SLI is back

[Guest]

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Alienware released their new tech:

Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
in parallel.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Wed, 12 May 2004 20:33:50 -0500, Destroy wrote:

> Alienware released their new tech:
>
> Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> in parallel.

Do you have a link for this?

--

"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
-- General George S. Patton, Jr.

 

[Guest]

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"James Riske" <james_riske@hotmail.com> wrote in message
newsan.2004.05.13.03.18.50.907000@localhost.debian.org...
> Do you have a link for this?
>

It's based on some technology by Metabyte. I have no idea how it works,
but apparrently they have been messing around with SLI configurations since
the TNT days.

I'm not sure how it works... or IF it works. Videocards have evolved well
past the point where all they did was basic triangle setup and rendering.
I believe it might work by some proprietary bridge and chipset.

 

[jlc]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:bdAoc.59198$u_4.12711@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> Alienware released their new tech:
>
> Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> in parallel.

WOW! I read a few days ago the Alienware had a huge announcement to make at
E3. This is very interesting news! JLC

 

[Tim]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:bdAoc.59198$u_4.12711@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> Alienware released their new tech:
>
> Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> in parallel.
>

That's Voodootwo-ariffic!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Destroy wrote:
> Alienware released their new tech:
>
> Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> in parallel.
>

Nah, what Alienware "released" was a press statement saying they are
planning on developing this tech. Hopefully it pans out for them and
maybe we'll see the return of SLI, but it's not here today, or anytime
too soon. (slated for Q3/Q4)

Here's some more info:

http://www.alienware.com/press_release_pages/press_release_template.aspx?FileName=press_videoarray_0512.asp
http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1084398037.html
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/13/135243&mode=nested&tid=137&tid=152&tid=185

--
cK

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

WOW get 20% increase in speed and pay 400 bucks for the privilage, the
second card




On Wed, 12 May 2004 23:25:48 -0400, "magnulus"
<magnulus@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
>"James Riske" <james_riske@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>newsan.2004.05.13.03.18.50.907000@localhost.debian.org...
>> Do you have a link for this?
>>
>
> It's based on some technology by Metabyte. I have no idea how it works,
>but apparrently they have been messing around with SLI configurations since
>the TNT days.
>
> I'm not sure how it works... or IF it works. Videocards have evolved well
>past the point where all they did was basic triangle setup and rendering.
>I believe it might work by some proprietary bridge and chipset.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Thu, 13 May 2004 13:34:16 +1000, We Live For The One We Die For The
One <Mr fred@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

>
>WOW get 20% increase in speed and pay 400 bucks for the privilage, the
>second card

Quiet you! We can't have any voice of reason when it comes to
discussions about the latest PC upgrades.

--
best regards, mattchu
np:

 

[jlc]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"We Live For The One We Die For The One" <Mr fred@yahoo.com.au> wrote in
message news:k4r5a0duv76s3qn5ojv3fb6al5m6sesm19@4ax.com...
>
> WOW get 20% increase in speed and pay 400 bucks for the privilage, the
> second card
>
You'll pay a whole lot more then $400 if you have to buy one of their
systems to be able to do it! Have you priced a Alienware PC lately! There
not cheap. JLC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

I should also add Metabyte made a "vapourware" SLI TNT configuration
several years ago. They didn't even make a prototype. So I wouldn't put
any stock in them.

 

[vinCe]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"cK-Gunslinger" wrote
> Destroy wrote:
> > Alienware released their new tech:
> >
> > Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> > allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> > Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> > in parallel.
> >
>
> Nah, what Alienware "released" was a press statement saying they are
> planning on developing this tech. Hopefully it pans out for them and
> maybe we'll see the return of SLI, but it's not here today, or anytime
> too soon. (slated for Q3/Q4)

Q3 is soon.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Vince wrote:
> "cK-Gunslinger" wrote
>
>>Destroy wrote:
>>
>>>Alienware released their new tech:
>>>
>>
>>Nah, what Alienware "released" was a press statement saying they are
>>planning on developing this tech. Hopefully it pans out for them and
>>maybe we'll see the return of SLI, but it's not here today, or anytime
>>too soon. (slated for Q3/Q4)
>
>
> Q3 is soon.


