nVidia today announced that the GeForce 7950 GX2 dual GPU solution is now available. Basically, this card is the first official single card SLI solution on the market. Also, this card is the first card from nVidia that explicitly enables HDCP protection, where previously this was a vendor option. Having HDCP onboard means that when this card is paired with a HDCP-compliant display device, users will be able to experience Windows Vista DRM-encoded video in full resolution, important for those people looking to leverage new media types like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray on their PC. Gamers that purchase this card, according to nVidia, can look forward to:

• Two GPUs working simultaneously on a single card-dramatically raising the bar for single-card performance
• 48 pixel pipes on a single card
• 1GB of video memory on a single card
• Hardware accelerated H.264 support through NVIDIA® PureVideo™ technology-the combination of HD video processors and software delivers a home-theater quality HD video experience to the PC.
• High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) capable (requires other compatible components that are also HDCP capable)
• Support for Quad NVIDIA SLI technology-available ONLY in PCs from authorized NVIDIA system builders

So, don’t expect to be able to purchase two of these cards and enable Quad SLI off-the-shelf, at least not yet. Retail pricing is suggest to fall between $599 - $649. So, while the GX2 isn’t going to outshine the 7900 GTX SLI configuration, it should come close to the same performance at a lot lower price point, given that a single GTX card retails for around $480. A few online vendors have the cards listed, including Newegg.com, mWave.com, and ZipZoomFly.com. Several sites have posted reviews of the new hardware:

• Firing Squad
• Guru 3D
• Hardware Zone
• Hot Hardware
• Legit Reviews
• nV News
• PC Perspective
• Tech Report

Read More | nVidia.com