To SLI or Not to SLI - that is the question?

[Cookies N' Milk]

Just curious C&M, what kind of cooling are you using that's allowing you to get to 3.7Ghz? I mean jesus that's fast! The highest I ever got on my E6600 was 3.3Ghz (air cooling though).

I heavily modified Coolit Eliminator. It blew up on me last week so I gotta buy a new one and try and make it more stable. I can crank this baby up to 4.1GHz with it. 3D mark doesn't like me too much when I do that When I get a new Eliminator I will modify it again and take some pics. My mobo got bitchy with me when I got it running at 4.1GHz. Thing blew out after my last attempt to go higher than 4.1 LOL

EDIT: you should be able to get 3.4 on air at least. I got mine up to 3.4 using the stock intel cooler.

[Crazy Buddhist]

A lot of people say that the work station cards can not play games very well but that is not 100% true.

...

EDIT: Check ebay. I just saw a couple Quadros, including the one I used in my friends computer, going for under $300 CND.

I bet this workstation can outplay almost any gaming rig:

* $20,500.00
* Four NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 GPUs
* Two NVIDIA Quadro G-sync boards
* Up to 8 channels
* 32X SLI FSAA (max on single channel)

Thanks Cookies +rep for the tips

CrazyB

[Crazy Buddhist]

The second part, Cymae, your information is incorrect. It depends on the MOBO implementation and cards: Sometimes (usually) the output ports on one card get disabled with SLI. So if you have 2 x SLI cards with dual output you will be able to run two monitors off of the one card who's ports are left functioning.

Appology owed. I have educated myself a tad. You are right Cymae on this one. SLI does not work with two monitors unless you use a third graphics card to run the second monitor * see below.

You can run two monitors on an SLI setup but the moment you do that the SLI is disabled. Anyone needs clarifacation check Nvidia's site and their forums.

+rep cos I'm BAD

CrazyB

* You have your two SLI cards running one monitor in SLI mode. You install a third Graphics card - preferably non-Nvidia so the Nvidia drivers dont grab it and screw you - and you run your second monitor (and even third) from the third card. Thus yr first monitor is fully SLI enabled.

[dgrmkrp]

I would just like to point something out that I remembered just now. I noticed that when I did some 3D rendering in 3D Studio Maxusing my newest computer, (C2D E6600 @ 3.7GHz, 2GB RAM, Two 8800GTS 640MB that are heavily overclocked), I noticed very little difference in rendering time using a single card or SLI. 8800 Cards are pretty powerful. They may not be as good as a $1600 Quadro when it comes to 3D but they can still do a lot. I haven't tried SLI with Quadro cards so I don't know if there is a noticable performance increase. If anyone has an SLI Quadro setup please let me know if it is really worth it. I have always wondered.

Well, the video adapter only helps with viewport performance.. At rendering time, it won't do much, unless you have special software (amaretto, gelato from nvidia) to take advantage of the gpu power.. Basically, the power of the gpu is used only when u work on the computer, not when it works by itself. The professional solutions don't differ that much in PCB or internal architecture, but have modified BIOSes, that activate and deactivate functions in the programmable GPUs... so, they keep the nice and stable chips for themselves and sell them as pro version.. but they are more or less the same...

I would go for one of them, but they are a tad too overpriced.. Maybe just one 8800 would be cool enough

Also, 10ks everybody for the info on the sli in the last post.. Live and learn I didn't know that sli is automatically disabled..

[.Maleficus.]

EDIT: you should be able to get 3.4 on air at least. I got mine up to 3.4 using the stock intel cooler.

Damn, are you serious? Probably needs a few voltage increases then, right? I only bumped it up the next entry so that's probably why it wasn't stable at 3.3Ghz. What do you have your voltages at?

*sorry for being off topic...*

[Cookies N' Milk]

I bet this workstation can outplay almost any gaming rig:

* $20,500.00
* Four NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 GPUs
* Two NVIDIA Quadro G-sync boards
* Up to 8 channels
* 32X SLI FSAA (max on single channel)

Thanks Cookies +rep for the tips

CrazyB

I have seen those... I REALLY want to get my hands on one of them and poke around the insides. Eh maybe I can get all my LAN buddies to chip in 1grand each and get one just for the hell of it.

Damn, are you serious? Probably needs a few voltage increases then, right? I only bumped it up the next entry so that's probably why it wasn't stable at 3.3Ghz. What do you have your voltages at?

*sorry for being off topic...*

Voltage was at 1.4 I think. I got all my voltages and bios settings for different overclocks writen down somewhere so I can replicate them .

[Airbozo]

..... Anything above that... well your insane to need it

See below;

This is the newest Quadro card. ...

See below;

As for brands, PNY is your best bet. I got my hands on one of thier quadro cards two years ago and have not had a problem with it. I have installed four PNY Quadro cards and had no problems with them what so ever. The only other brand I would even think about getting a Quadro from is directly from Nvidia.

This is the correct motorcycle.
...

...I haven't tried SLI with Quadro cards so I don't know if there is a noticable performance increase. If anyone has an SLI Quadro setup please let me know if it is really worth it. I have always wondered.

I can put together an sli quadro setup, but have no way to test it. If you have and app that will test the rendering performance of a quadro sli setup I can give it a run.

I bet this workstation can outplay almost any gaming rig:

* $20,500.00
* Four NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 GPUs
* Two NVIDIA Quadro G-sync boards
* Up to 8 channels
* 32X SLI FSAA (max on single channel)

Thanks Cookies +rep for the tips

CrazyB

I have a friend who spent money on the quadroplex and he felt it was a huge waste of cash. I will ping him to find out why he felt that. BTW: nvidia can thank sgi for the g-sync board

Here is the latest quadro FX 5600 board. 1.5gb of memory...;

http://www.beyond3d.com/content/reviews/40

[Cookies N' Milk]

I have a friend who spent money on the quadroplex and he felt it was a huge waste of cash. I will ping him to find out why he felt that. BTW: nvidia can thank sgi for the g-sync board

Here is the latest quadro FX 5600 board. 1.5gb of memory...;

http://www.beyond3d.com/content/reviews/40

Your friend most likely didn't feel it was worth it because there is no way someone can utilize its power unless you are an overpaid scientist .

But... 1.5GB video memory on that 5600... Um so lets see a computer with a card like that would need an insanely powerful proc, lots of system ram, and an extremely big power supply... The PNY spec sheet says: 750W power supply (higher capacity may be required for SLI)

750W for a single card setup? that would put it at 900ish+ for SLI wouldn't it? Seems like a waste of money to get something like that.

I WANT

[Quakken]

we're starting to get into the isanities. i don't even know if that is a word.

[Spawn-Inc]

what would 3dmark03,05,06 say about a sli quadro setup? would it just be like a game and not very good since there ment for 3d stuffs?