Quad SLI: GeForce 7900 GX2

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...900_gx2/1.html

[ozstrike]

Wow. Those cards are huge.

[Pookeyhead]

Dissapointing. Considering the price, it's actually quite rubbish. This gets worse when you consider that it only really becomes necessary with a 30 inch + monitor, which in my opinion is too large for desktop use anyway. If AA and HDR were able to be used simultaneously, then perhaps I could see some logic in it, but as it is?? Nah.. seems like it's just showing off. I'd rather have 2 7900GTXs in SLi thanks.

The Physics rendering is interesting, but as the article says, it's expensive when you consider that the PhysX card thingy will be much cheaper.

It's a huge amount of money for a little extra performance... plus, aren't they only available to OEMs as part of a system? Forgive me if the answer to that was in teh article.... I'm a bit tired.

[zr_ox]

I knew that it would end up being a waste of money.

The cool factor seem's good at first, until think that the only thing on the menu after buying that system is beans on toast.

I'm a little dissapointed, especially considering the success of SLI. I expected more from Nvidia.

Mucho respecto to Bit-Tech though for netting the this review...you guys

[eek]

Ouch, looks like NVidia rushed this tech out after losing the performance crown to ATI long before it was production ready.

Only an idiot would buy it in its current state - what a rip off!

[XLGlobetrotterXL]

They are massive!!!!! I bet by late 2007 all pc's will need quad sli to play any new game.

[RotoSequence]

Enormous card length isnt an endearing quality (unless the end user is compensating for some phallic deficit). The PCB is far longer than it should be; if they engineered it better, Im sure it could be made a lot shorter.

[XLGlobetrotterXL]

Yes, futureistic cards sholdnt have to be that big, with the more advanced technolagy out there it could be much smaller

[BFGunrunner]

Its so stupid 4 cards :s Id rather have 1 X1900XT and thats it for high end gaming.
I hope the R600s and G80s will be fast enough to play games at 2560x1600 for a year or two with no problem so there will not be any need for SLi or corssfire crap.

[eek]

Originally Posted by XLGlobetrotterXL

They are massive!!!!! I bet by late 2007 all pc's will need quad sli to play any new game.

I bet they don't.

Think how long 2xSLI has been out for and has that become mainstream? Nope.

The reason being that these cards are simply not mainstream, they are for those who like to have the most powerful system they can get. Until SLI/Crossfire does become mainstream you are unlikely to see games publishers alienating 99% of their market.

What techniques does Crossfire use? Isn't one of the options tiling? If so then I would imagine ATI having more success with getting 4+ cards working properly. IIRC they have had multiple GPU solutions for a while, supplying them to the US Military for flight sims and the like so have more experience at this (even if it isn't in the desktop arena!). Of course I could have dreamt all this up as a quick google found nothing!

[XLGlobetrotterXL]

Originally Posted by eek

I bet they don't.

Think how long 2xSLI has been out for and has that become mainstream? Nope.

The reason being that these cards are simply not mainstream, they are for those who like to have the most powerful system they can get. Until SLI/Crossfire does become mainstream you are unlikely to see games publishers alienating 99% of their market.

What techniques does Crossfire use? Isn't one of the options tiling? If so then I would imagine ATI having more success with getting 4+ cards working properly. IIRC they have had multiple GPU solutions for a while, supplying them to the US Military for flight sims and the like so have more experience at this (even if it isn't in the desktop arena!). Of course I could have dreamt all this up as a quick google found nothing!

Ok i suppose your right!

[Spaced_invader]

i've gopt a friend that was thinking of getting a quad SLI system, i'll have to send him the link.

[XLGlobetrotterXL]

Yeah make sure you do, its a bit of a waste of cash! Sli/ Crossfire is more than enougth!

[Fr4nk]

Well this is strangly disapointing, I thought it would be alot better than this. It seems this worth the bragging rights over the differance in preformance and even if you had that sort of cash you'd probably wouldn't be that stupid to spend it on something thats not worth the trouble.

Also looking at all those bugs I think nVidia have brought Quad Sli out to early, even though these bugs will probably be fixed with driver updates .etc, this could just turn out like R480 and X850 CF senario - A complete cock up, lets see what the what the guys in green pull out of the hat next... (hopefully something like the improvement of X1000 series CF)

-Fr4nk

[XLGlobetrotterXL]

Hopefully! its need more competition, so we can get the better cards quicker! And this will have an effect on the market.

[TheColdLord]

Well disapointing. I didn't think that the tech would be ready in such a short notice. Besides the drivers are mommentarily crap. Quad SLI cards would be needed only for professional graphics design purpose, but even there it would be far to much.

On the other hand, adding 1 Ageia Physics card +3 GPUs wouldn't be bad, seeing that the graphical grunt is more than enough. Let us hope that Nvidia will make this tech work good.

[koola]

Disapointing, very disapointing. I for sure ain't going near this. SLI ***

[K.I.T.T.]

Originally Posted by TheColdLord

On the other hand, adding 1 Ageia Physics card +3 GPUs wouldn't be bad, seeing that the graphical grunt is more than enough. Let us hope that Nvidia will make this tech work good.

the only problem with that being that the cards have to work in pairs if more than one is fitted to a system you can't have 3 working on GFX and 1 on Physics because if you look at they way it works each pair of graphics processors is interlinked so it would be like asking a two people (one of which speaks only english and the other only chinese) to teach a class of children German and Art at the same time....its just not going to happen

tis a real shame they rushed it and are now paying the price. but if i'm honest i dio not realistically see having a use to a desktop/LAN gamer since it only really become usefull with a 30"+ display and most people use a 19" or a 24" max. it maybe useful at shows and stuff where they demo games on 30"+ screens but other than that no...it has no use to most people other than bragging rights

[XLGlobetrotterXL]

Originally Posted by koola

Disapointing, very disapointing. I for sure ain't going near this. SLI ***

I think SLi is ok, but 4 cards is over the top!

[EK-MDi]

Originally Posted by BFGunrunner

Its so stupid 4 cards :s Id rather have 1 X1900XT and thats it for high end gaming.
I hope the R600s and G80s will be fast enough to play games at 2560x1600 for a year or two with no problem so there will not be any need for SLi or corssfire crap.

Me too. Isn't technology supposed to get smaller as they improve?