OH MY HOLY GOD: SLI with 4 videocards

[Sjaak]

http://www.tweakers.net/nieuws/37474


Gigabyte is building a board with 4x PCI-E 8x slots.

It uses BOTH the intel and AMD version of the NF4, the Intel one serves as northbridge and the AMD one as southbridge so that they can support 4 PCI-Express 8x slots.

More specs:

Support for Pentium-D en EE
4x S-ata2 ports
10x USB 2.0 ports
3x Firewire ports

Just think of the pricetag. The northbridge is the most expensive part of a motherboard, and this one has two. I can really see this board being 400$+. Also...anyone got 4 6800U lying around?

http://www.tweakers.net/ext/i.dsp/1117184455.jpg

[Chocobo]

ya that pretty awsome but it says 4 8x pci-e or 2 16x pci-e so it all comesout to 32 pipelines anyways so will we see performance gain?

[IrishAssassin]

Wow, 2 video cards is an overkill, imagine 4 :|

[autolex84]

the PCIe multiplier is does not determine pixel pipelines, right?

[Aslan]

Damn, this is awesome, but the overall costs would be horrendous. Well, at least there is actually a need now for that 850W PC-Power and Cooling PSU.

[TheGreySpectre]

Yeah but we dont max out normal 8x AGP so having 4 8x PCI-E slots you wont notice a difference between if they are 8x and 16x

[Voodoo Rufus]

Gigabyte: Absurdity applied to PCBs.

[Sjaak]

Gigabyte: Absurdity applied to PCBs.

lmao :p

[BrutalDrew]

That would be awesome :drool:

[zer0nix]

OH MY HOLY GOD is what someone will say when a single card (sometime in the near or far future) beats 4 in sli... hell, there's great dispute right now as to if single x800 series cards beat sli 6800ultras... my breath was definitely taken away at first sight but more so in awe of the bold, idiosyncratic, gutsiness (i'm looking for a word here) to create -and purchase- such a setup :p


that said, who anticipates a 4x 16x pcie setup with one of the upcoming dual core processors? :p

[ps2cho]

This SLI is starting to get rediculous. I hope that this goes no further. Computers are slowly becoming more expensive as it is...let alone having to buy several video cards instead of just one. I think ill go play pacman.

[Feuer Frei]

This SLI is starting to get rediculous. I hope that this goes no further. Computers are slowly becoming more expensive as it is...let alone having to buy several video cards instead of just one. I think ill go play pacman.

i like pacman.... :santa:

and i really hope it goes bak to single card, it was much simplier, and one does not break the bank over a d@mn video card.

- Feuer Frei

[meionm]

i like pacman.... :santa:

and i really hope it goes bak to single card, it was much simplier, and one does not break the bank over a d@mn video card.

- Feuer Frei


I hope for multipule gpu on single pcb.

Can't afford SLI anyways

It would be nice if designes would come up with something usefull like running sli with different card and not two same one.

I don't like sli.

When I look at this board, I get I idea that there might Pc Power & Cool 1000w psu, and bill that will knock you down the same way as running 4 cards

[SolidxSnake]

who cares if you can't afford SLi? Then don't buy it, its something that people may want. If the company's give it out, then people are gonna buy it. Who said you NEED SLi to get a rig with this board. Who said you are even GONNA get this board?

Exactly, no one.

Still, this is gonna require a zippy PSU... =/

[Phoenix87]

I hope for multipule gpu on single pcb.

Can't afford SLI anyways

It would be nice if designes would come up with something usefull like running sli with different card and not two same one.

I don't like sli.

When I look at this board, I get I idea that there might Pc Power & Cool 1000w psu, and bill that will knock you down the same way as running 4 cards
Then once again gigabyte has you covered. They have dual core 6600gt/6800gts on a single board. They essiantly function like SLI but on one board.

[Emon]

Dual-core solutions will probably be far cheaper, as will dual-GPU boards. By the time the new Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft consoles come out...I'm guessing PC hardware will have caught up. You just know Gigabyte's gonna do something insane...again. Crazy Asians.

[Feydd]

Too much money! 2000 dollars just for the video system!

[Overclocker550]

I only see two pci-e slots. I dont think you can use more than 2 cards in sli, theres no drivers for more than 2 and todays cpus cant take full advantage of 1, let alone 2. having 4 is only useful for 3dmark 2003 and 2005

[Sjaak]

I only see two pci-e slots. I dont think you can use more than 2 cards in sli, theres no drivers for more than 2 and todays cpus cant take full advantage of 1, let alone 2. having 4 is only useful for 3dmark 2003 and 2005

Theres clearly two black ones and two blue ones.

[L337 M33P]

So I'm guessing that with 4x 6800Us on board you'd have to... wire a washing machine 3-phase line into your PSU? :D

[Sjaak]

So I'm guessing that with 4x 6800Us on board you'd have to... wire a washing machine 3-phase line into your PSU? :D

Kinda. Seems like that PCPC 850W unit will have some use ;)

[SolidxSnake]

Kinda. Seems like that PCPC 850W unit will have some use ;)


pshh, thats reserved for the 6x SLi setups :santa:

[CCUABIDExORxDIE]

wow, can someone say OVERKILL! maybe gigabyte will allow you to make 8gpus in sli, with there dual 6800 cored card. thats set some ultra high 3dmarks scores!

