SLI is targeted for release later this fall. NVIDIA is focusing on system builders first, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering the infrastructure support that will be necessary for SLI’s adoption. Remember, a beefier power supply will be required (although NVIDIA hasn’t given specifics), and cooling will have to be taken into consideration: two dual-slot GeForce 6800 Ultra boards would require an enormous amount of space, and don’t forget that the current reference 6800 coolers are both ducted designs that rely on internal airflow to keep the GPU and memory cool. Dual PCI Express slot motherboards will also have to hit the retail market.
Another question mark we have revolves around the SLI connector. As of press time, NVIDIA hasn’t announced their plans for bundling this device. Hopefully it will ship with PCI Express GeForce 6800 boards once they hit retail, but it’s also possible that you’ll have to purchase it as a separate accessory. Considering the success of 3dfx’s “The Power of Two” campaign, we’re hoping NVIDIA bundles the connector with the card, just as 3dfx did with the pass-through cable on Voodoo2, even if that means the board ships with an extra pamphlet or two full of SLI marketing material, but the final decision is still up in the air.
Conclusion
NVIDIA’s SLI technology could dramatically spice up the 3D market. With GeForce 6800 already CPU-limited in many situations, gamers could instead potentially crank up the AA to 8x and the AF to 16x without a dramatic performance hit. Meanwhile, next generation titles could be played with their maximum settings and at high resolutions. The possibilities are limitless.
The real question mark will be infrastructure support. How many motherboard manufacturers will provide dual PCI Express motherboards and in what quantities and pricing? What are the power requirements going to look like? These are the types of questions that really haven’t been adequately answered. NVIDIA initially plans to control the situation by focusing on system builders first, but in order for SLI technology to really take off, it also needs to hit retail.
Until that occurs, NVIDIA will be demonstrating SLI at the Electronic Sports World Cup, Fragapalooza, and the CPL Championships next month, with SIGGRAPH and QuakeCon demonstrations in August. If you’re in the area of any of these events, you may want to check it out.
In any case, we’re anxiously awaiting the arrival of SLI. If NVIDIA is able to deliver as promised, NVIDIA SLI should give gamers a compelling reason to upgrade to PCI Express, and they’ll be sure that PCI Express card (or cards) is based on an NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series GPU!
Phenom II Gets A New Revision: 125W AMD Phenom II X4 965 Performance Preview
Promising lower power consumption, lower temps, and most importantly for enthusiasts, more OC'ing, AMD is back with a new CPU revision for the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, which now boasts a 125W TDP. Is AMD able to deliver on their promises though? Find out in today's article!
Shattered Horizon Review
FutureMark, well known for their popular 3DMark benchmarks, is venturing into new territory with Shattered Horizon. This multiplayer shooter is perhaps best known for its system requirements -- the game supports DX10 only -- but there's more underneath the surface of this game than fancy visuals. Is it worth its $20 price tag though? Read Vandy's take inside!
Borderlands PC Review
Is it an RPG or is it an FPS? Borderlands blends the best elements of both in one entertaining package. Vandy has spent the past week playing the PC version of the game and came away rather impressed. Read his full thoughts on the game in today's review!
AMD Athlon II X3 435/Athlon II X2 240e Performance Preview
Today AMD is introducing 8 new Athlon II CPUs intended to service different segments of the budget CPU market. For HTPC users, new 45W dual, triple, and quad core offerings should deliver good performance along with low power, while performance junkies on a budget will want to look at AMD's new Athlon II X3 CPUs. See how the new chips stack up in terms of performance and OC'ing in this article!
EVGA P55 FTW Review
Looking for a good P55 motherboard to OC your CPU beyond 4GHz? If so, you may want to check out EVGA's P55 FTW. With its extra ATX12V connector, this motherboard can send up to 600W of juice to the CPU, and it's got more voltage settings in BIOS than 95% of the general public needs. But that's just barely scratching the surface of what this board can do. Check out today's review for the full details!
ATI Radeon HD 5770/5750 Performance Preview
With prices ranging from $109-$159, ATI's Radeon 5700 series of cards bring DX11 gaming to mainstream price points and usher in new levels of energy efficiency. But are they powerful enough to dethrone ATI's Radeon 4800 series cards? Yes and no. Read today's article for more info!
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Review
While it's not the true sequel to Operation Flashpoint, Dragon Rising is billed as a modern tactical sim just like its predecessor. Does it live up to these claims? Read Vandy's take in today's review!
Batman: Arkham Asylum PhysX Features and Performance
One eye candy feature PC users can enjoy over the console edition of Batman: AA is PhysX. Rocksteady's PhysX implementation is more than just tearing cloth and added objects too, although that's of course in there. Vandy goes over the features and performance of PhysX in Batman: AA in this article!
ATI Radeon 5850 Performance Preview
Not everyone's got $400 to spend on a shiny new Radeon 5870 card, which is why it can be argued that ATI's Radeon 5850 is the more relevant GPU for a lot of gamers and hardware enthusiasts. Based on the same DX11 RV870 architecture as the 5870, the 5850 delivers next-generation performance in a smaller, more efficient package, and most importantly it's priced for less than $300. ATI pitches it as their answer to the GeForce GTX 285...See how it compares in this article!
Overclocking the Radeon HD 5870
We weren't satisfied with the 900MHz core/1300MHz memory speeds we hit last week with our Radeon 5870 boards. We wanted to see how far ATI's latest flagship GPU could be pushed, and how well it could perform at those speeds. We also wanted to see which component delivered better performance results: OC'ing the memory, or OC'ing the GPU?
Fortunately thanks to AMD's GPU Clock Tool, we now have unlimited speeds on tap for OC'ing. Is 1GHz within reach? Find out in today's article!