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Author Topic: SLI is back (Well, sort of)  (Read 4424 times)
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Phoenix
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« on: 2004-07-07, 23:50 »

Anyone here ever own a Voodoo2?  If so, you know what you could do with two of them, right?  Well check this out:

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Now in 2004 NVIDIA has introduced their new SLI technology, but note that it does not stand for Scan Line Interleaving. This new technology is called "Scalable Link Interface" or SLI for short. Of course all of us old timers still get excited when we hear "SLI" and NVIDIA knows this. The new SLI is possible because of the new PCI-Express bus that was introduced last week. NVIDIA is telling us that when used with the Unreal3 engine, they are seeing increases in frame rate of up to 87%. To qualify this statement, I think it is needed to note here that an engineer stood behind this statement, not just NVIDIA's marketing department.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjMz
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dna
 
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« Reply #1 on: 2004-07-08, 14:05 »

No sort of about it - it's back.  If you got the mad cash to get it.  But that was always the case, wasn't it?
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Phoenix
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« Reply #2 on: 2004-07-09, 22:50 »

By "sort of" I meant it's not Scan-Line Interleave" anymore.  Slipgate - Smile~  
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dna
 
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« Reply #3 on: 2004-07-10, 14:39 »

I'd take it either way Slipgate - Wink
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Tekhead
 
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« Reply #4 on: 2004-07-10, 16:30 »

It's all a scheme by nvidia to sell more video cards before ATi comes out with a better solution for less money. =p
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Phoenix
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« Reply #5 on: 2004-07-10, 20:27 »

I don't see it as such.  I see it as taking advantage of the fact that PCI Express opens the door for multiple video card setups again.  The cost involved will only make this appealing to two crowds at present:  EXTREMELY RICH enthusiasts, and professional developers who want a lot more graphics power to play with.  I'd say the latter market is where they're going to see returns on this, but the fact that the POTENTIAL is there to do this gives them a serious 1Up on ATI.

Remember also that someone who buys an expensive card now can add on the same card later when it's a LOT cheaper and get (theoretically) the same performance as buying a new, expensive card again.  It's increasing the shelf life of someone's investment, and that's exactly how to look at a video card -an investment.  I spent a good amount of money on my GF4 because I didn't want to have to buy a new card for at least two years or MORE.  Most people don't go out and spend $400 on a new video board every year, and if they can keep the same board they bought and just add a new one for $100~$200 two years down the road then they've gotten a lot more mileage out of it.

Right now ATI's cards are faster out of the box and offer a slight edge on image quality in some areas, but as far as future-proofing is concerned ATI has some serious catching up to do.
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Genialus
 

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« Reply #6 on: 2004-07-10, 22:15 »

Quote from: Phoenix

Right now ATI's cards are faster out of the box and offer a slight edge on image quality in some areas, but as far as future-proofing is concerned ATI has some serious catching up to do.
I hope they do that catching up and soon...
I don't want either of those companies to gain a serious upper hand.
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