Santa Clara (CA) - NVIDIA WAS PLANNING to put out the 790i Ultra chipset on Feb 19, but that my be delayed, nothing they do is on time lately. The one thing this chipset brings to the table is a big slap in the face to anyone who bought a 780i. 

The main advance the 790i bring to the game is PCIe2.0, not the hack they claim is 2.0 on the 780i, and a 1600FSB for Intel parts. It also adds DDR3 and a bunch of technical goodies while ironically it still runs HT. 

The first performance slide they put up has overclocking listed with "40% More Overclocking!” quite a useful number, and as you know, Brawndo has electrolytes, it's what plants crave. The graph shows a 1333FSB part, the 680/780i at 2100MHz, and the new 790i running at 2400MHz. I am not sure how they get the 40% number though, 2400/1.4 does not correspond to any number on the graph or in the Intel FSB arsenal. I wonder how many journo sheep will parrot this back without actually pulling out the calculator?  

Then they go on to the system diagrams, the slide shows the same broken architecture of the 780i, two PCIe2.0 lanes off the north bridge, one off the southbridge that is not PCIe2.0, just 1.0. While you may be tempted to give them kudos for actually getting a real PCIe2.0 part out, I would wait until they get them all going at speed, but for now, consider this a half-hearted golf clap. 

The rest of the diagrams, change only with the addition of the aforementioned DDR3/1333 support and working with Intel 45nm parts. Basically, superimpose the 780i diagrams, pull out the bridges, and you have the right idea. 

They then go on to detail the two enhancements to SLI called PW Shortcut (PWS) and Broadcast. PWS allows you to take a fast write path from any GPU to any other GPU, a kind of DMA coupled with the reflex system of the human central nervous system. Think GPU -> Northbridge -> GPU, not GPU -> northbridge -> CPU -> northbridge -> GPU and you have the entirety of the system. They claim that it works from any GPU to any GPU, but in the diagrams, they seem to go out of their way to show the Southbridge PCIe slots not working with it. 

The other one is called Broadcast, and it is just that. It allows the CPU to send one message to all of the GPUs with a single packet. This time, they use the term 'many GPUs', and again exclude the Southbridge slots.  

That brings us to EPP2, the successor to the much ignored EPP. You can tell something is EPP certified when it is much more expensive than the others sitting around it on the shelf for no good reason. NV says that EPP2 is integrated into all 790i BIOSes, supports OCing DRAM voltage, timings and frequency, and supports multiple profiles. It will require certification and of course the standard manufacturer tithe and fealty oath. Said pledgers are Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, Crucial and Quimonda. 

If you want the nitty-gritty details, just look below.

Top Secret Nvidia chart (no flying butterfly mascots were harmed in procuring this information)

To make things funnier, they are talking about a new cooling design called Passive Circular Thermal. Imagine a wall of ribbed heatsinks and more heatpipes than an oil refinery, and you have what ATI can do in 8W and a barely noticeable aluminum passive cooler. It will be funny to see how many hoops OEMs jump through with this monstrosity.

Then come the funny part, they are aiming the new boards at the high end of the market, charging $250 or so isn't enough for them, they are defining a new market segment as above the "Enthusiast ($250+)" segment, the "Uber-Enthusiast ($350+)". Save your pennies kiddies, you will need them. 

In the end, Nvidia seems to be laughing all the way to the bank after milking the faithful with the 780i. The 790i is better, they finally make a semi-honest attempt at PCIe2.0, but lacking PCIe2.0 on the SB, you have to wonder how many weeks it will be until a 791i comes out and obsoletes your Uber-Enthusiast ($350+) toy. I am guessing it won't be long, buy carefully.