Nvidia today officially released the GeForce 9800GX2, the latest graphics card that promises to offer the best gaming performance in the world.

Despite the NDA, video cards based on the yet to be announced Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2 reference design had been on display by Albatron, Galaxy Technology, and Inno Vision at CeBIT 2008.

The GeForce 9800GX2 is at the cutting edge of technology; with 256 screaming processor cores and a 1GB total framebuffer, all running through PCI Express 2.0. The Dual GPU card uses two G92 GPUs manufactured using the 65nm process, offering native "SLI" performance coming from a single video card. Moreover, two GeForce 9800 GX2 boards can be further connected on a motherboard essentially building a Quad SLI system. Nvidia plans to release drivers for SLI configurations in the following weeks.

Combining a GeForce 9800GX2 with one of the latest motherboards featuring Nvidia?s nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset makes systems ready for Hybrid Power. Not all applications require a high end GeForce discrete GPU, for times such as these an integrated GeForce GPU can run these applications perfectly while saving power and therefore the environment. The intelligent Hybrid Power system can also combine the power of the GeForce 9800GX2 with the onboard graphics for maximum performance.

PureVideo HD makes High Definition content come to life on your PC ? whether video?s are downloaded, streamed, or on Blu-Ray. With PureVideo HD films comes to life with dynamic Contrast Enhancement and automatic enhancements to Greens, Blues, & Skin Tones.

The video card consumes 197W (max) and as a result, a 850W PSU is required for stable operation.