NVIDIA SLI Performance Preview with MSI's nForce4 SLI Motherboard
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 29, 2004 5:06 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Doom 3 Performance
This benchmark requires no introduction - currently the most stressful game on today's GPUs, Doom 3 performance is the perfect area to look at the benefits of SLI.
Starting at 1024 x 768 we see that despite the low resolution, the GeForce 6800GT got a nice 46% performance boost from SLI. The performance improvement is much greater on the slower 6600GT as it is more GPU limited at 1024 x 768 than the 6800GT, weighing in at just under 72%.
Here the performance of two 6600GTs is equivalent of a single GeForce 6800GT.
As the resolution goes up so does the performance benefit from SLI. The 6800GT moved up to a 68% performance improvement, while the 6600GT only inched up to a 78.2% gain. The 6800GTs in SLI configuration actually make 1280 x 1024 with 4X AA smooth as butter under Doom 3.
At 1600 x 1200 we see some huge performance gains from SLI: 75.3% and 85% from the 6800GT and the 6600GT respectively. It's clear that SLI makes even the highest resolutions with AA enabled quite playable.
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GhandiInstinct - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
I don't understand why you think X2's split work screen will be worse... Even if the scenes get more complex its still only half! So if a single X800XT renders the complex scene at 70fps then two will chop up? Your logic is FLAWED!!!TrogdorJW - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
61 - Sokaku, I wasn't any more rude that you were in your original post. You were incorrect in your claims, as #62 pointed out. I'll repeat: it was a claim without a whole lot of thought/research behind it. Certainly SLI isn't a huge step forward, but to call it a step backwards is ludicrous. SMP would also be a step backwards, and dual-core would be pointless as well. Obviously, the 22 year old webmaster knows quite a few things that you don't. Being wrong at the top of your lungs is why pure guesses aren't used when writing any professional level article.One thing I find odd is that there's mention of the new Scalable Link Interface SLI doing either screen division - i.e. one card renders the top 2/3 and the other renders the bottom 1/3 - or Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR). I thought ATI created and patented AFR back with their Rage MAXX card, just like 3dfx created and patented Scan Line Interleave. (One problem with Scan Line Interleave, for those that don't realize this, is that it basically makes AA impossible to do without a massive performance hit. That's why NVIDIA calls the new SLI Scalable Link Interface.) I can't see ATI allowing NV to use AFR technology without a lawsuit, unless there was some other agreement that we haven't heard about.
IamTHEsnake - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
Come on ATi, surprise me!!!!!!!GhandiInstinct - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
In addition, I hate overhyping brand new technology, it's so pointless. I can see analyzing this 6 months from now after people have been using it and more benchmarks are revealed.GhandiInstinct - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
No one is debating that SLI delivers phenomenal performance. The issue is with the limit on manufacturing creating an "SLI monopoly" lol.Everyone knows Nvidia cheats on visual quality and that ATI's cards perform better on an overwhelming amount of games. So if I have $400 to spend on my SLI setup I'd go for the latter of cards. Get it? It's nothing complex here folks.
mkruer - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
Here is my 2 cents on SLI.I think there is a misconception buying two 6600GT at the start, and thinking its is going to be cheaper then a single 6800GT is incorrect. The TOC (total cost of ownership) for people jumping on issue of just is not there. Currently it is just as expensive as picking up a single card solution.
Here is where SLI makes sense.
12-18 months down the line the next latest and greatest game will arrive demanding twice the processing power that you currently have. Now you could purchase the bleeding edge graphic card for another $400US or you could pick up another 6800GT for half that and get nearly double the performance (that would also translate into the same performance of the new card), if not better. TCO is now about 75% of picking up a new bleeding edge $400US card.
So I guess my recommendation to all of you out there that are thinking of picking up two 6600GT, don’t. Spend the same amount of money and get the 6800GT, and in the next 12-18 months pick up a second 6800GT for half the price, and you will still be getting the same performance as nVidia’s next generation, but for half the cost.
Possible future.
ATI is undoubtedly working on a similar solution, and possible working on a few “flaws” in nVidias current design, namely the SLI bridge connection. I suspect that in the future the SLI bridge connection will disappear completely and instead, be migrated to the last 8x of the 16x pci-e connection, thereby creating a direct point to point connection between the two cards. The advantage of this is now both cards could share there collective memory similarly to how AMD does with it processors between memory banks. This will allow for two 256mb cards to truly act as one 512mb card.
Tides - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
dual core gpus in the future?Sokaku - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
#62 - PrinceGazThanks for clearing that up, I stand corrected. :-)
Ivo - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
The enthusiastic market, where the two graphic cards SLI solution is positioned, is something like the F1 by cars: it advertises and proves new technologies, but it doesn't sell directly in profitable quantities. Probably, the mainstream market will never adopt it, at least because it is too expensive and too noisy. Nevertheless, a modified SLI solution, with IGP and ONE graphic card, could still be interesting for this market. In that case, the card, a 3D accelerator, should be idle for not intensive 3D applications and the SLI should adopt effective combination of two unequal GPUs.Denial - Saturday, October 30, 2004 - link
I'm glad I can buy anything I want at my job as the CFO doen't know what a 6800GT is. "Uhhh, it keeps the flux capicitor cool."How long till the SLI boards come out? Better yet, that dual SLI board from Tyan. I hope all this is out before the new year so I can slip it in with all the other end-of-year hardware purchases.