the new Alienware Video Array

[NapalmDeath]

**** LINK Alienware Press Release on Video Array ****

This should be interesting...

Reminiscent of the old days of SLI voodoo's, but on the motherboard.

 

[rbV5]

I don't think you need Alienware for multiple graphics cards on PCI-e boards, its part of the spec IIRC.

 

[thelanx]

Oh man, dual x800XT's or 6800 Ultras, that would rock any game out right now or coming out in the near future. I wonder if you can mix and match, ie an ATI card with an NVIDIA card. Hmm, the benchmarks would be interesting.

 

[darkswordsman17]

That is very cool. Man can you imagine what that thing will be priced?

Personally though, I think they should just come up with a new motherboard design where the graphics processor goes on the board itself instead of the card and then give it its own single or double slot for memory. I don't think this would be much more expensive and would IMO be better.

Its cool to see Alienware innovating more than the have been, they might finally have a reason for super serious gamers to buy their products. Then again, the article made it sound like there was going to be a mobo vendor who will sell individual motherboards with this ability.

 

[RatDog]

Wow. This is very interesting. So many if's, what's, and when's to be answered.

 

[Tab]

What do we need this for exactly?

 

[DarkKnight]

Originally posted by: Tabb
What do we need this for exactly?

bragging rights

 

[klah]

HomeLAN Fed Exclusive: Alienware ALX Interview

Alienware?s patent-pending custom X2 motherboard enables dual high-performance graphics cards. To Alienware?s knowledge, no other motherboard currently supports dual PCI-Express graphics slots. The X2 also utilizes all available PCI-Express lanes provided by the Tumwater chipset, supports DDR2-400 memory and includes 6 ports for high-performance SATA RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 configurations. The X2 includes SATA on a 66MHz PCI-X bus, Gigabit Ethernet, and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio.

The X2 motherboard is dual-CPU, which will ultimately increase CPU processing power.

Due to the power requirements of a dual graphics card system, ALX systems featuring the Video Array will include a custom power supply rated at 700+ Watts.

So dual Prescott-based Xeons and dual 6800Ultras? Air-cooled?

 

[Gagabiji]

I bet that comes at a hefty price. But duely X800XTs...

 

[Marsumane]

This is insane... i never thought that they'd get this on the market. If games were multithreaded then this would be 10x better. Y? the X800XT/GF6U already bottlenecks the cpu much of the time. This will still apply. Just doom 3 will now be able to be run w/ maxed settings and for most games its basically free aa+af now w/ 2 gpus.

I say a high NV and a high ATI. I wonder if u can use NV's 3.0 shader support for those effects and ATI's for AA+AF? That would be quite complecated, so i doubt it

 

[jasonja]

This press release doesn't make it clear how it plans to integrate these two cards. On the surface it seems like all it will enable you to do is use dual monitor (or quad since most adapter support dual head now) with two PCI/E cards. I don't think this is going to be something like SLI was. There's no conceivable way to get an ATI and nVidia card to work together in the driver and Windows Longhorn is only going to support dual adapters for cards using the same driver. This means come Longhorn time you will NOT be able to run a nVidia card and ATI card in the same machine.

 

[Pete]

Someone at B3D reminded us that this is similar to what Alienware tried to do previously. They bought custom tech from Metabyte (remember them? ) that allowed them to SLI anything, as it worked on a software level. Should be interesting, but a 700W PSU seems ridiculous.

 

[Stoneburner]

I get the feeling it's gonna be more trouble than its worth.

 

[KoolHonda]

Originally posted by: Stoneburner
I get the feeling it's gonna be more trouble than its worth.

Ditto. As if just one new video card wasn't expensive and buggy enough.

 

[Keysplayr]

Looks like computer prices are returning to the days of when they first came out. Soon, its going to cost 8 grand for a top of the line setup. 1000.00 for a processor? Cmon. 500 to 800.00 for a vid card? Cmon.

 

[Schadenfroh]

why is alienware coming out with something like this? shouldnt it be a mobo manufacturere like asus or somebody that makes video cards and mobos that would put research into it?

 

[fwtong]

This will come in handy for the day when games sponsered by Nvidia will only work with Nvidia cards and games that are sponsered by ATI will only work with ATI cards.

 

[BugsBunny1078]

This will be great if you can get like 1000 fps in q3 cause that will look so much better than 500.

 

[humanentity]

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
This will be great if you can get like 1000 fps in q3 cause that will look so much better than 500.

oh man do not be so shortminded,..
just imagine:

HALF LIFE 2 + 2 NVIDIA PCI EXPRESS CARDS (i prefer ati but it´s useless in game span) +
3 20" MONITORS = SURROUND GAMING = "%#!¿¡AHHHHHHHHHHHH))))))

 

[Conscript]

Originally posted by: humanentity

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
This will be great if you can get like 1000 fps in q3 cause that will look so much better than 500.

oh man do not be so shortminded,..
just imagine:

HALF LIFE 2 + 2 NVIDIA PCI EXPRESS CARDS (i prefer ati but it´s useless in game span) +
3 20" MONITORS = SURROUND GAMING = "%#!¿¡AHHHHHHHHHHHH))))))

stop...you're scaring my wallet :shocked:

 

[fwtong]

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
This will be great if you can get like 1000 fps in q3 cause that will look so much better than 500.

The FPS snobs will OC both cards to get 1020fps and insist that it's so much better looking then 1000 fps.

 

[AlienwareJosh]

We are very excited about the overwhelming response we have received concerning our new Video Array technology. However, in order to quell the quickly growing storm of misinformation, we are providing a link to our Video Array FAQ. We hope that this FAQ will help clear the confusion surrounding the new technology.

This post is not meant to incite debate, nor does it mark the beginning of a Q&A session. It is merely being provided in an effort to prevent any false rumors from circulating.

http://www.alienware.com/alx_pages/main_content.aspx

Thank you all and have a nice day.


Joshua Spatz
Alienware Corporation

 

[MercenaryForHire]

the new Alienware Video Array ...

... is an overpriced POS that will be available on every other PCIe board in short order, making this purchase only mildly less moronic, as you're still spending twice what you need to just for the logo.

- M4H

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

the new Alienware Video Array ...

... is an overpriced POS that will be available on every other PCIe board in short order, making this purchase only mildly less moronic, as you're still spending twice what you need to just for the logo.

- M4H

Harsh but true.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

the new Alienware Video Array ...

... is an overpriced POS that will be available on every other PCIe board in short order, making this purchase only mildly less moronic, as you're still spending twice what you need to just for the logo.

- M4H

Harsh but true.

Yeah, that about sums me up as a whole.

- M4H