BFG Technologies®, Inc., the leading North American and European supplier of advanced NVIDIA-based 3D graphics cards, power supplies, and the Phobos™ High-Performance Gaming/Home Theater System, announced today the BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O graphics card with ThermoIntelligence® Water Cooling Solution.

The BFG NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 285 H2O 1GB graphics card features a totally silent, exceptionally efficient BFG ThermoIntelligence® copper water block. Co-developed by BFG and Danger Den™, this singleslot solution delivers up to a 42°C lower GPU operating temperature than reference cooling solutions, and is backed by BFG's lifetime warranty and 24/7/365 free technical support.

“BFG innovated the idea of offering pre-built water cooled graphics cards back on the GeForce 6800 Ultra and then extended that initiative by partnering with our friends at Danger Den for full coverage copper blocks starting with the GeForce 8800 GTX”, said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. “Our industry leading experience in providing top-of-the-line pre-assembled water cooling solutions continues with the GeForce GTX 285 H2O, and offers customers a rock solid product that is backed by our famous lifetime warranty and 100 Day Trade Up Program.”

BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O with ThermoIntelligence Water Cooling Solution

* Memory: 1GB GDDR3
* Core Clock: 666MHz (vs. 648MHz standard)
* Shader Clock: 1512MHz (vs. 1476MHz standard)
* Memory Data Rate: 2484MHz
* Processor Cores: 240

About BFG ThermoIntelligence Custom Cooling Solutions
BFG Technologies is at the forefront of high performance custom cooling. That experience has lent itself to the development of the ThermoIntelligence series which has been specifically designed to meet the cooling demands of the discerning PC gamer and enthusiast. Featuring custom air and water cooled solutions, the ThermoIntelligence series provides exceptional thermal performance without the drawbacks of traditional custom and aftermarket solutions.

Eligible for the BFG Trade Up program
Within 100 days of purchase, the BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O graphics card can be traded up to a BFG graphics card of greater performance and price, and the customer only pays the difference in price, plus applicable taxes and shipping. Currently the Trade Up program is only available in North America. Learn more at www.bfgtech.com/tradeupprogram.aspx.

Availability
The BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O graphics card with ThermoIntelligence Water Cooling Solution will be available starting the week of March 9, 2009 at leading online retailers in North America and Europe. A more highly overclocked version—the BFG GeForce GTX 285 H2OC with ThermoIntelligence Water Cooling Solution—is planned to be released within a week. Visit www.bfgtech.com for more information.

As NVIDIA gears up to give GeForce GTS 250 a gala CeBIT launch, its partners seem to be ready with their products, and press-shots. Gigabyte will be one of the first to be out with a GeForce GTS 250 based graphics accelerator that uses the company's own design, GV-N250ZL-1GI. For those new, the GeForce GTS 250 is simply a re-launch of the NVIDIA's 9800 GTX+ accelerator. It is based on the same G92b core and uses identical specifications.

Gigabyte's first accelerator sports the Ultra Durable PCB construction. The PCB consists of 2 oz (56.6 g) copper layers that help spread heat and minimize ground electrical noise. It also consists of the all solid-capacitor, ferrite choke, low effective RDS on MOSFETs design. The most interesting featureof this card is its cooler: a Zalman VF1050. Heat is drawn from the GPU-contact block using four heatpipes that convey it to a dense array of copper fins, nucleated by a PWM-controlled fan. The clock speeds on this card remain close to the reference speeds: 740/1850/2000 MHz (core/shader/memory). It might hit the stores after NVIDIA makes the GPU official.

MSI Computer, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, is pleased to announce the newest addition to its Gaming Notebook Series - GT627. The new GT627 is the first in the MSI Gaming Notebook series to feature the NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS graphics processing unit (GPU). This revolutionary GPU delivers blazing-fast mobile gaming and supports NVIDIA CUDA technology enabling MSI customers to experience the wide range of CUDA-based applications-such as heart-stopping GPU-accelerated game physics and video conversion. The GeForce 9800M GS also saves power and increases computing efficiently by handling video decoding, allowing the CPU to focus on other tasks.
"We are excited to offer the NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS GPU in the GT627 Gaming Notebooks," said Andy Tung, Vice President of Sales, MSI US. "This GPU will allow us optimize performance and deliver unparalleled graphics for gamers on-the-go."

