New anand article on SLI performance

[nRollo]

The "wild card" in this is the PCIE 6800NU. It will be interesting to see rendering half the scene removes some of the limitations imposed by it's slower/smaller memory.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: gururu

the 6600GT, even in SLI mode, is still generally outperformed by a single 6800GT. At lower resolutions or with AA disabled, the performance of two 6600GTs would definitely be more similar to that of a single 6800GT

i wouldn't want to wait two years to get 6800GT performance. I'd rather just pay the price and get a GT today. two GTs is really the pudding. I'm a little diappointed because the 6600GT option was attractive.

Good point!! especially since 6800Gt is already at 350-360 right now and 6600GT is slightly above $200. Add to that the cost of SLI motherboard, and you can see how buying 6600GT is pointless for SLI setup.

Also Anand mentions that the upgrade path is bright since you could pick up a 2nd SLi card cheaper. I disagree with the fact that there is a benefit to that for 6600GT at least. Cards that retail at $200 take 6 months just to drop to $150 and then another 6 months to drop to $110 => just look at 9600Pro or 9600XT which barely dropped from their mainstream introduction levels over the last 1.5 years. Who is going to pay $200 for 6600GT now and then say $100 in 1 year, when you can get FASTER 6800GT for $350 NOW....and have the chance of overclocking it to 425/1100......? Did anyone think about overclocking in SLI <<< will it be stable? Are you going to need 600Watt power supply>>>>?

SLI upgrading can make sense in 6800GT case because the speed almost doubles in intensive benches. Still those people that consider 6800Gts now probably want to have close to the cutting-edge hardware, latest features, etc. These new features, which enable better graphics (ie. DX8 vs. DX9 => DX10, PS4.0 etc.) are important to them (No?) So I still question the usefulness of this solution since hardware enthusiasts could grab NV50 instead of a 2nd 6800GT based on feature set even if the 2 6800Gts performed slightly faster. But, 2 6800GTS improve 50-80%, and from last introduction 6800GT doubled 5900/9800P cards. So NV50/R500 are most likely to be faster than 2 SLI setups.

In my eyes, the only people this will appeal to is people with higher incomes who could pick up 2 6800GTs or 2 6800Ultra now, and then 2 NV50s/2 R500s later. Isn't SLI motherboard rumoured to retail at $199? I can only imagine the price of 6800s in PCIe considering there is a huge shortage of high-end PCIe cards, making SLi setup even more expensive.

2 6600GT's equalling 1 6800GT in performance makes perfect sense though. Since the 6600GT has exactly 1/2 of everything a 6800GT has.

6800GT 16pipes 6 vertex processors 256MB GDDR3 @ 1000MHz 256-bit mem bus
6600GT 8 pipes 3 vertex processors 128MB GDDR3 @ 1000Mhz 128-bit mem bus

The only difference is core speed. 6800GT @ 350MHz and 6600GT @ 500MHz.

So it makes mathematical sense for 2 6600GT's to equal 1 6800GT.

Now, 2 6800nu's would be interesting to see.

 

[Marsumane]

Think of it this way. Keep your existing system, but buy a card with sli capability. Later, down the road, decide if buying the then cheaper mobo and 2nd gpu is cheaper then buying a new card and keeping your existing setup. Its a win-win situation and u cant lose! If sli doenst cost less to do the upgrade path with, then just sell your old sli card, and get a new one.

-Basically im saying it adds options.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Marsumane
Think of it this way. Keep your existing system, but buy a card with sli capability. Later, down the road, decide if buying the then cheaper mobo and 2nd gpu is cheaper then buying a new card and keeping your existing setup. Its a win-win situation and u cant lose! If sli doenst cost less to do the upgrade path with, then just sell your old sli card, and get a new one.

-Basically im saying it adds options.

Most existing systems don't support PCIe, so you can't do this. You would still have to buy a mobo that supports PCIe.

2 6600GT's equalling 1 6800GT in performance makes perfect sense though.

Perhaps it makes sense, but that still doesn't appear to be the case. The best results for the 6600GT SLI setup equal those of a single 6800GT, but in most cases the lesser SLI setup gives you less FPS than a single 6800GT.

 

[jim1976]

I have the following observations to make

1. It's just good only for 1600x1200 which is a gpu limited resolution. Even an FX-55 can't handle the job as it should in lower res. This was expected IMO it's pure and simple logic...

2. I simply don't care, since a have an agp 6800gt. I should have to sell my agp 6800gt for some profit then buy 2xpcie 6800gts and a 2xpcie mobo.... too much $$$ and I won't be able to give it the cpu power I need for such a setup.

Not for me thankz. Maybe with my next system upgrade and NV50 this will be a good option. But surely not in micro-perspective.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Marsumane
Think of it this way. Keep your existing system, but buy a card with sli capability. Later, down the road, decide if buying the then cheaper mobo and 2nd gpu is cheaper then buying a new card and keeping your existing setup. Its a win-win situation and u cant lose! If sli doenst cost less to do the upgrade path with, then just sell your old sli card, and get a new one.

-Basically im saying it adds options.

