Although NVIDIA's pledged to simplify its lineup for consumers and ATI's been getting better, the current state of the graphics card market is still a pretty wild alphabet soup of model numbers and specs lists, so the crew over at The Tech Report decided to break things down using the only stat that matters: price. While the results aren't exactly shocking (surprise: more dollars equals more FPS), what's interesting is that multi-GPU rigs are really quite cost-effective, delivering performance on par with higher-end cards at significantly lower prices. For example, two Radeon HD 3850s run nearly as fast as a single Radeon HD 3870 X2, even though they cost a fair bit less, and two GeForce 9600 GTs can potentially outgun a GeForce 8800 Ultra. That's always been the promise of SLI and CrossFire, and it looks like it's paying off -- any system-builders out there care to share their experiences?

Get ready to burn through your allowance, kids, as AMD is getting set to loose its Catalyst 8.3 drivers for all to indulge in. What does the download net you, exactly? Why, CrossFireX support, of course. Starting today, users can link up any combination of RV670- and R680-based products -- that includes the Radeon HD 3850, Radeon HD 3870 and Radeon HD 3870 X2 -- in order to acquire triple- and quad-GPU performance within Windows Vista. Additionally, the drivers also introduce ATI Hybrid Graphics support in Vista, which was boasted about already when the firm unveiled its upcoming 780G chipset. Check out the read link for the full list of changes, and keep an eye on the firm's support page for v8.3 to surface any moment now.

Sure, SLI technology is fine and dandy, but ATI's hoping to remove some of the restrictions found on current multi-GPU setups with its forthcoming CrossFire X technology. As we've seen before, the idea here is to "take two, three or four GPUs and use their power to render one game faster than you otherwise would be able." Over at PC Perspective, those kind folks were able to pick AMD's brain on the topic, and aside from getting confirmation that CrossFire X "supports multi-GPU configurations of any combination of RV670- and R680-based products," we also found that a public release was just weeks away. Better still, there's a full report detailing the results of putting the technology to the test, and yes, initial impressions do seem quite positive. Hit the read link for the full spill, cool?

[Thanks, sizewise]

We actually thought Skulltrail was a pretty slick name for a gaming platform, but it looks like the suits at Intel were afraid of having too much fun -- say hello to the "Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform." Yep, it's official, just announced at GDC. Based on the new $649 D5400XS mobo and a pair of $1,499 3.2GHz QX9775 Core 2 Extreme chips, Intel says prototype machines have been the fastest ever tested, with 3DMark06 scores of 6481 and Cinebench 10 scores of 20,160 when configured with a pair of CrossFire'd ATI Radeon HD 3870 cards -- but don't fret, the platform also supports NVIDIA SLI cards. It looks like a variety of high-end system builders will be shipping Skulltrail (sorry, that's what we're calling it) machines over the next 30 days, including Falcon Northwest, Voodoo, and Velocity Micro -- better start saving those pennies.

AMD just took the wraps off their ATI R680, RV620, and RV635 graphics cores. The new R680 consists of two 55-nm processor cores with CrossFireX support sharing the same specifications of the RV670 processor at the heart of their Radeon HD 3870 -- thought to be AMD's best product of the year. The RV620 and RV635 GPU cores are nearly identical to their RV610 and RV630 processors only in a new 55-nm form. Now, imagine if you will a pair of ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 (R680) cards running in CrossFire. Or say four with CrossFireX. Feels good, right? You won't have to wait much longer as the R680 hits in January.

Read -- AMD announced R680, Rv620, and RV635
Read -- ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 in CrossFire

We've already seen laptops like Sony's Vaio SZ include integrated graphics alongside much more powerful (and power-hungry) dedicated chips, but AMD's looking to make such setups all the more commonplace with new chips capable of hybrid CrossFire. AMD recently demoed the tech to PC Perspective, showing off a 2.2GHz Phenom machine with both unreleased RS780 integrated graphics and a RV620-based card labeled HD Radeon 3450. Running games like Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3, frame rates jumped from 30-35fps to around 55fps when hybrid mode was enabled. That's pretty respectable, although the system is limited to speedups of the slowest chip times two, so bigger gains are probably not in the offing. However, there can still be benefits to using chips of drastically different horsepower: the integrated chips can power down the heavy hitter to save power when not needed, and totally switch over when required. That's a pretty solid compromise, we think -- and with AMD aiming for the initial batch of hybrid CrossFire-capable cards to be priced around $50, it looks like we'll be seeing these setups a lot when AMD starts shipping these early next year.

Barely a month after showing off its Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition, AMD is apparently hoping to rope in a few more followers with a lower-priced CPU in the same family. This processor reportedly hums along at 2.6GHz, is built around 65-nanometer technology, boasts 1MB of L2 cache and will play nice with the firm's "580x or upcoming 700-series chipsets." 'Course, enthusiasts will love the "customizable clock multiplier for tunable performance," and word on the street has these new chips "available to channel partners" for just $136 apiece in groups of 1,000.

[Via InformationWeek]

With leading-edge graphics cards getting more and more dedicated RAM shoved onto their PCBs, it's only surprising that it has taken this long for a 1GB single GPU card to hit the market. Diamond Multimedia has just announced the launch of its Radeon HD 2900 XT 1GB, which packs a full gigabyte of GDDR4 memory, second-generation unified shader architecture, 512-bit memory interface, integrated CrossFire scalability, and built-in HDMI support. Moreover, it also includes ATI's Avivo display technology, dual-link DVI output, HDCP compliance, and DirectX 10 support. No word just yet on what kind of premium you'll be expected to pay for this momentary claim of superiority, but we'd wait for the benchmarks to see if it's even worth the extra coin.

