Video Card pr0n

Drool!

There's Beauty in Symmetry. The NVIDIA® GeForce® 7950 GX2 features a knockout pair of GeForce processors on one irresistibly powerful board. Resetting the bar for single board graphics performance with amazing 3D horsepower and speed, the GeForce 7950 GX2 enables a lightning-fast, hyper-realistic gaming experience with ultra-smooth frame rates. This dual-GPU board features an astounding 1 GB of fast GDDR3 memory and support for resolutions up to 2560 X 1600. It's a beautiful thing.

Many of the big tech sites have posted benchmarks and impressions of this new offering and it looks pretty darned awesome!
Newegg has several versions for sale @ around $650.
From the reviews I've read it's SLI on a single board, and YES, the darned thing is SLIable. so.... 2 dual GPU processors running on one board. (Apparently nvidia has only released the drivers to enable this to their PC vendor partners because they claim it is a pretty complex setup, but what I hear is that a solution for parts buyers will be available soon!)

Currently I'm still speccing out my new gaming rig, but if I pull the trigger any time soon this baby will be in there. Oh yes!

I dont understand the point of multiple cards/SLI. I lost interest when I watched a single 7xxx card beat 2 6xxx cards, not to mention by definition that newer card is going to support more bells and whistles. I mean if you have money to throw around thats fine...but the performance benifit per dollar seem to really ramp up when you start adding extra cards.

pol wrote:

I dont understand the point of multiple cards/SLI. I lost interest when I watched a single 7xxx card beat 2 6xxx cards, not to mention by definition that newer card is going to support more bells and whistles. I mean if you have money to throw around thats fine...but the performance benifit per dollar seem to really ramp up when you start adding extra cards.

I don't understand that paragraph.

"I lost interest when I watched... " - Con
"by definition that newer card is going to support more... " - Pro
"Performance benefit per dollar seem to really ramp up..." - Pro

So... you're not interested but it's really awesome?

This and AMDs 4X4 announcement have reawakened my inner geek! I've started hunting sites for processor/cpu deals that would allow me to jump from my current intel/agp board to something more current... and this card looks like a snug fit for my personal design philosophy. I believe this route is a Good Idea. Multiple GPUs to distribute the fantastic task of rendering my Futuristic games with bucketloads of eyecandy and scalable detail.

pol,
Computing has hit an important crossroads that I believe will have an impact for a while to come. Chip fabrication has started reaching a point where we can't possibly make the chips much smaller or cram more transistors into the same area. As a result, you've seen the big processor companies come out with dual-core (and soon to be quad-core) processors for home computers. This trend will only continue, the market demands that the power of processors increase over time. For the time being, the easiest and most cost-effective way to achieve this is to simply add more processors to the mix. I can easily see a scenario several years down the road where they start cramming more processors into the same box 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256... you get the idea.

It appears that the video card manufacturers are taking the same approach. In this case, it's easy to see how dividing the screen in half and letting a GPU handle each half -- with properly written software to allow this, which will be refined over time. Then, the leap to 4, 8, etc. GPU's seems to make sense too. Hell, the Cell architecture is built on the same idea. Technology will advance more, and we'll be able to cram more processing power into smaller areas, but in the near future the multi-processor solution looks to be the best bang for the buck. Yes, a 7xxx card may have been better than 2 6xxx cards, but single GPUs will soon hit a point of diminishing returns with their processing power as well. Ramping up the parallel processing technology now is a good forward-thinking strategy that will help prevent a flattening of the performance curve; in an industry where more polygons = more money, keeping a consistent increase in technology really helps the bottom line.

sorry for the confusion....re-read it and I see what you mean....

by definition that newer card is going to support more

here I was trying to talk about 2 gen x cards (older) vs 1 gen x+1 card (newer)

Performance benefit per dollar seem to really ramp up

here I was stating that investment/performance is what is ramping up. i.e. paying double for a 10% boost

I have no idea if this is anymore clear or not

bagga,

went looking for some hard numbers, and they dont look the same as I remember them. Anandtech has a nice write up, and the benefits look to be much higher than when SLI initially was realeased. I guess I should have assumed the implementation would be more refined by now.

Please move me from the "pshaw" group to the "I wish I had more money" group

pol wrote:

I have no idea if this is anymore clear or not :drink:

Much clearer! Thanks!

As for the investment/performance ramping up... that is a good point, but looking at the performance/cost analysis for this particular card, at least the preliminaries that got sent to the usual suspects it looks like a great deal for a scalable system.
If you have a high resolution display, or a decent HDTV (and yes, this card supports HDCP AND is fully Vista Ready for Media Center goodness) then this thing should be able to push your system to the limit. Without a high def monitor the benefit/cost ratio starts to slide a little. I like to keep my system running as close to 1920x1200 as I can. And sadly my current system disappoints me on that front. The last game where I didn't have to make any sacrifices for playability was San Andreas. But enough whining...
My main plusses for this card are as follows:
The card does not require an SLI motherboard or Nvidia chipset(but it DOES require a specific BIOS, but Nvidia has that covered with a tested/compatible list with a good selection of manufacturers/chipsets) to do its magic. Meaning that the system should be fairly flexible for future upgrades.
This thing LOVES high resolutions and snacks on AA like MnMs! So do I.

That's about it.
I'm trying to work out how to budget things so that I can get all necessary components at around the same time while using a few parts from my current system to give me some more flexibility. Of course... If things work out that I can go to Germany this summer all plans are off until fall. and

CRYSIS. That is all

CRYSIS.