Hands On Tripple SLI Test

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R

RS8

Senior member
Oct 14, 2007
202
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71
Nice find.

Besides, what kind of PC case are they using as well?
 
manimal

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,559
8
0
Man heat buildup with 3 cards that close together must be murder, I know that they expel heat outside the case but still. If only we could tri SLI GT's
 
fleshconsumed

fleshconsumed

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2002
6,486
2,363
136
Not only that, but notice, that most of the tests were done in 2560x1600 resolution, however for Crysis they lowered it down to 1920x1200 and in DX10 mode on Very High settings they still averaged only 37fps, with minimum down to 14fps. Seems we'll have to wait till GF10 till we can comfortably play Crysis all maxed out.
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
I wonder where you get that special triple-sLI bridge.

Also, I've seen 680i boards (MSI P6N Diamond, IIRC), with four x16 PCI-E slots. Wonder if you can quad-SLI.
 
secretanchitman

secretanchitman

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
9,352
23
91
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I wonder where you get that special triple-sLI bridge.

Also, I've seen 680i boards (MSI P6N Diamond, IIRC), with four x16 PCI-E slots. Wonder if you can quad-SLI.
Click to expand...

me too...is there software sli (meaning sli without using a bridge, kind of like ati's internal crossfire that doesnt use a dongle to connect the cards)?
 
nitromullet

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91
Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Not only that, but notice, that most of the tests were done in 2560x1600 resolution, however for Crysis they lowered it down to 1920x1200 and in DX10 mode on Very High settings they still averaged only 37fps, with minimum down to 14fps. Seems we'll have to wait till GF10 till we can comfortably play Crysis all maxed out.
Click to expand...

You have to realize though that they aren't using the built in GPU benchmark, but their own based on the Paradise Lost map in the game. I could somewhat comfortably play the island parts of Crysis with a single GTX at 1920x1200 set to High with 2xAA, but the later parts in the game dropped down to a crawl. So, if this part is playable I would imagine the island parts of the game are really smooth.

The avg fps for the three setups are 14.8, 27.1, 37.9. The scaling of the 3-way SLI setup is actually not too bad IMO. It you got a 200% increase over a single card, the 3-way SLI setup would only get 44.4 avg fps. 37.9 fps is a 156% increase over a singe card, which is giving you an average of a 78% increase for each of the two additional cards. I honestly wouldn't have expected more out of a technology like this.
 
Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Dont put too much stress on the Tri SLi setup. Might leave a burnt hole in your motherboard! :D

Joking aside, it looks like Tri SLi scales better than what quad SLi was back then. The settings used are also ridiculously high where a single card would literally crawl to a stop so this kind of setup could benefit those with deep pockets.

Although i would need a mortgage to afford such a setup, it still makes me drool like theres no tomorrow..

I heard that Tri Sli might be possible with the GTS/GT series (2 of them SLi linked, and the other communicates via PCI-e bus) . Note that SLi can work without the SLi bridge.
 
N

nubian1

Member
Aug 1, 2007
111
0
0
In reality for the average & even above average PC owner this test setup is just not reasonable.

- 3 of these cards is like $2000!!! That the price of a high performance sli or CF gaming PC already. I can build one for less even. (That's 4 PS3's or 6 Nintendo WII's!!)
- The 1100W power supply requirement will add an additional $300-$400 dollars to the mix.
- The motherboards that offer support won't be cheap, that's for sure.
- Anyone mention the noise & heat issues?

There are a few solutions that may make sense.

- Nvidia opens up SLI to chipsets from Intel & others. (IN a dream maybe).
- Lower end cards are used

I'm still not sure if this will sell well. The apparent performance scaling seems to be less than I would have hoped for given the complexity & price. We'll just have to wait until the 780i ($$$$) boards become available to see what's up. Looks like ATI & Nvidia are hoping we add to their bottom line with multi card purchases as opposed to giving the consumer really new technology higher performance (DX10.1) parts.
 
T

terentenet

Senior member
Nov 8, 2005
387
0
0
Originally posted by: nubian1
In reality for the average & even above average PC owner this test setup is just not reasonable.

- 3 of these cards is like $2000!!! That the price of a high performance sli or CF gaming PC already. I can build one for less even. (That's 4 PS3's or 6 Nintendo WII's!!)
- The 1100W power supply requirement will add an additional $300-$400 dollars to the mix.
- The motherboards that offer support won't be cheap, that's for sure.
- Anyone mention the noise & heat issues?

There are a few solutions that may make sense.

- Nvidia opens up SLI to chipsets from Intel & others. (IN a dream maybe).
- Lower end cards are used

I'm still not sure if this will sell well. The apparent performance scaling seems to be less than I would have hoped for given the complexity & price. We'll just have to wait until the 780i ($$$$) boards become available to see what's up. Looks like ATI & Nvidia are hoping we add to their bottom line with multi card purchases as opposed to giving the consumer really new technology higher performance (DX10.1) parts.
Click to expand...


Triple SLI becomes reasonable because you don't have to buy all 3 cards at once. You can get one card now, go SLI in a couple of months and then go TriSLI after a while if you still want more performance.
As for motherboard support, I've heard that all that's keeping a mere EVGA 680i board from working TriSLI is the lack of the bridge and maybe a new BIOS.
For me, the cost to go TriSLI is just another GTX and I will definitely have it as soon as I get my hands on one of those Triple SLI bridges.
 
nitromullet

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91
In reality for the average & even above average PC owner this test setup is just not reasonable.
Click to expand...

It isn't meant for the average person, or even the average above average PC owner. This is basically for the few people who already have a 680i board, two GTXes or Ultras in SLI, and another $600+ to spend.

