NVIDIA SLI Performance Preview with MSI's nForce4 SLI Motherboard

No_Style · Oct 29, 2004, 05:27 PM

While the world turned I was on a flight over to Taiwan to meet and discuss future products with just about every Taiwanese Motherboard and Video Card manufacturer I could get a meeting with. The discussions yielded a great deal of important information, such as roadmap updates, a better understanding of some of the current supply shortages and some insight into how the markets here in Taiwan and globally were holding up. While I'll talk about most of these topics in a separate article, I couldn't resist but post information on a very interesting product I managed to get some "alone-time" with while in Taiwan.

Just a few weeks ago our own Wesley Fink and I traveled to NYC to meet with NVIDIA and, more importantly, to get some first hand experience with nForce4 and nForce4 SLI platforms. As you'll know from our previous coverage on the topic, nForce4 SLI is the highest-end nForce4 offering outfitted with a configurable number of PCI Express lanes. The beauty of having a configurable number of PCI Express lanes is that you can have a single PCI Express x16 slot, or you can split that one slot into two x8 slots - which is perfect for installing two graphics cards in.

NVIDIA is less than a month away from sending final shipping nForce4 SLI boards out to reviewers, but we managed to get some quality benchmarking time with a pre-release nForce4 SLI board from MSI. The important thing to note here is that it was pre-release and we had a very limited amount of time with it - not to mention that I'm about halfway around the world from my testing equipment and benchmarks, so forgive me if the number of tests or benchmarks is not as complete as you're used to seeing on AnandTech.
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Read More/Source: Anandtech

Danhill · Oct 29, 2004, 06:52 PM

Nice preview and nice becnhmark numbers, but my god I couldn't imagine having 2 Gaiwards 6800 in my system, they would be so heavy that it would fell down to Australia and the heat would melt the earth core on it's way to Aus.

Dark Lord · Oct 29, 2004, 06:56 PM

not to mention that huge hole youll have in your pocket when your shelling out 1000.00 for 2 video cards.

i could see some nice possibilitys for SLI with some of the lower end people that want to upgrade there video cards with out shelling out the big bucks. just gotta slap another video card in there and your good to go with double the power that you used to have.

now if ATI came out with that and wouldnt mind lending me two r500's.....

Sandok · Oct 29, 2004, 09:19 PM

Problem is you need the mobo which isn't cheap! And then, you need the PSU and all! Not cheap!!!

OpusP.Gladiator · Oct 29, 2004, 10:54 PM

yea screw nvidia for trying to make money and take back some of the market share they've lost to ati....rofl

Resistor · Oct 30, 2004, 12:18 AM

Nice review... Looks like having a single 6800GT still out perform 6600GT is SLI mode...
While 6800GT in SLI mode has a Whooping performance...

The downfall of this will be the cost of getting 2 cards...

mike2h · Oct 30, 2004, 12:50 AM

another user had the right idea. you buy one now-a gt will play anything now or the next year more than well enough- when it does start slowing you down you go out & buy another one at a much smaller price & you are right back in the game!! literally

**dj_stick** · Oct 30, 2004, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danhill

Nice preview and nice becnhmark numbers, but my god I couldn't imagine having 2 Gaiwards 6800 in my system, they would be so heavy that it would fell down to Australia and the heat would melt the earth core on it's way to Aus.

then i get your computer

germanjulian · Oct 30, 2004, 01:16 AM

its not just 2 cards... nice super mobo and power supply are needed too.
and without the UEBER CPU its so not worth it...

this is only for people with way to much £££ and small you know what

swatX · Oct 30, 2004, 03:55 AM

okay you failed to see that if it heats then why why would NVIDIA release the SLI! obviously they probablyl heat in mind and such as for the board and PSU !! having two 6800GTS you need a PSU that can handle like 6800ultra and i bet most people here have over 450W ..

there are three cards 6600GT, 6800GT , 6800U so you either are spending 400$ , 800$ or 1000$ and personally i would spend 800$ if i have the money.

actually i waiting NVdia to release 6900series and see how much perofrmence gap they have and ofcourse Alienware is probably going to use video array for ATI cards.. so when ATI gets it you poor saps will just contradict yourself just like the time when nvidia started to use optomizations you guys started to cry and now when ATI started to use you guys were all happy!

gg

@/2ct!< · Oct 30, 2004, 05:45 AM

It looks like in 3 years we wont have any pcs for gaming, all consoles. You could buy all 3 current consoles for less than 2 gts, let alone the rest of your system. I much prefer pcs in every way, but the prices are skyrocketing, fxs, EEs, SLI....

Well, might as well take advantage while I still can

Danhill · Oct 30, 2004, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_stick

then i get your computer

Ok

Zardon · Oct 30, 2004, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by @/2ct!<

It looks like in 3 years we wont have any pcs for gaming, all consoles. You could buy all 3 current consoles for less than 2 gts

and get three times less power.

Consoles will never replace PCs, they dont have the horsepower, and when they do its only for a short period of time. PC hardware moves so fast the consoles of the day are quickly left behind.

Look at the state of the PS2 for the last year, seriously unpowered.

Unless of course people dont want state of the art PCs for gaming, but figures show this isnt the case. Companies like AMD, INTEL, ATI and NVIDIA are worth billions.

