distributors end of September
* MSRP for PC-V2120 (VAT not included): US$459 for PC-V2120A/B; US$539 for PC-V2120X (all black)

Incoming search terms:

• lian li 1020
• PC-V1020
• lian li z1000 case
• Lian Li PC-V2120A
• lian li
• lian li stainless steel case
• lian li pc-v1020 water cooled
• lian li pc-v1020 silver
• lian li PC-1000
• lian li huge pc case stainless steel

Well, the idea is refreshing alright. A liquid-cooled gaming PC that also houses a liquid-cooled Xbox 360 console.

ORIGIN PC is proud to unveil The Big O, their latest creation designed for dominance and destined to make high performance computing enthusiasts and gamers to drool uncontrollably. The Big O fuses the capabilities of the fastest computing hardware on the market, ORIGIN’s expert overclocking, and a built in Xbox 360 to create the ultimate gaming weapon.

The Big O is featured in CPU Magazine’s annual Dream Machine review roundup, an epic competition between system builders. “If you want the ultimate PC, the Big O is it” said CPU Magazine. “By integrating an Xbox 360, the Big O offers everything and the kitchen sink.”

Absolute Power – With Intel’s Xeon X5680 processors there is nothing you can throw at The Big O that will slow it down. Each X5680 features six-cores, twelve threads, supports ECC memory-and that’s before we add a second CPU and overclock it to a lighting fast 4.3GHz. Add in up to 24GBs of Corsair GT 2000MHz memory and then dare any computer task to slow down your Big O.

Quad Damage – A strong core with excellent liquid cooling is the key to lasting performance and EVGA’s GeForce® GTX 480 FTW graphics cards delivers the best graphical power money can buy. This power is multiplied in a SLI multi-GPU configuration creating the most immersive visuals imaginable in gaming and beyond. The Big O provides the unmatched graphics performance that will shatter any benchmark thrown at it.

The X-Factor – To empower gamers with the most comprehensive gaming platform on the planet, ORIGIN integrates a liquid-cooled Xbox 360 slim directly into each Big O. Every Big O system is strategically modified so the Xbox ports are easily accessible with liquid cooled processors for extreme performance. You can even game on the Xbox 360 while your computer is busy dominating whatever other task it is assigned.

Liquid Cooled to Perfection – ORIGIN keeps your Big O cool with its state of the art liquid cooling system that maximizes performance from the CPU, motherboard, graphics card and even the integrated Xbox 360 slim. The ORIGIN custom liquid cooling system aggressively dissipates heat and eliminates fan noise ensuring your system remains cool and whisper quiet.

“The Big O will satisfy the demands of even the most power hungry gamer, but when you create the ultimate personal computer system it has to be designed to go above and beyond gaming” said Kevin Wasielewski, CEO and Co-Founder of ORIGIN. “From the hottest games on the market to digital video editing and 3D rendering you will have the power to perform at every level. To have the best you have to build using the latest in computer technology that guarantees unmatched performance and that is exactly what you get with the Big O.”

“Wow, we can honestly say we’ve never seen a system like the Big O before,” said Ujesh Desai, general manager of the GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA. “The components selected by ORIGIN, including up to quad GeForce GTX 480 GPUs will definitely have gamers salivating for the win.”

The Big O features a 1 year free shipping and free part replacement warranty backed with the best in class integration, quality testing and support. ORIGIN offers a free life-time phone and online service guarantee and each customer has a dedicated support team and free life-time labor for upgrade needs.

Pricing for The Big O starts from $7,669 and can be configured here.

Incoming search terms:

• a890gxm-a pc
• big o computer
• PC V2120

It’s not that the card really needs super-cooling, though for SLI users it might be awesome. But Koolance released a GeForce GTX 460 Water Block under the label VID-NX460

The copper product has a nice nickel plating and measures 6.25″ x 5.75″ x 0.62″ (15.9cm x 14.6cm x 1.6cm). As you can expect from these products they will cool down the GPU, memory and MOSFET/VRM area. The VID-NX460 comes with G 1/4 threads, nozzles are to be purchased separately and is priced at US $109.99.

Thermaltake relased their Element V Nvidia Edition case.

The chassis measures 532 (H) x 220 (W) x 537 (D) mm, weighs about 14.13 kilograms and is meant to be used in high-end gaming configurations powered by NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 470 or GTX 480 controllers. As such, it uses the full tower form factor, so that it can house even the largest motherboards, and has a graphics card ‘air duct.’ This duct was designed in collaboration with NVIDIA and is meant to improve the cooling of three-way or Quad-SLI configurations.

In addition, the PC casing features support for 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays, five 5.25-inch bays and a top I/O panel, with audio, eSATA and four USB connectors.

In order to make the Element V NVIDIA Edition truly part of the green team, Thermaltake outfitted it with a number of green LED fans. There is a 230mm Colorshift fan on the side, for intake, a 200mm Colorshift on top and a pair of 120mm spinners on the front. There is also a 120mm fan at the back.

The chassis is set to start selling in April, which means it will become available around the same time as the cards themselves.

“Nvidia shares Thermaltake’s commitment to ensure the enthusiast community receives the best possible products that solidify the PC as the best gaming platform, period,” said Tom Petersen, technical director at Nvidia. “Through collaboration with Thermaltake’s leading engineers, we are excited that the Thermaltake Element V Nvidia Edition is capable of providing an awesome gaming environment for our next generation of enthusiast graphic cards, including GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470, running in 2-way, 3-way, or even Quad SLI. Put simply, it rocks!”

Incoming search terms:

• Thermaltake nvidia edition
• thermaltake chassis
• thermaltake element v black edition
• nvidia point of view 480
• twintech nvidia geforce 9600gt 1gb ddr3 green edition
• видеокарта palit geforce gt220 1gb assassins creed 3
• b&o sp2 element
• Thermaltake® Element V nVidia Black Edition Gaming Chassis

We received some photo’s from Inno3D regarding the i-Chill GTX 295 Black Edition, this time in SLI mode. The i-Chill 295 BE will have it’s final clocks set on 600 MHz on the graphics core and 2160 MHz on the memory. No word just yet on the shaders though.

The GTX 295 packs 480 Processing Cores and 1792MB of GDDR3 memory, Quad SLI and DirectX 10 support, and two DVI outputs. The release date will be around the 28th of August.

Incoming search terms:

• Gtx 295 & gtx 275 sli
• zotac 9800gt eco SLİ
• kfa2 gtx 580 anarchy edition sli
• Thermaltake ProWater PW880i
• ASUS My Cinema EHD3-100 Dual Hybrid TV Card Review
• KOOLANCE GTX 295 WATER BLOCK
• gtx 260 soc 2 SLI

After being out shown by eVGA it looks like nVidia is finally catching on to what their users want; more frequent updates for gaming.

eVGA has been getting great press as they put out their SLI enhancement patches. These handy little patched include updated SLI profiles for games and often provide for much faster and stable performance running SLI.

nVidia traditionally does not do interim updates to the SLI profiles and instead waits for driver revisions to add them in. However, nVidia has just pushed out its own SLI patch which does pretty much the same thing as the eVGA patch.

This could signal the end for the eVGA patches but as the new nVidia patch is still listed as a Beta it could be some time before we see this on a routine basis from the big green machine.

Grab the patch here