SLI is back

[Andrew]

I have to agree this idea sounds pretty hare-brained. I mean, why not
just buy a faster video card? And if you already have the fastest, are
you really going to want another $400ish video card just to gain a few
FPS? I don't think the consumer market is going to really support this
idea even if they get it to work, unless it just works FABULOUSLY and you
can get almost twice the performance out of 2 cards versus 1.

You weren't around when the Voodoo 2's came out were you.

 

[Asestar]

Things are different now Andrew. I think you still live in voodoo2 era.
Thinking that every normal card is designed to run in SLI is not sane.
Unless ATI and Nvidia decide to put enormous effort into develop versions of
their cards that can be run in SLI, performance gain would be at most 2-5%
in best case scenario. It's not likely that ati or nvidia would do something
like that in the first place, if they wanted to do that, they'd have done it
way way back.

 

[Allan Sheely]

You weren't around when the Voodoo 2's came out were you.

I was, and two V2's did'nt equal twice the performance. I only bought
one V2 because the extra performance didn't warrant the cost.

 

[Andrew]

Things are different now Andrew. I think you still live in voodoo2 era.

3D cards I have owned: Voodoo 1, Voodoo 2, Voodoo 2 SLI, Voodoo 3,
Geforce Pro, Geforce 2 GTS, Geforce 3, Geforce 4 4400, 9700 Pro.

I think I have moved on.

Thinking that every normal card is designed to run in SLI is not sane.

Of course they are not designed to, but there is a lot of hardware
that enterprising people have stretched to do things way beyond what
they were designed to do.

Unless ATI and Nvidia decide to put enormous effort into develop versions of
their cards that can be run in SLI, performance gain would be at most 2-5%
in best case scenario.

Based on what data? You think Alienware would bother going through
this exercise if that was all the improvements it would yield?

 

[Sept1967]

Is this an late April.1 post?

You have one card that can render frames 90fps, and another that can render
40fps, sync this.

Or one card is DX9, the other is DX8 , one frame looks great, the other
looks like crap?

SLI has already been invented by both 3dfx and ATI.

Voodoo interlaced the lines in a frame, ATI interlaced entire frames with
their "Fury MAXX" line.

 

[Ryan E.]

3D cards I have owned: Voodoo 1, Voodoo 2, Voodoo 2 SLI, Voodoo 3,
Geforce Pro, Geforce 2 GTS, Geforce 3, Geforce 4 4400, 9700 Pro.

That's insane. Proof positive you play tech demos instead of games.

 

[JLC]

There's a bit of a difference between the voodoo2 which was designed to
run solo or be linked to another voodoo2, and some feature on a
motherboard to stick two video cards into, that _were_ _not_ designed to
work together.

It the difference between 2 random people, and a set of twins.

Xocyll
--

I realize that this is a totally different concept. I was replaying to the
guy that thought that because you have two vid cards it didn't make since
that they could work together because you only have one monitor. That was
the only point I was making. I read also on one of the links about the new
tech, that it's speculated that you could use two different brands of cards.
I can't see how that could possibly work. Wouldn't that really confuse a
game when it was starting up and trying to figure out what card it was going
to run on? Of course that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
potential problems.
The whole thing sounds more like and experiment then a full on retail
product. And not to mention the cost. It will be amazingly expensive. That
MB alone will probably cost $300 or more plus the cost of the extra vid
card. Plus the fact that you can only get this tech if you buy an Alienware
PC which cost to much already. JLC

 

[JLC]

That's insane. Proof positive you play tech demos instead of games.

Are you serious? You must be one of those guys that belive that they only
need to upgrade there vid card every 4 years or so. And games look great at
640x480.
Since 12/98 I've owned two Voodoo 2's that I ran in SLI at the same time I
had a 16MB Diamond Viper V550 TNT card in the AGP slot, a GeForce 256,
GeForce 3 Ti-200, GeForce 4 Ti-4200, and what I'm running now which is a ATI
9800Pro. And belive me I'm a hard core gamer. Have been since I was 12 and
I'm 43 now. JLC

 

[Andrew]

That's insane. Proof positive you play tech demos instead of games.

Jealousy is a terrible thing. Your Kyro card is struggling a bit is
it?

 

[Andrew]

I was, and two V2's did'nt equal twice the performance. I only bought
one V2 because the extra performance didn't warrant the cost.

It was about 50% faster at a time when Unreal was making high end PC's
weep, and let you use 1024x768. I only bought the second V2 when they
were going for much reduced prices to the GBP250 I paid for my
original Orchid Righteous 2.

 

[Tim]

The whole thing sounds more like and experiment then a full on retail
product. And not to mention the cost. It will be amazingly expensive. That
MB alone will probably cost $300 or more plus the cost of the extra vid
card. Plus the fact that you can only get this tech if you buy an Alienware
PC which cost to much already. JLC

It sounds like an experiment alright, a marketing experiment. Being a high
end vendor I'm sure Alienware is always looking for something to distinguish
themselves from the pack. It doesn't have to be revolutionary, just unique
and intriguing enough to justify their inflated price point. There are
always people who will blindly spend more because they think they're getting
something for it. To me it just sounds like something Alienware is using to
enhance their image as an innovative, exotic PC vendor.