"Whether viewing or editing photos, finding directions, playing a game,or watching a hi-def movie, the MSI GT627 with the NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS GPU runs silky smooth, with amazing visuals," said Rene Haas, General Manager of the notebook business unit at NVIDIA. " With the GeForce 9800M GS handling the graphics, video and physics acceleration, MSI customers will be ready for the visual computing movement."

MSI has also equipped the GT627 with a spacious 15.4" WSXGA (1680x1050) LCD, 2W internal speakers, and weight cartridge laser mouse to enhance the mobile gaming experience. The GT627 also features MSI's proprietary Turbo Drive Engine, which can overclock the notebook's Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (Penryn, FSB 1066) by as much as 15% at the touch of a button when in AC mode. When on the go, users can conserve the GT627's battery by taking advantage of the MSI's Eco Engine technology to switch between five power settings to ensure efficient power consumption.

MSI housed the powerful GT627 in its stylish anodized brushed aluminum gaming case. This solid enclosure features stamped aluminum sheeting in both the LCD lid and palm rest for increased protection and durability. However, despite the reinforced casing and a 6-cell battery, the GT627 weighs just over six pounds making it one of the most portable gaming notebooks in its class. Additionally, MSI also included an 802.11 b/g/n wireless modem and a Blu-ray player to make it a true mobile entertainment center.

NVIDIA has already upped the ante with the release of its latest 55nm-based GT200 GPUs, which have been launched under the form of two new graphics cards, the GeForce GTX 285 and the dual-GPU GTX 295. However, these two cards have been designed for computer and technology enthusiasts looking for high-end graphics solutions. Mainstream users are likely to choose one of the other GT200-based cards, including the new GeForce GTX 260, which has just been featured with a 55nm graphics processor. This is the GPU upon which Palit has just released its newest graphics card, the GTX260 Sonic 216SP, designed to provide users with the full-performance potential of NIVIDIA's 55nm-based GT200 GPU.

If you own a graphics card designed by Palit Microsystems, you are already aware of the fact that a “Sonic” model is basically a factory-overclocked version of the basic card. This is also the case with the new Palit GTX260 Sonic 216SP, which combines a 55nm GPU, equipped with 216 stream processors, with a custom dual-Fan cooling solution, ready to deliver a high-end gaming performance while maintaining the power consumption andoverall power efficiency enabled by a 55nm GPU.The card has been featured with a core frequency of 625MHz, while the 896MB of GDDR3 RAM memory has been clocked to 2.2GHz. According to the company, its latest GeForce GTX260 graphics card is 9 percent faster than other GeForce GTX260 models, the performance boost being provided by the overclocked graphics core. The dual-fan cooling solution boasts two PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) fans and three heat-pipes, enabling a better overall cooling, consequently providing better performance.
The card also comes with NVIDIA's own technologies, including CUDA, PhysX and Stereoscopic 3D, all of which enable better performance in gaming and non-gaming applications. Palit hasn't delivered any details regarding pricing and availability of the card.

Several days ago NVIDIA claimed it would push GeForce 9600GT Green Edition graphics card, and now we got more details about it.

GeForce 9600GT Green Edition is quite similar to GeForce 9600GT in specification, except for a little bit reduction in frequency. The core/shader clock has dropped from 650/1625MHz to 600/1500MHz respectively, while the memory clock keeps unchanged at 900MHz.

Besides, its voltage has reduced from previous 1.1V to 1.0V, and the power consumption falls from 96W to 59W. Theexternal power connector has been removed.

The price and availability of GeForce 9600GT Green Edition are unknown yet, but we guess the pricing won’t be far from that of existing edition.

It may be 2009, but the GeForce 9M series, just introduced last summer, is already last year's news: yesterday, Nvidia announced the new GeForce 100M series at CES.

