Sli?

[1Jason8]

I was planning on getting a ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition video card for my new gaming rig but it doesnt support SLI, my question is, what is SLI? What does that do for me? (I dont know all that much about computer hardware...LOL).

I was also gonna get the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard.

Thanks for any help.

 

[vnf4ultra]

Sli is a nvidia technology that stands for "scalable link interface". It is used to pair two identical cards to increase video performance. The cards have to be the same brand, model, and revision to work together. So you could get a 6800gt sli if you have a sli capable motherboard, and two identical sli cards. The cards are physically linked with a sli connector that attaches to the top of the cards. 2 6800gts sli'ed will not be twice as fast in real life as one 6800gt.
Here compare one x850 to 2 6800 gt/ultra video cards.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/2004-27gpu2_34.html
The dual 6800's beat the x850, but the x850 is only one card.

Ati is going to introduce a technology like sli called amr, ati multi rendering IIRC. It will require amr capable motherboards and amr capable cards. I don't know when it will be released.

So either way, sli 6800 series or x850xt pe, performance is top notch, but the ati card doesn't require a sli mobo, you could get a nforce 4 ultra mobo rather than a nforce 4 sli and save some money. Nforce 4 ultra and sli are almost identical, except the sli version has 2 pci-e slots. Here's a comparison.
http://nvidia.com/page/nforce4_family.html

Here's another bench.
http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/vga_charts-07.html

Sli info.
http://www.slizone.com/content/slizone/learn.html

 

[gamingguy27]

I may be talking from a very amatuer point of view, but i believe that sli is when you have two graphics cards doing the same job. Like a dual processor computer.

But if you want the best graphics card (in my opinion) you should get the "Gainward Goldsample 6800 Ultra" this supports sli and is phonemly quick, 525mhz Gpu, and 1250mhz ddr ram. The price of one of these is £250-300 ish, the best price i have found is : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/GeForce_6800_GT.html

Allthough this says its a GT the gainward goldsample is faster than a ultra!

Alex.

 

[1Jason8]

I may be talking from a very amatuer point of view, but i believe that sli is when you have two <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=graphics%20cards" onmouseover="window.status='<a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=graphics%20cards" onmouseover="window.status='graphics cards'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">graphics cards</a>'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">graphics cards</a> doing the same job. Like a <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=dual%20processor" onmouseover="window.status='<a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=dual%20processor" onmouseover="window.status='dual processor'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">dual processor</a>'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">dual processor</a> computer.

But if you want the best <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=graphics%20card" onmouseover="window.status='<a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=graphics%20card" onmouseover="window.status='graphics card'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">graphics card</a>'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">graphics card</a> (in my opinion) you should get the "Gainward Goldsample 6800 Ultra" this supports sli and is phonemly quick, 525mhz Gpu, and 1250mhz <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=ddr%20ram" onmouseover="window.status='<a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=ddr%20ram" onmouseover="window.status='ddr ram'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">ddr ram</a>'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">ddr ram</a>. The price of one of these is £250-300 ish, the best price i have found is : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/GeForce_6800_GT.html

Allthough this says its a GT the gainward goldsample is faster than a ultra!

Alex.

Do you know where/if I can get the Gainward Goldsample 6800 Ultra in the USA? I did a search on google and it found no results.

Thanks guys for the info on this.

 

[1Jason8]

I need two of these to use SLI right? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1211896&CatId=0

 

[vnf4ultra]

For sli with that card you'd need 2. It works in single too.

 

[nein]

what is SLI?

This is what SLI actually is.

What does that do for me? (I dont know all that much about computer hardware...LOL).

It allowed you to have a more efficient hardware design than the old old old conventional typical designs - AKA - Symmetric Processing designs.

Every single Super-Computer built in the last decade used it. NVIDIA used it to give you more powerful APUs, GPUs, NPUs, SPUs, etc...

AMD used it in their Opteron/A64 series...

The good old MAC also had been upgraded for sometimes now, even they used HyperTransport - AKA - "Scalable Link Interface".

Intel is basicly the last one to get on the "Scalable Link Interface" technology boat by "inventing" PCI-Express.

 

[CheebaNinja]

That Asus G8n-SLI Deluxe is a nice board if u wanna spend that much.I have one and its great. :wave: Buying two vid card on the other hand is somthing not many of us will pay for just yet.