This massively-parallel architecture is ideally suited to gaming systems, of course, but Intel plans on extending its usefulness into the handheld and even supercomputing domains. Larrabee's chief designer puts the new chip architecture "on the level of the 432 or the Itanium.” It'll be competing against next-gen chips from Nvidia and ATI, which will have between 256 and 800 cores, so Larrabee is relying on its "high speed ring" which interconnects cores more efficiently than current designs. Should be available in late 2009 or early 2010. Interesting stuff. [NYTimes]

The Price: $329 for Business, $429 for Professional and $499 for Mac.

The Verdict: Multitasking bliss. We were able to add two 19-inch, 1280x1024 monitors to our 15-inch MacBook Pro without breaking a sweat. The two extra monitors (we were already running a 30-inch Dell off the internal DVI port) had very little slowdown while being powered through our ExpressCard port, and handled HD video like the Watchmen trailer without any signs of tears or imminent exploding.

What we did notice was that the unit was LOUD. In our pre-production unit, the fan ran started quietly on boot, but ramped up to 100% after a minute or two. It was loud enough to give us AND our unborn children a migraine. The people at Villagetronic said their release units would be softer, but note that the ATI 2600XT throws out a lot of heat. To us this means that you probably shouldn't expect this to be too much softer. Just something to watch out for if you need to use this in a quiet production environment. The other annoyance we've found is that the ExpressCard connection can't be hot-plugged on OS X, so you have to shut down your machine every time you want to swap in or out of the multi-monitor setup or else you'll get that curtain of death. Villagetronic tells us that it's a bug that Apple will fix in the future.

Is this great for multitasking? Oh sweet jeebus yes. You can have all your applications open at the same time, spread eagled across your four displays like Stalin planning to push the Nazis back into Germany (apologies for that undoubtedly historically inaccurate statement). Is it worth the as-of-yet-undetermined cost? Hard to say. Something like this won't be cheap, but if you're like us and value every pixel of your screen as if it's the last chopper out of Saigon (sorry again!), you'll look long and hard at the ViDock Gfx. [Villagetronic]

Granted, it's not hard for Dell to roll out a BIOS update that bumps cooling fan RPMs, so it makes sense that they would cover their ass in this way. Although more fan means more noise and less battery life, so the update is not without its costs. Either way, Dell is taking the issue seriously, which makes it seem like the the problem is a little more serious than what Nvidia is saying.

The update is for the following systems: Inspiron 1420, Latitude D630, Latitude D630c, Vostro Notebook 1310, Vostro Notebook 1400, Vostro Notebook 1510, Vostro Notebook 1710, XPS M1330, and XPS M1530

[Direct2Dell via Laptoping]

One of the most fundamental changes in the R700 cards—which are two RV770s with a PCI Express switch connecting the the two and double the memory—is that the GPUs actually communicate with each other, whereas past CrossFire configs had both cards basically rendering their own sections independently, then combining them. AnandTech says it's not entirely clear how much communication there will be, but there will definitely be more than there was. Also, the drivers still need to come up to spec to let the card truly shine, but the hardware is totally in the right place. [AnandTech]

SANTA CLARA, CA—JULY 14, 2008—PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation’s announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI® multi-GPU technology to Intel’s upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce® GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce® 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

“With GeForce-based visual computing application, our customers are experiencing exciting new ways to interact with their photos and videos while also experiencing the bone-chilling realism from our latest graphics processors,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of GPU business at NVIDIA. “Our SLI technology allows us to combine the power of hundreds of GeForce processing cores in multi-GPU configurations with Intel’s latest CPUs for platforms that are sure to excite our customers.”

What the Customers Are Saying:
“It’s great to see that NVIDIA opted to enable SLI on the future Intel Bloomfield platform,” said Rahul Sood, CTO Voodoo Business Unit, HP. “Make love not war I say… and NVIDIA’s enablement of Intel chipsets to support SLI will make our jobs much easier in offering a better customer experience as we continue to evolve HP’s award-winning Blackbird 002 and Voodoo Omen platforms.”

“Our clients want the best of everything, and it’s our job to package the best technologies into one complete system for them,” said Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest. “NVIDIA’s SLI configurations have produced the fastest graphics solutions on the market for years, and the ability to pair SLI with Intel’s upcoming processors will deliver a level of overall system performance no one has ever seen before. We can’t wait to equip Falcon Northwest systems with this solution!”