Oct 29, 2004, 05:27 PM	#1
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	NVIDIA SLI Performance Preview with MSI's nForce4 SLI Motherboard While the world turned I was on a flight over to Taiwan to meet and discuss future products with just about every Taiwanese Motherboard and Video Card manufacturer I could get a meeting with. The discussions yielded a great deal of important information, such as roadmap updates, a better understanding of some of the current supply shortages and some insight into how the markets here in Taiwan and globally were holding up. While I'll talk about most of these topics in a separate article, I couldn't resist but post information on a very interesting product I managed to get some "alone-time" with while in Taiwan. Just a few weeks ago our own Wesley Fink and I traveled to NYC to meet with NVIDIA and, more importantly, to get some first hand experience with nForce4 and nForce4 SLI platforms. As you'll know from our previous coverage on the topic, nForce4 SLI is the highest-end nForce4 offering outfitted with a configurable number of PCI Express lanes. The beauty of having a configurable number of PCI Express lanes is that you can have a single PCI Express x16 slot, or you can split that one slot into two x8 slots - which is perfect for installing two graphics cards in. NVIDIA is less than a month away from sending final shipping nForce4 SLI boards out to reviewers, but we managed to get some quality benchmarking time with a pre-release nForce4 SLI board from MSI. The important thing to note here is that it was pre-release and we had a very limited amount of time with it - not to mention that I'm about halfway around the world from my testing equipment and benchmarks, so forgive me if the number of tests or benchmarks is not as complete as you're used to seeing on AnandTech. _______________ Read More/Source: Anandtech __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Oct 29, 2004, 06:52 PM	#2
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Nice preview and nice becnhmark numbers, but my god I couldn't imagine having 2 Gaiwards 6800 in my system, they would be so heavy that it would fell down to Australia and the heat would melt the earth core on it's way to Aus. __________________ 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

Oct 29, 2004, 10:54 PM	#5
OpusP.Gladiator '42' Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Oregon!!! Posts: 300 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	yea screw nvidia for trying to make money and take back some of the market share they've lost to ati....rofl __________________ http://img52.exs.cx/img52/7799/opus.jpg AMD X2-3800 (Manchester), Oc'd to 2.25 on stock cooler! DFI Lanparty-UT-SLI-D mobo, OCZ Platinum pc3200xtc @ 2.3.2.5.1T, MSI 7800gt @440/1100, Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty, 2 wd 36g raptors, 1 maxtor 250g eide, Coolermaster case with Handle Logitech g15, 20.1" Sceptre LCD, Antec neo2 500w PS"

Oct 30, 2004, 12:50 AM	#7
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	another user had the right idea. you buy one now-a gt will play anything now or the next year more than well enough- when it does start slowing you down you go out & buy another one at a much smaller price & you are right back in the game!! literally __________________

Oct 30, 2004, 01:16 AM	#9
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,797 Rep Power: 0	its not just 2 cards... nice super mobo and power supply are needed too. and without the UEBER CPU its so not worth it... this is only for people with way to much £££ and small you know what __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\

Oct 29, 2004, 06:56 PM	#3
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	not to mention that huge hole youll have in your pocket when your shelling out 1000.00 for 2 video cards. i could see some nice possibilitys for SLI with some of the lower end people that want to upgrade there video cards with out shelling out the big bucks. just gotta slap another video card in there and your good to go with double the power that you used to have. now if ATI came out with that and wouldnt mind lending me two r500's.....

Oct 29, 2004, 09:19 PM	#4
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 0	Problem is you need the mobo which isn't cheap! And then, you need the PSU and all! Not cheap!!!

Oct 30, 2004, 12:18 AM	#6
Resistor Get it Going.. Join Date: May 2004 Location: Brisbane ..Oz Posts: 750 Rep Power: 0	Nice review... Looks like having a single 6800GT still out perform 6600GT is SLI mode... While 6800GT in SLI mode has a Whooping performance... The downfall of this will be the cost of getting 2 cards...

Oct 30, 2004, 03:55 AM	#10
swatX ba\|\\|\\|ed Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 618 Rep Power: 0	okay you failed to see that if it heats then why why would NVIDIA release the SLI! obviously they probablyl heat in mind and such as for the board and PSU !! having two 6800GTS you need a PSU that can handle like 6800ultra and i bet most people here have over 450W .. there are three cards 6600GT, 6800GT , 6800U so you either are spending 400$ , 800$ or 1000$ and personally i would spend 800$ if i have the money. actually i waiting NVdia to release 6900series and see how much perofrmence gap they have and ofcourse Alienware is probably going to use video array for ATI cards.. so when ATI gets it you poor saps will just contradict yourself just like the time when nvidia started to use optomizations you guys started to cry and now when ATI started to use you guys were all happy! gg __________________ thx stick for the sig

Oct 30, 2004, 05:45 AM	#11
@/2ct!< HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Not Vegas, anymore :( Posts: 1,391 Rep Power: 0	It looks like in 3 years we wont have any pcs for gaming, all consoles. You could buy all 3 current consoles for less than 2 gts, let alone the rest of your system. I much prefer pcs in every way, but the prices are skyrocketing, fxs, EEs, SLI.... Well, might as well take advantage while I still can __________________