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SUNNYVALE, Calif. — AMD on Monday, Jan 28, announced the immediate availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics processor, expanding the visual boundaries of PC entertainment well beyond the 1080P High Definition (HD) threshold.

The industry’s first graphics processor to break the Teraflop (one trillion floating point operations per second) barrier, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 nearly doubles the performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 3870 introduced in November 2007.

Through an elegant yet aggressive design, the 55 nanometer process-based ATI Radeon 3870 X2 combines two ATI Radeon HD 3870s on a single graphics board, connected through integrated CrossFire technology.

ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is also the first performance-leadership graphics product in the world to support Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 10.1 technology. The ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers a new class of price and performance leadership with unbelievable enthusiast value at a suggested retail price of US $449.

This launch follows on the success of the recently released ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series graphics products, completing a comprehensive portfolio of next-generation 55nm GPUs that deliver unparalleled price, performance and energy efficiency from entry-level to performance-leadership class products. More at AMD.

Dec 25, `07 — Nvidia will launch the mid-range part for its GeForce 9600 GPU series, codenamed D9P or G94, in February 2008, DigiTimes is reporting citing graphics cards makers.

“The G94, the first mid-range GPU to feature a 256bit memory interface, is expected to pose a strong challenge to AMD’s Radeon HD 3850 (RV670PRO) of the same class, the sources commented.

The sources revealed that while Nvidia’s latest entry-level G98 (D8M) GPU, made at the 65nm process, has started shipping since early December, the G94 will make its debut on February 14. The G94 will also be made on a 65nm process at TSMC, the sources added.

The G94, with its official price temporarily set at US$169, features 64 stream processors and supports PureVideo Gen 2, the sources said.” More at DigiTimes.

Taipei, Taiwan — On Dec 17, Micro-Star International (MSI) announced that it has already prepared P7N Diamond and P7N SLI Platinum mainboards to support the 45nm Intel processor at the same time when new nForce chipset launches.

P7N Diamond utilizes nForce780i chipset together with top performance specifications and supports 3-way SLI technology. While, P7N SLI Platinum utilizes nForce750i chipset, making this mainboard cost-effective.

Highly Efficient Circu-Pipe and GreenPower Design
The use of selected high-grade components is the common characteristic of the P7N series mainboards. Although the two mainboards have different market segments, they both come with MSI’s exclusive Circu-Pipe design. Circu-pipe can effectively reduce the high temperature from the chipset and MOSFET.

Selected high-quality solid capacitors and POSCAP!
The all capacitors on these two mainboards are high-quality solid capacitors that are made in Japan. These capacitors with low impedance and high ripple current and other characteristics provide better filtering effect. To further highlight P7N Diamond products, the PWM capacitors on this mainboard are based on POSCAP. POSCAP (Polymerized Organic Semiconductor Capacitor) is a high grade product recently developed by Sanyo.

45nm Processor and 3-way SLI ready!
P7N series mainboards are Intel 45nm processor and 3-way SLI ready. The 45nm Quad Core CPU support brings more benefits to multimedia and multitasking by enhancing the performance and reducing the waiting time for any kind of applications. It provides extremely high definition audio/video stream editing and offers higher performance on 3D gaming and professional graphic rendering.

MSI design quad PCI-E VGA slot on P7N Diamond for more than the new Nvidia 3-way SLI technology, also comes with PCI-E Gen2 to offer wider bandwidth. This will bring higher 3D gaming resolutions with more detail DX10 effects. More at Micro-Star International.

SANTA CLARA, CA— Extreme gaming just got a whole lot better. On Dec 13, NVIDIA extended its SLI technology, which enables the use of multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) on a single computer, allowing up to three GeForce graphics cards to be used in a single machine.

Now hot, new, graphics-intensive titles, such as Call of Duty 4, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Unreal Tournament 3, can be played at the highest resolution possible, with all the graphics settings cranked to the max, and antialiasing applied for the first time.

NVIDIA’s new 3-way SLI delivers up to a 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU system, giving high-end gamers 60 frames per second at resolutions as high as 2560×1600 and with 8x antialiasing. 3-way SLI technology means you no longer have to dial back the image quality settings on the newest PC games. For example, gamers with 3-way SLI can play Crysis at high resolutions such as 1920×1200 with all the advanced DirectX 10 effects such as motion blur, ambient occlusion, and soft shadows turned on.