 

[JLC]

It was about 50% faster at a time when Unreal was making high end PC's
weep, and let you use 1024x768. I only bought the second V2 when they
were going for much reduced prices to the GBP250 I paid for my
original Orchid Righteous 2.
--

Sure brings back some good old gaming memories. I bought my two 8meg Voodoo
2's just so I could play Unreal. I had just bought my dream machine, a PII
350 with 128megs of ram (which cost me $195!) and a 16meg V550 TNT. The same
day I picked up my new PC I ran out and bought Unreal. Boy was I upset when
it ran like crap! I had no idea at the time what Glide was, but I soon found
out. I called Epic and the guy told me, "sorry to have to tell you this, but
you really need a Voodoo card to run Unreal right" I'll never forget sitting
there with the phone in my hand and my gut falling through the floor. But
damn it I wasn't going to give up, I wanted to play Unreal that bad. So I
jumped in my car and drove to my local PC store and after talking to the kid
at the store, decided to go with the two Voodoo 2 cards. I was one happy
camper when I fired up Unreal at 1024x768 and it ran like butter! And that
moment when I stepped out of the ship for the first time made it worth every
penny! That game still holds a place in my heart considering how much I had
to spent to play it! JLC

 

[Andrew]

That game still holds a place in my heart considering how much I had
to spent to play it! JLC

Indeed, I spent a fortune on hardware because of Unreal and later UT,
Tim Sweeney has a lot to answer for! I got a lot of good gaming
moments out of that game, and made some good friends.

 

[Mark Morrison]

Are you serious? You must be one of those guys that belive that they only
need to upgrade there vid card every 4 years or so. And games look great at
640x480.
Since 12/98 I've owned two Voodoo 2's that I ran in SLI at the same time I
had a 16MB Diamond Viper V550 TNT card in the AGP slot, a GeForce 256,
GeForce 3 Ti-200, GeForce 4 Ti-4200, and what I'm running now which is a ATI
9800Pro. And belive me I'm a hard core gamer. Have been since I was 12 and
I'm 43 now. JLC

I skip a generation, at least after the arrival of dedicated 3d cards.

I went from Voodoo 1 (a Banshee, I think) to GeForce 256 to GeForce 3
Ti200.

My next will be a ATI, I think, as my Gf3 runs so hot it's started to
malfunction - I can now only play games with the side of my PC off,
otherwise it overheats and bluescreens.

--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

 

[patrickp]

Are you serious? You must be one of those guys that belive that they only
need to upgrade there vid card every 4 years or so. And games look great at
640x480.
Since 12/98 I've owned two Voodoo 2's that I ran in SLI at the same time I
had a 16MB Diamond Viper V550 TNT card in the AGP slot, a GeForce 256,
GeForce 3 Ti-200, GeForce 4 Ti-4200, and what I'm running now which is a ATI
9800Pro. And belive me I'm a hard core gamer. Have been since I was 12 and
I'm 43 now. JLC

Absolutely. I've had 5 different Ati cards in the last 5 or 6 years,
and I'm not even a serious gamer! ;-)


patrickp

(e-mail address removed) - take five to email me

 

[Ryan E.]

Are you serious? You must be one of those guys that belive that they only
need to upgrade there vid card every 4 years or so. And games look great at
640x480.
Since 12/98 I've owned two Voodoo 2's that I ran in SLI at the same time I
had a 16MB Diamond Viper V550 TNT card in the AGP slot, a GeForce 256,
GeForce 3 Ti-200, GeForce 4 Ti-4200, and what I'm running now which is a ATI
9800Pro. And belive me I'm a hard core gamer. Have been since I was 12 and
I'm 43 now. JLC

I bought my first graphics accelerator (Voodoo 2) for Quake II which
was around fall 1997. Quake II is less than seven years old and I've
acquired 4 accelerator cards since that time (three of which are still
in service. I built an Athlon system for work early last year and am
using one of those cards, a TNT2 on a 17' FPM). That's a bad enough
record considering I also buy game consoles for their exclusive
content.

High resolutions are not a sole determinating factor in making games
look good. There is such a thing as good design and high levels of
polish. But I can see how PC only gamers overlook that when developers
are more interested in creating engines for licensing and selling
buggy tech demos which they knowingly ship buggy, and may or may not
fix later.

 

[Xocyll]

I have to agree this idea sounds pretty hare-brained. I mean, why not
just buy a faster video card? And if you already have the fastest, are
you really going to want another $400ish video card just to gain a few
FPS? I don't think the consumer market is going to really support this
idea even if they get it to work, unless it just works FABULOUSLY and you
can get almost twice the performance out of 2 cards versus 1.

Well *I* wouldn't. I'm quite happy to stay a generation or two behind
the bleeding edge, but then I don't require anything over 30fps since I
can't see the difference anyway.

That's not to say that people wouldn't buy it anyway just for "bleeding
edge" bragging rights.

You just _know_ some halfwit with more money than sense will try to run
both the latest nVidia card and the latest ATi card in the same machine.

Just so he can jump into conversations about which is best to have and
say "oh yeah, I have them both."

You can shudder now at the thought of nVidia and ATi sharing the Video.

Xocyll

 

[Allan Sheely]

That's insane. Proof positive you play tech demos instead of games.

Me too.
S3 Virge>Voodoo1>Voodoo2>Voodoo3>Geforce2>Voodoo5>another
Geforce2>Radeon8500>Geforce4>Radeon9800pro.

 

[Chip]

High resolutions are not a sole determinating factor in making games
look good.

How true!!!

I can't believe how obsessed the industry has become with resolution. And
yet its almost completely irrelevant.

Take your average "The Matrix" DVD. A mere 852x480 pixels. And yet did
anyone ever say, it didn't look fantastic?

What we need is more polygons, and better lighting effects. Not more
pixels. 1280x1024 exceeds even HDTV standards and is *more* than enough!

Chip

 

[Destroy]

I can't believe how obsessed the industry has become with resolution. And

yet its almost completely irrelevant.

Depends a lot on hardware its being viewed on however. HUGE difference
between 1600x1200 and 800x600 on a 21 inch monitor. Resolution is very
important.