[troutbumoh]

who cares if you can't afford SLi? Then don't buy it, its something that people may want. If the company's give it out, then people are gonna buy it. Who said you NEED SLi to get a rig with this board. Who said you are even GONNA get this board?

Exactly, no one.

Still, this is gonna require a zippy PSU... =/


The one problem I see with your statement is that game companies will start making games that cater to SLI setups that will alienate s large portion of the PC gaming world. They will expect everyone to upgrade to play their game as it was intended, all the bells and whistles turned on. This rapid expansion of necessary hardware to play the hot games will only force more people over to consoles for all gaming. Hardware companies need to start venturing more into console like technologies that reduce heat and overhead so that PC gaming doesn't become extinct. Its a cool concept, but its just a gimmick to sucker everyone into two video cards. Most high end systems could double as a space heater for a small bedroom now. Time to look to more efficient use of power and bandwidth.

[SolidxSnake]

The one problem I see with your statement is that game companies will start making games that cater to SLI setups that will alienate s large portion of the PC gaming world. They will expect everyone to upgrade to play their game as it was intended, all the bells and whistles turned on. This rapid expansion of necessary hardware to play the hot games will only force more people over to consoles for all gaming. Hardware companies need to start venturing more into console like technologies that reduce heat and overhead so that PC gaming doesn't become extinct. Its a cool concept, but its just a gimmick to sucker everyone into two video cards. Most high end systems could double as a space heater for a small bedroom now. Time to look to more efficient use of power and bandwidth.


And when the game companies don't get money cause they intented the game to be played with overkill cards, they will lower the specs and requirements of the game, thus making it unneccassary to upgrade cards. just cause there is a new card/tech out, doesn't mean that a game company is willing to lose money making a game that almost no1 will buy. unless the videocard company pays the developers/publishers.

[theMonster]

You can already do this sort-of by putting 2 of those new dual-gpu Nvidia 6800 cards in SLI, no?

[Sjaak]

You can already do this sort-of by putting 2 of those new dual-gpu Nvidia 6800 cards in SLI, no?

I am not sure if that is possible, it couldn't be done with the dual 6600GT.

[SolidxSnake]

You can already do this sort-of by putting 2 of those new dual-gpu Nvidia 6800 cards in SLI, no?


No, those dual-core cards don't have SLi-Connections on the side of the card, look at it.

[CCUABIDExORxDIE]

they are gonna start sli-ing those dual cards though, i read simething over at the [H] about it, it said 4 cores in sli.

[Overclocker550]

Theres clearly two black ones and two blue ones.


how will you have room to place anything in that single pci slot? :shrug:

[Sjaak]

how will you have room to place anything in that single pci slot? :shrug:

If they make the 6800 single-slot-cooled you could juuust fit an audigiy in there. The rest is pretty much on-board :p

[evaseeker]

you can put 1 dual6800gt in the first slot and another dual6800gt in the third slot, thats the best thing to do in order to get balance between heat and power or you can put 4 6800U there and be done with it.

[whozyodaddy]

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2431&p=4

Wow.. these things are huge!

[Zulu-1]

dual core... quad graphics card...
people are going to start living in igloos so their pcs dont overheat

[blitzkrieg1110]

dual core... quad graphics card...
people are going to start living in igloos so their pcs dont overheat

i dont know if that would be enough :rolleyes:

[tomchong]

hahaha, sli is getting ridiculous, but im sure theres a few people who will buy 4x geforce 6's. as for gamers being alienated, it wont happen, for example doom3 is some of the best gaming tech out there right now, and it really looks great on expensive hardware, but my friend runs it on a old 9000pro. if sli setups become very popular we will see ultra ultra quality settings for enthusiaists, while trying not to oust the shmoes with 9000pros from the gaming market

[hUMANbEATbOX]

so, a normal sli setup (say 2x6800gt's) typically gives you a 20-40% gain over one 6800gt (and only in SOME games), while costing 100% more. what's adding 2 more cards going to give you? 40-60% more performance, while costing 300% more (not even counting the outrageous cost of the mobo)?

this is getting silly, i wish it would stop now.

[Janus67]

it is a very interesting idea, but I think that 2 video cards will be plenty for some time now.

[hUMANbEATbOX]

c3dlc2 a déjà causé 15,940 victimes.

way to go....you've given 16000 ppl the finger......in french no less.

**edit** deleted my quote of his post, so mods wont have to do additional cleanup.....

[Silver]

Can we get a mod in here to delete this guy.Seems his french is limited to one link in ALL the threads he has posted in.

That of course would be the above c3dlc .

[Cyrix_2k]

I can see it now... Quad Dual Core Vid cards paired with quad dualcore CPU's paired with dual channel double date rate ram. When does quad channel come out?

Oh yeah, and of course that will require DUAL PSU's and throw in DUAL hard drives (RAID) and DUAL DVD Drives and DUAL monitors...

[hUMANbEATbOX]

and dual full time jobs to pay for it.

[CCUABIDExORxDIE]

and dual wcing setups to cool all that stuff.

[A1Killer]

oh cant forget the best most important part dual girlfriends

[SolidxSnake]

When is there gonna be dual-ram (quad-channel) and dual-proc (in a HOME system, no SMP custom stuff)? what bout some dual soundcards and dual NB!!

[d94]

dont forget the dual mouse and KB (4x ps2)