are SLI Mobo`s really dead?

[texasboy]

  Any thoughts ??

TechnologyMake ntlworld my home page  05 January 2007
 
Cyberpower Infinity SLI KO
The best two grand you'll ever spend

Time was, if you wanted high-end gear in an off-thepeg unit, you paid upwards of £3,000. Well, this rig flicks the bird to that concept. No PC we’ve ever tested has run games as well as this one. Fact.

So fire me for stating the obvious here, but games are important to us. Really important. It’s why we do this; the endless benchmarking, the ceaseless hunt for the best kit, the tweakery… we do it all because we love games, and we want them to look better and run faster, plain and simple.

And when all that good stuff comes in a single package, it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. Partly, this is down to Cyberpower’s choice to go simple with the extras. You get a reliable 19-inch Viewsonic panel, a basic wired desktop set and a set of Creative 7.1 speakers. The few extra quid saved here goes into the very best internal components money can buy. We’re still reeling here from the cutting-edge spec-list: quadcore CPU, Corsair Dominator memory, GeForce 8800GTX, and an NFORCE 680SLI motherboard. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s even a pair of WD Raptor hard drives in RAID configuration. And then there’s that gorgeous custom paint-job. Surely this is some kind of joke?

But no. And neither is the performance. At the panel’s 1,280x1,024 optimal resolution, you get 64FPS in Oblivion with all the shiny wound up, 12,119 in 3DMark06, and a stammerinducing 194FPS in Half-Life 2: Episode 1. This rig reduces games that have been available for less than a year to chum, and is the most Vista-ready PC we’ve met, given its DX10-compatible card. I only wish I’d taken a photo of James’ face when he installed the immensely demanding ArmA: Armed Assault beta code on it. “No PC has ever played it this smoothly” he stammered, wearing an expression like Santa, the tooth fairy and Kylie had just sprung him with a group hug. Bless him!

Al Bickham

Price: £2199

Verdict
The fastest rig we’ve seen, and the best all-in-one investment you can make right now. Joy!

cheers

[kyopedlr]

You can't go wrong with Sli Boards... some are expensive but other really aren't that bad...

-kyopedlr

[texasboy]

  Thats great. Its good to know that my NI8 SLI GR MOBO will support this system. Now where did I leave my credit card.lol
cheers

[kyopedlr]

Thats great. Its good to know that my NI8 SLI GR MOBO will support this system. Now where did I leave my credit card.lol
cheers

What do you mean by that?

I don't understand... Sli boards are motherboards... how would it not support the system? it basically is the system...

-kyopedlr

[texasboy]

Thats great. Its good to know that my NI8 SLI GR MOBO will support this system. Now where did I leave my credit card.lol
cheers

What do you mean by that?

I don't understand... Sli boards are motherboards... how would it not support the system? it basically is the system...

-kyopedlr

Basically because all I have heard on the forum is that SLI figures will never match up to latest cards,or in plain words are a thing of the past, Very confusing.
cheers

[Quantum]

SLi boards will stay around.

SLi people will always want, other cards might exploit PCIe x 16, and more advanced chips might come out that allow SLi graphics cards to become more powerful.

Also SLi is good for specialists, e.g Computer Graphical Design, Programming Particle Engines etc..



P.S I would cry if had that rig and had a monitor that poor. And since when is "1,280x1,024" optimal? That's a 5:4 aspect ratio! That's for office work, not for gaming, where's the 16:10 aspect ratio with 1920 x 1200 resolution?

Oblivion's maximum setting were meant to take advantage of graphics cards for at least a year after its launch, the reason you can play oblivion with everything turned to max on is that 1280 x 1024 is a bit of a joke resolution 

[kyopedlr]

WTF? Just get a not-too-expensive Sli board. What's the difference? I mean they all still come with PCIe and 100-800 Mhz FSB with your choice of 4 GB DDR ram slots... with close to the same price as regular boards... I mean... go for it

-kyopedlr

[Bovski]

Try Playing Oblivion on a Dell 3007WFP(2560 x 1600) and then tell me you don't need SLI

[Quantum]

Try Playing Oblivion on a Dell 3007WFP(2560 x 1600) and then tell me you don't need SLI

It's a matter of "cost / performance", if you've got so much money that it's just an issue of performance, then fine. And if you're getting a monitor with 2560 x 1600 resolution, then that's probabily the case 

[TheNightWatchman]

Ha... that monitor is about the same price as my PC itself. Looks nice though

[texasboy]

OK, I know all the info on SLI says you must have 2 identical graphic cards etc. but in reality what would happen if you bridged an 8800 with a 7900 model. Would the pc only recognise the better card and run it as a single unit ,or would it take some help from the other card.Or if you set up pc with one single 7900 and later add a second better one(assuming the bridge piece fits over both cards). What would happen.
just curious.
cheers

[texasboy]

OK, I know all the info on SLI says you must have 2 identical graphic cards etc. but in reality what would happen if you bridged an 8800 with a 7900 model. Would the pc only recognise the better card and run it as a single unit ,or would it take some help from the other card.Or if you set up pc with one single 7900 and later add a second better one(assuming the bridge piece fits over both cards). What would happen.
just curious.
cheers

Anyone have any thoughts on this one?
cheers

[TheHalf™]

Tex hold on to that credit card and wait until a MOBO with PCIe falls within your budget. With Vista® a MOBO with an all PCIe interface will get you the best functionality with hardware compatable with PCIe and Vist®. Don't worry about video games just remember the porn will always look the same but feel better - lol (just kiddin).

[Quantum]

Here's what it says on wiki:

"Cards from two separate retail companies will work together in SLI mode, but they must be the same GPU model (e.g. G70, G73, G80, etc). The cards may have different BIOS revisions, different default clock speeds, or even different memory sizes. However, the fastest card - or the card with more memory - will run at the speed of the slower card or disable its additional memory."

[texasboy]

Here's what it says on wiki:

"Cards from two separate retail companies will work together in SLI mode, but they must be the same GPU model (e.g. G70, G73, G80, etc). The cards may have different BIOS revisions, different default clock speeds, or even different memory sizes. However, the fastest card - or the card with more memory - will run at the speed of the slower card or disable its additional memory."

Tks Quantum
cheers