Breaking News

G.SKILL Announces T5 Neo Series DDR5-6400 CL38 512GB (64GBx8) Overclocked R-DIMM Memory Kit with AMD EXPO Support for AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO Workstations ZOTAC to Launch GeForce RTX 5090 ARCTICSTORM AIO & GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile KIOXIA Commences Sample Shipments of 9th Generation BiCS FLASH 512Gb TLC Devices Synology Unveils DiskStation DS225 Plus New PS5 system update beta previews DualSense wireless controller pairing across multiple devices

logo

  • Share Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Home
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map

Search form

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe

Feb 4,2005 0

4. A look in the past

 

Review Pages

1. Introduction
2. The mainboard - Packaging
3. ASUS Extreme N6600GT - SLI enabled
4. A look in the past
5. Installation
6. Test System
7. 3DMark05
8. 3DMark 2003
9. Codecreatures
10. Half life 2
11. Doom 3
12. Far Cry
13. Thief 3
14. Colin McRae 05
15. Ground Control II
16. Other Motherboard Benchmarks
17. BIOS & Overclocking
18. Bundled Software & Overclocking
19. GPU Overclocking
20. Conclusion

 

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe - Page 4

- A look in the past

Back in 1998, 3dfx introduced the Voodoo2 graphics chipset, offering twice the performance of all other graphics chipsets available at that time. The Voodoo2 graphics cards also included the TexelFX2 chip, pushing performance even further with the ability to render multiple textures per pixel in one pass.

The first reference to "SLI cards" was made by 3dfx. By SLI, they meant scan-line interleaving, promising double the performance when two cards were combined. A normal 2D card was needed for non-3D applications, and two Voodoo2 cards to handle 3D applications. The work that needed to be done by the cards was split in two where one card would render the odd lines, while the second card rendered the even.

First Voodoo2 card

Second Voodoo2 card

Final results of Scan-Line Interleaving

With the appearance of AGP, the whole SLI concept was put aside, while several attempts at AGP+PCI combinations were not as effective as they should have been. In the end, end users preferred to buy one card that did it all rather than getting two cards which meant increased cost.

- NVidia's Scalable Link Interface (SLI™)

With the appearance of the PCI Express x16 bus architecture, NVidia realized that the main idea of using DUAL GPUs to share the load of today's high demand graphical environments could be applied once again, with amazing results. As NVidia says: NVIDIA® SLI™ (Scalable Link Interface) technology is a revolutionary approach to scalability and increased performance. NVIDIA SLI takes advantage of the increased bandwidth of the PCI Express™ bus architecture, and features hardware and software innovations within NVIDIA GPUs (graphics processing units) and NVIDIA MCPs (media and communications processors). Together the NVIDIA SLI patent-pending technologies work seamlessly to deliver heart-pounding PC performance. And depending on the application, NVIDIA SLI can deliver as much as 2x the performance of a single GPU configuration for unparalleled gaming experiences.

First GPU

Second GPU

Final results of Scalable Link Interface (SLI™)

The graphics load that the two GPUs undertake are not always the same. You can see that the graphics load in our example above is not 50% for both GPUs. NVidia uses advanced dynamic load balancing algorithms that are responsible for splitting the load into two. This is a very clever approach, since in most games and applications, the upper part of an image might need more processing power than the lower. Having this in mind, NVidia decided to share the GPU load according to the GPU power needs of the game/application.

NVidia uses a digital SLI connector (3dfx's connectors were analog connectors) to connect the two cards. You will find this connector provided by ASUS in the retail package.

click to enlarge!

On the other hand, power requirements are increased since the two GPUs need more power to function efficiently. The following table indicates the power requirements suggested by ASUS.

