# IS NVIDIA SLI(scalable link interface) worth its  money ??



## som_ruffy (Mar 13, 2005)

THE LATEST GIZMO FOR  NVIDIA FANS IS THE NEW
DUAL NVIDIA CARD SLI(scalable link interface)
to connect two NVIDIA CARD TO GET FERRARI PERFORMANCE! :roll:

* Topic moved to Hardware Reviews for discussion
* Sourabh*


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## infernus (Mar 13, 2005)

It is only for the filthy rich. I mean, while people are striving to get a single PCI-e card, two PCI-e card is far out of reach. And then you gotta buy a mobo supporting the feature. But it certainly give a whopping boost in gaming perfomance. But at present a number of games will not run at all with SLI.
If youve got the dough and a passion for gaming, this is the thing for you.
And BTW, did you guys know, many mobos have been released which supports both PCI-e and AGP.


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## ammusk (Jul 3, 2005)

worth its money when only the rich can get their filthy hands on it??
why should they even bother to see if it is worth the money??


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## godzi_85 (Jul 4, 2005)

hmm sli is also suitable for the middle class  log.. lol

say in 45k you can get a good sli rig.. no kidding.. cause  now even the 6200 have been introduced as sli capable cards..

plus with the latest release of nvidia drivers you no longer need two identical cards with same bios to run in sli..you can any two 6600 gt`s , any two 6800 gt`s in sli... which is great news.. cause this means that you no longer need to spend a lot of money now buying sli pack .. you can buy one now. and one later.. when the price falls which is absolutely good news!!!
and with  driver/bios releases sli has become a lot better then what it was when it first came out...


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## raj14 (Jul 6, 2005)

Cool! but to get kickAss performance from SLi, combine, two GeForce 7800GTXs!!!!! Doom 3 Got 90fps! on High quality with 4x AA and 8x AF!!!! Awesome! But wait! the price of that card is 44k! so you really have to be filthy rich to own that. on the other hand, two 6600GTs also make a Hell like couple and post some very high FPs, IMO wish two Gigabyte 3D1s running in SLi, theywill post superb scores! cause each 3D1 contains two 6600GTs built in, so that makes a total of four 6600GTs! thus creating lot of havok!


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## deathvirus_me (Jul 6, 2005)

worth if only u think af 2x6800GT or above .... there wont be much performance difference between a oc'ed 6800GT and 2x6600GT in sli ....


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## devilhead_satish (Jul 6, 2005)

Its only for spoilt brats really. Its not exactly worth it. I'd reccomend it only for Graphic Designers. You know there's something better one year down the line. Thats being a bit too pessimistic but still.


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## raj14 (Jul 6, 2005)

tere is a diffrence, if you look at it, two 6600Gts make one 6800GT, so four will actually be two 6800GTs


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## Switch (Jul 6, 2005)

*www.techenclave.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3688

Go through this


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## rohanbee (Jul 8, 2005)

saving up to get a sli rig too..................
............WHY DO THINGS HAVE TO BE SO EXPENSIVE IN INDIA ..................WHY MR.FINANCE MINISTER WHY????


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## AlienTech (Jul 9, 2005)

lot of confusion continues to swirl around what is and isn't SLI. Shortly after the technology's arrival, some board manufacturers started coming out with "near-SLI" implementations. MSI, for example, released an nForce4 Ultra board with an x16 and an open-backed x4 slot. By using early versions of NVIDIA's driver, this enabled the board to deliver SLI-type functionality that came within 5% to 10% of true SLI. NVIDIA quickly altered their drivers to prevent such approaches from working.

More recently, DFI's NF4 Ultra-D motherboard went to market with two x16 slots but no SLI bridge included. Like VIA, DFI maintains that the twin slots are meant to enable three- and four-head video output, not SLI. However, one prominent Web site shows how the Ultra chip can be easily modded with a #2 pencil (yes, seriously) and effectively turned into an SLIâ€”the chip construction is that similarÂ­â€”thus turning the Ultra-D into an SLI motherboard. NVIDIA is reworking the Ultra chip to prevent this mod from working in the future, and subsequent Ultra-D boards will carry the updated chip.


