DailyTech - Dual GeForce 7600GT Card Spotted at CeBIT

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Hardware Dual GeForce 7600GT Card Spotted at CeBIT
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - March 16, 2006 3:46 PM

17 comment(s) - last by Egglick.. on Mar 18 at 10:12 PM

Images courtesy Hardspell.com

Galaxy 3DFX-based card

Galaxy comes on board with a single SLI card with dual GeForce 7600GTs

Reports from CeBIT 2006 (english translation) revealed that multi-GPU video cards are gaining momentum. While most SLI configurations use two physical cards, there have been some cards have dual-GPUs integrated onto a single PCB. Gigabyte was first to release its 3D1, which integrated two GeForce 6600GT GPUs but ended up selling poorly. ASUS followed with its Extreme 7800GT, integrating two GeForce 7800GTs and even including an external power adapter.

Galaxy, a relatively unknown Asian manufacturer of PC add-in cards, demonstrated what it calls its Galaxy video accelerator. Based on dual GeForce 7600GT GPUs, the Galaxy brings forth SLI performance in a package that's easy to manage. Like the ASUS board, and Gigabyte board before it, the Galaxy packs twice the amount of memory as a regular 7600GT card. So far, however, official specifications have not been announced.

The company is no stranger to SLI and previously manufactured multi-GPU cards based on 3DFX processors prior to being absorbed by NVIDIA. The GeForce 7600GT is pin compatible with the GeForce 6600GT, so it may very well be possible that Galaxy used an earlier design but anticipates capitalizing on the dual GPU craze earlier in the product cycle this time around.

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Cost?

By Googer on 3/16/2006 4:58:01 PM , Rating: 2

I am willing to bet that it will cost more than a 7900GTX or x1800xt and have performance that is less than a single 7900GTX or X1900XT
Currently ASUS offers a Dual 7800GT on the same card but it costs $816. For that kind of money you can have a pair of higher performing 7900GT's and still have $216 left over. I suspect the same will be true for the galaxy 7600 dual card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...

RE: Cost?

By DigitalFreak on 3/16/2006 5:33:41 PM , Rating: 2

And therein lies the problem. It's usually much cheaper to buy a single, higher level card than two low level cards in SLI. SLI becomes a great option when the fastest card (7900GTX, etc.) isn't fast enough.

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RE: Cost?

By KristopherKubicki

(blog) on 3/16/2006 5:49:45 PM , Rating: 2

Economies of scale can be a wonderful thing.

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RE: Cost?

By Zoomer on 3/17/2006 10:35:30 AM , Rating: 2

So it's more ecnomical to buy 2 pcbs, 2 sets of high speed ram, 2x shipping cost, 2x packing costs, 2 sets of brackets, connectors, power regulators and end up disabling half the display components for a 40% (not even twice!) performance gain?

Sounds pretty retarded to me.

As an upgrade option, it's even worse. Why would I spend another $200 for another one of the SAME CARD? Let's take the 6600gt as an example. They started out around $230, and fell to around $130 now.

I could sell my old card for maybe $80 and with the extra $130 I was going to spend on yet another 6600gt, it will be more than sufficient to get a 6800gs.

http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=6800gs

Or perhaps a X800GTO. You'll probably have $50 towards your next upgrade purchase.

And oh, this ignores problems with different cards/revisions, increased cost due to power, headaches cos some same JUST won't support AFR or tilling properly, etc. You might have to throttle your overclocks to the slowest card too.

And oh, it gives you a brand new warranty too. If you decide to go the used route, you'll save even more. New cards may also come with new features.

Ecologically, this practice is not very good for the environment. If you sold your card, someone else would be very happily using it. However, if you bought another card to SLI them, you'll end up wasting resources. Read above about duplication of resources and wastage of power.

Therfore, from an economical and ecological viewpoint, I conclude that SLI is a failed proposition for the majourity of the market.

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dual 7600gt

By bka4u2c on 3/17/2006 8:45:59 AM , Rating: 2

I owned a Gigabyte dual 6600gt card and it beat a single 6800gt in all benches. So I'll bet that this 7600GT dual card in SLI will beat a single 7900gt in benches.

I do agree its better to just get a single high end card than two mid-range cards in SLI. But it is an option for people who only need a mid-range card and can provide an extra boost for minimal cost.

I don't think it will cost as much as 2 single 7600gt cards when released. When I bought my Gigabyte 3D1-C 6600GT video card it cost about $50 less than buying 2 single 6600gt cards. The ASUS dual 7800gt is expensive because well, it's ASUS. When they make a high end product, you PAY for it.

RE: dual 7600gt

By Egglick on 3/17/2006 5:35:00 PM , Rating: 2

You must've been running all your benches @ 1024x768 with 0xAA and 0xAF. You can add as many processors as you want, but the 6600GT/7600GT still have 128-bit memory interfaces.

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RE: dual 7600gt

By bka4u2c on 3/17/2006 8:16:39 PM , Rating: 2

That is true. I did only run at the default resolution and I get your point that raising the resolution and AA a single high end 7800gt card may just edge out two mid-range 7600gt cards.

On a another note, I owned two XFX 6800GS and those out-performed a single 6800gt on all benches I ran at higher res.

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RE: dual 7600gt

By Egglick on 3/18/2006 10:12:46 PM , Rating: 2

That's because the 6800GS has a 256-bit memory interface just like the 6800GT. Their memory clocks are exactly the same actually.

So the dual 6800GS's would have the same amount of memory bandwidth, but more processing power.

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wtf

By beemercer on 3/16/2006 4:49:17 PM , Rating: 2

I wonder if Nvidia will go the route of 3dfx and develop a board will four GPUs on it. I really hate all this multi-gpu stuff that Nvidia is stating.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/v55500preview/...

RE: wtf

By stmok on 3/16/2006 6:05:58 PM , Rating: 2

You can hate all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that when Nvidia bought 3Dfx, they also got some of the folks who were doing mult-GPU products. So it ain't no surprise that Nvidia would continued this multi-GPU behaviour from 3Dfx.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did throw a multi-CPU solution onto a card.

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RE: wtf

By beemercer on 3/16/2006 6:43:06 PM , Rating: 2

im only hating because im way to poor to afford sli/ multi-GPU cards

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I am one of those that isn't trhilled wil SLI... particularly midrange SLI

By BMWftw on 3/16/2006 9:02:09 PM , Rating: 2

as was mentioned by others it's better to buy just ONE card of the next series up than 2 midrange ones, usually about the same price, less hassle and still leaves you with a path to upgrade

they need to start making dualcore GPUs B-)