“NVIDIA`s SLI technology is the outstanding feature of high-end gamer PCs,” says Klaus Rüther, Desktop Product Manager at Atelco. “We are very pleased that the SLI technology will be available for the new line of Intel Bloomfield CPUs. With SLI, the gamer can experience the latest PC games as if they were real.”

“Medion is a highly regarded European OEM as an innovator in enthusiast-based PCs,” said Oliver Soellner, CMO at Medion. “By adding NVIDIA SLI with Intel’s next-generation CPU platform, we can offer the most feature rich Medion Erazer PCs with blistering graphics performance, which is sure to satisfy the most demanding users.”

“Fujitsu-Siemens is excited to see NVIDIA SLI technology associated with Intel Bloomfield CPUs. This combination addresses the innovative gaming market and will bring the best experience to gamers worldwide,” said Michael Hilpert, Senior Product manager at FSC.

“What a great, great move, the ability to have 3-way SLI, with Intel Bloomfield CPUs. The combination will break all the existing performance barriers and deliver a whole new user experience. The wait is over,” Elan Raja III Director Scan Computers.

“Over the last four years, NVIDIA has been recognized for its SLI technology innovation and leadership," said Joe Hsieh, General Manager at ASUS. "This technology is an excellent feature that customers are demanding for their new Intel platforms. We are excited about bringing the power of this platform to our Intel customers.”

“Acer congratulates NVIDIA on its nForce 200 SLI technology platform and we are very interested to bring it to market,” said Brian Bogaard, Product Business Manager, Acer EMEA Desktop PC

The pairing of the NVIDIA nForce® 200 SLI MCP with Intel’s new Bloomfield CPU and Tylersburg core logic chipset will deliver NVIDIA 3-way SLI technology for an unmatched PC gaming experience, providing up to a 2.8× performance boost over traditional single graphics card platforms. When playing the most cutting-edge games, including current titles such as Crysis and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 3-way SLI technology lets gamers ratchet up the resolution to 2500 × 1600, while turning on all of the tasty eye candy, including high-dynamic range lighting, motion blur, and realistic environmental effects.

Motherboards and PC systems featuring support for the NVIDIA nForce 200 SLI processor, NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, and NVIDIA SLI technology will be available from the world’s leading motherboard manufacturers, add-in card companies, and major system builders including: Acer, ASUS, Atelco, Coolmod, Dell, Ditech, Falcon Northwest, Founder, Fujitsu-Siemens Computer, Gigabyte, Haier, Hypersonic PC, Iqon/Commodore, K&M, Komplett, Komputronik , Legend, Maingear, Medion, MSI, Multirama, Next, Scan Computers , Sky Electronics , Tongfang, TS, Velocity Micro, Vigor Gaming, and more.

[Fareastgizmos]

Of course, there is a cost to being maybe the best performing GPU on the planet: besides running $650 and $399, respectively (making three-way SLI nearly two grand with the GTX 280), they both require two PCI-E power connections to run and a massive power supply (like 1000w) if you're even thinking about SLI. Yet somehow it actually draws less idle power than the last gen of their ultra high-performance cards. To show you how adept they are at parallel processing here's one more benchmark shot, this time comparing its Foldering@Home performance. Yep, they've got a client coming soon. We should see mid-range cards in the line before too long, for those looking for more affordable next-gen goodness.

Update: Tom's Hardware has a massive novella of a review going over everything in complete, insane detail, but here are the highlights. It never hands down beats the 9800 GX2 in game performance (which is really two cards in one), and in fact, loses more than once, though that might be 'cause the drivers are less optimized. ATI's Radeon HD 3870 X2 gets in its licks too, like on World in Conflict. In the all-important (or maybe overblown) Crysis test, the 9800 GX2 prevails, with the 8800 Ultra not too far behind the GTX 260: Still, the overall raw processing power has doubled from the last gen and is way more efficient than the two-in-one cards. If you're going on price-to-performance, the GTX 260 is the better bet, with only an 18 percent performance lag, despite being nearly 40 percent cheaper. [Nvidia, Tom's Hardware]

It's a 750MHz ARM11 processor with an ultra low-power GeForce core that can en/decode 720p video, deal w/ 12-megapixel pics, and throw video onto a TV w/ an HDMI cable (up to 10 hours). It's an NVIDIA chip, so it also bosses over 3D graphics for navigation, super-slick UIs, and probably some half-decent games—just need decent controls. The end of the release says it's competing with Intel's highly hyped Silverthorne, so we can't wait to see the head-to-head benchmarks.

