We've managed to confirm that XFX will join the ATI camp at the start of the new year. XFX won't drop Nvidia products, either, but obviously, Nvidia won't be thrilled by this turn of events.

There's been a lot of talk of Nvidia partner defections and reshuffles in recent months, and some have already gone red. XFX is just following the trend and leaving Nvidia in a rather awkward situation of having just a single powerful Nvidia exclusive partner - EVGA.

We can't say we're surprised; after all, we've reported about strains in Nvidia-AIB partner relations on many occasions. Low margins, the lack of competitive products in several market segments, coupled with the economic slowdown which is exascerbating the situation further, are obviously pushing Nvidia AIBs to embrace ATI.

We will try to find out more and see how Nvidia reacts to this latest development, so stay tuned.