Maybe, but the "End of September, 2003" release for HL2 was "soon" a
year ago. But I don't see it yet. =P I'm just saying, release dates
slip (for both software and hardware), and I've learned to wait until
there is a shipping product before I beleive too much hype.

Otherwise, I'd be playing Duke Nukem Forever, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress
2, and Doom 3 on my brand new BitBoys' video card, or maybe on my
Phantom Gaming Console. *grin*

--
cK

 

[jlc]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"cK-Gunslinger" <cK@nowayinhell.com> wrote in message
newsSNoc.4$cZ2.2@dfw-service2.ext.ray.com...
> Destroy wrote:
> > Alienware released their new tech:
> >
> > Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> > allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> > Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> > in parallel.
> >
>
> Nah, what Alienware "released" was a press statement saying they are
> planning on developing this tech. Hopefully it pans out for them and
> maybe we'll see the return of SLI, but it's not here today, or anytime
> too soon. (slated for Q3/Q4)
>
> Here's some more info:
>
>
http://www.alienware.com/press_release_pages/press_release_template.aspx?FileName=press_videoarray_0512.asp
> http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1084398037.html
>
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/13/135243&mode=nested&tid=137&tid=152&tid=185
>
> --
> cK

You can bet that this "extreme performance system" will cost $4,000 +. JLC

 

[chip]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:bdAoc.59198$u_4.12711@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> Alienware released their new tech:
>
> Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> in parallel.

It will never work.

1. If you only have 1 monitor, then it can only be connected to 1 card
(Doh!)
2. Which means that what work is done by the other card, the results have to
be copied across to the card containing the frame buffer. Even at
PCI-Express speeds, this will be sloooooow.

I don't know what these guys have been smoking. Maybe they have plans for
multiple-monitor setups. I could just about believe that. But for a single
monitor setup, I cannot see this improving anything.

Chip

 

[jlc]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"Chip" <anneonymouse@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:2gkc16F3mv75U1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
> news:bdAoc.59198$u_4.12711@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> > Alienware released their new tech:
> >
> > Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> > allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> > Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
> > in parallel.
>
> It will never work.
>
> 1. If you only have 1 monitor, then it can only be connected to 1 card
> (Doh!)
> 2. Which means that what work is done by the other card, the results have
to
> be copied across to the card containing the frame buffer. Even at
> PCI-Express speeds, this will be sloooooow.
>
> I don't know what these guys have been smoking. Maybe they have plans for
> multiple-monitor setups. I could just about believe that. But for a
single
> monitor setup, I cannot see this improving anything.
>
> Chip
>
I guess you never had two 3DFX Voodoo cards running in SLI. I did and they
were great back in the day. I'm not saying that this new idea is going to
pan out, but I'm sure they have worked around the monitor connection
problem. The Voodoo cards were build with a connecter on their sides that
allowed you to plug in a second Voodoo card into it. Then you had a small
monitor cable that you ran from the bottom card to the top card. You then
plugged your top card into your monitor.
Worked fantastic! JLC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"JLC" <j.jc@nospam.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn
spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>
>"Chip" <anneonymouse@virgin.net> wrote in message
>news:2gkc16F3mv75U1@uni-berlin.de...
>>
>> "Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
>> news:bdAoc.59198$u_4.12711@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
>> > Alienware released their new tech:
>> >
>> > Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
>> > allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
>> > Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic commands
>> > in parallel.
>>
>> It will never work.
>>
>> 1. If you only have 1 monitor, then it can only be connected to 1 card
>> (Doh!)
>> 2. Which means that what work is done by the other card, the results have
>to
>> be copied across to the card containing the frame buffer. Even at
>> PCI-Express speeds, this will be sloooooow.
>>
>> I don't know what these guys have been smoking. Maybe they have plans for
>> multiple-monitor setups. I could just about believe that. But for a
>single
>> monitor setup, I cannot see this improving anything.
>>
>> Chip
>>
>I guess you never had two 3DFX Voodoo cards running in SLI. I did and they
>were great back in the day. I'm not saying that this new idea is going to
>pan out, but I'm sure they have worked around the monitor connection
>problem. The Voodoo cards were build with a connecter on their sides that
>allowed you to plug in a second Voodoo card into it. Then you had a small
>monitor cable that you ran from the bottom card to the top card. You then
>plugged your top card into your monitor.
>Worked fantastic! JLC

There's a bit of a difference between the voodoo2 which was designed to
run solo or be linked to another voodoo2, and some feature on a
motherboard to stick two video cards into, that _were_ _not_ designed to
work together.