NVIDIA INTRODUCES APX 2500 - THE WORLD'S LOWEST POWER, HIGH DEFINITION COMPUTER ON A CHIP New NVIDIA Applications Processor and Microsoft Windows Mobile Combine to Enable Smartphone 2.0 MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2008—BARCELONA, SPAIN—FEBRUARY 11, 2008

NVIDIA Corporation, the world leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the GPU, today introduced NVIDIA® APX 2500, a breakthrough applications processor that enables intuitive 3D user interfaces and engaging high definition video on connected Windows Mobile phones. The APX 2500 applications processor uniquely delivers an unprecedented 10 hours of 720p HD playback - an industry first for video quality and power consumption on a mobile device, as well as stunning HD camcorder and ultra-high resolution photo imaging capabilities.

"This is the dawn of the second personal computer revolution," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "Technologies are converging in amazing mobile devices that have all of the rich, visual capabilities of a modern PC — from watching movies and making video calls to surfing the web and playing 3D games. The APX 2500 combined with Microsoft Windows Mobile, will make the next generation of smartphones our most personal computer."

NVIDIA® has worked closely with Microsoft on the development of APX 2500, marking a significant milestone in a long term relationship that has seen the companies share a passion for making interaction with technology more visual and instinctive across multiple platforms. The combined engineering efforts of the two companies will ensure that next generation versions of the Windows Mobile operating system will harness the capabilities of the APX 2500 applications processor across challenging multimedia use cases.

"Microsoft is dedicated to providing people true mobile freedom, so that they only need to carry one device for both communication and entertainment," said Todd Warren, corporate vice president of the mobile communication business, Microsoft Corp. "We are delighted to work with NVIDIA to offer our users an amazing visual experience on the next-generation Windows Mobile phones."

The NVIDIA APX 2500 applications processor, which is the culmination of 800 man years of engineering, delivers:

• The industry's first HD (720p) playback and capture capability for handheld devices.

• A new ultra-low power (ULP) GeForce® core, fully OpenGL ES 2.0 and Microsoft® Direct3D®

Mobile compliant and the lowest power 3D hardware solution available for the acceleration of intuitive 3D user interfaces.

• NVIDIA nPower technology, enabling over 10 hours of high-definition video playback and up to 100 hours of audio - more than 4 times the audio playback of the latest touch-screen phones.

• The connectivity and media acceleration technologies required to enable the latest web 2.0 applications, from effortless web browsing and social networking, to GPS and mapping applications.

The NVIDIA APX 2500 applications processor is sampling today with key customers and will enter into full production by the end of Q2 2008.Nvidia's solution will compete with Intel's own Silverthorne chips and other x86-based solution.

The Catch: Expect the 9800 GX2's 1GB frame buffer, two 65nm GPUs and 256 Stream processors to make this one seriously expensive graphics card. [[H] Enthusiast]

But today, I can officially announce that there is no uncanny valley any more, not in real-time.

Despite the language barrier, this video gives a nice demo of the technology with some visual explanation of the mechanics behind the magic.[tvinjapan via therawfeed]

Using a pencil is more intuitive than drawing with a touchpad, but I'm not sure how useful this is actually going to be, cute as it is. It's made from a "super-special space age silicone" and should be available soon. [Suck]

While definitely slick, the implementation of the idea actually seems somewhat limited, and doesn't make full use of its potential—imagine a 20x20 foot version of Microsoft Surface that people could just walk up and draw on. If it recorded every stroke made over the display's duration, it could turn into a really interesting mass art project, for instance. Sure, you'd probably wind up with more than a few obscene renderings, but it's New York, people can handle it.

That said, Adobe is at least slightly savvy to its users, immediately torpedoing the idea to stick the demo in the tourist hellhole (or just general hellhole) that is Times Square, despite its heavier foot traffic.

