While EVGA has had a CO-OP line of video cards for a while now, their latest edition to the dual GPU lineup is something a bit unique.  Instead of allowing SLI on a single card like most of the other co-op cards, the GTX 275 CO-OP uses a GTX 275 GPU for graphics and a GTS 250 GPU for PhysX support.  PhysX allows the GPU to do advance physics processing and effects.

The advantage of this in this case, is it allows EVGA to make a cheaper card with PhysX support, and not force people to get a much more expensive full dual GPU card.  Still at $350 it's no small chunk of change.  I vote they bundle in a solid co-op game with PhysX support like Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.

The above screen is the first shot from EA's Battleforge that shows off the game's DirectX 11 support.  The game's developer and EA have announced that Battleforge is the first game to feature DX11 support, though you'll still need a DX11 card to take advantage of that.  Currently only Radeon 5870 and 5850 cards support it.

Remember that Battleforge is a game that's free to play, so if and when you do get that shiny new DirectX11 card, you can show it off without even purchasing a new game.  And if you do make the investment, consider picking on up for a friend, it's the co-op thing to do.  Everyone needs a little high definition ambient occlusion in their life.

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Alienware was busy at the Tokyo Game show this week, announcing a new mobile version of their M17x gaming laptop called the M15x.  The 15" model sports many of the same features as its bigger brother, sacrificing a second video card, some ports, and screen size.  That's not to say it can't hold its own, as the laptop is the first one to support Intel's new Core i7 processor.  The laptop starts at a $1499 price tag. 

The M17x laptop has also been updated to with a new configuration that supports AMDs new Mobility Radeon 4870.  Currently benchmarked as the fasted mobile videocard on the market, it's a new option when ordering your M17x.  Both these laptops are sure to garner you some attention at your next co-op LAN party!

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Stardock and NVIDIA have announced a brand new version of Impulse today.  Dubbed the "NVIDIA Edition," it will provide NVIDIA graphics card owners seamless driver updates and other optimizations for their PC.  

Impulse is Stardock's digital distribution platform for games and software, and is slowly evolving into a social and community hub as well.  The next iteration of the software even promises match making abilities across all games - not just Impulse games like Sins of a Solar Empire.  

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I've been a PC gamer for over 20 years now, and building systems just as long.  The one thing that's never changed in all that time is the difficulty that goes into the decision of buying a new piece of hardware for your computer.  This is part of the reason companies like Alienware, Dell, and HP do so well at selling pre-built computers.  

The core piece to any gaming PC is its graphic's card, these little beauties are what power the pixels and polygons of your games.  The faster and better the card - the prettier your game can look.  But with so many choices and numbers, how the heck are you supposed to decide? 

The boys at Gizmodo have created a guide to help solve just that.

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