Hybrid SLI

[penguin463]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/01/18/nvidia_hybrid_sli_preview/1



Thoughts?

[ChinStrap]

chinstrap votes thumbs down.

when they say "every single" i get scared. i buy motherboards that dont have on-board for a reason.

[JamesXP]

FOR THE POWUH!!!^?

[Evilsizer]

for someone on the real cheap this is a good thing.. that is if the boards for hybrid sli are not that costly... would be something for HTPC users that need good dvd playback. that is if you can use PUREVIDEO with SLI.

[Shiggity]

Well I just read the article and it sounds somewhat interesting.

1) Onboard GPU is simply to save you money by putting your main GPU's to sleep while you aren't doing graphics intensive things.

2) They claim to eliminate bottlenecking with more than 2 cards on an SLI. Previously more than 2 cards would give you almost no performance gain, apparently they are saying they fixed that.

3) Less noise due to putting your main GPU to sleep while the onboard GPU handles non-intensive applications.

The biggest problem is going to be how well the onboard GPU and main GPU are able to 'switch'. How well you're able to go from surfing the internet via the onboard GPU to going to a game and getting your main GPU up and going. They said there would be no latency, but who knows.

Another problem is that you have to hookup your monitor or display device directly to the motherboard so the onboard GPU will be supported. Right now the mobo only has 1 DVI and 1 Analog. Like the article said, this will be a large problem if you run 2 DVI's out of your card atm or any other complicated display setup.


Another thing they didn't mention was how well it would OC CPU's which SHOULD be their biggest concern when marketing this product to the enthusiat buyer.

Overall I think it's a good step in the right direction, GPU power scaling is just getting outrageous.

[White_Pawn]

the concept is definitely intrigueing, but it sounds like there will definitely be some bugs here and there... not to mention drivers?

[Shell]

Heh... from Hybrid CrossFire comes Hybrid SLI.
Too bad it's a pretty bad idea unless you're in for poor performance with no room to expand.

If IG was MUCH better, then I would like this much more.

[reclaimer122]

Vista only... BS! Just sounds like a ploy for you to buy a new nvidia mobo and video card. I doubt it will take on for quite some time.

[White_Pawn]

my only real question... i wonder if this "fixed" 3-card sli is true.

[Evilsizer]

white
i wonder too, but i alos wonder where are those drivers that promised physics on a GPU in the 3rd slot on 680i..