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Dual GeForce 7800 GT SLI Single Card Performance
Maximus writes "Asus is this first board partner out of the block with a single board, dual
GPU design based on NVIDIA's
GeForce 7800 GT graphics chip. The
Asus Extreme N7800 GT DUAL essentially takes a dual board SLI setup and
packs it all into a single PCI Express based card.
HotHardware has a performance preview posted that shows this card can even
compete in some cases with an GeForce 7800 GTX SLI setup, due to improved
latency characteristics with respect to inter-GPU transactions, that are
inherent to a single board design . This board is a bit pricey though for
sure so only gaming speed freaks need apply."
as much as you guys hate microsoft, they are going to be driving higher performance graphic cards with the release of Vista.
Speed freaks. The computer equivilent of the people who buy sports cars to go 20 miles an hour on the freeway. It doesn't matter that you can't use it for anything, just that you have it. Anyway, these function as previews for what normal gamers will be able to buy for $100-$200 in a year or so after the next couple uber video cards come out. The company gets a few sales to the freaks. We get to see whats next. Everybody wins.
Ive been using a Geforce 6600 along with Radeon 9600/9500 and 9800s, and have to say, nvidia still need to improve on 2D quality. Text has been blurred in games (even the HUD text was more blurred), squinting at text at 1280x1024 in IRC on a 19" monitor is painful, when going back to a Radeon, never needed to worry, everything was nice and sharp. I used to like Geforces, since they were smaller and faster than Voodoos. When I went form a Geforce 3 to a 9800, I couldn't believe how sharp my monitor picture looked, it was like I've gone from a .28 dot pitch to .24 or something.
I don't think anyone actually buys the top card every year. Everyone's upgrade cycle isn't at the same time, and someone's always upgrading. But to answer your main question: the only piece of software that can use all this power that I know of right now is Battlefield 2. And for me, that's enough to make me consider it (read: want it) but I'll wait until it drops in price a bit.
everything in moderation
My experience is that the ATI cards are better, much better. But remember, the nVidia cards can come from so many manufacturers and they may use substandard parts.
The drawback is that I still get driven crazy by ATI and their stupid drivers. Just installed the latest last night and it completely messes up the TV function of the card and I had to remove and reinstall all the software to get it to work. That is why I haven't upgrade the video drivers for so long. Every time I do it it is a big mess. You wonder if they even test the install before sending them out.
A single Dual 7800 GT Card costs MORE than TWICE a true TWO-Card 7800 GT SLI Setup.
So your 4 GPU setup would end up costing alot more than "the price of two!"
Besides, you can't run these cards in "SLI" mode again. This card is it, you can't add another.
Wake up from your fantacy!
Modesty is one of life's greatest attributes
The card offers an humongous amount of horsepower, yet the vast majority of people have monitors that can do 1280x1024 (most mid-sized LCDs out there) or 1600x1200 (most CRT's). So most of the power your card can produce above what a mid-range last-generation card (or high-range 2-gen-old card) can produce is largely unused.
... 40% FROM THE LEFT EDGE AND 60% FROM THE RIGHT (OR OTHERWISE ADJUSTABLE) OF THE DISPLAY. IT'S OUTRIGHT A NEUCANSE! TIA.
All of these new cards will give more than playable rates at either of these resolutions on most modern games without breaking a sweat, the heavier game engines requiring you to drop a notch or two on the FSAA or AF.
In fact, even my trusty OEM Radeon 9700 Pro bought December 2002 for 270$ does that just fine.
But where is all that horsepower needed? The answer is obvious, and yet promptly ignored. All these cards have two outputs (at least). Which can very well work simultaneously in a game, thank you very much. If one LCD can't go over 1280x1024, why not have two?
I run a two-monitor setup on my Rad (Dual Samsung 172X's). Both nVidia and ATI drivers support spanning (turning all outputs into one virtual very large screen). Three problems arise that require attention for this to work in gaming:
1. The game must support using SPAN. Many games (UT2k4, NWN, Fable, etc.) support this reasonably.
2. Unrelated to Issue #1 above, the game must support *weird* aspect ratios. Contrary to popular belief, unlike 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 - the 1280x1024 res, what our modern LCD's do best is not 4x3. It is 5x4. Do the math. The next 4x3 notch is 1280x960. The 5x4 aspect ratio aside, dual monitors give some very new AR's altogether - 8x3 for two 4x3 monitors, or 10x4 AR for two 1280's side by side. Fable, for example, while putting the rendered picture within my virtual 10x4 display area neatly, promptly puts the (quite essential) dialog subs and game choices outside the viewable area because it is unfamiliar with this aspect raito.
3. Not a showstopper, but very easy to work around if only the game devs would give it one ounce of thought:
Most action in almost any type of game (bar, perhaps, RTS's) happens dead in the center of your display. Which is good if you're playing with three displays, all important stuff happening flat in the center of your middle one, but with the simple solution 90% of people can affort and implement - purchase an additional monitor and hook it up to their existing dual-head-supporting graphics card - all the action happens right on top of the split between the two monitors. Things like your character in NWN (which properly gets split by 2cm (if you're lucky and chose your monitors wisely - 5cm if you're not) of space in the middle, looking somewhat 'fat') to that little pixel marking the business end of my sniper rifle in UT. VERY annoying (though I got used to it, to an extent, and it's very much worth the wider viewport).
GAME DEVELOPERS, PLEASE, PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE, PUT AN OPTION IN THE CONFIG TO OFFCENTER THE GAME HAPPENINGS SO THE CENTER OF THE GAME IS
Those issues aside (and with some, at least the former two issues definitely are), two monitors and a 2560x1024 resolution would give even the newest GPU (with FSAA, AF and shadow rendering cranked up to max of course) a very decent workout, and put all that unuseable horsepower on the fringes of the useable realm.
My two cents.
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