Changes to the Ion and the Reactor!

Those new video cards we talked about here previously turned out to be quite the interesting development. Without getting bogged down in details, the net effect is that ATI is indeed finally offering competitive products again, and the HD 4850 has single-handedly rendered obsolete the 8800 GT, 8800 GTS, and 9800 GTX. At a $200 price point, we're thrilled to offer it as the new standard Ion video card, with two HD 4850's in Crossfire mode (which is ATI's version of SLI) as the upgrade option. This means the Ion now offers significantly more power now than it did last week, at roughly the same price! In order to support Crossfire mode, we've chosen Intel P35/P45-based motherboards for the Ion, which are just as good, if not better, at overclocking than the 650i/680i boards they are replacing.

As for the Reactor, nVidia's new GTX-200 series cards are only offering a modest improvement in performance, but an improvement it is. We're currently still comparing the following combinations in gaming benchmarks:

1 x GTX 260
2 x GTX 260
3 x GTX 260
1 x 9800 GX2
2 x 9800 GX2
1 x GTX 280
2 x GTX 280
3 x GTX 280

Until we have more concrete data about how these combinations stack up against each other, we're offering all eight of them, plus an "entry level" single GTX 260 option which features a non-overclocked card with a non-SLI ready power supply. That latter option gives those with a moderate budget a respectable Reactor configuration which sacrifices upgradability for affordability.

Within the next few days, we'll identify what monitor sizes make sense for the various combinations, and drop out any redundant ones (for example, the first to go will probably be the triple-GTX 260 option. It costs the same as a pair of GTX 280's with no performance gain, but it uses much more power and two more expansion slots.) More to come...