The graphics race has never before been as ferocious as it is now. NVIDIA was crowned the dual graphics solution leader when it launched SLI, but it hadn't been able to claim the elusive single card 1st place spot until recently. On June 22 of this year, NVIDIA unleashed the 7800 GTX thatcame out of its cage with claws and teeth ravaging everything in its path.

Many moons passed before we even heard anything in the way of a response from the graphics camp in the Great White North. There was ATI's announcement of CrossFire dual graphics, but we never saw products hit the street. Even after a second "hey we are here" launch of CrossFire, the consumer could still not buy CrossFire master cards nor motherboards.

Later, ATI announced the launch of the X1000 series of graphics cards and stole the single card crown back. Sort of. You couldn't even buy the launched cards until several days later.

Even now, we await the promised flagship card, the X1800XL. You can see SKUs for the card at E-Tailers such as NewEgg.com but the "Out of Stock" label means that you still cannot get one yet. On the other hand, you can get the newly launched 6800GS or any of the other cards.

That doesn't seem to matter quite as much today, however, because NVIDIA is taking the crown back - in both single and dual configurations - with the 7800 GTX 512. And keeping with the precedent it created, it continues to deliver new products in volume to the system builders and retail shelves - today.