If you want to check it out but don't feel like rushing out right now to beat the sweating masses to 14th St., don't worry, it'll be there for a month. [NYT]

The card itself will be under $50 but still feature DX9 and 128MB of RAM (possibly less depending on which manufacturer you buy from), which means you'll be able to do at least a little gaming while you hoard your money away like a squirrel with law school loans. – Jason Chen

Press Release [nVidia via Slashgear]

So what do these scores mean?

A 1 means you should just seriously go back to XP. Microsoft wants your money, but not that badly. A score of 2 is the basic score you'll need to do anything on Vista worth while. A 3 (which is what we have, a high 3) is going to be the "value end", or super cheap, PCs being shipped into 2007. A 4 is a mid-range machine, and a 5 is a high-end monster that can do Aero-Glass on multiple monitors and hack into the Matrix.

The current maximum score is a 5.9. A 6 hasn't been defined yet, because Windows developers want to leave themselves room for a 4-dimensional Pipes screensaver or something. They plan to re-evaluate the scale every 12-18 months, or else in two years everyone will have machines that score a 4 or a 5.

In our experience, that 3.7 is pretty decent. Sure, the CPU could be faster, but we haven't noticed any slowdown thanks to Aero. We're not disappointed, since the performance is about on par with XP and this is a pretty low-end machine, after all.

And for you nerds? You can hit up shareyourscore.com and see what other nerds are getting with their machines. It's like an e-penis competition graded by Microsoft—the king of making e-penis competitions (Xbox Live Gamerscore points, for example).

– Jason Chen

What the scores mean [Vista Blog]

Share Your Score

Thanks Lee!

NVIDIA says the digital Adrianne can demonstrate the same range of emotions, movements and attitude as her own sultry, cat-like real-world counterpart. She apparently likes the idea:

"I am honored to have been selected as the first celebrity for this project," said Adrianne Curry. "The Digital Adrianne is so realistic, it's really trippy. Lara Croft, eat my shorts!"

These are impressive graphics, but next we would like to see this 3D character in motion. NVIDIA? Send along the video and we'll post it. Better yet, let's have a QuickTime model we can manipulate ourselves. – Charlie White

More real-world pics of Adrianne (NSFW) [Babelogger]

uPlusPen - PC Tablet for Writing and Drawing without the Tablet [Everything USB]

The graphics units are available on a single configuration such as you see on the left above, or can be combined together in rack-mounted clusters and harnessed together for graphics Nirvana. All can be used for driving photorealistic graphics for scientists, oil explorers, flight simulators and other secret and scary purposes we won't get into here. Filmmakers will like using it to drive the highest-resolution 4K digital film displays. Pricing will start at $17,500, and the product is set to ship in September.

This is graphics territory formerly only occupied by the likes of SGI. And yes, we're assuming that it can indeed play Doom. – Charlie White

Read the press release after the jump.

NVIDIA Introduces The World's First Dedicated Visual Computing System: Nvidia Quadro Plex

Breakthrough New System Delivers A Quantum Leap in Visual Compute Density with Unprecedented Productivity, Flexibility and Performance

SIGGRAPH 2006—BOSTON, MA—August 1, 2006—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today ushered in a new era of advanced visualization for the professional graphics market with the introduction of the NVIDIA Quadro Plex 1000, the world's first dedicated Visual Computing System (VCS).

By delivering an order-of-magnitude increase in levels of productivity and capability for advanced visualization, the NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS offers advanced scalability in a sleek desktop or dense 3U rackmount configuration for demanding professional applications such as those powering multiple streams of 4K high-definition video, 3D styling and design, scientific and medical visualization, oil and gas exploration, or visual simulation and training.

NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS incorporates many groundbreaking innovations that remove the major graphics discontinuity in the professional visual industry, a market known for its innovation in 3D graphics. These revolutionary new features include:

Unprecedented Levels of Visual Compute Density—Combine up to eight NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs in a single VCS node, which consists of two NVIDIA Quadro Plex systems attached to a certified SLI technology-capable host system, to take advantage of extremely high-density, graphics-intensive computing. NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS nodes can also be clustered to further scale visual compute density.

Breakthrough Visual Computing Capability—Scale NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU technology to deliver maximum performance supporting the highest image quality of up to 64X FSAA. Enable frame synchronization, genlock, and frame lock with NVIDIA G-Sync technology to extend scale performance, image quality and resolution.

Massively Scalable Performance—Available in three distinct configurations delivering maximum performance, resolution and image quality to visualize the largest seismic datasets, render photorealistic and interactive designs, or natively drive 4K projection systems.