Engadget reports that the GeForce 100M series' first three members exceed the performance of comparable GeForce 9M series GPUs by 17 to 35 percent. Initially, the GeForce 100M family includes:

* The entry-level GeForce G105M contains eight processor cores producing 38 gigaflops and running at 1.6GHz. It supports up to 512MB of DDR2 or DDR3 memory accessed over a 64-bit memory bus.
* The mid-range GeForce G110M features 16 processor cores producing 48 gigaflops, and runs at 1GHz. It features the same memory bus, memory type support, and memory clock speed as the G105M, but supports 1GB of RAM.
* The high-end GeForce GT 130M features 32 processor cores producing 144 gigaflop performance, running at 1.5GHz. It also supports faster DDR3 memory than the G105M/G110M, and * offers a 128-bit memory bus. It supports up to 1GB of RAM, and can run in up to two-way SLI configurations.

Lenovo's new Y-series IdeaPad computers, which we told you about earlier this week, will be the first to include members of the family: The top-end Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 will be powered by the GeForce GT 130M, while the lower-end Y550 and Y450 models will use the GeForce 110M part.

Hit Comment and let us know if the GeForce 100M series is the GPU family you'll be demanding in your next laptop.

ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of NVIDIA-based motherboards and graphics cards, kicks off day two of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show with a early preview of the next-generation mini-ITX platform for Intel processors powered by NVIDIA’s GeForce 9300 graphics processor – the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi. The new ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi combines the powerful GeForce 9300 graphics processor with Intel processors for an unchained high-performance platform that’s big on performance but miniature in size.

The powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9300 graphics processor that forms the heart of the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi packs 16 high-speed stream processors that are configurable for DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1 and CUDA-enabled applications. The ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi also featuresa high-performance NVIDIA PureVideo HD video processor that decodes Blu-ray high-definition video formats in hardware and enhances standard-definition content to near-high-definition quality levels.
“The ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi is the perfect platform for home theater PCs. Pairing power-efficient Intel processors and a PureVideo HD enabled graphics processor with a mini-ITX form factor allows the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi to fit nearly anywhere without sacrificing high-definition video playback capabilities desired by home theater PC users,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC Internation.

The ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi is engineered for high-performance applications and packs a full-length PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, enabling compatibility with powerful ZOTAC GeForce graphics card upgrades. The mini-ITX board also features NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology for GeForceBoost compatibility with select GeForce 8 and 9 series graphics cards.

“Our ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFI delivers the best of both worlds – a powerful mGPU for video processing and a full-length PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot and HybridSLI compatibility for power hungry users that want to pair a mini-ITX platform with powerful PCI Express graphics cards such as our ZOTAC GeForce GTX 200 and 9 series,” Mr. Berger added.

The ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi also features compatibility with DDR2-800 MHz memory, high-definition audio, SATA 3.0 Gbps and integrated 802.11b/g wireless network connectivity.

General Details

* New ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi platform
* NVIDIA GeForce 9300 mGPU
* 16 stream processors
* Hybrid SLI compatible
* Microsoft DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.1 compatible
* NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX ready
* NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
* Full-length PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot
* HDMI (w/Audio), DVI (w/Audio) and VGA outputs
* HDCP compliant
* Integrated 802.11b/g WiFi
* Intel Core 2, Celeron and Pentium support – Socket LGA775
* 1333 MHz front-side bus compatible
* 2 DDR2 DIMM slots
* DDR2-667/800 compatible
* Up to 8GB of DDR2 memory
* ZOTAC Extended Warranty

As NVIDIA celebrates the launch of its two new flagship products: the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285, Sparkle made an addition to its mainstream graphics lineup with a 1 GB variant its GeForce 9600 GSO accelerator (model: SX96SO1024D3-HM). Traditionally, the G92 graphics processor in the 8800 GS, 9600 GSO should have a 192-bit memory bus, but with this particular card, Sparkle chose a 128-bit memory bus and added 1 GB of GDDR3 memory.

