Gigabyte Dual GPU: nForce4, Intel, and the 3D1 Single Card SLI Tested

Doom 3 Performance

There's a 2.7% difference in frame rate between the 3D1 and the 2 x 6600GT SLI solution at 16x12 under Doom 3 without AA. This performance improvement is all due to the memory clock speed increase over the stock 6600 GT speed on the 3D1. The extra 120MHz with which each GPU can hit memory helps to make up for the limited bandwidth to each chip. Off the bat, we don't see any performance gains inherent in going with a single card SLI solution.

With about a 5.3% increase in performance bump, the 3D1's lead over the stock 2 x 6600 GT solution is simply due to its 12% memory clock speed increase. Of course, it is good to confirm that there are no negatives that come from going with a single card SLI solution here.

Throughout this test, the Intel SLI solution performs very poorly, putting in numbers between one- and three-quarters their potential shown on the AMD platform. The fact that the Intel system is not as swift a performer under Doom 3 in general is not a help here either, but we are working with GPU limited tests that help to negate that factor.