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XFX GeForce 7950 GX2 1GB Quad SLI Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Thursday, 10 August 2006 |
Guru3D experiences the power of XFX GeForce 7950 GX2 Quad SLI enabled graphics card. Only a month or two ago we took a peek at the NVIDIA's GeForce 7950 GX2 where we tried to enable Quad SLI with the help of two GeForce 7950 GX2 graphics cards. At that time the results were quite a catastrophe as there was only one game really supported. Not exactly NVIDIA's fault, we just where curious. Back then we doubted very much if NVIDIA would get Quad SLI running. Well okay so that was a little presumptuous. Obviously one thing was a fact, NVIDIA is and was selling Quad SLI based system through system resellers so there had to be some sort of support eventually.
 XFX GeForce 7950 GX2 1GB Quad SLI Review
Merely eight weeks later NVIDIA recently released a beta driver to the public opening up Quad SLI compatibility not only to these pre-built Quad SLI rigs but also for the do-it yourselfers among us, thus offering you the option to build and try out Quad SLI. Quite a challenge but there has been some tremendous progress. In essence Quad SLI is meant for playing games at high resolutions, namely 2560x1600 which will require a decent 30" high-resolution LCD screen. The new drivers prove that in that teeny weeny segment of the market Quad SLI is starting to make some good progress and can actually make a difference.
As most of you know both ATI and NVIDIA have solution on the market called CrossFire and SLI. Quad SLI obviously simply means that there are four graphics chips being utilized for your gaming experience. If your mainboard could support it, you could install four graphics cards and interconnect them. But NVIDIA recently released the GeForce 7950 GX2 video card. A single graphics card with two GPU's per card, it also allows itself to be interconnected with what we call a SLI connector. If you want to try out quad core gaming effectively this is the most practical solution for you to try out at this moment in time.
What is it about the video card market that they constantly need to be on top of everything, despite the fact that very little people will actually buy this? The number will be quite small of people whoc can afford this, let alone are willing of buying this kind of gear as obviously. The Quad SLI cards alone will put you down $1100 and especially with DirectX 10 luring around the corner that decision of purchasing a solution like this is becoming even more complex then ever. It is very simple though, these uber high-end gaming rigs are the ones that everybody wants to have yet can't afford, the drool factor.
Quad SLI is far from finished but support is coming, getting better and will definitely will be better in the months to come. At this time it's likely you'll run into compatibility issues here and there with a good amount of games. They either will revert back to the performance of a single GeForce 7950 GX2 or you can't apply the SLI-AA modes properly. It's a little bit of a mixed bag. Stability wise I was impressed though. At the other side the entire gameplay experience is very satisfactory though, if your games can play at these insane resolutions and if they support SLI-AA. That's where the fun is to be found.
None the less the progress that has been made is making me change my opinion. A few weeks ago if you asked me if Quad SLI was a viable option then I'd would have said flatout no. At this time however that opinion is changing with haste. So I can only recommend Quad SLI if you have the money to do so and have the option to play around with a setup as we described, including the big-ass 30" Dell screen. Only then it can and will it be a very rewarding experience. As long as you are very aware of the limitations that come with it, Quad SLI gaming can be offer you a massively pleasing gameplay experience when you play at these uber resolutions.
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