SLI: your views?

***Zardon*** · Feb 25, 2005, 05:26 AM

You know the drill, vote and discuss

mkk · Feb 25, 2005, 05:52 AM

Unimpressed by the current situation but wouldn't be surprised if it would prove to have a good future a couple of generations ahead. Market adaptation should also improve the value over time, if both nVidia and ATI have their minds set to see this through.

Blackboost · Feb 25, 2005, 06:09 AM

I think it looks great and sounds pormising, but right now I'm not that impressed with the results so far, plus the investment can be tough for the wallet.

Spookyy · Feb 25, 2005, 06:18 AM

No use really.

Some say, buy 1 now and add another to get better performance when the newer game demands it.

Thats just stupid because after 1 or 2 generations the new games will use features that those old SLI cards dont have, so you got to invest in 2 new cards everytime.

Waste of cash. 1 slot is the way to go.

Danhill · Feb 25, 2005, 06:22 AM

Im unimpressed, I doubt ill buy it:

It's expensive, even more heat, problems with games and the list goes on.

Callandor · Feb 25, 2005, 06:23 AM

There's alot of room for improvement, so yes, SLI is good, and is here to stay.

Logla · Feb 25, 2005, 07:21 AM

not for me thanks. The cost is just too high now. I remember when I had VoodooII SLi - that setup cost me less than my x800Pro did.

CDsDontBurn · Feb 25, 2005, 07:44 AM

i'll think about it, but i wouldn't want to spend money on two 6600GTs in SLI when i can get one 6800GT for better performance at around the same price as two 6600GTs. It'll probably come into mind once i see a need for it, but for now, one card will do just fine.

bug77 · Feb 25, 2005, 08:00 AM

I doubt that if my video card gets old, I'll buy another old card to get my system back up on par...

On another note, I'm really confused how the current mobos support SLI (that is two PCIe x16 ports) since current chipsets only support up to 32 PCIe lanes. Keep in mind that mobos have some lanes dedicated to PCIe x1 as well for other devices...
I might be wrong with this one, feel free to correct me.

Update: Actually, the limit is 20 lanes for NF4 (Intel does not share this info on their site...)

***craig5320*** · Feb 25, 2005, 08:23 AM

Well I've got an SLi board, but I have no intentions of ever using the SLI function, Single All the way baby.

My board is the A8n-SLi Deluxe i bought it for use with my X800XT, the other features are great, 4 SATA2 connectors, firewire 10usb ports, dual gigabit lan etc. Features that weren't available on non SLI boards.

I think SLI was proved a non-starter back in the VooDoo days, with the rate of new graphics cards hitting the market buying two really isn't an option. If they made it so you could use two different cards like a lower and higher spec the outcome would be different.

e.g.:

1: GPU 1 (fast)
added later on - 2: GPU 2 (faster)

then

1: GPU 2 (faster)
2: GPU 3 (a lot faster)

So when you upgrade you replace your older card,

bah does anyone know what i'm blubbering about, i lost my train of thought....

Sandok · Feb 25, 2005, 08:26 AM

It's cool tech but sooooo software dependant. Needs more games so sooo far, i've voted rubbish

Necrosis · Feb 25, 2005, 08:39 AM

Should add the option to vote for too expensive. I'd rather pay for 2 cpu's instead.

Shadow Lady · Feb 25, 2005, 09:46 AM

its too expensive, has many bugs, and is not always faster than single

Vikingod · Feb 25, 2005, 10:03 AM

I think it is a great idea, but has to have the bugs worked out of it before I spend the money.

!NC!Blade · Feb 25, 2005, 12:10 PM

Given time with alot of bug fixes, maybe yes. But as of right now, nope, not worth it.

UZ7 · Feb 25, 2005, 12:16 PM

Yeah, hardware/software technology needs to mature a little more and when/if the prices go down then i may reconsider... that is unless ATI has something up their sleeves

pr0digal jenius · Feb 25, 2005, 12:22 PM

I think it's a poorly implemented good idea

I also think that dual core GPUs are a far better idea then plain old dual GPUs

Judas · Feb 25, 2005, 03:41 PM

Depends on what form of SLI it is.... frankly it has protential.... very good potential..... it just so happens Nvidia doesn't seem to know how to make it work just yet...

mike2h · Feb 25, 2005, 04:01 PM

waste of $$ now. technology is to immature but love the potential. & the upgrade path it gives you buy one card now & when it starts to get slow buy the 2nd & you are right back in bussiness.
like i said above, just not cost effective right now. there are to many single card solutions that can play every game out there with ease & not have all the problems. wait 'till 2nd or 3rd generation.