HiPe PC is no stranger to the land of excessive power and unorthodox construction, and the firm's latest two gaming rigs are no exception to either. The K-Tana 2.0 can come stocked with your choice of an overclocked 3.2GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme or dual liquid-cooled AMD Athlon FX-72 / FX-74 processors, an overclocked NVIDIA 8800 SLI graphics setup, 1,200-watt power supply, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, up to 4TB of HDD storage, acoustical dampening, colored neon lighting systems, and the ability to order up a customized paint scheme if the early 90s vibe isn't really workin' for you. The real head-scratcher is the Daishō 2.0 Dual PC (shown after the jump), which as the name implies, sports a duo of networked PCs within a single vertical chassis. The primary PC is a GeForce 8800-equipped gaming rig with up to 4GB of RAM and 4TB of HDD space, while the secondary computer is a "personal media center or server" powered by either VIA's Epia C7 or Intel's Merom processor. Additionally, the secondary unit is connected to a motorized touchscreen LCD and responds to your voice thanks to the included speech recognition software. Notably, both machines can be configured to include a Blu-ray writer, and while both systems manage to start around $2,600, the sky really is the limit when adding in luxurious extras.

Flame jobs on a PC most certainly aren't new, but we fear it's a fad that will always burn on in some regard, and its companies like Shuttle that keep on fanning it. While the rectangular-shaped box has made its way into a many of homes, gamers looking for some serious horsepower in a mobile rig can find a quite a potent system in the firm's forthcoming 1337 SDXi series desktops. While all the specifics aren't nailed down quite yet, the machine will boast an Intel X8600 or QX6700 quad-core processor, liquid-cooling system, unmistakable custom-paint job on the case, keyboard, and mouse, ATIs X1950 Pro CrossFire graphics cards, support for up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, and a hint of that early 90s vibe to boot. Unfortunately, such a flashy rig sports an equally stunning pricetag, as these bad boys will be "starting" at $4,999 when they land later this month.

[Thanks, Marshall W.]

Looks like AMD has a sweet new rig they're readying for January launch, and word on the street is Bill Gates wants to launch it personally. It's the IQ770 "Crossfire," the first mass market touchscreen desktop PC we've seen, surely good for taking advantage of Vista's integrated tablet functionality. The Vista Premium system, set to launch alongside Windows on January 30th, features a massive load of options including: 19-inch touchscreen, AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core TL-52 processor, 2GB SDRAM, 320GB drive, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600, WiFi, Bluetooth, integrated 1.3 megapixel camera, integrated FM and ATSC HDTV tuners, a DVD±RW / DVD-RAM burner with LightScribe, Pocket Media Drive bay, wireless keyboard, mouse, stylus, front media reader, and a crazy amount of ports (Ethernet, two FireWire, six USB 2.0, one with HP printer power Y-cable connector, 5.1 + digital audio out, IR out, mini-VGA, and inputs: FM coax, TV coax, ATSC, and two S-Video). It also features some new widget-like dashboard interface, featuring HP new SmartCalendar, which serves as a central point for virtual fridge notes and shared family calendars; as well as Photosmart Touch, a new image editing and printing interface. Expect to pony up $1799 - $1899 for this iMac killer in a couple months. Tons more photos after the break!

Looks like ATI is still intent on making a name for itself while ATI's still ATI, busting out its most powerful graphics card yet, the Radeon X1950. Available in both XTX and CrossFire editions, the X1950 series are the first cards to pack GDDR4 memory technology (a full 512MB of it) clocking in at an impressive 2.0GHz, as well as an all-new fansink that should keep the card cool and keep your box from scaring the neighbors. Just make sure your power supply is up to snuff before forking over the $449 for one (or two) of these, cause you know any old off-shelf PC just ain't gonna cut it. Look for it to be available from all the usual sources September 13th, and shortly thereafter as an option from Dell and other OEM vendors.

[Via Impress]

All ye Intel faithful, we come bearing (potentially) sterling news. According to DigiTimes' Taiwan notebook manufacturer sources, with the addition of Intel's Core 2 Duo mobile processor lineup also comes the addition of SLI support; yes, it could be that you'll no longer be shackled to faster, cheaper, cooler-performing AMD chips to get your double-barreled graphics adapter-equipped mobile gaming rig on. Supposedly they're building in support for NVIDIA SLI and CrossFire both, but don't be surprised if ATI gets the rug pulled out from underneath them at the last moment now that they've officially joined the AMD cadre. In fact, until support is officially confirmed don't be surprised if it just never happens at all.

[Via Laptoping]

With Alienware having just added Core 2 Duo options to its Area-51 7500 desktop, you didn't really think that rival Voodoo would be far behind, did you? The boutique gaming rig manufacturer has just announced its OMEN i:121 Extreme tower, which crams a 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor into either a liquid- or air-cooled case designed to "operate at peak efficiency without draining excess power." Since video processing is even more important than CPU horsepower in a system like this, Voodoo is offering the new Omen with a number of graphics configurations, ranging from a single ATI Radeon X1900 or nVidia GeForce 7900GT setup all the way up to SLI or Crossfire dual-card powerhouses. You're also getting 2GB of RAM in the base configuration, along with a 7,200RPM 80GB hard drive and 16x dual-layer Pioneer DVD burner. As usual, pricing on these machines borders on the ridiculous, with SLI and Crossfire rigs starting at $4,400 and $6,000, respectively -- hey, no one said that being on the cutting edge of performance would come cheap.

[Via TrustedReviews]