PC Perspective - NVIDIA's Quad SLI Technology

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	NVIDIA's Quad SLI Technology - Performance and Quality
	Author: Ryan Shrout Date: Aug 09, 2006 Subject: Graphics Card Manufacturer: NVIDIA

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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed inspection of NVIDIA's Quad SLI technology. For all the charts and pictures you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

Click this link to get the full article

Today, NVIDIA is introducing the enthusiast community to Quad SLI once again. Only this time, they want you to go buy it and build yourself; no longer is Quad SLI being delegated to the boutique system builder. NVIDIA's reasoning for not wanting to put Quad SLI in the hands of enthusiasts immediately was due to the software questions and instability that existed initially while the driver software was being tweaked. As of today, NVIDIA has readied the driver for the public and we have been spending the last couple of weeks playing with it and the technology behind Quad SLI in order to share our experiences with you.

Quad SLI technology was original debuted at CES in January of 2006, here on PC Perspective. Since then, the technology has undergone several revisions including newer GPUs, smaller PCBs and actually having system integrators like Alienware and Voodoo PC selling Quad SLI systems.

Here we can see the Asus P5N32-SLI SE motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, 2 x 1GB of Corsair Memory's PC8500-C4 memory, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value and dual NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 cards installed; looks damn sexy, doesn't it?

Adding in the second card to complete the four-GPU beast crowds the area up some, but everything fits in nice and tidy. There is only a single SLI bridge connection that needs to be made between the two 7950 GX2 cards, making installation no more complicated than the standard SLI technology. Both cards require a PCI Express power connection, which the PCP&C 1 kW power supply provides out of the box, with no adaptors.

Prices

A Quad SLI system is going to be expensive. You'll need to buy a fast processor, motherboard that supports SLI, two 7950 GX2 cards, 2GB of memory and all the other stuff including hard drive, DVD drives, etc. For an Intel system, I'd recommend either the Core 2 Extreme X6800 or Core 2 Duo E6700 ($1100 or $599). If you'd like an AMD-based system, try the Athlon 64 FX-62 or the Athlon X2 5000+ ($790 or $450). You can get Intel-based SLI motherboards for $100 all the way up to $300, and the same can be said for AMD-based SLI motherboards. Add in 2GB of high-speed DDR2 memory for about $225 and, of course, the 30" Dell monitor for $2k.

Don't forget the 7950 GX2 cards, particularly the BFG Technologies model and the XFX model. Two of them. That brings our rough, estimate up to ~$2175 for components and ~$4175 including the monitor. But of course, you can save the second 7950 GX2 purchase for down the road and save $600 on your initial purchase.

Final Thoughts

Quad SLI is a gamer's dream and is able to bring the highest possible image quality along with the higest resolutions on all of today's major titles. Yes, as of now, there are some limitations that need to be worked out, either with NVIDIA's diligence or time. If you want the absolute fastest gaming system, building one with Quad SLI at the core is where you need to start! Ladies and gentlemen, start your check books!

Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the components used in our Quad SLI system, and anything else you may want to buy!

Click here for the Detailed Review