We already know that NVIDIA is about to release a PhysX driver for the GF 8/9/GTX 200 and it also mentioned something about making the PhysX platform open source. It would be nice to see how my GTS 8800 can act as a PPU, but I actually plan to make the jump for the Radeon HD 4870 X2 later this summer and I certainly won’t be happy if ATI doesn’t care to release some PhysX driver for the new 4800 family.

According to NGOHQ, ATI does want to include support for the PhysX platform, but AMD is somehow holding things down. ATI feels that AMD is still not being cooperative enough and it fears that the CPU maker could go ahead and strangle the PhysX adaption since AMD and Intel have Havok.

Now, prepare for a bit of a shocker, which, surprisingly enough, stands as the good news. AMD might be reticent about this PhysX deal, but guess who’s teaming up with ATI? Would you believe that NVIDIA is now helping ATI with the project and it seems they are giving ATI their blessings?!!? ATI thinks that NVIDIA is acting this way so it can take on Intel with CUDA and to deal with the latest Havok threat from both AMD and Intel. Wait a second, isn’t ATI supposed to be part of AMD now?

ATI also informs that the CUDA Radeon library is almost done and everything is going as planned on this side. The thing is, ATI can easily integrate the CUDA instructions into the Radeon GPUs, but it also needs to get CUDA support on AMD’s driver level and this make take some more time.

AMD has recently unveiled an updated roadmap to a select group of analysts and affiliates. This doesn’t mean that some valuable info hasn’t already been leaked. ChileHardware has somehow managed to get a sneak peek at one presentation slide form the latest AMD map, a presentation slide that gives us some key features on the new SB800 Southbridge series.

First thing noted by the guys over at CHW.net is that the SB800 might come in more than one version.
The SB800 isn’t just an updated SB700. AMD has completely redesigned it and it is supposed to include a faster chipset interconnect called A-Link Express 3.0 which uses four 5GHz PCIe 2.0 x1 lanes instead of four 2.5GHz PCIe lanes that the current SB700/750 A-link Express 2.0 relies on.

Looks like AMD is going to make some radical changes with its next DDR3 architecture. One of these is the implementation the PCIe interface directly into the Southbridge. SB800 will be the first chip to take over the PCIe interface, as previous models have relied on the Northbridge for all PCIe connectivity.

Other features that will be integrated with the SB800 chips include a Gigabit Ethernet MAC, optional support for up to 6GB/s SATA and AHCI 1.2 with FIS based switching. Also, instead of 12 USB 2.0 ports, the new Southbridge is going to support 14, via a third EHCI USB controller.

As part of the Fusion platform, the SB800 is going to improve the power consumption. There will also be support for an integrated clock, embedded I/O controllers, of which one is going to focus on the DASH support for system management. Improved hardware monitoring options will also be present.

AMD has finally announced its DDR3 chipsets. They didn’t rush things too much, letting Intel be the first to provide support for these new modules. However, AMD knew that DDR3 memories won’t get affordable until later this year and understood that people might not make the jump immediately.

Fudzilla has found some good deals for DDR3 memories like the OCZ 1GB DDR3 value for €35, or 2GB for €70 from both Corsair and OCZ. These prices alone seemed to have motivated AMD to finally make the transition.

As it turns out, AMD should be ready with the first DDR3 chipsets in Q1 2009. By that time, DDR3 modules will have become pretty affordable, and it looks like AMD might manage some decent sales figures.

The DDR3 support will also come from the new integrated memory controllers found inside AMD’s CPUs. The new CPUs will be compatible only with the upcoming socket AM-based motherboards. While this may prove a bit disappointing for AMD fan boys that seem to be forced to change their motherboards, the new DDR3 boards will still support the Hypertransport 3 marchitecture.

The first two chipsets will be known as RD790 DDR3 and RD890 DDR3 and they will be available sometime in Q1 and Q2 2009, respectively.

I finally decided to buy some new components. I set my eyes on an Intel X48-powered motherboard from Asus which I thought would be one of the most feature-packed model out there, but it turns out that it’s already outdated. Motherboard manufacturers have started to come up with models powered by the bran new Intel P45 chipset, and now I’m confused again.

CPU3D reports that one of the best Intel-based motherboards available could prove to be ASRock’s P45R2000-WiFi because it is currently the only model to support FSB2000 MHz (via OC). As far as memory support goes, this model supports both DDR2 and DDR3 modules. DDR3 modules are becoming pretty affordable these days and soon, the DDR2 memory support will be discontinued.

Other standard features that come with the P45R2000-WiFi motherboard include the latest PCIE2.0 specifications for improved graphics performance, Dual Gigabit LAN, free bundled WiFi-802.11g module, ALC890 Audio Codec for 110dB sound quality and all solid capacitors design. There’s no support for SLI configurations. The ASRock motherboard has two PCIE2.0 graphics slots which allow users to choose x16 for single card or x8/x8 for Cross Fire.

The P45R2000-WiFi motherboard seems to be offering a very good price/performance ratio, as online retailers have it for around $150.

J&W is a relatively new mobo maker from Hong Kong. They mostly specialize in AMD-based products and their latest mini-ITX 780G motherboard seems to be receive much attention from hardware specialists.

Although it measures 170mm x 170mm, the mobo packs some high-end features. It supports all Athlon 64, Athlon X2 and Sempron CPUs and even some lower-spec Phenoms (it’s limited to 95W CPUs). J&W ensures us everything will run as it should since they managed to pack all solid capacitors on this small board.

The embedded graphics are present thanks to the Radeon HD 3200 implementation provided by Radeon 780G Northbridge. The GPU has 128 MB of side port memory integrated on the board, so it should be a decent enough solution for multimedia use at least. The mobo also integrates Gb LAN, Realtek ALC 885 7.1 + 2 channel HD audio codec and it comes paired with the SB700 Southbridge.

You’d think this little thing wouldn’t be able to support many connectors, but check this out: it even has an HDMI port, along with the usual DVI and VGA, plus six USBs, eSATA, SPDIF both coaxial and optical and 7.1 analogue sound out. If those 6 USB ports don’t satisfy your needs, go ahead and use the provided header card with an additional 4 USBs. Add four SATA ports and a single PCIe 16X graphic port, and you almost have a mid-range full-ITX mobo. The bad news is that the mini-ITX factor only allows for SO-DIMM memory modules but that shouldn’t be much of a problem since you can still add up to 4GB RAM.

It seems that the Honk Kong manufacturer will first deliver these mobos to UK and then, hopefully, worldwide. Estimated price starts around 90 pounds.