Featuring NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU technology, the NVIDIA Quadro Plex dedicated VCS offers improved visual compute density of up to 20x over traditional GPU solutions, and can be deployed with any PCI Express x16 system for use with the most demanding professional CAD, DCC and visualization applications. Scalable enough to deliver up to 148 megapixels on 16 synchronized digital-output channels and eight HD SDI channels, including a fill rate of 80-billion pixels/sec and geometry performance of seven billion vertices/sec, the NVIDIA Quadro Plex visual computing system can operate as a single shared desktop unit or be clustered together to further scale performance and increase visual computing quality.

NVIDIA Quadro Plex 1000 VCS is compatible with an officially certified set of x86 32- and 64-bit Intel and AMD processors running Windows and Linux operating systems. See www.nvidia.com/quadroplex for a list of compatible systems. NVIDIA Quadro Plex is planned to be certified on all industry-leading applications and ship in September 2006, with prices starting at $17,500 (US).

What NVIDIA Partners are Saying

"The NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS addresses a real need for geoscientists as it allows standard workstations and servers to drive high-performance large-scale visualization configurations," says Nicholas Purday, Manager of Geological and Geophysical Technologies Solutions at Landmark, a brand of Halliburton's Drilling, Evaluation and Digital Solutions Division. "The combination of Landmark's GeoProbe software, which is configurable to take full advantage of multi-GPU/multi-display configurations, and NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS will enable geoscientists to interpret their data at its highest resolution, without losing sight of the regional context."

"Seeing the new NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS running Google Earth is an astounding visual experience," said Michael Jones, chief technologist, Google Earth, Maps and Local. "This extreme level of performance and resolution takes the viewer from visual simulation to emotional reality, showing the Earth in its full detail and glory. Google Earth and the NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS are a perfect pair—powering a new world of imagination."

"The new NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS is the ideal graphics enabling technology for Aechelon's flight simulator solutions," said John Quinn, CEO of Aechelon Technology. "Together, with unrivaled image quality and performance from NVIDIA, we can deliver advanced scalability on virtually any platform, enabling ultra high-resolution, eye-limiting displays, which are absolutely required for our most demanding users."

"The NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS offers unprecedented graphics power for advanced visualization on today's workstations," says Tom Coull, CEO of ModViz. "Our VGP software system combined with the Quadro Plex VCS lets professional 3D visualization applications take full advantage of the Quadro Plex multi-GPU architecture, achieving optimal performance through the transparent division and distribution of rendering tasks. NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS and VGP working together redefine professional 3D graphics on a workstation."

NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies. The Company creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. For more information, visit http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadroplex.html.

Sapphire shows off its X1600 PRO HDMI card[TheInquirer]

This looks like an incremental step, but it's well-supported by the card manufacturers. But a chip like this isn't going to do you much good if you have cable TV or satellite TV. These cards are still stuck in the over-the-air broadcast mode, which is not all that useful for us. Now if these babies could somehow support CableCard, then we'll talk. But still, maybe TV watching is all headed toward downloads, codecs, files, and—shall we say it—BitTorrent, anyway. – Charlie White

Product page [ATI, via TG Daily]

Not only can it run an SLI graphics setup at a superwide 3840x1024 resolution over three displays, according to Matrox there are 135 games are compatible with the TripleHead2Go, including World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Unreal Tournament 2004. Available now directly from Matrox or elsewhere for around $300. – Charlie White

Product Page [Matrox]

Even the slightly cheaper 490 is no slouch, where you can configure it in a similar way and even use its smaller case horizontally or vertically. Fully tricked out with the fastest processors, four gigs of RAM and a couple of 10,000RPM disks, the 690 will run you about $6,500, but pricing starts at $1529. These monsters will start shipping in the middle of June.

Precision Workstation Product Page [Dell]

"...challenged by delays in introducing new technology, a focus on more specialized markets and more intense competition from larger rivals."

Silicon Graphics goes titsup [The Register]

Swinimer: I know that Nintendo has committed to 2006 availability. Certainly, game developers need some time to start developing games for it. I can't say anything more than that.

Interview Exclusive: Revolution Report Talks with ATI about Hollywood [Revolution Report]

Acecad Acecat Flair [TrustedReviews]