*www.reselleradvocate.com/public/ram/issues/ram40/ram40_chipsets_coverstory02.html


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## AlienTech (Jul 9, 2005)

How about DLI?

In conclusion, M1695 is definitely something that have surpassed my expectations. Not only does it support both AGP 8x & PCI-E x16, it supports Dual PCI-E x 8 and it has remarkable overclockability. I look forward to seeing retail boards based on this chipset. For those who have high end AGP 8x cards and wants future upgradeability to PCI-E (Single/Dual*) and wants to overclock like mad, M1695 is definitely worth the wait.

*www.ocworkbench.com/2005/uli/m1695/dualpcie-4.htm


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## akshayt (Jul 9, 2005)

Does sli capable cards even come below 6600?

Also,rather than takeing 6600gt sli , take 6800gt
rather than taking 6800gt sli take 7800gtx

also,sli won't be supported (atleast) may not be supported in all games and might not give its full potential each time. check
so a 6800gt may overall be better

though future games may suport sli

also,only point 7800gtx sli or 512mb geforce 6800ultra
but won't you rather take the 7800gtx sli so rather go for that as it may be faster

min cost of sli  abt 75-80k for cards


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## rohanbee (Jul 9, 2005)

havent heard of sli cards coming below the 6600........would be a good thing if they do though. On the other hand didn't sli just come with pci-express slot cards or are they compatible with agp slots too?? anyone got info on this?


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## Delpiero (Jul 9, 2005)

rohanbee said:
			
		

> havent heard of sli cards coming below the 6600........would be a good thing if they do though. On the other hand didn't sli just come with pci-express slot cards or are they compatible with agp slots too?? anyone got info on this?


No, nothing under 6600 supports SLI. There is no motherboard in this world which supports two AGP cards. SLI only applies to PCI-E cards.


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## darklord (Jul 10, 2005)

Nvidia has enabled SLI support for 6600 plain 
So you dont need to have the sli goldfinger on the card to enable sli.
Just put the SLI selector card to dual card setup
Then put 2 6600 plain cards in the two slots,
install Forceware 77.72 drivers
and bang, you are now SLI ready with a 6600 plain card which costs merely 6-7k each.

Now you no longer need 6600GT or 6800 series card to enable SLI.

ISnt that great ?

Please note that there is a slight performance drop in performance without the SLI bridge which fits on the 2 cards normally.
But hey who cares if the drop is merely say 2%


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## rohanbee (Jul 11, 2005)

Thats quite good. Do you mean that we dont need the bridge for this?? is that what you meen when you say goldfinger? or am i mis interpreting it?

So for just slightly more than the price of a 6600gt we can get 2 plain jane 6600's and have the speed almost next to a plain 6800..

thats good news if it works without problems i.e

Would love to read a review from any person whose using such a setup in india though.


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## darklord (Jul 11, 2005)

rohanbee said:
			
		

> Thats quite good. Do you mean that we dont need the bridge for this?? is that what you meen when you say goldfinger? or am i mis interpreting it?
> 
> So for just slightly more than the price of a 6600gt we can get 2 plain jane 6600's and have the speed almost next to a plain 6800..
> 
> ...



See here is what actually happens -

You have Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe board but unfortunately you have broken/lost the bridge.

Now you buy 2 6600 plain cards that dont have the SLI gold finger,earlier necessary for the SLI to be enabled.
You put the convertor card on the board to dual grafix cards
you install the 2 6600 card in the 2 slots
you boot the PC
Install latest Nvidia Forceware drivers
reboot,
SLI ready setup is detected by drivers,
you go to driver menu to find that you have SLI enabled system.


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## rohanbee (Jul 12, 2005)

That seems to be a much better option. Theres always the risk of the sli bridge breakage.