The card features a dual-slot cooler for the GPU. Its core is clocked550 MHz. Its 96 stream processors are clocked at 1375 MHz. The memory runs at 800 MHz (1600 MHz DDR). It supports NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX technologies and is SLI capable. It will be priced around US $100.
*

1GB Extreme Fast Large-capacity GDDR3 memory
Today‘s game, such as Crysis, Alone in the Dark 5, Stalker: clear sky, they normally use a large number of bump texture, transparent texture to describe faces of characters and render realistic gaming scenes, so these games put higher demands on the capacities of video memory. The current situation demands at least 512 MB video memory to run these games. Compared with ordinary GeForce 9600 GSO graphics cards on market, SPARKLE GeForce 9600 GSO 1GB Graphics Cards come with incredible large 1GB GDDR3 video memory can let mainstream users to pass the 3DMark Vantage High Test which strictly demand at least 512MB video memory, providing much more detail information to mainstream users for better understanding its graphics capability.

*

2nd Generation PureVideo HD
High-definition video decoder and post-processor delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video and accurate color for movies and video.

*

Cooling System
Exquisitely made cooling fans or passive cooling system with heat-pipe, which have high performance thermal compound ensures optimal thermal dissipation even after years of use.

*

Full Microsoft DirectX 10 support
World’s first DirectX 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects.

* NVIDIA™ PhysX
GeForce GPU support for NVIDIA PhysX technology, enabling a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience with GeForce.

* NVIDIA™CUDA Technology
CUDA technology unlocks the power of the GPU's processor cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks such as video transcoding delivering up to 7x performance over traditional CPUs.

LEADTEK Research Inc., world acclaimed for its extreme visual graphics leading brand technology, proudly announces its latest WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+ with a new graphics card packaging design. Based on the Best-in-class NVIDIA GTX 260 chipsets, this thoroughbred graphics card delivers advanced performance with the best cooling silent fansink. Its overclocking capability is sure to bring users a fantasy visual effect. Together with the launch of the graphics card, Leadtek debuts a new packaging design. The latter replaces the former robots with a series of top speed cars as the key visual. This original concept aims to vaunt Leadtek’s corporate spirit of “high quality & speedy performance” that gives users an altogether new visual impression.

WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+ is powered up with 2nd Generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture and enables the rendering of multiple, true-to-life characters in complex and dynamic virtual worlds. Inaddition, the latest parallel computing architecture with massive independent processing cores enables GTX 260 EXTREME+ to execute the most intricate non-gaming applications via CUDA language. This includes acceleration of the art design application - science simulation application or transcoding of video to a personal video player up to 7X faster than the CPU.

And on top of all this, with WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+, there’s the Hybrid SLI technology solution. The new technology is based on the SLI and Hybrid Power technology and increases graphics performance with GeForce Boost for intelligent power management with Hybrid Power.

The latest NVIDIA PhysX technology gives games a real lift with hugely destructible environments and ultra-realistic physical interaction. Gamers, one and all, get drawn convincingly, with sweating palms and racing hearts, into a virtual but realistic gaming environment as lifelike characters behave with incredible authenticity
And users are now able to experience the red-hot ‘zinging’ performance of WinFast GTX260 EXTREME+ with the bundled award-winning real-time strategy and RPG game – OverLord. In this highly rated game each decision directly affects the character and results in a quite unique climax, all to the accompaniment of superb music and, for the most part, voicing.

Sparkle announced GeForce 9600GT and GeForce 9800GT Low Profile graphics cards on Christmas Eve. They both feature low profile PCB and native HDMI output support, designed for the users who want build HTPC home theatre. They have adopted 512MB GDDR3 and 256bit memory interface. Accordingto the specification Sparkle releases, GeForce 9600GT features 96 stream processors, which sounds a bit impossible.Featuring aluminium heat sinks, cooling fan, a DVI and HDMI output, the cards support Pure Video HD, PhysX, CUDA. No words yet on price or availability.

