The ASUS 7800GT-DUAL card is pretty interesting as it seems. It has a single 6-pin molex connector to power two GPUs but it requires an external power source using an AC adapter. This card has two DVI-out and two VGA connectors. Not forgetting, it is a huge card so not all casings can fit this in.

VR-Zone

You might have read my article earlier today and thought "dual dual-link DVI? LIES!". You might even have the stance that ATI's R5-series of products is the most talked about piece of vapourware since 3DRealms announced Duke Nukem Forever. Allow HEXUS to pictorially debunk both of those. World's first pictures of X1800 XL should be a fine start, don't you think?

Here's a pic on how the PhysX card using AGEIA PhysX processor from ASUS will look like. In comparison with the reference card, there are some differences in the PCB and components layout. Now the PhysX card looks more like a graphics card with 128MB onboard GDDR3 memories, a heatsink fan to cool the PPU and also a 12V Molex connector for additional power source.

VR-Zone

AVIVO has previously been heard of under a couple of different guises, "Clarity" being one and "Kaleidoscope" being a more frequently heard reference, however the Clarity codename probably gives a better indication as to its use. AVIVO is the umbrella name for ATI?s video and display pipeline technologies.

Today Nvidia is announcing a new K8 chipset family that brings GeForce 6 graphics to the nForce4 platform. The chipset family is made up of a pair of interchangeable north and south bridge chips, with the former sporting DirectX 9-glass integrated graphics derived from NVIDIA's GeForce 6 series. Integrated graphics is so important to NVIDIA's new north bridge chips that rather than being branded with the nForce name, the new chips have been dubbed GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100.

TechReport

techPowerUp have snagged the latest Nvidia presentations for:

NVIDIA G70 Go - NVIDIA nForce4 Update - NVIDIA PureVideo

It's no secret that there appeared a lot of preliminary data (for example, on www.anandtech.com and www.vr-zone.com) on future ATI products based on the new R520 chip and its crippled low-end modifications (RV5XX). Let's try to sum up the available information, pick out the most likely (logically) scenarios and parameters, and analyze the prospects. On we go.

ATi upcoming R520 will incorporate Advanced VIVO capabilities that includes H.264/VC-1 Hardware Decode, High Definiton Hardware MPEG2 Acceleration, WMV9 HD Acceleration, High Quality & CE-Proven TV Encoder, Multi-Vector Adaptive etc. AVIVO also includes a 10-Bit Display Engine supporting not just the 10-Bit Gamma correction but also 10-Bit Scaling and 10-Bit Dithering. AVIVO also support 16-Bit Dual-Link DVI output.

VR-Zone

The new Creative 1.5 BangBoomBlaster soundcard will connect to five individual subwoofers, with an optional connection for a normal speaker. These subwoofers can then be fitted around the home to produce synchronized bass line output, drowning out any inconvenient background noise. Early reports state that trials have caused heavy vibrations that reached 6.7 on the Richter scale, which Souder described as "promising."

BBSpot

A bunch of pictures of very nice casemod hardware.

Album: mod-tech Hall 2005 - 208 pics

ATI's competitor NVIDIA has sat down and put together a presentation dealing with the shortcomings of CrossFire. Problems like limited resolution and game issues are listed. Not only do they cover the CrossFire video cards, but also problems with ATI's dual VGA motherboard chipsets.

techPowerUp

Well ATI sure kept us waiting, but it will finally be introduced this month, the R520 architecture, the successor to the X800 family of graphics cards and a contender for the 3D graphics throne. But why wait for that introduction when you can have a sneak peak today? Normally we would?ve adhered to ATI?s NDA and published results the moment it expired. However this time around ATI decided to just not bother with us as they made it very clear that we did not make the cut, as we have written some articles about CrossFire, R520 and ATI?s financial situation that were apparently not appreciated. Hence we?ve not been briefed by ATI, nor did we sign an NDA, or have been invited to the launch event, so basically they decided to cut us off.

Jim Louderback, Editor-in-Chief of Ziff Davis Media, was lucky enough to attend the 61st International Motor Show in Frankfurt Germany, where much of the future of the automobile was on display.

Toshiba has announced their development of a compact methanol fuel cell capable of powering a digital music player for up to 60 hours on a single charge.

Badcomedown

Sony today launched three new notebook series to its lineup: the VAIO TX, FJ and BX.

The VAIO BX is designed for businesses while the VAIO FJ series are designed for a wider audience. There's also the ultraportable VAIO TX, this series offers an impressive battery life of 7.5 hours.

Imagine you have a notebook with a flash hard drive? The first thing you?ll conserve is power, the second thing you?ll save is space and the third thing you will achieve is durability, as you?ll no longer have to worry about a hard disk crash. And of course, your notebook will be somewhat lighter.

We're giving you the chance to win a 'so new it's not even out yet' ATI R520 based graphics card and a motherboard to go with it, courtesy of Sapphire.

All you have to do is fill in the HEXUS Readers Survey and you'll be automatically entered!

The newest generation processors are said to be an amalgamation of its erstwhile P4 (Netburst architecture) and the Pentium M (Banias) processors. The idea is that more and more users are getting energy conscious and will want processors that are more efficient, but they would not want to compromise on the performance aspect of it. Thus, Intel?s focus at IDF was not just performance but performance/watt.

Sony seems to be on a roll today when A/V equipment is concerned, and this time they introduce the RDR-AX75, a home DL DVD burner with 250Gb HDD that is capable of encoding video in Mpeg-4 AVC (H.264_, and these files are 100% PSP compatible! Once the video is stored onto the HDD, you just need to stick your MS Duo in the slot and transfer the video onto the memory card.

AkihabaraNews

Those wonderfully leaky sources at Taiwan's motherboard makers have let slip another nugget of news to the folks at DigiTimes. Word is that Intel's upcoming 975X chipset will support dual-graphics technologies from both ATI and NVIDIA:

TechReport