It the difference between 2 random people, and a set of twins.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Fri, 14 May 2004 15:15:55 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@kingston.net>
wrote:


>There's a bit of a difference between the voodoo2 which was designed to
>run solo or be linked to another voodoo2, and some feature on a
>motherboard to stick two video cards into, that _were_ _not_ designed to
>work together.
>
>It the difference between 2 random people, and a set of twins.
>
>Xocyll

Personally, I would never want dual vid cards, just as I wouldn't want
dual cpu's. And there are two reasons for that, 2 means twice as much
heat and twice as much noise.

 

[chip]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"JLC" <j.jc@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:5D7pc.48824$z06.6960904@attbi_s01...
>
> "Chip" <anneonymouse@virgin.net> wrote in message
> news:2gkc16F3mv75U1@uni-berlin.de...
> >
> > "Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
> > news:bdAoc.59198$u_4.12711@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> > > Alienware released their new tech:
> > >
> > > Video Array is an accelerated graphics processing subsystem that will
> > > allow users to add multiple, off-the-shelf video cards to their
> > > Alienware computer systems and have both cards process graphic
commands
> > > in parallel.
> >
> > It will never work.
> >
> > 1. If you only have 1 monitor, then it can only be connected to 1 card
> > (Doh!)
> > 2. Which means that what work is done by the other card, the results
have
> to
> > be copied across to the card containing the frame buffer. Even at
> > PCI-Express speeds, this will be sloooooow.
> >
> > I don't know what these guys have been smoking. Maybe they have plans
for
> > multiple-monitor setups. I could just about believe that. But for a
> single
> > monitor setup, I cannot see this improving anything.
> >
> > Chip
> >
> I guess you never had two 3DFX Voodoo cards running in SLI. I did and they
> were great back in the day. I'm not saying that this new idea is going to
> pan out, but I'm sure they have worked around the monitor connection
> problem. The Voodoo cards were build with a connecter on their sides that
> allowed you to plug in a second Voodoo card into it. Then you had a small
> monitor cable that you ran from the bottom card to the top card. You then
> plugged your top card into your monitor.
> Worked fantastic! JLC

But you forget one *crucial* piece of information. The 3dfx cards were
*designed* to work in SLI mode! The hair-brain Alienware idea is that it
will work with normal video cards. And given that normal video cards have
no clue about how to render alternative scan lines, then only thing I can
image they will do is come up with some fancy driver wrapper than decides
which vertices (and which pixels) will be processed by each card and then
splits the work between the two cards. And then takes the rendered pixels
from one card and transfers them to the other for z-buffer processing and
final rendering.

It will be brilliant.... not. If this ever sees the light of day, I will be
amazed.

Chip

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

> >
> I guess you never had two 3DFX Voodoo cards running in SLI. I did and they
> were great back in the day. I'm not saying that this new idea is going to
> pan out, but I'm sure they have worked around the monitor connection
> problem. The Voodoo cards were build with a connecter on their sides that
> allowed you to plug in a second Voodoo card into it. Then you had a small
> monitor cable that you ran from the bottom card to the top card. You then
> plugged your top card into your monitor.
> Worked fantastic! JLC
>

Well.. no current Ati, Nvidia, Matrox or not even Volari card have any
"input for monitor cable" to be able to loop through second card. So SLI
mode is very much DEAD. The possible (however, unlikely) performance gain
will not be worth having to pay for two cards.

There is NO way SLI mode could make two Radeon9200 cards perform like a
9600.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Xocyll <Xocyll@kingston.net> wrote in
news:ai6aa052fm6din1f1455mtl3j8e07lbhkk@4ax.com:

> There's a bit of a difference between the voodoo2 which was designed
> to run solo or be linked to another voodoo2, and some feature on a
> motherboard to stick two video cards into, that _were_ _not_ designed
> to work together.
>
> It the difference between 2 random people, and a set of twins.

