At least one distributor of computer componets in the UK has the GeForce 7900 GX2 graphics cards in stock, however, no one can buy such a board, as the item is “strictly to be sold with systems only”, which means that enthusiasts who assemble their computers themselves cannot create systems with four graphics chips and enjoy increased performance with quad SLI technology.

Scan Computers, a popular online store in England, recently added the GeForce 7900 GX2 graphics card that features two GeForce 7900-series graphics processors and 1GB of GDDR3 memory into its price-list. The board is claimed to be supplied by XFX and has PV-T71U-YDDB product code.

The store did not note the price of the XFX GeForce 7900 GX2 at press time, however, The Inquirer web-site claims that the part cost roughly Ј583 ($916, Ђ752) initially. At this point the graphics board can only be purchased with 3XS Panther system, which costs Ј4436 ($7768, Ђ6364).

Nvidia Corp. confirmed that it had begun to ship GeForce 7900 GX2 graphics cards, which are required to build quad SLI systems with four graphics processing units, but said that the boards are only to be used by system integrators. However, eventually the company may let its partners to provide the appropriate dual-chip quad SLI hardware to retail customers.

“We are selling quad SLI configurations (using GX2 cards) via system vendors only because they require a bit more attention to proper integration of components (especially chassis, cooling, and power supplies), and we want to be sure end-users get the best experience with the first quad SLI systems. Eventually, we will sell the cards through retail, after we get some of the infrastructure items in order,” said Nick Stam, a spokesman for Nvidia Corp.

Quad SLI allows to turn on 32x antialiasing, the maximum level possible today, or to play the latest games in 2560x1600 resolution.