Most existing systems don't support PCIe, so you can't do this. You would still have to buy a mobo that supports PCIe.

2 6600GT's equalling 1 6800GT in performance makes perfect sense though.

Perhaps it makes sense, but that still doesn't appear to be the case. The best results for the 6600GT SLI setup equal those of a single 6800GT, but in most cases the lesser SLI setup gives you less FPS than a single 6800GT.

Exactly, that is because SLI grants 50% to 70% performance gain, not 100%.
Still makes sense.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Exactly, that is because SLI grants 50% to 70% performance gain, not 100%.

Using the most vid card limited scores(16x12 wAA/AF) from Anand's test the gain is 75.8%-85%(6800GT-6600GT), 69.9%- 62%, 105.8%- 63.4%.

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Marsumane
Think of it this way. Keep your existing system, but buy a card with sli capability. Later, down the road, decide if buying the then cheaper mobo and 2nd gpu is cheaper then buying a new card and keeping your existing setup. Its a win-win situation and u cant lose! If sli doenst cost less to do the upgrade path with, then just sell your old sli card, and get a new one.

-Basically im saying it adds options.

Most existing systems don't support PCIe, so you can't do this. You would still have to buy a mobo that supports PCIe.

2 6600GT's equalling 1 6800GT in performance makes perfect sense though.

Perhaps it makes sense, but that still doesn't appear to be the case. The best results for the 6600GT SLI setup equal those of a single 6800GT, but in most cases the lesser SLI setup gives you less FPS than a single 6800GT.

That is true. I should have better phrased this into saying that u dont need to pay the premium for dual pcie x16 slots. Also most of us dont and wont have pcie boards anytime soon anyways so its kinda the best option for anyone looking to go pcie.

 

[Pete]

2 6600GT's equalling 1 6800GT in performance makes perfect sense though. Since the 6600GT has exactly 1/2 of everything a 6800GT has.
I thought so too, until someone reminded me that the 6600GT has 1/4 the ROPS of a 6800GT. Initially, I was thinking SLI was limited, b/c assuming the 6600GT is 1/2 a 6800GT, its 40% faster core clock should translate into faster-than-6800GT scores for a SLI setup. It doesn't, and--besides immature drivers--the reason may be that it's still got only half the ROPs. This also means it has half the z-/stencil ops per clock, which may impact Doom 3.

 

[lifeguard1999]

In my case I have a dual 3.0 GHz Xeon EMT64, 4 GB of memory, 1 Quadro 3400 graphics card on a 16x PCIe bus, and a 700 W power supply. I have a second PCIe slot that is 4x, but has a 16x physical slot. As soon as NVidia comes out with their SLI, in goes the second Quadro 3400 (which are extremely rare!). Or I might go with the Quadro 4400s with 512 MB of onboard memory after they are announced in November. We'll see. At any rate, that should give you some idea of what the PSU unit should be rated.

And yes, I do need all that graphics horsepower as I am GPU bound in my application (no, it is not a game).

 

[Rudee]

How sad would it be if ppl saved up a ton of cash to purchase 2 6800 GTs running in SLI, then next spring ATI comes out with a single card solution that kicks it's a$$. I can see that happening.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Rudee
How sad would it be if ppl saved up a ton of cash to purchase 2 6800 GTs running in SLI, then next spring ATI comes out with a single card solution that kicks it's a$$. I can see that happening.

ati is already heading in sli's direction.

They WILL have "sli" (eventually) guaranteed.
(they already announced it)

Then you will have the OPTION for TWO ati chips that can kick two older and cheaper GPU's sli'd ass. So what. It is always that way with technology.
:roll:

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by: Rudee
How sad would it be if ppl saved up a ton of cash to purchase 2 6800 GTs running in SLI, then next spring ATI comes out with a single card solution that kicks it's a$$. I can see that happening.

That happens every 18 months or so. It's called progress.

SLI allows you the privilege of experiencing that performance way ahead of time. Like everything else in life, tho, it'll cost you.

 

[dannybin1742]

i'm an ati guy right now cause i own a bunch of theri stock, but dizam, those numbers are really impressive, makes me all excited for my next system upgrade- 90nm a64, nf4 dual sli dual 6800gts!! oced to the wall!!!!

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Rollo
The "wild card" in this is the PCIE 6800NU. It will be interesting to see rendering half the scene removes some of the limitations imposed by it's slower/smaller memory.

The PCIe 6800nu's will still be hindered by their 12 pipes vs 16 on the 6800GT/Ultra.

Now two 6800nu's with unlocked pipes (and maybe a touch of an o/c on the memory) should make for a really interesting test, especially seeing the great results people are having doing the softmod to unlock their pipelines on the 6800nu's. Probably a $500 solution that beats any single-card out there.

However, is Nvidia planning on releasing a PCI-e 6800nu? I though it was just for AGP?

 

[Ishamori]

Are 6800nu's available in PCIe, SLI compatible format?

 

[Pete]

Well, there's the Dell 6800"GT"O.

You'll see PCIe 6800s with the arrival of NV41, a native PCIe GPU with 12 pipes.