Frontpage News: SLI Performance Preview

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
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Some advice before you read it: get a bib.:p
 

LukFilm

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
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Awesome. I definitely did NOT expect more than 100% improvement under ANY circumstances. This is amazing!!!
 

Hanpan

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2000
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What is interesting is that the cards run at PICe - 8x .

This may be crucial for some as there are many cheap dell servers which people would love to configure as workstations if there were only pcie8x cards.
 

AngleDust

Member
Aug 29, 2004
30
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can we mix and match?

its seems two 6600 gt < one 6800 gt

with the way vid card prices usually go down in a year, if i bought a 6600 gt today, i'd rather pair that up with say a 6800 gt next year when its cheaper.
 

Dug

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2000
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Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
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tbqhwy.com
Originally posted by: Dug
Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.

what else do you need?
all mobs have built in ethernet now and USB2 and such, after you add a soundcard what else is there other then a TV Tuner card?

that still leaves you with 1 open PCI slot anyway
 

Xatrix

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
398
0
76
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Dug
Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.

what else do you need?
all mobs have built in ethernet now and USB2 and such, after you add a soundcard what else is there other then a TV Tuner card?

that still leaves you with 1 open PCI slot anyway

Agreed.

What else is needed really?

56k Modem?
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Dug
Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.

what else do you need?
all mobs have built in ethernet now and USB2 and such, after you add a soundcard what else is there other then a TV Tuner card?

that still leaves you with 1 open PCI slot anyway
Ditto. Even my loaded system would work fine, as the 3 PCI slots are enough for my sound card, TV tuner, and even my SATA card(though a good highend would have more than the 2 SATA ports I have now, so there's really no need). The only other thing I could possibly image someone needing is a SCSI card or more NICs, and if that's the case, the TV tuner can be replaced with a USB version.
 

Dug

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2000
3,469
6
81
Originally posted by: Xatrix
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Dug
Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.

what else do you need?
all mobs have built in ethernet now and USB2 and such, after you add a soundcard what else is there other then a TV Tuner card?

that still leaves you with 1 open PCI slot anyway

Agreed.

What else is needed really?

56k Modem?


It looks to me you only have 2 pci slots available as the 2nd video card comes too close to the 1st pci slot, making it useless.

sound card, tv tuner or hdtv tuner, scsi, wireless card, something else I can't think of right now. :)

Pic of 2nd card covering 1st pci slot
 

Lyfer

Diamond Member
May 28, 2003
5,842
2
81
I wonder what PSU they used to power up that rig. OCZ powerstream 520w?
 

KeithP

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2000
5,664
202
106
I doubt that the power supply is going to be a big deal as long as it is a quality unit. I am running a 6800GT in a Shuttle (200 watt ps) with an O"C Barton, 1 gig of RAM, sound card, 1 optical and 1 HD without a single problem. A high quality 400W would probably be fine even with a couple of HDs/opticals.

Hopefully any remaining bugs can be worked out. The great thing about SLI is that you will be able to run high resolution LCDs at their native res and still get great performance. I hope more games start supporting widescreen resolutions. I would love to have a 23 inch Samsung, Sony or Apple LCD running at native res for any game a throw at it.

-KeithP
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,559
1,722
126
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Dug
Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.

what else do you need?
all mobs have built in ethernet now and USB2 and such, after you add a soundcard what else is there other then a TV Tuner card?

that still leaves you with 1 open PCI slot anyway

Wireless LAN, SCSI, Firewire...
 

NFS4

No Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
72,636
47
91
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Dug
Looking at all the SLI boards- there's not enough room.

Once you add in a sound card and one other pci card, your done.

what else do you need?
all mobs have built in ethernet now and USB2 and such, after you add a soundcard what else is there other then a TV Tuner card?

that still leaves you with 1 open PCI slot anyway

Wireless LAN, SCSI, Firewire...

(1) Most motherboards come with Firewire built in.
(2) Get a USB wireless adapter. They're more popular than PCI based ones anyway and it away from your PC's internals
(3) That leaves room for a PCI SCSI card.

Did I miss anything???;)