For the past few years Asus has played a major role in the uber-high-end market thanks to its ROG series products, including graphics cards named after defunct gods.

The Mars II dual GTX 580 card picks up where the original Mars GTX 295 left off a few years back. It is based on two GF110 cores, clocked at a whopping 772MHz. The reference GTX 590 runs at 607MHz, but it still manages to consume up to 365W of power. There are no power consumption figures for the Mars II, but we can safely assume they are rather high. The Mars II packs 3GB of memory clocked at 1002MHz, about 150MHz higher than reference. The beast supports 4-way SLI, but this is basically a useless feature since it is a triple-slot design.

There is also another issue. At €1260 to €1399, one can hardly describe the Mars II as a bargain. In fact, you can put together a pretty decent gaming rig for that sort of cash, without having Standard and Poor’s downgrade your credit rating.

Overclocked GTX 590 boards usually retail for about €600-€650, but they are a tad slower, so it would make a bit more sense just to get two “normal” cards instead.

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ASUS launched the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) ENGTX260 MATRIX/HTDI/896MD3 graphics card. This innovative piece of hardware comes equipped with the upgraded dual fansink Hybrid Cooler+ for automatic and independent fan speed control.

Dubbed as the world’s most intelligent cards, the MATRIX Series are also equipped with ROG-exclusive technologies and features that unleash the full power of graphics cards, allowing gamers to enjoy unrivaled in-game visuals.

The graphics cards are able to achieve this through several unique features, including:

* Twin fan control application that provides independent adjustments to the Hybrid Cooler+ fans
* Integrated hardware and software for total graphics card control
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* Accurate adjustments of GPU and memory voltages
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* Energy efficiency that surpasses generic boards

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Jon Peddie Research (JPR) reports shipments of add-in-board graphics cards dropped to 15.20 million in the final quarter of 2008, down 42.7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Revenue was down by 43.8 percent, to $2.5 billion.

The strong decline of discrete GPU shipments while PC sales were down only 10 percent suggests a higher marketshare for integrated graphics processors (IGPs), but according to JPR this was not the case. JPR explains OEMs and the channel relied on existing inventories, rather than buying new GPUs.

One bright spot: AIBs fending off IGPs in a downturn
Considering that the majority of graphics cards ship to customers in systems from PC and workstation OEMs, the AIB market’s ugly drop raised an interesting question: why were AIBs down 43%, when PCs and workstations were down more in the neighborhood of 10%? Was it more evidence of the inroads made by chipset-integrated graphics processors (IGPs), stealing away potential AIB customers? Not so, reports JPR.

While the big picture still indicates the IGP taking a bigger share over time — today in chipsets, and tomorrow in the CPU — it didn’t take a bigger share of desktop graphics market in Q4’08. On the contrary at 40.6%, the IGP’s share was remarkably consistent with what it commanded in Q4’07 (40.2%).

Tapping inventories exaggerate losses
Rather than blaming further IGP encroachment for the exaggerated quarterly decline in AIB shipments, Jon Peddie Research points instead to the reliance of OEMs and the channel on existing inventories. In any industry where deep inventories can act as a buffer between supply and demand, the extent of the impact during a downturn is likely to be more pronounced.

Deeper inventories are a safety valve, making it a lot easier for buyers to stop buying — at least for the short term — while allowing them some time to sort out the situation and determine how to properly adjust orders to meet the new, lower run-rate. Drain down inventory for a bit to keep orders filled near term, and build it back up later when the coast is clear. Such appears to be the case for graphics AIBs in Q4’08, taking what might have been just a poor quarter and turning it downright ugly.

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.

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ThermalTake launches a special AMD Leo edition of the Armor A60, this case features a red and black design and has a small side window. NewEgg is selling the case for $109.99.

Thermaltake, leading DIY chassis brand, is launching the world’s first SideClick EasySwap HDD docking mid-tower with integrated USB 3.0 SuperSpeed connector particularly designed for AMD Leo gaming PCs, the ARMOR A60 AMD Leo Edition. Thermaltake lined up with AMD to design a computer chassis particularly catering to the latest AMD Leo gaming platform. It shows the typical bullet-proof armory contours of this series while the front panel has gotten an even fiercer AMD-red color ornamentation, with the left side panel sporting an AMD Leo tattoo. The otherwise entirely black design with metal mesh elements lend the ARMOR series an extremely stylish and powerful appearance that attracts gamers and enthusiasts alike. The top and front red LED-fans enhance the overall combat ambience, resembling the typical MMORPG ambience but also providing ideal cooling characteristics for the AMD Leo platform . A special lock mechanism for your mouse and keyboard ensures that you’ll always stay in arms.

The AMD Leo platform is specifically targeting gaming enthusiasts who are planning to use high end systems with AMD .45 process multi-core CPUs, AMD 8 series chipsets and DX 11 graphics cards. At present a vast amount of gamers are already eagerly assembling this high-end gaming platform.

With Thermaltake’s exclusive SideClick EasySwap design in the left side panel of the ARMOR A60 AMD Leo, it’s now easier than ever to access removable hot-swap capable 3.5” hard drives. You simply place your HDD (SATA, SATA 2, SATA 3) in the drive tray, slide it into the SlideClick slot till a tiny “click” let’s you feel that the drive is connected. Without any further installation your drive will automatically be detected by your Windows operating system.

Optimized multimedia connectivity is provided for by one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port in the front panel of the case. An additional eSATA connector on the top makes it most convenient to connect your mobile storage device, while the HD microphone and headset connectors in the front offer you quick and short access.

