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Images courtesy HKEPC.com
Foxconn shows off a Quad SLI setup using GeForce 7900GX2s

Yesterday we published details about the GeForce 7900GX2 Quad SLI video adaptors that showed up on a few German merchant websites.  Today it seems as though benchmarks of the card are available (English translation).

Foxconn's Dual GeForce 7900GX2 1024MB adaptor sports a 500MHz core clock with 1.2GHz DDR3 memory support.  These clocks are lower than the GeForce 7900GTX, which has a 650MHz core clock with 1.5GHz DDR3 memory. For those who are unaware, Foxconn is now a contender in on the video card market.

Like the GeForce 7800GTX Quad SLI adaptors, the 7900GX2 adaptors are really two 7900GTX adaptors with the PCIe lanes from one card physically routed via a bridge connector to the main card.  A PCIe x48 bridge chip sits on both physical PCBs.  16 of those lanes are routed to the motherboard and the other 32 are spread between the GPUs. 

The cards demonstrated by Foxconn were running 32xAA.  The Quad SLI system consumes an incredible 650W during heavy operation.  As we reported yesterday, each Quad SLI card is expected to retail over $1,000 and require an SLI x16 motherboard.

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They already do dual core gpus -- sort of
By sotti on 3/17/2006 2:59:22 AM , Rating: 3
because they don't need dual core GPU's they can simply add pipes. You can think of a 7900GT as a dual core 7600GT.

They can't make the chips bigger because the yeilds go down too far. Nobody is making quad core chips yet. So what do you do after dual core, dual proc, then quad proc.

They can't put two GPU's on the same PCB because their isn't enough space (At least not two highend ones).

Dual cards, quad cards are all that's left.




RE: They already do dual core gpus -- sort of
By sotti on 3/17/2006 3:00:40 AM , Rating: 3
granted you'd really need to have short mans syndrome to think you need to go quad SLI, or be running a 30" lcd.


By Kryptonite on 3/17/2006 5:02:22 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
[+ ¥kza Petronas writes... +]


or both


bechmarks
By Ohji on 3/17/2006 8:20:42 AM , Rating: 2
umm... did anyone notice the benchmarks listed in the english translation of that thread. first of all, who knows where they came from, but if accurate, they don't really justify the power and dinero requirements of the setup. here are some quotes from the thread:
-----

7900 GTX SLI : 13,878 in 3DMark 05
7900 GTX2 Quad SLI : 11737

7900 GX2 Quad SLI : 7619
7900 GTX SLI : 6971
(3DMark 05@2560x1600)
I think there will be bigger improvement when the final product arrives on the shelf.

-----
There is almost certainly something wrong with either the source of the benchmarks or the configuration of the card. $2000 for a 10% improvement at 2560x1600 over a sub $1k 7900GTX SLI configuration would not go over well in the market...




RE: bechmarks
By HPTech on 3/17/2006 8:53:14 AM , Rating: 2
Some people will always be willing to pay the premium though. There are many people who buy stupidly expensive cars just because they must have the "fastest" or "most desirable" products. It's a niche market to be sure but demand is there.


RE: bechmarks
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 3/17/2006 11:54:39 AM , Rating: 2
The benchmarks were run at 32xAA though. Granted, HKEPC gets things wrong ... often (remember 32pp R520?). I thought we'd just post on the info we could confirm.


RE: bechmarks
By Assimilator87 on 3/17/2006 12:28:22 PM , Rating: 2
32X AA is just stupid for games because as with anything, cost, in this case the necessity of extra processing power, goes up exponentially higher for exponentially less gains in image quality. I must say I'm impressed though, that the performance of Quad SLI w/ 32X AA is almost on par with vanilla SLI.


Ok this is getting retarded
By Xorp on 3/17/2006 2:20:00 AM , Rating: 3
The benefit of SLI is out of reach for 99% of gamers (look at the recent Steam hardware survey) and now they wanna make idiots drool over 4 card systems were are held back by the CPU so much it's pointless. Why can't they take a hint from recent CPU designs and make a dual-core GPU instead of trying to fill up a gamers case will silly ammount of hardware.




RE: Ok this is getting retarded
By oceansong on 3/17/2006 3:24:20 PM , Rating: 2
This is exactly what is in the XPS Renegade.


By organicMolecules on 3/17/2006 3:25:43 PM , Rating: 2
This is also effectively what happens whenever the card company increases the number of texture/shader units on the gpu


Obsurd or Obsidian?
By cenobite9 on 3/17/2006 9:06:58 AM , Rating: 2
These cards remind me of the old Quantum Obsidian 3Dfx cards. Even back then people wondered if two Obsidian cards could be run in 'SLI' (Scan Line Interleaving for those that don't remember). Of course the answer was 'no' back then but now nVIDIA has changed that for todays gamers and enthusiasts with endless pockets. What's next, an external enclosure that can house up to 10 video cards and uses a highspeed link to connect back to the main computer??? Give us good games not expensive hardware!!!