I have to agree this idea sounds pretty hare-brained. I mean, why not
just buy a faster video card? And if you already have the fastest, are
you really going to want another $400ish video card just to gain a few
FPS? I don't think the consumer market is going to really support this
idea even if they get it to work, unless it just works FABULOUSLY and you
can get almost twice the performance out of 2 cards versus 1.

Knight37

 

[Andrew]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On 14 May 2004 21:19:10 GMT, Knight37 <knight37m@email.com> wrote:

>I have to agree this idea sounds pretty hare-brained. I mean, why not
>just buy a faster video card? And if you already have the fastest, are
>you really going to want another $400ish video card just to gain a few
>FPS? I don't think the consumer market is going to really support this
>idea even if they get it to work, unless it just works FABULOUSLY and you
>can get almost twice the performance out of 2 cards versus 1.

You weren't around when the Voodoo 2's came out were you.
--
Andrew. To email unscramble nrc@gurjevgrzrboivbhf.pbz & remove spamtrap.
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Things are different now Andrew. I think you still live in voodoo2 era.
Thinking that every normal card is designed to run in SLI is not sane.
Unless ATI and Nvidia decide to put enormous effort into develop versions of
their cards that can be run in SLI, performance gain would be at most 2-5%
in best case scenario. It's not likely that ati or nvidia would do something
like that in the first place, if they wanted to do that, they'd have done it
way way back.


"Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message
news:t0eaa05b2uli4q7odo7agfq04ro7135m4c@4ax.com...
> On 14 May 2004 21:19:10 GMT, Knight37 <knight37m@email.com> wrote:
>
> >I have to agree this idea sounds pretty hare-brained. I mean, why not
> >just buy a faster video card? And if you already have the fastest, are
> >you really going to want another $400ish video card just to gain a few
> >FPS? I don't think the consumer market is going to really support this
> >idea even if they get it to work, unless it just works FABULOUSLY and you
> >can get almost twice the performance out of 2 cards versus 1.
>
> You weren't around when the Voodoo 2's came out were you.
> --
> Andrew. To email unscramble nrc@gurjevgrzrboivbhf.pbz & remove spamtrap.
> Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
> please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevant text.
> Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Fri, 14 May 2004 22:21:33 +0100, Andrew <spamtrap@localhost> wrote:


>You weren't around when the Voodoo 2's came out were you.

I was, and two V2's did'nt equal twice the performance. I only bought
one V2 because the extra performance didn't warrant the cost.

 

[Andrew]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Fri, 14 May 2004 21:50:50 GMT, "Asestar" <a s e s t a r @ s t a r t
.. n o> patronised:

>Things are different now Andrew. I think you still live in voodoo2 era.

3D cards I have owned: Voodoo 1, Voodoo 2, Voodoo 2 SLI, Voodoo 3,
Geforce Pro, Geforce 2 GTS, Geforce 3, Geforce 4 4400, 9700 Pro.

I think I have moved on.

>Thinking that every normal card is designed to run in SLI is not sane.

Of course they are not designed to, but there is a lot of hardware
that enterprising people have stretched to do things way beyond what
they were designed to do.

>Unless ATI and Nvidia decide to put enormous effort into develop versions of
>their cards that can be run in SLI, performance gain would be at most 2-5%
>in best case scenario.

Based on what data? You think Alienware would bother going through
this exercise if that was all the improvements it would yield?
--
Andrew. To email unscramble nrc@gurjevgrzrboivbhf.pbz & remove spamtrap.
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Fri, 14 May 2004 23:08:37 +0100, Andrew <spamtrap@localhost> wrote:

>>Things are different now Andrew. I think you still live in voodoo2 era.
>
>3D cards I have owned: Voodoo 1, Voodoo 2, Voodoo 2 SLI, Voodoo 3,
>Geforce Pro, Geforce 2 GTS, Geforce 3, Geforce 4 4400, 9700 Pro.

That's insane. Proof positive you play tech demos instead of games.