Due to show up at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in 2009, the new HP Firebird 803 designed by Voodoo has surfaced early with leaked photos and specifications. Unlike the previous firebird, this design is much smaller, however it does come with its draw backs. To get such a small design, the entire unit is custom built and appears to follow no standard layout or format, i.e ATX, BTX, etc. As such one would imagine that upgrading components would be very limited, so this is more likea laptop or games console in which what you buy is what your stuck with. The tower also appears to be watercooled, but to further reduce the size and heat output, the power supply has been made external and judging by the pictures it's roughly twice the size of a normal laptop power supply.
Specifications:

* NVIDIA nForce 760i SLI chipset
* Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz processor
* 4GB of RAM
* Dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S cards
* Two 320GB SATA drives
* Blu-ray
* 5-in-1 card reader
* 6 USB, 1 FireWire, 2 eSATA, 1 S/PDIF and 1 DVI dual-link
* Bluetooth
* 802.11n WiFi

NVIDIA is certainly not the one to stand arms crossed as its competitor AMD can still claim the number one spot in the high-performance graphics card market segment. After the recent series of rumors on the new 55nm, dual-GPU-based GTX295, which the green company is expected to unveil in early 2009, it appears that several details have emerged on the upcoming single-GPU flagship card, dubbed GTX285. Basically, the new card is going to build on the current highest performance offering from NVIDIA, the GTX 280, but provide a significant boost in performance, while still keeping the same dual-slot design.
As with the dual-GPU GTX295, the upcoming GTX285 is based on a 55nm graphics processor. This translates into a lower power consumption and more room for the much needed performance boost. According to a recent article on Expreview, the 55nm GTX285 can actually be considered a GTX280 Overclocking Edition, as it will be bring about a 110% boost in performance over the GTX280. However, at this time, detailson the card's core frequency are not available, but according to Expreview, the GTX285 will come with 1GB of GDDR3 and 240 stream processors.
In addition to higher performance, the GTX285 is also said to provide a much better power consumption rate, which has been reduced to 183W from 236W on the GTX280. Also, the GTX285 boasts just two 6-pin PEG power connectors, whereas the current GTX280 requires both 6-pin and the 8-pin PEG power connectors.
Given the available info on the GTX285, it is generally believed that NVIDIA is on the verge of claiming the number one spot in the high-performance single-GPU graphics department. However, rival AMD and its graphics subsidiary, ATI, are also expected to come out with an improved version of the current RV770 GPU, which will be dubbed RV775XT. A card based on this graphics processor should basically compete with NVIDIA's updated offer in the high-performance single-GPU graphics card market.

"The software for converting video with NVIDIA GeForce GPU will be updated soon, introducing several innovations"

Around the middle of the month of December Elemental will present an updated version, release 1.1 of its software Badaboom, well known to fans of video cards as possible to exploit a NVIDIA GeForce video card with support Cuda to perform conversion of video streams.

The first release of Badaboom, available in full at a price of 30 U.S. dollars, requires a video card NVIDIA GeForce equipped with unified shader architecture that can be used then the solutions of households GeForce 8 onwards. Currently this software supports MPEG2 video formats, AVCHD, H.264, HDV and RAW, providing an opportunity to have the output of video suitable for use with portable devices or consoles.

Elemental will support various video introducing new formats also support multi GPU, which will run on multiple processing video streams simultaneously, combininga GPU to a specific video. It will not be possible, at least for the time being, manage multiple GPUs in parallel in a single video stream.

The debut of this new release should happen around mid-December, the official price has not been announced yet but we likely will remain aligned to 30 dollars.

The new release will implement the following innovations:

Support for additional input file formats and containers: DivX, Xvid, MpegPEG-1, VC-1, AVI, MKV, among others. The file formats supported by Badaboom 1.0 will still be supported as well.

Multi-GPU Support: Effectively doubles the performance of transcode Badaboom by letting the users run two or more Badaboom applications to run on separate video clips simultaneously with multiple NVIDIA GPU working on a separate video clips to get the work done faster.

New output profiles: YouTube, Blackberry Bold and Microsoft Zune have been added. User-customizable outputs are available as well.

H.264 Main profile output: Provides even higher quality output than version 1.0, especially useful when outputting at resolutions higher than 480p. Baseline profile is still supported.

1920x1080 (1080p) output: The largest ATSC standard video resolution now available output is an option, which provides great video quality when combined with Main profile.