RE: Obsurd or Obsidian?
By FearaFox on 3/17/2006 10:21:11 AM , Rating: 2
well..you can't really scream at nvidia to produce games, go talk to some developers :P

the size of those cards are massive, i dont even think it would fit in my case!

a 2k solution, plus the electricity bill a few months after = no thanks. i dont even know of, you know, normal peoples PSUs that support more then 600 watts. crazy.

i still have my trusty 6600GT in my system, that plays BF2 on medium setings well. these companies need to work on their mid-point offerings more then this rediculous stuff. my computer system overall cost $1300 (cdn) that i've had for 3/4 of a year now, and she's still going strong. I dont know many (sane) people that would pay for this kind of stuff lol.

but we can still drool right peeps? =D


RE: Obsurd or Obsidian?
By robert5c on 3/18/2006 9:01:07 PM , Rating: 2
well nvidia does do some advancement of computer games...they go to developers and show them what new technology they have...and how to implement it...

however thre real problem with PC Gaming is that the games have to be designed to play on the highest number of computers...which means that even if you have an SLI system...if your read your game box...all you had to have as a minimum would be an 64mb fx5600 or equivalant

that being said...its not smart of us to complain because a new solution "is more power then we can even use" because that does two things...it makes for a good investment that will last several years not just couple months of new games...and it also raises the bar and shows the game developers that their customers are ready and eager for something better.


Critique of implementation
By Assimilator87 on 3/17/2006 12:23:04 PM , Rating: 2
1. How does the bottom GPU get enough air to stay cool?

2. Why the hell are the cards so long if each GPU w/ memory is on separate PCBs?

3. I think the X48 PCI-E interface between GPUs raises the cool factor by a lot =D

4. Clocks are significantly lower than the single GPU cards so the extra performance of the latency reduced by having dual GPU is cancelled out. There's a very high probability of a higher performing solution using four separate 7900 GTX cards on a motherboard with four physical, possibly electrical as well, X16 PCI-E slots. As of right now, I only know of the Gigabyte Quad Royal that has that configuration.




RE: Critique of implementation
By miahallen on 3/17/2006 3:55:53 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
How does the bottom GPU get enough air to stay cool? Clocks are significantly lower than the single GPU cards...


Good Job!


CPU limited
By DangerIsGo on 3/21/2006 11:42:40 AM , Rating: 2
Still, sometimes SLI is CPU limited let alone Quad-SLI. They should work on bumping up CPU power before GPU. Remember the days where CPU took crown in everything. Now the tides are turning and GPU power is being the dominant one. Well see how AM2 and the new intel line perform w/ sli and quad sli. My guess it will still be CPU limited but not that much.




RE: CPU limited
By Topweasel on 3/22/2006 5:25:29 PM , Rating: 2
You this like Nvidia makes CPUs, they don't. All I ask from video card makers is thos give us the fastest possible setup and as many variations down to just 2d for us to choose from. Nvidia is doing both and ATI shouldn't be to far behind. Now My question even if I can never afford it is, In a Quad Royal could you set up four of these to make an Octa setup.


MONAY!!!
By thecoolnessrune on 3/18/2006 1:20:24 PM , Rating: 2
Doesn't Matter what it is or how well it works. Ill never afford it O.o




By josmala on 3/23/2006 8:24:23 AM , Rating: 2
Its expensive, but it fits SOME niche.
Those who want and afford absolute maximum performance, on all games with maximal settings.
Also dell 30" screen looks like a good deal to pair with these. It has 2560x 1600 resolution which needs over twice as much GPU power compared to normal 20" monitor.
And price isn't too bad if you consider buying these ;)

As for majority who doesn't have money, it doesn't really matter buy 7600GS instead, they are not suddenly more expensive or worse just because this exists.
But remember consider the time period in which you buy cards, and how much doubling performance will add to that. If doubling performance doubles the price and doubles the period between GFX card upgrades then go for double performance. Since then you use the cards you bought twice as long, and enjoy half the time twice the performance you would otherwice enjoy and in the 2nd half you get both performance and price off what you would off gotten in choosing lower performance card.

As for me. These cards are far more expensive than I could buy.
But so is Ferrari, or Lamborghini. There is enough market which money is no problem to support very high end product.

And no you don't *HAVE TO* buy the high end if it goes beyond your wallet.

PS.
The highest end system I'm aware consist 16 FireGL GFX cards on high end itanium system. I think the minimum price off 200k$ is for such system equipped with 4GFX cards ;-)
http://www.sgi.com/products/visual ization/prism/co...

And yes the buyers, don't look price/performance as much as absolute performance, or support contract.




We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs











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