GeneralClaymore · Feb 25, 2005, 04:50 PM

i was expecting it to be like double the speed. but i was wrong, it aint worth the extra money you gonna spend, your better off overclocking a single card then getting sli.

2x 6600gts aint worth it so u better off with a 6800GT/X800pro. i just see Sli as a marketing Scam by nvidia,and is over hyped. you will never need 2 video cards, one is enough.

BWX · Feb 25, 2005, 09:06 PM

rubbish

CDsDontBurn · Feb 25, 2005, 10:49 PM

hell....even PCI-E isn't all that great. Systems aren't even taking full advantage of 66Mhz 8x AGP specs, let alone a single 133Mhz PCI-E bus.

No_Style · Feb 25, 2005, 11:04 PM

"Two heads are better than one."

Computer Technology is really going the way of the dual:

Dual Channel memory.
Two HDDs making RAID 0.
Dual Processors (Or even pseudo dual processors via Hyper Threading).
Dual video cards just makes sense to me... or even Dual GPU cores.

The hardware is there, it's just that the software isn't there to take advantage of it all.

MadPt · Feb 26, 2005, 12:32 AM

Great idea, however, one top of the line card is so expensive, twice that cost is a huge investment... until, who knows, a better, single card comes out and makes you wonder about the money you have just spent...i'm not sure if it's worth it, but it's tempting.

2 cheaper cards won't be as fast as a good card, so i'm not in a hurry.

I do find the 2GPUs in one card, like the 3D1 a better, cheaper choice. However you don't have a sinle card with two 6800GT/Ultra or a ATi SLI choice. I'll wait a bit more.

technonerd · Feb 26, 2005, 01:10 AM

It's a waste of money to buy two video card if you can get a better performance of one card.

crapman777 · Feb 26, 2005, 02:42 AM

Whilst i agree buying two top end cards is very very expensive, i have seen in a magazine here in Australia (ATOMIC) two 6600GT cards tested under HL2 and they perform equal to an x800. One card is pushed under maximum load and the second card runs at about 80% of full load, and buying two of these cards is still cheaper than buying an x800 XT or 6800GT, SLI isn't perfect yet but considering it is new, its main target for now would be those wanting to do video editing and such, its been done before by the VOODOO guys many many years ago. This time though SLI has great potential, once its perfected me thinks.

toddsmack2k · Feb 26, 2005, 03:25 AM

It certainy is interesting andhas some potential but the cost kills it. I like anybody will splurge on the occasional, need like another hole in the head purchase but not that much!

dsdsdk · Feb 26, 2005, 05:02 AM

there is also SLI as in "dual gpu" like Gigabyte's dual 6600GT single board. imagine 2x6800GT/U gpus on a single board.. me likes! as far as i know there boards use SLI technology aswell...?

sheeno · Feb 26, 2005, 05:13 AM

I would really like the idea of SLI if you could mix and match cards. Buy a 6800GT/U, then later in the year when the next gen card comes out, slap it in there and SLI distributes the load between the two. I'm not sure why they had to make it so it only works with 2 exact cards, but I guess that all falls under technical issues.

md5 · Feb 26, 2005, 06:00 AM

I'm unimpressed by SLI. I'd rather buy one great card than 2 mediocre ones. And I wouldn't pay the money for 2 high-end cards...

Feb 25, 2005, 05:26 AM	#1
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,258 Rep Power: 3150	SLI: your views? You know the drill, vote and discuss

Feb 25, 2005, 05:52 AM	#2
mkk cheap philanthropist Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 3,698 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	Unimpressed by the current situation but wouldn't be surprised if it would prove to have a good future a couple of generations ahead. Market adaptation should also improve the value over time, if both nVidia and ATI have their minds set to see this through. __________________ Playing Dragon Age, might forget everything else.

Feb 25, 2005, 06:18 AM	#4
Spookyy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 26 Rep Power: 0	Sli No use really. Some say, buy 1 now and add another to get better performance when the newer game demands it. Thats just stupid because after 1 or 2 generations the new games will use features that those old SLI cards dont have, so you got to invest in 2 new cards everytime. Waste of cash. 1 slot is the way to go.

