Originally Posted by bigz Not necessarily, we said that the PSU was essentially two PSUs bolted together for simplicity's sake - it's more than just a standard PSU, due to the different loading requirements in a Quad GPU configuration. There are two transformers and you can see pictures of the internals here: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/03/22/tagan_quad-sli_power/
why do they need 2 transformers
the freeking power lines dont use multiple ones (do they :eek: )
They could have just used a bigger transformer, instead of 2
their still drawing all the power off a single power cable/plug
adapting 2 power supplies (that are part of their current lineup) into a single unit is a hell of a lot easier and cheaper than designing a new unit capable of pushing out 1000w+
Good review. :) To summarize, based on the review as well as the thread:
Noisy.
Super expensive.
Power hungry.
Runs at high temperatures.
Majorly buggy drivers.
Requires a 30" display to start showing performance improvements.
Even with a 30" display, shows only incremental improvements for the most part.
Mmm, sounds attractive. Where can I throw away money... er, sorry... buy one of those? Oh, wait, I forgot: you can only buy it as part of a system from select vendors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cthippo After all, the 7900 GTX is an excellent and powerful GPU, two are even better, so we know it scales, and therefore 4 should be even better yet.
I'm not so sure. You can't say it scales based on adding one card. Four cards should be a better indicator. And there's a lot of added overhead to handle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cthippo As for the future of video cards, I think multiple GPUs are here to stay. Lets face it, most people have one video card, having two is much cooler even if the performance delta isn't THAT big.
Most people have the one video card that's integrated into the motherboard. Until motherboards come with integrated dual graphics, they won't become mainstream.
Originally Posted by Mister_Tad adapting 2 power supplies (that are part of their current lineup) into a single unit is a hell of a lot easier and cheaper than designing a new unit capable of pushing out 1000w+
PCP&C made a 1000w PSU that doesnt sound like a small commercial airliner
Also scalability isnt guarantted
1 card = 1 card performance
2 cards = ~1.8 card performance
4 cards = well assuming that sequence, 3.4
But combining 4 cards worth of data is more of a challenge then 2 cards
Originally Posted by img i was wondering though why in fear with 4 cards do you not put soft shadows on?
You can't run the game with both soft shadows and anti aliasing enabled - we have strongly felt that the game benefits more from AA than it does from the rather ugly-looking soft shadowing technique used in the engine. :)
Originally Posted by yahooadam PCP&C made a 1000w PSU that doesnt sound like a small commercial airliner
Also scalability isnt guarantted
1 card = 1 card performance
2 cards = ~1.8 card performance
4 cards = well assuming that sequence, 3.4
But combining 4 cards worth of data is more of a challenge then 2 cards
I think a commercial airliner is probably a little harsh, but it's certainly not "quiet" - hopefully with time, better and more efficient designs will come out.
basically the hardware designers are throwing out too much too fast and the software devs are trying to keep up.
If there was alot of focus on drivers i rekon the performance would be amazing.
I mean take any drivers that come with ur oldish card, then try out drivers about 5 revisions later and there is always a pretty decent improvement.
Originally Posted by yahooadam PCP&C made a 1000w PSU that doesnt sound like a small commercial airliner
Its still not quiet by any stretch of the imagination, nearly twice the price of the tagan 1100w and 3x the price of the 900w
Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against them (Huggles PCP&C 510), they make the best PSUs money can buy imo, but cant help but think something like a seasonic 600w would be more sensible
Well. If I won the lottery I might just possibly consider quad SLI running through a Matrox triple head to go box coupled with a bunch of video projectors to get ultra widescreen cinemascope gaming on a 30ft screen. And a separate room to put the computer in (because fan noise does my nut).
But then again, I hardly ever play video games, so I probably wouldn't, even with a few million sitting idle.
Originally Posted by ralph.pickering Well. If I won the lottery I might just possibly consider quad SLI running through a Matrox triple head to go box coupled with a bunch of video projectors to get ultra widescreen cinemascope gaming on a 30ft screen. And a separate room to put the computer in (because fan noise does my nut).
But then again, I hardly ever play video games, so I probably wouldn't, even with a few million sitting idle.
ummm... £2000+ for GPU+Monitor? For gaming? And the GPU Doesn't work properly? -silly! I'm running a bog standard 5yr old P4 sys (some upgrades) with a 19" CRT and I still have enjoyable experiences in the likes of NFS: MW. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to game at huge res with picture-perfect graphics, but I beleive that gameplay is more than just graphics. you don't need 2000-hell knows what resolution to enjoy a game. IMHO
Originally Posted by eddtox ummm... £2000+ for GPU+Monitor? For gaming? And the GPU Doesn't work properly? -silly! I'm running a bog standard 5yr old P4 sys (some upgrades) with a 19" CRT and I still have enjoyable experiences in the likes of NFS: MW. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to game at huge res with picture-perfect graphics, but I beleive that gameplay is more than just graphics. you don't need 2000-hell knows what resolution to enjoy a game. IMHO
-ed out
Couldn't agree more to any post here... Well, to be honest: If I had 2000 I'd definitly go for a SLI79 or CF1900 rig but I don't have it and actually don't need it. 1024x works fine for me. :'( :D
Oh god the dreaded day has finally come 4 GPUS for PC gaming. This is so rediculous that it makes me wanna cry. Since when has the progression of gaming hardware digressed to this laughable point and the sad thing is there isn't even any noticeable improvement.
This has done it for me, I'm out of PC gaming once and for all, I'm going straight to console from now on, seeing as consoles have everything PC gaming ever had both in visuals and in online playability without the rediculous specs. I gotta call it quits before Nividia releases the 8 GPU Sli and the refrigerator chassis to go with it.
