Top graphics from Alienware

System builder Alienware is among the first to market with PCs boasting the latest high performance graphics technology from nVidia.

The company’s high-end PCs will boast cards based around the new GeForce 7800 GTX graphics processing unit (GPU) and will be targeted at the performance segment of the market.

The new systems will also take advantage of nVidia’s scalable link interface technology, which will allow users to run two 7800 GTX cards in the same system simultaneously. Other European system builders lined up to use the card include Atelco, Paradigit and Scan.

“The GeForce 7800 GTX is the new benchmark for graphics excellence,” said Patrick Cooper, director of product management for Alienware. “We have made the GeForce 7800 GTX available with a wide selection of our award-winning systems so that customers can experience games, videos, and other visual applications like never before.”

The 7800 GTX has been redesigned to include a new programmable shader architecture that is twice as fast as the previous generation. The single-slot GeForce 7800 GTX is also more than twice as fast as a dual-slot GeForce 6800 Ultra – the current top-end processor – and consumes 50 per cent less power.

“With more than 300 million transistors, the GeForce 7800 GTX GPU is the most advanced graphics processor ever built,” claimed Ujesh Desai, general manager of desktop graphics at nVidia. “With this new graphics architecture, we are able to create a GPU so powerful that game developers can start to make their visions a reality, and real-time gaming can now rival offline film rendering.”

The card also boasts film-quality lighting support for the development of more realistic 3D environments, and is being backed by graphics houses and games developers.

“High dynamic-range lighting and parallax mapping make a huge difference in the way a game will look, and will ultimately bring a whole new level of realism and polish to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,” said Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Softworks.