We have already got used to the way details on unreleased products keep leaking on the Internet, a good time before the official announcement from producers. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that, while browsing the Internet this morning, we stumbled upon an article talking of NVIDIA's 2009 GeForce GTX 295. More specifically, the aforementioned card appears to have already had its first photo session, thus partially showing itself to all technology enthusiasts and anyone else interested in it.
The two graphic processors featured on the card have been built on NVIDIA's new 55nm process technology, which should ultimately provide support for a higher performance level. The card itself is expected to be showcased and launched at the Consumer Electronics Show next year, set to take place between the 8 and 11 of January in LasVegas, Nevada. Specific details regarding the technical specifications of the card aren't available at this time, but a single look at the picture posted on Vr-Zone will offer us some clues as to what to expect.
As with NVIDIA's GeForce 9800GX2, the new GTXX 295 will be featured with two GPUs placed on two separate PCBs, a solution that differs from that of AMD, which builds its dual-GPU card by placing the two graphic processors onto the same PCB. The card displayed in the picture features 2 DVI ports and 1 Display Port, and will boast the same sandwich-like design as the earlier mentioned 9800GX2.
Given its impressive size, and the fact that it will have to power two of NVIDIA's latest GT200 GPUs, the card has been featured with a 8+6 pins power connector combo, which should be more than enough to offer you a general idea of how much power the card needs.
As with all officially unreleased products, pricing details for NVIDIA's GTX 295 are yet to emerge, but things should become clearer as we approach its debut date in January.

If you've been thinking about upgrading to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 260 videocard, you may want to hold off for a few weeks. According to Chinese site Expreview, Nvidia will release a new 55nm-based GTX 260 along with a 55nm GTX 295 (GTX 260 GX2) in January 2009. And if history tells us anything, Nvidia tends to do well with core revisions (G92-based 8800GT, for example). Expreview posted several pics of the revised GTX 260, which it claims were sent in from Zotac.

In addition to a die shrink, the new GTX 260, or at least Zotac's version, looks to be built with a 10-layer PCB design rather than 14 layers as foundon current GTX 260/280 videocards, Expreview says. The new revision also upgrades its 3+2 phase power modules to 4+2 phase.

Other specs look to remain the same, such as the number of stream processors (216) and core and memory frequencies. This means you might not see a leap in stock performance, but in theory, the power consumption, heat output, and overclocking potential should all be improved.

No word yet on projected pricing, which could either sweeten or spoil the whole deal.

NVIDIA reiterated its interest in the netbook market on Tuesday, yet announced that it still plans to wait around to see how things evolve. However, the company is known to have inked a deal with VIA Technologies to provide chipsets for the Nano processor designed for laptops and mini-laptops, called netbooks by Intel.

As many of you are already aware of, the netbook segment of the market has seen a rapid growth in 2008 and is expected to expand even more in the coming years. “We're not saying we're not interested; it's a matter of how the market will evolve,” said Marv Burkett, the company's chief financial officer. He added that they might burst into product categories such as smartphones and multimedia netbooks that could handle graphics effectively.

Michael Hara, vice president of investor relations at Nvidia, said that most netbooks available today are not able to handle video games or multimedia effectively being powered by Intel's Atom processor. Netbooks can be used for basic programs like Web applications and are able to boost battery life,but that would be about everything they can deliver, Hara stated, adding that these machines might come with integrated graphics in the future so as to be able to handle graphics.

The company plans to watch the market segment a little longer, and its move into the area would consist of providing the netbooks with better graphics integrated into the chipset. The Santa Clara manufacturer already has integrated graphics for notebooks and is also preparing the launch of its Tegra system-on-a-chip for smartphones. The chip includes an ARM processor, a GeForce graphics core and other components.

The company revealed that the focus on the integrated chipsets is only one direction it is taking in its effort to go through the economic turmoil. The graphics maker is also moving into the supercomputing arena with its Tesla platform, which includes graphics processing units (GPUs) with 240 cores as well as the CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) programming architecture, a pack of development tools meant to allow programs to be executed on its graphics processors.

Moreover, the firm is also working on delivering Tesla-based “personal supercomputers” in partnership with PC makers like Dell and Lenovo. Such systems made in collaboration with Penguin Computing and Velocity Micro are already available. According to NVIDIA, the systems are able to process data as much as 250 times faster than standard PCs, as they would feature 960 processing cores in four GPUs.

