Earlier today, we covered ECS coming up with two motherboards, based on Intel P55 (LGA-1156), and AMD 785G (AM3). Coincidentally, ASRock has a similar pair which is gearing up for launch at the upcoming Computex event. The P55 Deluxe could be the company's premium LGA-1156 motherboard, while the M3A785GXH/128M a rather high-end board, especially looking at its feature-set, that expands that of the the chipset typically offers.

The P55 Deluxe supports LGA-1156 processors sans the Flexible Display Interface feature (FDI), since it looks devoid of common display connectors. It supports four DDR3 DIMMs, with the Dual-Channel DDR3 memory interface, advertising support for DDR3-2000 (probably by overclocking). The board provides three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, (x16, NC, x4) or (x8, x8, x4, when the slots are populated). Apart from ATI CrossFireX, NVIDIA 3-way SLI support is advertised.

Over to the M3A785GXH/128M, and there is an interesting feature here. Although AMD 785G isn't specified to support CrossFire, ASRock used andexternal lane switch card to support it. The first two PCI-Express x16 are eletrically (x16, NC) or (x8, x8, when both are populated). The third slot seems wired to the southbridge and is electrically x4. The board supports AM3 socket processors, with four DDR3 DIMM slots offering support for dual-channel DDR3-1600 memory. The Radeon HD 4200 IGP makes use of 128 MB of DDR3 SidePort memory. Standard display connectors such as DVI, D-Sub and HDMI apply. An external storage controller ups the number SATA channels, by providing an internal, and an eSATA port. ASRock wasn't very generous with its photography.

Auzentech, Inc. (http://www.auzentech.com/), a provider of quality consumer electronics products, is pleased to announce the official release of the Auzen X-Fi™ Forte 7.1 soundcard.

The Auzen X-Fi™ Forte 7.1 is the first Low Profile native PCI Express® audio card that Auzentech has designed especially for gamers and audiophiles. Compared to the X-Fi™ chipset reference design, the Auzen X-Fi™ Forte 7.1 has improved circuitry and components. The Auzen X-Fi™ Forte 7.1 marks the first timethe Creative X-Fi™ Native PCI Express® chipset has been available in a low-profile board, as well as the first time it has been available in a third-party soundcard.

X-Fi™ Forte Page: http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_forte.php

Following annoncements by most motherboard manufacturers about their AM3 CPU compatibility lists, plans of motherboards based on the new DDR3-supportive platform socket have been coming to surface. After a list of eight motherboards by ASUS under the M4A and M4N series, Gigabyte's first motherboard based on the AM3 socket has been pictured. The GA-MA790FXT-UD5P is the company's first AMD motherboard that uses the Ultra Durable 3 construction, with 2-oz copper layered PCB, high-grade conductive polymer capacitors, and MOSFETs with lower RDS.

As the name suggests, this motherboard is based on the AMD 790FX chipset. It features two full-bandwidth PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots supporting ATI CrossfireX, four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting DDR3-1600+ MHz memory. The motherboard supports AM3 socket processors with TDP of up to 140W. A totalof 10 SATA II ports are provided, six of which are routed to the SB750 southbridge, four to an additional SATA II controller. Other features are common with Gigabyte motherboards in its class, with high-quality 7.1 ch audio, two gigabit Ethernet connections, twelve USB 2.0 ports (8 external), and FireWire. Gigabyte is planning two more AM3 socket models: GA-MA770T-UD3P and GA-MA790X-UD4P based on the AMD 770 and 790X chipsets respectively.

SAPPHIRE Technology is now introducing the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2, an exclusive new dual GPU water cooled version of the standard ATI HD 4870 X2 card. Because the article is written in Greek which is not my strongest language, I'll stick to the specs and pics, after all that's all we need. As usual, the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2 comprises of two complete HD 4870 graphics systems on a single PCI-Express card connected by an on-board PCI Express Gen 2 bridge chip. Each GPU has 1GB of GDDR5 memory, making a total of 2GB on-board memory. Core clock speed for this model is 800MHz, there are 2x800 stream processors, the memory clock speed is 1000MHz with 512-bit memory interface. What's so special in this model is the full cover liquid cooling provided by the famous OEM coolingexpert Asetek. The water-block cools both GPUs, all memory chips, the bridge chip and all the power elements. Two Dual Link DVI outputs are provided as well as TV-Out. Additionally the card's bundle includes a CCL UV lamp and Sapphire USB memory stick with drivers. The card will be available starting December 18th for a MSRP of $649.

XFX has announced the launch of its latest gaming peripheral, XFX nForce 750i SLI motherboard, in the Indian market.

The motherboard offers exceptional game support and bar none the fastest multi-GPU gaming platform available in the performance category.

Furthermore, the XFX nForce 750i SLI motherboard offers PCI Express 2.0 support for twice the bandwidth, and is backward compatible with existing PCI Express 1.0 graphics card. The other features include full overclocking capabilities for Intel Yorkfield and Wolfdale CPUs.

It also comes with NVIDIA RAID and MediaShield Technology to protect digital media assets, NVIDIA FirstPacket Technology, NVIDIA DualNet technology, NVIDIA Control Panel for an intuitive and customizable 3D environment, NVIDIA System Monitor and up to four SATA 4GB/s drives.Powered by Intel LGA 775 Processors, the ESA-certified XFX nForce 750i SLI motherboard also installs Gigabit Ethernet Port, USB 2.0 ports, rear panel clear CMOS button, rear panel debug LED and 8-channel HAD high-definition audio.

Supporting Windows XP and Vista Ready operating systems, the latest motherboard also shows compatibility with an exclusive Silent But Deadly (SBD) Heatpipe cooling technology and optical S/PDIF output.

Priced at Rs. 8500, the XFX 750i SLI motherboard is available in the Indian market through Rashi Peripherals and its nationwide branches.

No, this wasn’t a typo, GPU manufacturer Albatron Retrotechnology is actually releasing the Nvidia 8400, 8500, and 8600 for the PCI, not PCI-Express. What kind of performance can we expect from these “phat” cards riding the skinny bus?

Performance

Albatron claims the new GPU’s are capable of pounding out performance benchmarks in 3D Mark 06 of anywhere from 800 to 1200 depending on the model. While this is a considerable improvement over other PCI alternatives, it still pales in comparison with it’s PCI-E based brethren. A quick test with an XFX 8600 GTS Express card yielded results of close to 2200, almost twice as fast. This isn’t surprising given PCI’s meager 133 MB/s bus speed vs PCI-Express’s mammoth 8GB/s performance.Why Power Users Might Want One

While we all know the productivity benefits of multiple monitors, it is something that has always been hassle for those of us with SLI setups. Short of disabling multi GPU support in the driver, Nvidia power users have been forced to make do with a single monitor. Luckily, most dual GPU solutions from Nvidia leave a single PCI port exposed allowing for further expansion. By adding a third video card to your spare PCI slot you unlock the potential to run three monitors full time while still maintaining your SLI configuration. Adding an extra video card may all so unlock additional gaming potential down the line as Nvidia toys with the possibility of allowing users to dedicate spare GPU’s to physics processing.