Nvidia has released new platforms based on the company’s Hybrid SLI technology.

These new platforms are the foundation for a new breed of PCs that deliver a richer visual experience while reducing energy consumption and costs, fan noise, and even heat, said an official spokesman.

“Hybrid SLI will give consumers the extra GPU performance they need for the increasing numbers of visual PC applications such as PicLens and Virtual Earth,” said general manager of platform business at Nvidia Drew Henry.

“And it will give gamers and PC enthusiasts the quiet and power savings they demand. Hybrid SLI components could very well pay for themselves over the life of the PC.”

The visual capabilities of typical PCs are driven by either integrated graphics on the motherboard or by higher performance, discrete graphics cards, like Nvidia GeForce GPUs.

Unfortunately, the most common integrated graphics chips lack the performance and features needed by many popular modern 3D applications, games, and movies. Discrete graphics cards deliver a far superior visual experience, but consume more energy.

The new Nvidia nForce 780a SLI motherboard eliminates this problem by putting a GeForce GPU directly on the motherboard. This GeForce GPU has better DirectX compatibility and HD movie playback capability than the most common integrated graphics chips found in today’s PCs, but consumes less energy than a discrete graphics card. But that’s only the start.

Hybrid SLI technology allows the user to add additional graphics cards for even more graphics horsepower, for use when playing graphics-intensive applications like video games. With a second graphics card, the GeForce Boost feature of Hybrid SLI technology increases overall graphics performance up to 80 per cent on today’s visually intensive applications and home entertainment. 

Designed for PC enthusiasts and hard-core gamers, the HybridPower feature completely powers down the discrete graphics cards and switches graphics processing to the motherboard GPU in applications where major 3D horsepower is not required, such as e-mail and Web surfing.

Users will appreciate the lower energy consumption, quieter PC operation, and less heat. When additional 3D horsepower is needed, HybridPower technology automatically transitions back to the discrete graphics cards, which are then powered up and ready to rock the 3D world.

Hybrid SLI technology delivers hundreds of dollars of energy savings over the life of the PC for high-end, enthusiast-class PCs, and additional graphics performance for more mainstream desktops via these two features.
 
The Hybrid SLI-enabled desktop PC motherboards are designed to create a balanced PC with GeForce GPUs and AMD Phenom processors. Eight models, including a newly available nForce 780a SLI motherboard, are now available in the Middle East. – TradeArabia News Service