PNY and Asetek, a leader in CPU thermal management, have combined forces to launch a high-end Liquid Cooled Graphics solution geared towards gaming enthusiasts.  Consumers will receive a fully integrated XLR8™ GeForce® GTX liquid cooled graphics system, with a combination GPU/CPU cooling version available as well.  Engineered with a closed loop system, and built with an Asetek sealed water cooler already attached, the PNY design offers consumers an out-of-the-box ready, simple to install and reliable product.

This new system delivers significant benefits, with up to 30% cooler temperatures, quieter acoustics, and faster performance than the standard reference designed NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 580 graphics card.  With increased overclocking headroom versus air cooled, the liquid keeps overall temperatures low to provide better performance for gamers.  Liquid Cooled also generates less heat – for a 30° C difference in temperature – and your PC parts are protected due to lower exposure to hot temperatures.  Additionally, less noise is produced as fans aren’t running at maximum speed to compensate for the heat.  Lower acoustics means a quieter gaming environment for more gaming concentration and the option for gamers to not have to use headphones to mask noise levels. The overall advantage is extreme performance and higher frame rates without the heat.

“Together with Asetek, PNY will redefine the way gamers build and upgrade their PC systems,” said Nicholas Mauro, senior marketing manager, PC components for PNY.  “With a design that outperforms current equivalent air cooled models, this simple all-in-one solution will resonate deeply with gamers looking for a powerful yet affordable option.  With tens of thousands of gamers already flocking to E3, there’s no better place to launch this product than the world’s premiere show for new technologies in computer gaming products.”

“PNY’s Liquid Cooled Graphics solutions deliver better performance, temperatures and acoustics to gamers with the reliability and ease of installation inherent in Asetek sealed liquid cooling,” said Adrian Hodgson, marketing manager at Asetek. “We’re thrilled to give E3 attendees the first chance to see these products in action.”

For a limited time only, PNY is offering consumers a pre-order promotional launch bundle.  With the purchase of a Liquid Cooled GTX 580 on PNY.com, consumers will receive over $100 worth of bonus PNY gear: a 16ft HDMI Mini to HDMI Cable, a custom-built PNY 8GB ‘Liquid Cooled’ USB Flash Drive, and a ‘Liquid Cooled’ logo T-shirt.  This bundle is available for a limited time only and only on PNY.com.

Despite all the hype over the reveal of the new NVIDIA Fermi based video cards earlier this week at the GTC 2009 conference, it would appear NVIDIA is even further behind in production of their next gen technology than originally anticipated. So far behind in fact, that CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was forced to go onstage and proudly display a dummy card.

Yes, that’s right, as it stands Fermi based video cards are just a hunk of PCB, plastic and metal; a very nice looking, futuristic paperweight. NVIDIA reps confirmed the phony news with Hardware Canucks this morning after some speculation around the web regarding the prototype’s legitimacy due to the lack of soldering points and pins on the back of the card, along with various  alignment issues, blocked off venting so one couldn’t see inside the cooler and the use of common household screws to hold it all together.

It’s far from a scandal; the card’s physical appearance when released (at least the Tesla model) is very likely to mimic what was shown onstage, but it does serve to prove just how far away we are from seeing these cards on store shelves. Earlier this week, rumour speculated that consumers may be seeing the first of the cards in late November 2009, but in light of this fake card announcement, that seems all but impossible. Original estimates of a 2010 first or second quarter debut for the technology is far more likely.

NVIDIA does however insist that the live Fermi demo’s viewed at the conference were run using the Fermi cards, they were just to ugly to publicly showcase. They may be around in some fashion, we just haven’t really seen them….yet

Mushkin, a company that  is highly regarded amongst enthusiast circles for their memory products, such as the Redline and Ascent series, is looking to expand on their catalog.

The company has already found a decent amount of success with their power supplies, and is now returning to an idea that was toyed with a few years back, video cards.

Mushkin released a few variations of popular cards back in 07/08, such as the 8800GT. The project never really took off, folded and it appeared the company was doomed to having to make top quality memory for eternity (what a bummer).

They have decided once again, to take a crack at the video card thing and have annouced the Mushkin ultimateFX lineup, a compilation of the NVIDIA GTX200 series of graphics cards. 

The cards appear to be sporting reference design coolers, and a green PCB, a nice fit to its green style. They will also ship in the traditional Mushkin Wooden box. 

The full lineup:

- GeForce GTX 260 896MB
– GeForce GTX 260 1792MB
– GeForce GTX 260 OC 896MB
– GeForce GTX 260 OC2 896MB
– GeForce GTX 275 896MB
– GeForce GTX 275 OC 896MB
– GeForce GTX 275 OC2 896MB
– GeForce GTX 285 1GB
– GeForce GTX 285 2GB

Mushkin would be the first of the current primary Memory/Ram companies to take on the challenge of video cards. Logically, one would expect a ram manufacturer to dive into products such as SSD drives,something that competitors like Corsair and OCZ have done. With well established brands such as eVGA, XFX, BFG and Gigabyte already in the North American market, Mushkin is going to have to offer incredibly unique and enticing treats  to sway consumers.

Mushkin has also stated they may be pursuing AMD/ATI products in the near future as well. Hopefully the company will be able to continue its sterling reputation with this new venture, and we look forward to seeing some products that “break the norm” sometime down the road. 

]]> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/video/mushkin-unviels-brand-newvideo-cards/feed/ 4