Chip giant AMD has announced the AMD 785G chipset – which has been designed to be 'at the core of the mainstream PC for Windows 7'.
The massive interest in Windows 7, combined with encouraging pre-orders for Microsoft's successor to Vista, has prompted AMD to push on with a new chipset that is aimed at the 'cost-conscious' mainstream market.
The AMD 785G chipset incorporates the company's ATI Radeon HD4200 graphics technology – allowing computers with motherboards using the chipset to run Direct 10.1 games.
The chipset has been designed to take advantage of AMD's Athlon II processors – giving PC manufacturers, and their customers, a mainstream affordable option that will show off Windows 7 in all its glory come October.
The chipset also offers:

• DirectX 10.1 support for the latest games
• UVD2 for accelerated, GPU-enabled, decoding
• First AMD chipset with ATI Stream technology for amazingly fast video transcoding and application performance
• Advanced technology to keep your PC running cool and quiet
• Latest support for HDMI 1.3 and DisplayPort
• SidePort Memory support for DDR3/DDR2 performance cache
• Hard disk performance improvements with RAID support

Microsoft has reversed its decision not to offer free copies of Windows 7 to beta testers.
In a statement posted today on the Windows 7 Team Blog, Brandon LeBlanc wrote: "Last week, I blogged that members of the Windows Technical Beta Program would not be receiving a complimentary copy of Windows 7. Normally I hate to be wrong but in this case, I'm stoked that I am.
"To show our appreciation, members of the invitation-only Windows 7 Technical Beta Program will be eligible for a free, final copy of Windows 7 Ultimate."
People who took part in the public beta will still have to buy a copy of of Windows 7 - this is restricted to people invited into the Technical Beta Program, who can expect to get their copy on the day that Windows 7 RTM build hits MSDN and TechNet - 6 August.
Further details are posted to the .Beta_Program newsgroup, explaining that "all current members of our English technical and international mini-beta programs are eligible. We are offering you a full (non-upgrade) copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition for your own personal use, not to be resold."
Members of the English beta program can also opt for a "limited amount of boxed copies" available on a first come, first served basis.
Those who choose the download will be able to grab their free copy of Windows 7 via Microsoft Connect.
As for non-English versions of Windows 7, "other languages will follow as they become available."