nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on October 19, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
SLI Performance
For months, nVidia has been sneaking peeks at their upcoming Dual Video card capabilities, based on a technology known as SLI, or Scalable Link Interface. Not since the PCI Voodoo 2 from 3dfx in 1996 have we seen such a solution from a major graphics vendor. Of course, history saw the original 3dfx die in the market place. The single-slot AGP was introduced, 3dfx lost the video wars, and nVidia purchased what was left of 3dfx.We have been told that 3dfx engineers had quite a bit to do with the design of the new GeForce 6 series, and that is finally starting to make sense when we see that SLI capabilities are built into the 6 series video cards. Dual AGP would require a custom design, but PCI Express, like PCI in the past, finally provides the kind of platform that nVidia needed to launch a new SLI solution.
While nVidia was not ready to ship nForce4 SLI reference boards for review, they were demonstrating a major manufacturer's nF4 SLI board with a pair of nVidia 6800 Ultra video cards at 1600x1200 resolution at 4x AA. We also got to play with the SLI system with an Athlon 64 4000+ CPU, confirming benchmarks that were supplied by nVidia.
| Single GPU vs. SLI - nForce4 SLI | |||||||||
| 6600GT | 6800GT | 6800 Ultra | |||||||
| Single | SLI | % Increase | Single | SLI | % Increase | Single | SLI | % Increase | |
| Doom3 | 17.3 | 32 | 85% | 37.9 | 65.2 | 72% | 42.4 | 71.7 | 69% |
| Halo | 37.23 | 58.58 | 57% | 50.01 | 72.76 | 45% | 57.21 | 79.01 | 38% |
| 3DMark05 | 3186 | 5698 | 85% | 4588 | 8271 | 80% | 5211 | 9297 | 78% |
Increases in video performance from 38% to 85% are certainly impressive, and there are gamers and performance enthusiasts who will be flocking to the new nForce4 SLI boards as soon as they start shipping in the next few weeks. Perhaps the most impressive gain here is the performance leap with a pair of SLI 6600GT video cards. Two of these less than $200 cards are actually faster in most benchmarks compared to a single $400 6800GT. This provides an interesting upgrade path for many users. Of course, a pair of 6800GT or 6800 Ultra cards take performance to levels that we have never seen before.
Click to enlarge.
Shipping boards will allow a single video card of any brand at x16 PCIe or 2 nVidia video cards in two x8 PCIe slots in SLI mode. The SLI boards can be switched easily from x16 to SLI mode by switching a programming card on the board.
Click to enlarge.
nVidia says that the first nForce4 SLI boards will be available in the next few weeks from Asus and MSI. Other manufacturers will also be supplying SLI motherboards later this year.
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SMT - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
GG putting DOOM3 on the DX9 page.R3MF - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
lol, i have an NF7-S too.somehow, despite all the good things about the NF3 250GB chipset i just wasn't compelled to go and buy an A64 rig, it may have had something to do with an adverse fear of Creative Scabs cards.
Araemo - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
#35, you may be right about their driver writers..but they still write better drivers than any other consumer-level audio I've used in quite some time. (Ensoniq had decent drivers in the day, but guess who bought them?)
Now isn't THAT a scary thought?
Granted, I'm currently using soundstorm on my NF7-S, but I dislike the limited hardware 3d channels. I've had usefull sounds in games(like the gun that is shooting at me) be silent, while I hear other sounds like my footsteps, and the other 30 guns around me..
Araemo - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
"So any chipset that supports pci-e should handle sli just fine, as long as the mobo maker puts two physical 16x slot connectors, regardless of their actual bandwidth."Negative.
a 1x lane w/ a 16x connector would not be enough bandwidth for the second card.
Yes, 4x is enough for most current games, just like noone currently needs AGP8x.
However, having one video card on a 16x lane and one on a 4x lane is a very screwy setup. What if that second video card temporarily needs the lions share of the bandwidth? Using two 8x lanes w/ 16x connectors seems like a much better way to me, if only because it balances the load between the cards better.
Speedo - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Here's another one, dissapointed about no updated audio sollution. Going from an nForce2 sollution, slapping in an old SB Live card or something doesn't sound that exciting...knitecrow - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
I am not sure how NVIDIA came to the conclusion that audio was not a factor in buying decision. But it is the stupidest thing i have heard.If my memory serves, didn't NVIDIA originally say somewhere that they didn't see a need for audio based on the hardware reviews?
Anyway, the conclusion is all wrong. For those of us building media PC to hook up to an audio receiver, the original soundstorm on nforce2 was a great option.
For gamers who did not want to pay $100 for creative cards, sound storm provided a better solution than your typical mobo audio that didn’t have any DSP.
Many hardware enthusiasts love soundstorm. Anandtech is a hardware enthusiast site. I think it has a role to play in advocating consumer needs. Everyone made such a fuss over AGP/PCI bus locks (a feature that only interests overclockers, a minority) that NVIDIA and VIA had to put locks in.
I have to agree with #34
It does seem a bit draconian to make no mention of it at all. The criticism should be leveled against manufactures when required.
To say the issue has been dealt with or that it is old news, is simply being lazy.
The lack of soundstorm is a big problem. Its real, its relevant and it effects readers of Anandtech.
R3MF - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
and nor has any other preview made mention! what parts of the NDA have not expired, and when will they expire are questions i'd like the answer too.either nVidia has an ace up its sleeve, or it has nothing and structured the NDA in such a way that the initial wave of publicity across the web focused on the NF4's good points, and did not dwell on the lack of SS2.
i could forgive nVidia the lack of SS2, but not limiting audio to AC97. i loath Creative Labs gear with a passion, if only cos there drivers appear to be written by a bunch of howling monkeys jumping up and down in a skip full of broken keyboards, i do not want to be forced to buy one!
R3MF - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
but why did your preview make [b]NO[/b] mention of audio at all? to the point whereby it seems you are being arm-twisted to avoid the subject entirely?Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Audio Comments -nVidia has not had SoundStorm on any nForce3 chipset. This means that for the past year+ SoundStorm has been "missing" on any nVidia chipset for Athlon 64.
We raised this issue for nForce3-150, then for nForce3-250 at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?... By now the change in nVidia audio on A64 is only news to those who are still using an nF2 motherboard.
nVidia has hinted that an updated audio solution is possibly in the works, which may come to market as a standalone card. But don't hold your breath. The data we have seen showed SoundStorm had little impact on the buying decision, which is one of the reasons nVidia dropped it for Athlon 64.
R3MF - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
i swear the anand data-sheet on the CK8 chipset indicated that the sound would be some variety of high-definition audio, but on checking the link now (via nforcershq) the audio is only listed as just that, audio?