To think I actually considered building another gaming rig, 4 GPUs LOL for an avg 35fps at 1080p sad. I think I'll just stick with buying rendering cards for my editing suite from now on, and leave the gaming to MS and Sony consoles.
P.S
I gotta a great idea for GPU makers instead actually making progress in hardware advancements howabout we just link 150'000 Geforce 4s together and stick them all in an Nasa hydrogen tank and call it the next evolution in PC gaming. I gotta perfect name the Nvidia MongoliaSLi, Mongolia referring to the amount of space needed to house the unit. Hell we might even get a 5 frame boost on Oblivion.
hmm toms didnt seem to mention any of the oblivion problems.. and they gave it a good review... interesting. guess that means i'll need to see more reviews supporting one side or another before i decide if it's junk or not http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/02/nvidia_goes_for_four/
Originally Posted by sadffffff hmm toms didnt seem to mention any of the oblivion problems.. and they gave it a good review... interesting. guess that means i'll need to see more reviews supporting one side or another before i decide if it's junk or not http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/02/nvidia_goes_for_four/
Toms is the only one of five publications with nearly 100% praise. The driver that they used for Oblivion is the one with the shadowing bug and their testing involves waiting around in game for the screen saver to show up - hardly what I'd call 'gameplay' testing. That makes it hard for them to experience the driver problems that are definitely there in Oblivion.
TechpowerUP had Oblivion problems, as did X-bit Labs. Interestingly, TechpowerUP have updated saying that NVIDIA has a driver that has fixed Oblivion - I would be interested in knowing if this one has fixed the freezing issues or not, or whether it is the driver that I used to fix the shadow corruption.
You can believe who you want, but I would highly recommend leaving your money in your pocket until the drivers are more mature. I'd hate for someone to feel stung based on the fact that they've just spent £5k on tech that is immature. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to like this technology, and when it works it's fantastic... It just doesn't work often enough, and most importantly, when that happens it seems to really break, not just slow down.
Personally, I would like to see better single cards at decent prices. Not everyone can afford even £400 nevermind the rest. I just built a system for a friend for ~£600 and it runs fine. I think we need to take a step back and look at this logically. Just because something CAN be done (more or less) it doesn't mean it should. IMHO
Comments 51 to 72 of 72
the freeking power lines dont use multiple ones (do they :eek: )
They could have just used a bigger transformer, instead of 2
their still drawing all the power off a single power cable/plug
- Noisy.
- Super expensive.
- Power hungry.
- Runs at high temperatures.
- Majorly buggy drivers.
- Requires a 30" display to start showing performance improvements.
- Even with a 30" display, shows only incremental improvements for the most part.
Mmm, sounds attractive. Where can I throw away money... er, sorry... buy one of those? Oh, wait, I forgot: you can only buy it as part of a system from select vendors.Also scalability isnt guarantted
1 card = 1 card performance
2 cards = ~1.8 card performance
4 cards = well assuming that sequence, 3.4
But combining 4 cards worth of data is more of a challenge then 2 cards
As I see it, most people don't have dual graphic cards. So maybe its better to offer a more affordable dual solution first.
But, impressive, nonetheless.
If there was alot of focus on drivers i rekon the performance would be amazing.
I mean take any drivers that come with ur oldish card, then try out drivers about 5 revisions later and there is always a pretty decent improvement.
Its still not quiet by any stretch of the imagination, nearly twice the price of the tagan 1100w and 3x the price of the 900w
Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against them (Huggles PCP&C 510), they make the best PSUs money can buy imo, but cant help but think something like a seasonic 600w would be more sensible
But then again, I hardly ever play video games, so I probably wouldn't, even with a few million sitting idle.
I know i would lol
-ed out
This has done it for me, I'm out of PC gaming once and for all, I'm going straight to console from now on, seeing as consoles have everything PC gaming ever had both in visuals and in online playability without the rediculous specs. I gotta call it quits before Nividia releases the 8 GPU Sli and the refrigerator chassis to go with it.
To think I actually considered building another gaming rig, 4 GPUs LOL for an avg 35fps at 1080p sad. I think I'll just stick with buying rendering cards for my editing suite from now on, and leave the gaming to MS and Sony consoles.
P.S
I gotta a great idea for GPU makers instead actually making progress in hardware advancements howabout we just link 150'000 Geforce 4s together and stick them all in an Nasa hydrogen tank and call it the next evolution in PC gaming. I gotta perfect name the Nvidia MongoliaSLi, Mongolia referring to the amount of space needed to house the unit. Hell we might even get a 5 frame boost on Oblivion.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/02/nvidia_goes_for_four/
TechpowerUP had Oblivion problems, as did X-bit Labs. Interestingly, TechpowerUP have updated saying that NVIDIA has a driver that has fixed Oblivion - I would be interested in knowing if this one has fixed the freezing issues or not, or whether it is the driver that I used to fix the shadow corruption.
You can believe who you want, but I would highly recommend leaving your money in your pocket until the drivers are more mature. I'd hate for someone to feel stung based on the fact that they've just spent £5k on tech that is immature. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to like this technology, and when it works it's fantastic... It just doesn't work often enough, and most importantly, when that happens it seems to really break, not just slow down.
ive allways thought toms hardware's reviews are far too long
who can stay interesting in somthing for 19 pages
-ed out
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2005/10/04/one_gigabyte_motherboarduk/index.html
8 7800GTX's? Hmmmmm...
beacause that motherboard will only do quad SLI with giagbytes own special cards