Nvidia is in the news again, for all the wrong reasons. Lucid Logix' HYDRA has been a promising and anticipated product ever since it was announced back in 2008. Lucid claimed it would allow graphics cards from different manufacturers to scale better than current AFR solutions such as SLI or Crossfire. So, you could combine a Radeon card with a Geforce (or more cards) and they would scale accordingly, by using methods such as Split Frame Rendering.

Both AMD and Nvidia were understandably skeptical about this solution. Now, Lucid's Hydra 200 chip is ready and available in MSI's Big Bang Fuzion motherboard.

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With some misinformation on the web for the past few days, MSI today has officially unveiled the Big Bang Trinergy that supports 3-way SLI on Intel P55 Express chipset. This cool board sports other goodness like Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 support, 100% Hi-c Caps, OC Dashboard, DrMOS and the 1 second overclock utility OC Genie. Next in line is the Big Bang Fuzion that features the Lucid HYDRA chip supporting multiple and mixed GPUs. Of course, expect the Fuzion board to cost more.

ASUS listened. They flown in R & D Engineers from Taiwan to satisfy your crave!

Nvidia's nifty pico-ITX motherboard platform, Ion, is set to get a refresh within the next two months. The first generation ion was a promising platform for netbooks and nettops, featuring the Geforce 9400M chipset, which is about 10 times faster than the pathetic 945 graphics that normally ship with Intel chipsets for Atom. The big advantage is it does make HD playback possible.

We can expect Ion 2 to support Pinetrail CPUs and provide a faster IGP, though current details are obscure.

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ASUS unveiled the first motherboard in its newly-developed “TUF” (The Ultimate Force) Series, the SABERTOOTH 55i.  It is designed around a “Marine Cool” concept, incorporates the Intel P55 chipset fitted with the new CeraM!X heatsink. Ceramics replace traditional anti-oxidant compounds to create a microfin surface texture for enhanced cooling. The board includes the CoolMem! Fan Frame that encloses most standard 40mm or 50mm computer fans and fits them directly over the memory module. More...

DFI launches the DFI LANParty BI 785G-M35, adding on to its Blood Iron (BI) series of motherboards. Based on the AMD 785 chipset, the motherboard comes equipped with an onboard graphics solution, the ATI Radeon HD 4200. The motherboard incorporates DFI LANParty’s unique "ABS II" CPU Auto Upgrade Technology, allowing users to enjoy high performance without compromising on cost. The BI 785G-M35 has an embedded Realtek ALC885 for its audio solution, delivering 8 channels of high definition audio with a high S/N ratio of 106 dB. This is certainly a board worth watching out for and we believe it will appeal to users who are assembling a MATX PC on a shoe string budget.

ASUS has launched the ASUS P7P55D Series motherboard, featuring the latest Intel® P55 Express chipset. The P7P55D Series supports the latest LGA 1156 socket for Intel® Core™ i7/Core™ i5 Processors and is based on its groundbreaking “Xtreme Design”. The boards are rumored to hit retail stores by year end and prices have not been announced yet.

We have known the 1k prices Intel is charging for a while now, so these prices should come as no surprises.

On the CPU front, we have the Core i5 750, priced at $209, clocking in at 2.66 GHz. Core i7 860, 2.80 GHz at $299, and Core i7 870, 2.93 GHz at $579. All three CPUs are based on the Lynnfield core, with 8MB L3 cache, 95W TDP, fitting into the LGA1156 socket. The main difference between the Core i5 and Core i7 models is the lack of HyperThreading SMT on the Core i5 750.

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VR-Zone has put together a roadmap of the AMD 800 series chipsets line-up slated for release in Q2 next year. AMD 890FX/GX + SB850, part of the "Leo" platform for enthusiasts is slated for launch in April 2010 replacing the current AMD 790FX/GX + SB750 chipset. AMD 880G + SB810, part of the "Dorado" mainstream platform will come along in May 2010 replacing the current AMD 785G + SB710 chipset. More details next page..

EVGA has released a combination of Classified products - EVGA GTX 285 Classified, supporting 4 way SLI, and a compatible 4-way SLI X58 motherboard. These are ultra-enthusiast products targeted at the niche market for hardcore gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts, intended to be the very best in desktop hardware. 4-way SLI was previously available only on the GTX 295 and Asus' speciality Dual GTX 285 Mars cards.

The prices for a 4-way SLI setup? A cool $1,970 for just the motherboard and the graphic cards.