The apparent performance scaling seems to be less than I would have hoped for given the complexity & price.
Click to expand...

What would have you have hoped for...? You never see a 100% increase when going multi anything, this is true for CPUs, CPU cores, and GPUs. The return also is generally diminishing the higher you go.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not buying one of these, but the tech is pretty interesting and the performance gains are pretty in line with what you can expect for something like this IMO.
 
T

terentenet

Senior member
Nov 8, 2005
387
0
0
I agree with you Nitro. SLI is not meant for the average gamer. An average and ever above average gamer games on a 24" LCD with a single 8800GT. SLI & CF are meant for performance enthusiasts.
As Nitro said, TripleSLI's main audience are current SLI owners with money left to spare.
I for one would rather like 9800GTX to come out sooner than TripleSLI.
Nvidia and ATI make the rules here and if they say multiple GPU's are the way to go for higher performance, then that's what we have to work with. Scaling from 1 to 2 and then 3 GPU's seem rather good to me, it's about 75% for each card.
As with cars, technology and allmost everything else, when you have a 100% increase in performance you should expect a 150% increase in price.

Originally posted by: ManWithNoName
Looks like the only thing that could keep them working properly is open-case/house-fan solution.
Click to expand...

Watercooling?
 
ManWithNoName

ManWithNoName

Senior member
Oct 19, 2007
396
0
0
Originally posted by: terentenet
I agree with you Nitro. SLI is not meant for the average gamer. An average and ever above average gamer games on a 24" LCD with a single 8800GT. SLI & CF are meant for performance enthusiasts.
As Nitro said, TripleSLI's main audience are current SLI owners with money left to spare.
I for one would rather like 9800GTX to come out sooner than TripleSLI.
Nvidia and ATI make the rules here and if they say multiple GPU's are the way to go for higher performance, then that's what we have to work with. Scaling from 1 to 2 and then 3 GPU's seem rather good to me, it's about 75% for each card.
As with cars, technology and allmost everything else, when you have a 100% increase in performance you should expect a 150% increase in price.

Originally posted by: ManWithNoName
Looks like the only thing that could keep them working properly is open-case/house-fan solution.
Click to expand...

Watercooling?
Click to expand...

Well yeah. :). Should of added a smiley face to the end of that (which I just did) because I really wasn't serious in the least. This is a serious question however, to watercool 3 tightly packed cards like that, do you need to enclose the entire rig? How's it done?
 
nitromullet

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91
As far as the heat goes, I'm actually surprised that NVIDIA opted to design the GTX/Ultra cooler with the vents on the top of the cooler, instead of having it completely sealed up to the backplane (like the new GTS 512 cooler). I've noticed a considerable amount of heat pouring out from those vents on my 8800GTX, and I have even dropped my gpu temps by putting an exhaust fan next to the card. I assume that NVIDIA has been planning 3-way SLI since the introduction of 680i, so I can't imagine what made them think blowing the hot air from one card onto the back of another was a good idea.

It honestly seems to me that the 8800GTS 512 would have been a better option for 3-way SLI because it has a sealed cooler, lower power draw, less heat production, plus it's cheaper... but they only decided to give it a single SLI connector...

Think if they had designed the 8800GT with this in mind... You might actually see a decent number of people opting for a $900 3-way SLI rig that you could easily power with a decent, $150-200 PSU.
 
BFG10K

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
3,003
126
Triple SLI becomes reasonable because you don't have to buy all 3 cards at once. You can get one card now, go SLI in a couple of months and then go TriSLI after a while if you still want more performance.
Click to expand...
This reasoning is even more nonsensical than the classic SLI "buy one card now, get one later" reasoning.

When the next generation video card comes out who on earth will run out and buy a pair of obsolete previous generation cards?

Also you can't just throw three video cards into a system; you need a motherboard with three PCIe, a beefy PSU and a hell of a good case to stop them overheating.

After all that why not just get a single next generation GPU and sell your existing previous gen GPU?
 
S

SniperDaws

Senior member
Aug 14, 2007
762
0
0
Its just a marketing scam you know it i know it but there are people out there with more money than sense that will jump right in with both feet thinking they are better than everyone else.

 
M

Mr Fox

Senior member
Sep 24, 2006
876
0
76
Originally posted by: BFG10K
Triple SLI becomes reasonable because you don't have to buy all 3 cards at once. You can get one card now, go SLI in a couple of months and then go TriSLI after a while if you still want more performance.
Click to expand...
This reasoning is even more nonsensical than the classic SLI "buy one card now, get one later" reasoning.

When the next generation video card comes out who on earth will run out and buy a pair of obsolete previous generation cards?

Also you can't just throw three video cards into a system; you need a motherboard with three PCIe, a beefy PSU and a hell of a good case to stop them overheating.

After all that why not just get a single next generation GPU and sell your existing previous gen GPU?
Click to expand...



SLI is becoming more of a Joke by the day.... Nvidia Single Card Performance is better than the Competition.

But when it comes to Multi Card HD 3870 in X-Fire, Two $300.00 Cards will soundly defeat a $1000.00 Pair of GTX's....


http://hosting03.imagecross.co...ingle-vs-Multi-GPU.jpg

The Data is from HotHardware....

There are some Reasons behind it.. X-38 , and the second generation Crossfire Connector...seems to put the Bandwidth into the formula.

 
M

Mr Fox

Senior member
Sep 24, 2006
876
0
76
Originally posted by: TimBob
Soundly defeat at what resolution? I don't see that information anywhere on there.
Click to expand...



Whatever the tests default to 1284 x 1024 I believe so that it is not GPU Bound.
 
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