14 DAY TRIAL // Nvidia have announced that the MCP78S chipset will give the user the possibility to switch between GPU cores. The new chipset incorporates a GeForce 8-class DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0 graphics engine, but also has the capability of controlling a PCI Express 2.0 graphics card connected via the chipset's 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes.
This is not a title of novelty, since this feature is widely supported by most of the integrated chipsets, but the chipset also supports HybridSLI, giving the user complete control over the two GPUs. Should the system need hardcore graphic performance, the user may enable the graphics card, while on average computing the system graphics is hosted on the lower-power integrated GPU. This feature really comes in handy since, unlike the previous versions, GPU switching does not need a computer reboot.
The HybridSLI emerges its roots in the SLI Power technology that used to suit notebooks best, because of the battery limitations. Nvidia has decided that it's time for the desktop users to benefit from it as well. Power consumption reduction has become the main concern of all hardware manufacturers, and AMD has already incorporated power-saving systems in their new series of GPUs, namely ATI Radeon HD 3800 ? that are capable of down-clocking when the applications do not require sustained GPU computing.
The MCP78S is announced to support Socket AM2 and AM2+ CPUs over a 2600MT/s HyperTransport 3.0 bus. The chipset supports six Full-Speed SATA II drives and features Gigabit Ethernet separately. The user would have access to no less than 12 USB 2.0 ports, which should suffice for more the average number of devices.
Both chipsets will drive three PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics card slots for 'tri-SLI' operation, and will be available both for Intel and AMD platforms.