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## ASH18MARCH (Jul 28, 2005)

gping through the post i foud quiet alot of opnion saying its a waste of money i dont agree with this entirly reason one lets take for example one year from now 512 mb card scome out and suppose u have a 6800 with 256 mb now one thing is for sure the price of 6800 in futre when 512 car come will drop and that to drasticaly so it will be quiet sensible insted of selling your card and going for anew card its worth buying a another 6800 which by then will coast less and ofcourse most of the game swill support sli inter face  

take another ex say for say 3d artist it a thumbrule if u are working with maya in order to do hard ware redering u need a qudro  and it is aknow fact tha qudro suck at games so waht if the proffesional want to play game should he keep on changing card s thas not a option so sli can help such people  when he works in 3d he use qudro when in game u use 66600 or any gamers card


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## mohit (Jul 28, 2005)

@darklord
i have a query ... will 2*plain 6600's perform better than a single 6600gt ?? i am planning to buy the Leadtek Winfast 6600GT Extreme edition .. should i go for 2*plain 6600's instead and get a SLI rig ??


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## Ringwraith (Jul 28, 2005)

nopes mohit ...dont think u shud do that..! since in most case performace increase is only abt 50-70% more compared to the single card! i ve bought the same card as urs (leadtek 6600gt extreme) and maybe ill buy another of these cards in (say) 6 months..when its price will come down frm 12k now to arnd 7k...


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## mohit (Jul 28, 2005)

@Ringwraith
man getting a 50-70% increase in perfomance is worth the dough ... r u really sure that perfomance diff is so much ?? or is it 5-7% ???

 how good is the leadtek card ? played doom3 on it ? if yes do post details of the fps u got and on what resolution n quality. thanx. y dont u post a review on it ? it will be really helpful for others.


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## Ringwraith (Jul 28, 2005)

okay! i will do it, but I ve yet to setup my new system...I ve the cpu n gfx card already...but I ve to get my mobo...so long then...after i get it...ill certainly post a review....
expect it ~saturday/sunday

and yes...abt the performance increase thing...are u saying performance increase with 2 SLI capable cards is only 5-7 % more than a single card!!? if so y wud anyone buy two cards shelling out double the money just for a 5% better performance-gain! 

anyways AFAIK approximate figures:
6600GT extreme = 2* (6600 vanilla) 
6800 GT = 2* (6600GT vanilla)

(2 6600 SLI'd) = (say) 1.7 * (1 6600 vanilla)

say u SLI'd two 6600GTs then u wud be paying around 11k+11k =22k for the gfx cards, while u cud have better spent 22k for the 6800GT card ! for a direct 200% performance ...considered to 170% performance of the SLI thingy.

sorry, if thr's too much mathematical calculations involved


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## darklord (Jul 28, 2005)

@ Mohit, i would recommend going for GT IF and only IF it works out cheaper than 2 6600 Cards. But advantage of 2 6600 Plain in SLI is you get 256 MB Buffer compared to 128 MB of GT.

Decide whats good for you.But hey,dont you have 915 board ? :roll:


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## mohit (Jul 28, 2005)

@darklord
ya i have a 915 board and thats what is the problem .. if i want to go for 2*plain 6600's ill have to change my board and ram (ddr2 required) ...so i have decided to go for the 6600gt or 6800 gt/ultra (if their prices fall). but the info u provided will be useful for a frnd of mine who is planning to get a new rig. ill advice him to go for 2*plain 6600's instead of a GT as the price diff will be of around 1-1.5k. thanx.


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## bukaida (Jul 28, 2005)

I am happy with my 6800 card. As technology is changing with gr8 pace, the prices will obviously come down.


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## darklord (Jul 29, 2005)

mohit said:
			
		

> @darklord
> ya i have a 915 board and thats what is the problem .. if i want to go for 2*plain 6600's ill have to change my board and ram (ddr2 required) ...so i have decided to go for the 6600gt or 6800 gt/ultra (if their prices fall). but the info u provided will be useful for a frnd of mine who is planning to get a new rig. ill advice him to go for 2*plain 6600's instead of a GT as the price diff will be of around 1-1.5k. thanx.



Also keep in Mind that there are 6600 plains with passive heatsink over it.
This might be useful in improving the quieteness of the system without compromising on the performance.


