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Gigabyte's Dual-GPU Graphics Card

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the two-is-one-more-than-one dept.

kamerononfire writes "Tom's Hardware has an article on a new dual-GPU graphics card, to be released Friday, by Giga-byte: "According to sources, the SLI card will lift current 3DMark2003 record revels by a significant margin while being priced lower than ATI's and Nvidia's single-GPU high-end cards.""

12 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That makes a lot more sense, store the textures once in shared memory instead of storing it twice as you would have to do in a two card solution.

    Makes me wonder if Nvidia will have dual core gpus in the future.

  2. What about 4 gpu 3dfx V5 6000? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    eom

    1. Re:What about 4 gpu 3dfx V5 6000? by orthancstone · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, apparently the author hasn't kept up with the graphics card industry. I would say perhaps he is only considering graphics cards that are realistically retail, but this one isn't on the market yet so I hardly feel that's applicable.

  3. Dubious Information by webword · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not based on actual data. Tom's Hardware has NOT run any tests yet. Take what you read with a grain of salt.

    "Sources told Tom's Hardware Guide..."

    "Tom's Hardware Guide's test lab staff will run the 3D1 through its benchmark track, as soon as the card becomes available."

    IMHO, this is a PR coup by Gigabyte to get something into Tom's Hardware. But more importantly, why post this on Slashdot now? Let's see some data first. Let's see the results of the tests.

    --
    How to Download YouTube Videos
  4. I'll take two, and dual SLI for quad power! by CYDVicious · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And what are the chances of a dual GPU pci-express card coming out after this, with the compatibility to be run DUAL SLI mode with a 2nd Dual GPU card? ~CYD

    --
    //Nothing to see here, please move along.
  5. Need Dual AGPs.... by muntumbomoklik · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It really burns my butt to see all these fancy-pants cards being released every few months but since no motherboard manufacturer makes dual-AGP motherboards you can't use your 'old' card as a secondary display and the new one in tandem; you just gotta throw it out, or stick to PCI cards which sucks. Am I the only person who is surrounded by at least 4 monitors at one time and wants more AGP power to the other two?

  6. The Obvious.. by mavi_yelken · · Score: 1, Interesting

    When will it be available?

  7. Re:Deja Voodoo by RealErmine · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is there anything to indicate that this card will do better?

    The Voodoo 4/5 were the most expensive cards on the market. This card is cheaper than a *SINGLE* Nv 6800 and outperforms it by a good margin.

    Why buy a 6800?

    --
    Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
  8. Re:Deja Voodoo by Ianoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The point was, I think, that the Voodoo 4 and Voodoo 5 were last ditch efforts for survival by 3DFX when faced with more competition from a fast-growing 3D acceleration industry. IIRC, the performance of those cards was nearly matched by a single GPU from nVidia, so they weren't an attractive deal (being large, expensive, power hungry beasts). This card, however, doesn't have any obvious competition, yet, and by the time it does, I'm sure nVidia will have added SLI to their latest and greatest too. Additionally, PC buyers and makers more readily accept large coolers, whereas in the days of the Voodoo 4, the cooling required for the heat generated by all the chips just seemed silly.

  9. Re:Drivers? by hattig · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I agree, but not about a PCI-Express switch. Most likely 8 PCIe channels go to one GPU, and the other 8 to the other.

    What I want on the card is TWO DVI outputs though. And possibly another two available on the other GPU via a cable when not in SLI mode.

  10. Re:Yes, but will there be drivers for Linux by BigBuckHunter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If your gaming rig is running linux, then you will already know that the Nvidia 6629 already supports SLI

  11. no.. by destiney · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I strongly advise you to not do business with Gigabytes Technologies.

    Dealing with them on a bad motherboard (brand new) proved to take me nearly 3 months. Meanwhile _none_ of my emails or phone calls were _ever_ returned. They only took progressive action when I called them and waited to be spoken with. The support person even hung up on me once when the conversation became heated over the long wait time. They refused to send me a replacement/loaner motherboard and had no other alternatives for me but to sit and wait for the one I mailed to them via RMA to be repaired. Oh, and to even get the RMA I had to fax three different forms back to them and wait for approval, the process to get an RMA took about 4 days. Usually I can get an RMA over the phone, not with Gigabytes you won't.

    The board still does not work 100%, it only boots off whatever is plugged into the primary ide controller, even though the bios has many other options.

    This is a true story I swear.

    And Gigabytes, if you're reading this, I told you I would spread the word, and I am..