EVER SINCE DELL launched its XPS series of desktop and notebook computers geared towards gamers, the company has used only Intel, Nvidia and ATI chips in the range. And ATI DX9 chips only came in when Nvidia screwed DX10 Vista drivers, but things returned to normal once that nV driver team sorted things out.

Things are about to change. AMD is showcasing Dell's latest XPS gaming machine. When you know that AMD is showing a machine, you can figure what is hidden inside: an AMD Phenom processor, four Radeon HD 3870 graphics cards in CrossFireX configuration, reference (DFI/Sapphire) 790FX motherboard, and the rest of components dreams are made of.

We have yet to receive the name for such a beast, but if those Radeons don't have a certain upcoming video connector, owners of future Dell monitors will be less than satisfied. We'll bring more details as soon as we get them. µ