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## akshayt (Jul 29, 2005)

6600gt shd be better than 6600 is as such all games at practically most settings one might play with those cards .
if gt performs 40-80%(sometimes nearly double say abt 80%) that of 6600 , sli 6600 may cross it someimtes in some games but how many games take full advantage,even if sometime you can get 10-15% better performance will you even practically notice,you may to some extent but isn't that all however.
in games where sli is not supported or sli doesn't take full suport and gives small performance increase wouldn't you rather take 6600gt and also in the games where sli gives decent increase how much slower will the gt be.

xbitlabs.com/articles/video
comparison of 24 cards part II or something


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## Ringwraith (Jul 29, 2005)

exactly...SLI support in games isnt very widespread right now...and nvidia has some compatibility issues still...(most of them however have been covered in the latest forceware driver) ...
@mohit SLI performance is better in higher cards ,ie >6600GT, i wudnt suggest u to buy 2 6600s still...


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## akshayt (Jul 29, 2005)

though upcoming games ,even if they do support sli
how many support sli to most of its potential and even if they do how much better would they be to a 6600gt , finally 6600gt is cheaper ,also better for older games (lack of sli usage) and maybe a tad less good or equal or maybe tad better for some games.
rather than sli 6600gt , take 6800gt
                  sli 6800gt,7800gtx 
                                 7800gtx sli
also,sometimes 6800 may loose to 6600gt


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## darklord (Jul 29, 2005)

But the basic thing is, if the cost isnt too much then whats the problem in going SLI ?


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## goobimama (Jul 31, 2005)

what's the use of having an SLI of two 6200s when you can get better performance from one 6800? so I guess the principle is right, SLI only for high end cards.


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## indro (Jul 31, 2005)

If one is not good enough ,2 is never going to be enough too.Its the upgrade fobia which some people have in the enthusiast market.


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## ASH18MARCH (Jul 31, 2005)

its not that sli is good enough its just that the technolgy is new most of the game in market today are done a year to 2 years back  two of the most important thing for game artist and devolopers is amount of memory and the pipelines most of the game in future will reuire u to have minumum of 256 with atleast and recomended would be 512 and pipeline would be around 12 pipeline and recommeded would be 32 pipelines . now u have a 6600 gt right now after 1year price of 6600 will almost be equal to 6200 so sli will be a vice choice to upgrade rather then u selling a card and buying new sli is a intelligent upgrade option the tecnolgy is new but will catch up its upto to u weither u want to go for a smater option or just by looking at current trend of game which were made almost a year to 2 years back


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## indro (Aug 1, 2005)

Its much better to go for  a single 7800 GTX rather than messing around with two 6600's or 6800's . There are other factors too , which makes the user experience better , like twin 10,000 rpm WD Raptors in RAID 0 ,better motherboard etc .

A modular approach is what is required to keep urself updated in time ,not giving headaches every 6 months when a new product is launched.I dont mind if the frames are around 50 fps , i'll be happy ,because the experience will be same @100 or even 200 fps also .If i start measuring each and every components with benchmarks ,then the upgrade mania is what you have , Congratulations you are sick !!


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## akshayt (Aug 1, 2005)

If a geforce 6600gt performs 40-80% better than geforce 6600 then why would you buy 6600 sli , in many of games of 2003-2004 you may not be supported sli , also,when supported how many games actualy take benefit and if they take beneift do they perform better by 6600gt by atleast 10-20%,if not then why would you play 6-7kmore,
won't you rather take 6600gt even if 6600 sli costed abt eual or 1000-2000bucks mroe.


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## Ringwraith (Aug 1, 2005)

in short SLI can be done in two cases:

1) u are a performance freak , and nothing but the best can satisfy u...so u take two of the most powrful cards available and SLI them...
2) u keep SLI as an upgrade option....as in my case...I got a 6600GT extreme for 11.5k ...in another 6-7 months i buy another one of them (shud be cheaper by 4-5k) ...and get performace equivalent to 6800GT which i couldnt have afforded now!


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## darklord (Aug 1, 2005)

goobimama said:
			
		

> what's the use of having an SLI of two 6200s when you can get better performance from one 6800? so I guess the principle is right, SLI only for high end cards.



SLI support starts from 6600 series and above. 6200 is not supporting SLI.


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