Feb 25, 2005, 06:22 AM	#5
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,116 Rep Power: 0	Im unimpressed, I doubt ill buy it: It's expensive, even more heat, problems with games and the list goes on. __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Feb 25, 2005, 06:23 AM	#6
Callandor DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Canada Posts: 4,235 Rep Power: 72 System Specs	There's alot of room for improvement, so yes, SLI is good, and is here to stay. __________________

Feb 25, 2005, 06:09 AM	#3
Blackboost -=[DHzer0point Author]=- Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 0 Rep Power: 0	I think it looks great and sounds pormising, but right now I'm not that impressed with the results so far, plus the investment can be tough for the wallet.

Feb 25, 2005, 07:21 AM	#7
Logla DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,310 Rep Power: 48	not for me thanks. The cost is just too high now. I remember when I had VoodooII SLi - that setup cost me less than my x800Pro did.

Feb 25, 2005, 07:44 AM	#8
CDsDontBurn 127.0.0.1 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 21,849 Rep Power: 133 System Specs	i'll think about it, but i wouldn't want to spend money on two 6600GTs in SLI when i can get one 6800GT for better performance at around the same price as two 6600GTs. It'll probably come into mind once i see a need for it, but for now, one card will do just fine. __________________ CD's Corner // Her first day // A year later // RX-8 Club 3Dmark06 - 4176 // 3Dmark05 - 7459 // 3Dmark03 - 14289 // PCmark05 - 4453 // PCmark04 - 6297

Feb 25, 2005, 08:00 AM	#9
bug77 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: around Posts: 792 Rep Power: 0	I doubt that if my video card gets old, I'll buy another old card to get my system back up on par... On another note, I'm really confused how the current mobos support SLI (that is two PCIe x16 ports) since current chipsets only support up to 32 PCIe lanes. Keep in mind that mobos have some lanes dedicated to PCIe x1 as well for other devices... I might be wrong with this one, feel free to correct me. Update: Actually, the limit is 20 lanes for NF4 (Intel does not share this info on their site...) Last edited by bug77; Feb 25, 2005 at 08:12 AM. Reason: update

Feb 25, 2005, 08:23 AM	#10
*craig5320* DH Administrator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 279 System Specs	Well I've got an SLi board, but I have no intentions of ever using the SLI function, Single All the way baby. My board is the A8n-SLi Deluxe i bought it for use with my X800XT, the other features are great, 4 SATA2 connectors, firewire 10usb ports, dual gigabit lan etc. Features that weren't available on non SLI boards. I think SLI was proved a non-starter back in the VooDoo days, with the rate of new graphics cards hitting the market buying two really isn't an option. If they made it so you could use two different cards like a lower and higher spec the outcome would be different. e.g.: 1: GPU 1 (fast) added later on - 2: GPU 2 (faster) then 1: GPU 2 (faster) 2: GPU 3 (a lot faster) So when you upgrade you replace your older card, bah does anyone know what i'm blubbering about, i lost my train of thought.... __________________

Feb 25, 2005, 08:26 AM	#11
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,501 Rep Power: 53	It's cool tech but sooooo software dependant. Needs more games so sooo far, i've voted rubbish

Feb 25, 2005, 09:46 AM	#13
Shadow Lady Avril Fan Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: somewhere in colombia, okok, bogotá city :p Posts: 1,267 Rep Power: 0	its too expensive, has many bugs, and is not always faster than single __________________ Oblivion ftw

Feb 25, 2005, 10:03 AM	#14
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,149 Rep Power: 85 System Specs	I think it is a great idea, but has to have the bugs worked out of it before I spend the money. __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*

Feb 25, 2005, 12:10 PM	#15
!NC!Blade DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Given time with alot of bug fixes, maybe yes. But as of right now, nope, not worth it.

Feb 25, 2005, 12:16 PM	#16
UZ7 7th's Specialist Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 162 Rep Power: 0	Yeah, hardware/software technology needs to mature a little more and when/if the prices go down then i may reconsider... that is unless ATI has something up their sleeves __________________ Cold and Silent Blue. Seven and the Angel.