The heart of a 3-way SLI system is an NVIDIA nForce 680 SLI MCP motherboard and three GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards. With 3-way SLI, gamers can harness the power of 384 stream processors, a 110+ gigatexel per second texture fill rate, and over two gigabytes of graphics memory for no-compromise gaming performance.

3-way SLI gives gamers the flexibility to scale their graphics processing power with one, two, or three GeForce GPUs, depending on their desired price and system configuration. 3-way SLI systems are available from leading gaming PC system builders and the components needed to build your own 3-way SLI system are available from leading retailers. More at SLI Zone, nVIDIA.

Taipei, Taiwan — December 06, ‘07 — ASUS today released the world´s first EN8800GT graphics card model with 1GB graphics memory with Qimonda – the new EN8800GT/HTDP/1G.

This powerful graphics card features the latest generation of NVIDIA GPUs; and with an unparalleled large onboard memory size, is designed to provide feature-rich DirectX 10 gaming and the best multimedia playback at ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings. Moreover, with the integrated new SmartDoctor feature, users will have the option to overclock the Shader Clock for more than 10% graphical performance boosts, while the unique Glaciator Fansink design keeps the GPU temperature 7ºC cooler than reference designed boards.

Unprecedented 1GB GDDR3 Onboard Memory from Qimonda for Best Graphical Output
“The ASUS EN8800GT/HTDP/1G is the first EN8800GT model in the world to leverage the Qimonda DRAM that comes equipped with 8pcs of 1GB GDDR3 graphics memory,” said C.P. Wu, General Manager of ASUS Graphics and Multimedia Business.

More at ASUSTeK.

Taipei, Taiwan — Nov 30, ‘07 — DigiTimes is reporting on AMD’s plan to drop the price of its Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 GPUs by around $20, citing sources at graphics card makers.

DigiTimes further writes,”In response to AMD’s plans, Nvidia also notified its partners that it will consider following up with price reductions of its own, causing several makers to delay mass orders to prevent themselves from absorbing the price damage, according to the sources.”

The original official Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 prices were US$179 and US$219. More at DigiTimes.

SANTA CLARA, CA—November 19, 2007—This holiday season a new era of PC games, featuring advanced new graphics effects, will immerse gamers in cinematic realism like never before. Games like Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, and Call of Duty 4 are sure bets to be at the top of the holiday gift list for the significant gamer in your life.

And to supply the best visual experience when playing these new games, a new generation of notebook PCs equipped with ultra-modern GPUs (graphics processing units), such as the just-released GeForce 8800M notebook GPUs from NVIDIA, will soon be available for order from notebook makers.

Delivering the best performance for both DirectX 10 and DirectX 9, the GeForce 8800M GTX and GeForce 8800M GTS GPUs fill the top enthusiast GPU product positions in the popular NVIDIA GeForce 8M Series product line, continuing the company’s five generations of performance leadership in notebook GPUs. The new GPUs feature NVIDIA’s new, extremely efficient, unified architecture that delivers astounding levels of performance compared to previous generation GPUs.

In addition to serving as the core of a great, notebook gaming platform, the NVIDIA GeForce 8M Series GPUs feature the NVIDIA PureVideo HD engine for superior quality playback of HD DVD, Blu-ray, and HD movie downloads. The GeForce 8M Series also contain NVIDIA’s PowerMizer technology that intelligently balances battery life and performance.

“Alienware’s philosophy when designing the industry’s most powerful 17 and 15-inch notebooks was the commitment to using only the best components designed around the most current technologies,” said Frank Azor, Executive Vice-President for Alienware’s Product Group and Marketing. “Alienware proudly announces that our next generation notebooks, the Area-51 m17x and Area-51 m15x, launching early next year, will feature the raw power and vivid detail of NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800M GTX.”

