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Hardware First NVIDIA Quad SLI Benchmarks
Brandon Hill (Blog) - May 1, 2006 2:50 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 22 comment(s) - last by bob661.. on May 1 at 4:21 PM
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

If performance is what you crave, then look no further than NVIDIA's GeForce 7900 Quad SLI. The four physical GeForce 7900 GPUs, there and two dedicated PCI Express x48 bridges are just what the doctor ordered.  We first got wind of GeForce 7900 Quad SLI a few months ago when Foxconn leaked details of the card during CeBit.

Yet despite the fact the cards have been officially available since March 23, there have been no benchmarks of this Quad SLI.  X-bit Labs was able to get a hold of one of the $10,000 systems and claims:

The quad SLI technology indisputably has potential: already now it demonstrates the highest scores in such games as F.E.AR., Far Cry with HDR enabled, scores best high-resolution numbers in Elder Scroll’s Oblivion, it wins Chronicles of Riddick tests, it produces amazing quality with 32xs SLI AA enabled, it does a plethora of great things. At the same time, it crashes in 3DMark05, Far Cry and numerous other games, produces artifacts when SLI AA is activated in Chronicles of Riddick and Serious Sam 2, which all degrades the value of this technology for the user right here and right now.

So while Quad SLI shows that NVIDIA "can" do it, it also shows us that we're still not quite there when it comes to marketing a rock-solid product – at least in X-bit Labs' testing.

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Too much $!
By Shenkoa on 5/1/2006 3:05:47 AM , Rating: 2
$10,000 system that barely works. If you wait another year you will see that performance for $200. This is why I dont bother with upgrading my graphics card but once every 4 years. I am still running a 9800 Pro. I payed $300 for that damn card and now its worthless.




RE: Too much $!
By thisbrian on 5/1/2006 3:41:58 AM , Rating: 2
That's why I just ordered a Quadro4 700 AGP for $50. Mature technology and drivers, and keeps me safely on the back of the high tech wave.


RE: Too much $!
By Vesuvius on 5/1/2006 4:01:11 AM , Rating: 2
I love the run it till it sucks philosophy.


RE: Too much $!
By Trisped on 5/1/2006 2:15:01 PM , Rating: 2
I am in the same boat. Payed $300 for my AIW 9800 PRO and can't get rid of it because if I do:
I have to spend $100 to buy a new tuner
I have to buy a new M-Board so I can use a PCI-E card.
I have to buy a new processor cause mine sucks majorly (Intel 630)
I will want to buy a board with DDR2 RAM since that is cheeper then DDR now.

I will just wait till it doesn't do what I want anymore, then overclock it till I think it will die, then use it till it breaks.


RE: Too much $!
By tuteja1986 on 5/1/2006 2:24:05 PM , Rating: 2
Review shows performance but at the same time they say the game crashes and the technology ain't ready yet. people who end up buying it will be like beta testing it. Nvidia shouldn't be really allowed to release to Product that aren't stable.


lets think about this
By Scabies on 5/1/2006 1:14:28 PM , Rating: 2
Beat by... you realize the Quadro architecture is designed for CAD and intensive rendering (think Pixar stuff,) not blistering framerates on games. Apples and oranges, folks.




RE: lets think about this
By BladeVenom on 5/1/2006 1:22:44 PM , Rating: 2
Everyone is talking about quad, as in 4, 7900GTX video cards. Not the Quadro line of workstation graphics cards.


RE: lets think about this
By Scabies on 5/1/2006 1:25:02 PM , Rating: 2
*slaps self*
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_quadsli.html
sorry, read an article a week or so ago on the new (4)Quadro setup, which conveniently I cant find. I read Quad in this article and overlooked the geforce and took "7900" as a typo, since the newQuadros are in the ~5400's if I remember correctly


RE: lets think about this
By bob661 on 5/1/2006 4:21:34 PM , Rating: 2
*slaps Scabies with a large trout*
Bad Scabies!


Quad 7900GX2 vs. X1900XT CrossFire
By abakshi on 5/1/2006 8:24:26 AM , Rating: 2
The Inq says X1900XT CrossFire beats Quad 7900GX2 in a number of games:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31368




RE: Quad 7900GX2 vs. X1900XT CrossFire
By PT2006 on 5/1/2006 10:22:12 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah yeah, the inq says a lot of things...


By Goty on 5/1/2006 10:28:21 AM , Rating: 2
If you read the X-Bit article, the Quad-SLI system routinely gets beat by both standard SLI and Crossfire setups.


Try this
By crystal clear on 5/1/06, Rating: -1
RE: Try this
By DigitalFreak on 5/1/2006 8:36:59 AM , Rating: 2
Uh... what does this have to do with video cards? Or are you an Ageia marketing shill?


RE: Try this
By Wwhat on 5/1/2006 9:52:16 AM , Rating: 2
With all the tm's I expect so


RE: Try this
By Wwhat on 5/1/2006 10:29:51 AM , Rating: 2
And they are even voting it "worth reading", guess they have a whole team on it.


RE: Try this
By JWalk on 5/1/2006 11:15:51 AM , Rating: 2
They have to do something to unload those Ageia cards. I expect that technology to go the way of the dodo in very short order. Too expensive and almost no titles that take advantage of it.


RE: Try this
By theprodigalrebel on 5/1/2006 11:31:43 AM , Rating: 2
I think what he meant is rather than spending another $1k or so for Quad SLI (over 2-way SLI), you can enjoy a more realistic and bells n'whistles-packed gaming experience with a PPU (Aegia is his example of choice)
1/2GPUs+1PPU > 4GPUs is what he meant to say.High on-screen pixel count ain't everything he says.

I haven't read the xbitlabs article yet. I read the benches at techpowerup.com and the X1900XTX Crossfire setup beats the Quad SLI setup on more than a few occassions (that too at 2560x1600x4XAAx16xAF) And that resolution IS what nVidia promised path-breaking performance for (The 30" Dells and Apple Cinema Displays....)Looks rather disappointing for now, though techpowerup is convinced its all driver-related.


RE: Try this
By crystal clear on 5/1/2006 12:59:09 PM , Rating: 2
Yes you got me right -bullseye-thats exactly what I meant why blow off you hard earned money when there is a cheaper & intelligent soulution.
As for the other commentetors -let me make it cyrstal clear-
I DO NOT BELONG TO ANY OF THE COMPANIES YOU ALL MENTIONED-I DONOT SELL OR ADVERTISE ANY OF THE PRODUCTS.
I JUST A GAVE SUGGESTION/IDEA THATS ALL.
YOUR HARD DISK IS CORRUPTED........ha joke.


RE: Try this
By crystal clear on 5/1/06, Rating: 0
RE: Try this
By rykerabel on 5/1/2006 3:31:41 PM , Rating: 2
All I care about the physics accelerator is if the games I play support it. And yes Lineage 2 does, so I'll get it. Don't care about the hype.

Ryker Abel


RE: Try this
By bob661 on 5/1/2006 4:20:17 PM , Rating: 2
Wow, a WHOLE bunch of shills in here! How do they for people to surf tech sites and post marketing stuff? I'll send you my resume.


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