Originally posted by: user1234
Originally posted by: "Devistater"
BTW, you do NOT get "an additional x8 pci-e channel" on the sli as that quote from you states. And if you did it would have to be supported by the nforce chip, you can't just throw something like that on without chip support. If you bothered to do a modicum of research you'd notice this.
... blah blah ....
Because of all of this and the additional complexity of most SLI motherboards, the extra cost of the nvidia SLI chip, and the added card thingy that most motherboard makers seem to be using right now for SLI, I dont think you'll see a SLI motherboard lower than $200 for a while. So back to my starting point. I think that overpaying would be paying $300 for an SLI, not paying $119 for a ultra.
I agree that the chipset needs to suppport the additional x8 pci-e channel (plus it has to be able to operate either a single x16 or dual x8 channels), but is that really a big deal ? Obviously it's not, but if nVidia is hoping to charge for it, then people will just use a
dual GPU in SLI on a single card. Face it, SLI is mostly a software solution implemented at the graphics driver level. The chipset "support", which constitues only providing the additonal x8 channel (and not really having to do anything with the actual SLI operation), is quite trivial. Therefore, it shouldn't really cost much more to get the sli chipset, as there are alternatives like I said.
I dunno, have you even been reading the messages I post, or visiting the sites I've been linking including motherboard makers and nvidia? THERE IS NO ADDITIONAL EIGHT CHANNELS OF PCI E IN SLI CONFIGURATION!
The normal 16 thats devoted to 1 graphics slot in non-sli is split into 2, and is 8 per slot in sli. NO ADDITIONAL. Still 20 lanes. In SLI and non SLI. No additional lanes. Lane number remains the same. Nothing changed in number of lanes. 8 times 2 equals 16. 16 divided by 2 equals 8. No additional. The only differance (as borne out by my previous links and quotes) is that its flexible 20 lanes in SLI, not fixed 20 lanes.
Once again, its 20 lanes total in all configurations of nforce 4. No additional lanes to anything ever appear anywhere in any nforce 4 motherboards.
Yes, its mostly software. But there ARE differant hardware versions. You cannot plop a ultra nforce4 chipset into a SLI motherboard and have SLI work. Nvidia sells 3 versions of the chip. Normal, ultra, and SLI. They are each priced appropriatly (or what nvidia thinks is appropriate). And you say nividia is "hoping to charge for it" ? They already have lol. Its differant hardware. Its like versions of 6800. They charge differant for differant versions. Some have more pipes enabled than others, etc.
Why is it so expensive? Well nvidia is pricing it to what the market will bear. As I said earlier, currently this is a bad choice for ppl looking for good price/performance ratio or planning to go with the relativly inexpensive dual 6600. So currently the main market for this is the people who think nothing of plopping down $500 each for two dual 6800 ultras. As a result, they are also willing to plop down money for the currently expensive SLI motherboard solutions. So nvidia is pricing for the niche they are trying to reach right now.
BTW, you mentioned one alternative, not alternative(s). And that one that you mentioned was the dual GPU on one card, which isn't even on the market yet. Lots of groups have tried that since 3dfx and no one has really come through. There were some companies (bit boys I think it was or some such company that never made a product) that people swore would pull it off and its still vaporware. Now granted, gigabyte is a pretty solid company, and hopefully they will pull it off. But I'm not counting that as an alternative until I see a) it actually being sold and b) the pricing. Odds are that it will be nearly as expensive as two separate graphics cards. Especially if they end up giving each chip its own memory banks like 3dfx solutions did.
Finally: My last point. I should not have listened to any of you doubters here, newegg raised the price on that motherboard $10 to $129 and its still not in stock. Had I ordered it I would probalby have it by now and be enjoying it and for less money
I almost did order it too. Then I figured well I'll wait a day or 3, maybe some reviews will appear. Bah.
Oh and finally, I'd appreciate it if instead of editing my quote and claiming I said "blah blah" in my quote, you would properly either separate the quotes, or put [...] or just leave out the blah blah entirely and just snip out the portions of my quote you dont wish to address as I've been doing for your quotes and not inserting anything I didn't say. If you really think you must have blah blah blah in there, the proper way is to put [blah blah blah] with the brackets indicating it was not present in the original text. Thanks.
Facebook
Twitter