Toshiba and Nvidia have teamed up to create Toshiba's most powerful gaming laptop to date featuring the new highly integrated GeForce 9400M graphics processing unit (GPU) along with a pair of Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS enthusiast-class GPUs. The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706, the first pair of laptops to incorporate three powerful Nvidia GPUs, gives users a choice between maximum performance and quiet operation.


"We wanted to deliver an extreme-performance gaming machine that gives gamers a complete, non-compromising system in a laptop form factor," said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, digital products division for Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. "The combination of the Nvidia GPUs and chipset allowed us to achieve a high level of performance, quality and flexibility that our customers are asking for, at a competitive starting price of $1,999."The design featuring three Nvidia GPUs enables the Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706 laptops to deliver scorching gaming performance by combining the horsepower of two discrete GeForce 9800M GTS GPUs with Nvidia SLI technology, and allows the option of switching to a quiet operation mode with Nvidia Hybrid SLI technology.

In Hybrid SLI operation, the 9800M GTS GPUs are powered down and graphics operation is transferred to the GeForce 9400M GPU. As a result, Toshiba Qosmio laptops are able to deliver gaming performance at high resolutions, while enabling a quiet state when powering other types of Windows Vista applications.

"The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 is a world-class gaming laptop that uses Nvidia graphics processors to solve real problems and add real value for notebook users," said Rene Haas, general manager of the notebook business unit at Nvidia. "We were thrilled to be able to partner with Toshiba to deliver this ground-breaking new product."

The Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706 laptops are now available for purchase directly from Toshiba.

The latest reports on NVIDIA have it that the company plans to start shipping the new Tegra system-on-a-chip for mobile devices sometimes by the middle of 2009. Tegra is expected to be officially launched in the spring of next year, Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's president and CEO, has revealed during a conference call on the company's financial results.

According to the CEO, the development of the chip is going quite well, and the company plans to introduce it in the April-June timeframe. Announced earlier this year, the new system-on-a-chip will include an ARM processor core, a GeForce graphics core, along with other components, including a high-definition video decoder.

The company's president also said that the lineup would include the Tegra 600 running at 700MHz, and the Tegra 650 running at 800MHz. In addition, the Tegra APX 2500 would also be launched. As soon as Tegra is introduced, NVIDIA will face direct competition with Intel, which has already released a series of low-power processors earlier this year.

Besides NVIDIA and Intel, Apple is also an industry player interested in this area. The company acquired PA Semi earlier this year, with plans to use it for the development of system-on-chips for its iPhone. Other companies as well have made their intentions of entering the market area known, which means that, next year, competition in the field will become fierce.NVIDIA did not do very well lately, and the introduction of Tegra is expected to be a major revenue generator for the Santa Clara based company during the upcoming year. On Thursday, the green manufacturer announced its financial results for the third quarter of the year, which came at $897.7 million, going down 20 percent compared with the sale quarter the year before. Also, the company registered a net income of $61.7 million, sharply lowered from the $235.7 million registered last year.

The magazine ZDnet reports that in the instructions for manufacturers of components for Windows 7, Microsoft does not encourage the development of hybrid graphics technology.

The hybrid systems have a graphics controller embedded on the motherboard and a dedicated graphics card for software requiring better performance. For a laptop, the life of the battery will be slightly improved with the use of graphics controller. To the great displeasure of ATI, Nvidia and Microsoft OEM stated:"Windows 7 does not offer native support for hybrid graphics systems. We strongly encourage manufacturers not to develop such systems could be unstable and unpleasant for the user."

At the time of writing, the record in question is no longer available on the official site and it is being edited. Microsoft would be in the process of amending this section?

BenQ has launched the R45 Joybook in India.The 14.1" widescreen laptop powered by a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, features an extra-bright 200 nits. Its patented UltraVivid technology enhances display quality of all applications ranging from video to multimedia.

The BenQ R45 Joybook is also equipped with the nVIDIA GeForce 8400M G distinct graphics, with the ability to produce digital video via the integrated HDMI interface (High Definition Multimedia Interface). It also has two 1.5W speakers with smart noise suppression and echo cancellation along with an integrated microphone for highquality video calls and other audio and visual applications and an integrated 2-megapixel webcam with power buttons.

BenQ R45 Joybook is available with all BenQ authorized dealers for Rs. 47,000.