As characteristic for Thermaltake chassis, special attention had been paid to optimized ventilation and airflow. Therefore one 20 cm red exhaust LED-fan on top and one 12 cm intake red LED-fan in the front have already been pre-installed and increase the combat spirit with light-effects. One more 12 cm exhaust turbo fan on the backside top further increases air circulation. For power-users there are still four more options to install additional fans. A red geometric window on the left side panel let your graphics card shine and allows for a look at your hardware.

The feet elevate the ARMOR A60 high enough as to allow for improved ventilation of the bottom based ATX PSII power supply. To avoid outside dust to find its way into your power supply a removable dust filter is positioned underneath, providing users with an easy way to keep it clean.

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It is the weirdest thing, NVIDIA can sometimes move in mysterious ways, and well .. in the past has stepped on the toes of many of it’s AIB/AIC partners. A while ago after the demise of BFG there already was a rumor that NVIDIA themselves might be addressing a chunk of the (r)etails market. It seems that this concern now is validated. On Best Buy USA, the GTS 450 as produced and sold by NVIDIA popped up.

In fact best Buy stores started selling nVidia-branded GeForce GTS 450 and GTX 460 boards. Here’s Bryan Del Rizzo, PR manager at nVidia on the products:

“NVIDIA and Best Buy are working together to offer PC customers the opportunity to experience firsthand the latest in PC technologies right inside Best Buy stores. As part of this broad initiative, NVIDIA is supplying to Best Buy specific GeForce models built and supported by NVIDIA. These products will only be available at Best Buy and will complement GeForce products from our partners. We will provide more details on this later.”

By doing this, NVIDIA is bypassing some major board partners like eVGA and many other players in the USA market. And not just that, they will compete with the board partners … and we all know who the winner there will be.

Here’s some proof of the cards in stores from a guy named zshift, which posted these photo’s taken using his Apple iPhone.

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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.

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Zotac introduced a GeForce GTX 460 2GB graphics card with slightly overclocked frequencies. This model has a 710MHz core, 1420MHz shaders and 2GB GDDR5 clocked at 3600MHz.

ZOTAC® International, a leading innovator and the world’s largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today announces the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB – the first ZOTAC® graphics card powered by NVIDIA® Fermi architecture with 2GB of graphics memory. The new ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB delivers best-in-class performance with unmatched features for a superior gaming experience gamers can rely on.

High-resolution gaming receives a performance boost with the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB and the large 2GB graphics memory. Paired with an ultra-wide 256-bit memory interface, the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB can communicate between the GPU and 2GB of graphics memory at lightning-fast speeds to transfer ultra-quality textures for phenomenal in-game details that blur the line between the virtual world and reality.

“PC gaming is always at the forefront of visual realism and continues to push the limits of hardware. Our latest ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB gives gamers that want maximum detail and quality settings an extra performance edge that lets them enjoy stunning details with smooth frame rates,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC® International.

The ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB graphics card features maximum connectivity flexibility with four digital output connectors – dual-link DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort – for compatibility with all current digital display standards. A DVI-to-VGA adapter is included with the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB for users with analog VGA displays.

A complete copy of Prince of Persia®: The Forgotten Sands™ is included with the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB to let users instantly take advantage of the available graphics power. Prince of Persia®: The Forgotten Sands™ places gamers in control of the Prince to save the kingdom of Azad in an epic adventure with beautiful visuals and classic Prince of Persia® game play. It’s time to play with the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 460 2GB.

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How far can you push a GeForce GTX 480 before you run into limitations ? It’s a processes that the TGT team from Point of View certainly is pushing the envelope on. They released the Ultra Charged TFC GeForce GTX 480 based on an Arctic Cooling solution.

This card does not come with the reference clocks of 700 MHz for the GPU, 1,401 for the shaders and 3,700 for the memory but instead runs at 763 MHz, the 480 shader cores operate at 1,526 MHz and, finally, the 1536MB of GDDR5 VRAM at 3800 MHz.

The product itself really is the reference board with updated firmware and a massive three-slot (maybe even four from the looks of it) Arctic cooler with three fans.

We checked pricing and this board will carry a 529 EUR pricetag.

Graphics card manufacturer KFA2, a new European premium brand of Galaxy, announced 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.

KFA2 GeForce GTX 460 1GB SLI pack

* CUDA CORES : 2x 336
* Graphics Clock : 700 (MHz)
* Processor Clock : 1400 (MHz)
* Memory clock : 1848 (MHz )
* Memory Amount : 2x 1024MB
* Memory Interface : 2x 256-bit
* Memory Bandwidth : 2x 118.3 (GB/Secs)
* Texture Fill Rate : 2x 39.2 (Billion/Secs)

The KFA2 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Green Edition graphics card sets the new standard for energy saving, whilst still gaming in the latest DirectX 11 games. Optimized circuit design with high quality components will minimize power loss and enhance power efficiency with the end result providing up to 10% reduction in power consumption, lower temperatures and noise, needing only a 6-pin power connector.

KFA2 GeForce GTX 460 1GB Green

* CUDA CORES : 336
* Graphics Clock : 675 (MHz)
* Processor Clock : 1350 (MHz)
* Memory clock : 1800 (MHz )
* Memory Amount : 768MB
* Memory Interface : 192-bit
* Memory Bandwidth : 86.4 (GB/Secs)
* Texture Fill Rate : 37.8 (Billion/Secs)

KFA2 customized the GTX 460 series using top-grade components and solid capacitors to ensure high-performance and quality. Each card is tested in a static-free factory environment by experienced technicians to ensure that only those cards that meet the “KFA2 seal of approval” are released.

Backed by a 2 year warranty, both products will be available at leading online and in-store retailers throughout Europe. More information about KFA2 products can be found here.

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