Feb 25, 2005, 12:22 PM	#17
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,672 Rep Power: 0	I think it's a poorly implemented good idea I also think that dual core GPUs are a far better idea then plain old dual GPUs

Feb 25, 2005, 04:01 PM	#19
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,489 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	waste of $$ now. technology is to immature but love the potential. & the upgrade path it gives you buy one card now & when it starts to get slow buy the 2nd & you are right back in bussiness. like i said above, just not cost effective right now. there are to many single card solutions that can play every game out there with ease & not have all the problems. wait 'till 2nd or 3rd generation. __________________

Feb 25, 2005, 04:50 PM	#20
GeneralClaymore DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 431 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	i was expecting it to be like double the speed. but i was wrong, it aint worth the extra money you gonna spend, your better off overclocking a single card then getting sli. 2x 6600gts aint worth it so u better off with a 6800GT/X800pro. i just see Sli as a marketing Scam by nvidia,and is over hyped. you will never need 2 video cards, one is enough. __________________

Feb 25, 2005, 09:06 PM	#21
BWX Spinal Tapped Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,570 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	rubbish __________________ One Big Ass Mistake America

Feb 25, 2005, 10:49 PM	#22
CDsDontBurn 127.0.0.1 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 21,849 Rep Power: 133 System Specs	hell....even PCI-E isn't all that great. Systems aren't even taking full advantage of 66Mhz 8x AGP specs, let alone a single 133Mhz PCI-E bus. __________________ CD's Corner // Her first day // A year later // RX-8 Club 3Dmark06 - 4176 // 3Dmark05 - 7459 // 3Dmark03 - 14289 // PCmark05 - 4453 // PCmark04 - 6297

Feb 25, 2005, 11:04 PM	#23
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,049 Rep Power: 0	"Two heads are better than one." Computer Technology is really going the way of the dual: Dual Channel memory. Two HDDs making RAID 0. Dual Processors (Or even pseudo dual processors via Hyper Threading). Dual video cards just makes sense to me... or even Dual GPU cores. The hardware is there, it's just that the software isn't there to take advantage of it all. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Feb 26, 2005, 12:32 AM	#24
MadPt DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 17 Rep Power: 0	Great idea, however, one top of the line card is so expensive, twice that cost is a huge investment... until, who knows, a better, single card comes out and makes you wonder about the money you have just spent...i'm not sure if it's worth it, but it's tempting. 2 cheaper cards won't be as fast as a good card, so i'm not in a hurry. I do find the 2GPUs in one card, like the 3D1 a better, cheaper choice. However you don't have a sinle card with two 6800GT/Ultra or a ATi SLI choice. I'll wait a bit more.

Feb 26, 2005, 01:10 AM	#25
technonerd DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 596 Rep Power: 0	It's a waste of money to buy two video card if you can get a better performance of one card.

Feb 26, 2005, 02:42 AM	#26
crapman777 DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 155 Rep Power: 0	Whilst i agree buying two top end cards is very very expensive, i have seen in a magazine here in Australia (ATOMIC) two 6600GT cards tested under HL2 and they perform equal to an x800. One card is pushed under maximum load and the second card runs at about 80% of full load, and buying two of these cards is still cheaper than buying an x800 XT or 6800GT, SLI isn't perfect yet but considering it is new, its main target for now would be those wanting to do video editing and such, its been done before by the VOODOO guys many many years ago. This time though SLI has great potential, once its perfected me thinks.

Feb 26, 2005, 03:25 AM	#27
toddsmack2k It Never..... Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,174 Rep Power: 0	It certainy is interesting andhas some potential but the cost kills it. I like anybody will splurge on the occasional, need like another hole in the head purchase but not that much! __________________ [color=blue]*Bleeding From the Inside Pouring Out, The* *DriverHeaven* Spiral, We Shall Never Let Go Of.[/color]

Feb 26, 2005, 05:02 AM	#28
dsdsdk DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Denmark, CPH. Posts: 586 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	there is also SLI as in "dual gpu" like Gigabyte's dual 6600GT single board. imagine 2x6800GT/U gpus on a single board.. me likes! as far as i know there boards use SLI technology aswell...? __________________ No more Kitty!

Feb 26, 2005, 05:13 AM	#29
sheeno DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: BC, CA Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0	I would really like the idea of SLI if you could mix and match cards. Buy a 6800GT/U, then later in the year when the next gen card comes out, slap it in there and SLI distributes the load between the two. I'm not sure why they had to make it so it only works with 2 exact cards, but I guess that all falls under technical issues. __________________ \| P4 2.4C MO \| P4P800 Deluxe \| Corsair 3500C2 \| 9700Pro AIW \| 120WD \| Antec Sonata \|

Feb 26, 2005, 06:00 AM	#30
md5 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Inside DriverHeaven Posts: 856 Rep Power: 32	I'm unimpressed by SLI. I'd rather buy one great card than 2 mediocre ones. And I wouldn't pay the money for 2 high-end cards... __________________