Notebooks with the new GPUs will soon be available for order from notebook makers worldwide including Alienware, Eurocom, Gateway, and Sager in North America; AIRIS, Chiligreen, Cizmo, Cybersystem, Ergo, Nexoc, Novatech, Plaisio, Rock, and XXODD in Europe; MouseComputer in Japan; and Pioneer Computers in Australia. More at nVIDIA.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — November 19, 2007 –Rewriting the rules for enthusiast computing, AMD today unveiled its new platform codenamed “Spider”, with the first true quad-core processor supporting scalable graphics for The Ultimate Visual Experience. The AMD Spider platform combines the introduction of AMD Phenom quad-core processors, ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics processors with Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support, AMD 7-Series chipsets with CrossFireX and AMD OverDrive software. The AMD Spider platform is a major milestone on the path to Accelerated Computing, AMD’s vision for platform-level acceleration through co-processing.

AMD’s Spider platform advances enthusiast computing by delivering the most sophisticated multi-GPU enthusiast platform ever with ATI CrossFireX technology. The combination of the energy-efficient 55nm ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series of graphics processors and the increased system bandwidth of PCI Express® Generation 2.0 and HyperTransport 3.0 technology, provide optimal processing power for a scalable HD multi-GPU experience. AMD design and manufacturing innovation has enabled the AMD Spider platform to easily scale to three or four graphics processors and deliver a true gaming supercomputer.

HD Technology
With HyperTransport 3.0 technology, AMD Phenom processors have more system bandwidth than ever before with up to 14.4 GB/second of high bandwidth I/O. When combined with the additional bandwidth of AMD PCI Express 2.0 chipsets and graphics processors, the AMD Spider platform enjoys maximum bandwidth to support smooth 1080P video playback, enhanced multi-GPU and high-speed disk and network interfaces. With the only true quad-core processor and infrastructure flexibility with AM2+ socket, AMD processors are designed to be compatible with future 65nm and 45nm AMD Phenom processors to deliver key performance gains.

The addition of UVD ensures exceptional platform efficiency and image quality in HD-DVD and Blu-ray decoding for both H.264 and VC-1 specifications. Big screen gaming and entertainment is also made easy with enhanced HDMI connectivity with integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video.

Scalable Platform Performance
The multi-core design of AMD Phenom quad-core processors, based on Direct Connect Architecture, features an integrated memory controller designed to support memory speeds up to DDR2 1066, 128-bit floating point units and AMD’s Balanced Smart Cache for rapid access to memory, with a shared L3 cache for leading-edge performance on multi-threaded software.

Availability and pricing
AMD Phenom processors 9600 (2.3GHz) and 9500 (2.2GHz) are now available for $283 and $251 respectively in 1,000-unit pricing. The ATI Radeon HD 3850 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory begins at US $179 MSRP and the ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB GDDR4 memory from US $219 MSRP, available from AMD’s selected graphics products partners.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — November 15, 2007 –AMD today announced the introduction and immediate availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series of graphics processing units (GPU).

As the world’s first series of graphics processors to deliver Microsoft’s DirectX 10.1 support, 55nm process technology and tri and quad multi-GPU support with ATI CrossFireX, the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series ushers in a new era of enthusiast gaming performance at mainstream price points.

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 series will be introduced in two variants at launch, from US $179 MSRP, the ATI Radeon HD 3850 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory and from US $219 MSRP, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB GDDR4 memory. The launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series redefines the enthusiast segment and puts high performance gaming in reach of more users than ever before. This innovative new series of graphics products also represent the first step in the launch of AMD’s upcoming enthusiast platform codenamed “Spider.”

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 series also introduces the world to ATI CrossFireX, AMD’s innovative next-generation multi-GPU technology designed to deliver unprecedented performance scaling with support for two, three and four graphics processors in CrossFire configurations. At launch, the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series will support dual-GPU CrossFire with tri and quad-GPU support scheduled for January 2008.

Graphics bandwidth is also greatly enhanced with the introduction of PCI Express 2.0. Delivering over 16 gigabytes per second of bi-directional bandwidth, PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus data rate over the previous generation. The combination of PCIe 2.0 and HyperTransport3 on next-generation AMD platforms provides a dramatic increase in the amount of system bandwidth for high definition, multi-GPU PC gaming.

With the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3850 and ATI Radeon HD 3870, AMD has answered the call of HD video enthusiasts with top-to-bottom support for the Unified Video Decoder (UVD). The addition of UVD ensures exceptional platform efficiency and image quality in HD-DVD and Blu-rayTM decoding for both H.264 and VC-1 specifications. Enhanced HDMI functionality also continues on this series of products with integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video. More at AMD.