Configuration Heavy Load Normal Load Light Load
AMD K8 939 CPU Type
FX-55
3800+
3500+
PCIe x16 Video Cards
6800Ultra x2
6800GT x2
6600GT x2
DDR DIMM Modules
4
2
2
HDD(IDE or SATA)
4
2
2
CD/DVD (IDE or SATA)
2
2
1
PCIe x1 Cards
1
0
0
PCI Cards
3
2
1
1394 Devices
1
0
0
USB Devices
6
4
3
Required + 12V current
>  (25A)
>  (20A)
> (17A)
Required wattage
>= 500W
>= 400W
>= 350W

According to NVidia, available GPUs featuring SLI support are the GeForce 6800 Ultra, GeForce 6800 GT, GeForce 6800 and GeForce 6600 GT GPUs. On the other hand, ASUS released a list of certified add-in SLI VGA cards that are recommended for the A8N-SLI Deluxe. This list is shown below:

Company Model Number
ASUS Extreme N6600GT
ASUS Extreme N6800Ultra (EN6800Ultra)
Leadtek WinFast PX6600GT
Leadtek WinFast PX6800GT
Elsa ELSA  GLADIAC™ 660GT        
MSI MS-8983 NX6600GT-VTD128E / NX6600GT-TD128E
Albatron Albatron GF6600GT

You can always find more information on Scalable Link Interface in the NVidia web page.

 

Review Pages

1. Introduction
2. The mainboard - Packaging
3. ASUS Extreme N6600GT - SLI enabled
4. A look in the past
5. Installation
6. Test System
7. 3DMark05
8. 3DMark 2003
9. Codecreatures
10. Half life 2
11. Doom 3
12. Far Cry
13. Thief 3
14. Colin McRae 05
15. Ground Control II
16. Other Motherboard Benchmarks
17. BIOS & Overclocking
18. Bundled Software & Overclocking
19. GPU Overclocking
20. Conclusion

 

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • next ›
  • last »

ASUS

Tags: ASUS
Previous Post
LiteOn SOHW-1653S
Next Post
Asus P5AD2-E Premium

Related Posts

  • ASUS Announces Late-August Availability of ProArt Display 6K PA32QCV

  • ASUS Announces ExpertCenter P500 SFF

  • ASUS Announces Giveaway Event to Celebrate 30 Years of Graphics Cards

  • ASUS Announces Pro WS Platinum Series Power Supplies

  • ASUS Announces Prime AP202 MicroATX Case and Fans

  • ASUS Announces TUF Gaming Series Five Monitor Range

  • Asus at Computex 2025

  • ASUS Announces ESC A8A-E12U Support for AMD Instinct MI350 Series GPUs

Latest Reviews

Akaso 360 Action camera
Cameras

Akaso 360 Action camera

Crucial T710 2TB NVME SSD
PC components

Crucial T710 2TB NVME SSD

be quiet! Pure power 13M 750W
PC components

be quiet! Pure power 13M 750W

JSAUX 65Wh Rog Ally Battery
Gaming

JSAUX 65Wh Rog Ally Battery

Introducing PriceHub
Enterprise & IT

Introducing PriceHub

Popular News

AsRock, NZXT, Biostar and Gigabyte announces X870 motherboards

AsRock, NZXT, Biostar and Gigabyte announces X870 motherboards

COLORFUL Introduces CVN B850I GAMING FROZEN Motherboard

COLORFUL Introduces CVN B850I GAMING FROZEN Motherboard

COLORFUL Presents CVN X870 ARK FROZEN Motherboard for AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs

COLORFUL Presents CVN X870 ARK FROZEN Motherboard for AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs

COLORFUL Presents the B860 Series Motherboards

COLORFUL Presents the B860 Series Motherboards

COLORFUL, AsRock, NZXT, MSI announce Intel Z890 Motherboards

COLORFUL, AsRock, NZXT, MSI announce Intel Z890 Motherboards

Intel-AMD new motherboards announced

Intel-AMD new motherboards announced

COLORFUL Presents the COLORFIRE B650M-MEOW WIFI Motherboard, Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs

COLORFUL Presents the COLORFIRE B650M-MEOW WIFI Motherboard, Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs

ASRock AM5 Motherboards Now Fully Support AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D & 9900X3D Processors

ASRock AM5 Motherboards Now Fully Support AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D & 9900X3D Processors

Main menu

  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Promotional Opportunities @ CdrInfo.com
  • Advertise on out site
  • Submit your News to our site
  • RSS Feed