As dual-core processors have been actively spreading in the market for the last years, multi-processing features are appearing in games and other non-professional applications. Dual-core processors have been rarely used in desktop computers up to now. They were mostly employed by professionals and rare enthusiasts, who worked with such applications as 3D modeling and rendering, as well as media processing and encoding, which were initially designed to support several CPUs.
Games offered weak support (or even no support) for two and more processors, because multi-processor systems were not popular among gamers because of their high price. A couple of years ago there started to appear mass-scale dual-core processors, but their price was too high for a common user for some time. So they were again bought by enthusiasts, only on a larger scale. With the launch of Intel Pentium D, as well as Core 2 Duo and AMD Athlon 64 X2, both companies that manufacture desktop x86 CPUs significantly dropped prices for their processors and still do it from time to time. As a result, dual-core processors are only a little more expensive than single-core models. Besides, x86 processors develop towards multi-cores.
Test include:
Processors: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Socket 939
Motherboard: Foxconn WinFast NF4SK8AA-8KRS (NVIDIA nForce4 SLI)
RAM: 2048 MB DDR SDRAM PC3200
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
CrossFire on a Stick - 'Just Say No' To Four GPUs
"Double your pleasure, double your fun." Well that is what Wrigley's stated about its Doublemint Gum. When 3DFX launched Scan Line Interleave for the Voodoo 2 it proved to be true as 1024x768 never saw such amazing frame rates. Later on the world was wowed with SLI once again with Scalable Link Interface. Nvidia pushed the envelope again for more performance but ran into the same proverbial brick wall that 3DFX did with the Voodoo 5 6000. Two cores were awesome but four was a bit too much to handle.
Not to be left out of the excitement (or the profits from selling 2 cards instead of one), ATI joined the party late in the game. While the first version of CrossFire with Radeon X850s was not a crowd pleaser, later versions were much more user friendly and pack some punch. Although AMD, Intel and Nvidia started toying with quad processor configurations ATI decided to steer clear.
Just my quick comment is that this card received a good review on TH, but I really don't see what is the reason for this. Since that dual graphic card got beaten my single 8800GTX and even in some benchmarks by 8800GTS. Not to mention that this product in not finished yet, but still TH hopes to see that this type of cards will work in Crossfire combination, and they expect that it will outperform SLI configurations. Nvidia has a solution that works, and Ati? Well you be the judge for yourself.
Not to be left out of the excitement (or the profits from selling 2 cards instead of one), ATI joined the party late in the game. While the first version of CrossFire with Radeon X850s was not a crowd pleaser, later versions were much more user friendly and pack some punch. Although AMD, Intel and Nvidia started toying with quad processor configurations ATI decided to steer clear.
Just my quick comment is that this card received a good review on TH, but I really don't see what is the reason for this. Since that dual graphic card got beaten my single 8800GTX and even in some benchmarks by 8800GTS. Not to mention that this product in not finished yet, but still TH hopes to see that this type of cards will work in Crossfire combination, and they expect that it will outperform SLI configurations. Nvidia has a solution that works, and Ati? Well you be the judge for yourself.
Ah well speculations, speculations (or better to say marketing gimmicks)....
NFORCE 650I Ultra overclocking result
We already introduced the fundamental characteristics of standard motherboard on base of chipset nForce 650i Ultra . It was possible to note that this new chipset has some limitations in comparison with elder . In any case, if support SLI does not interest you, then the chipset nForce 650i Ultra is a good choice.
Associates published one of the first motherboard review on base of chipset nForce 650i Ultra with standard design. Such motherboard have four-layer design and passive chipset cooling . The authors of this review recommend focusing attention on improvement in the cooling of the north and south bridges, to gain stability with high fsb frequency
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB vs. 320MB - is BIGGER really BETTER
Okay, so the cheaper 320MB GeForce 8800 GTS alternative has been out in force for a little over a month now and at just $300 US it is a great buy. Realistically in this price bracket the GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB) runs somewhat unopposed, though the Radeon X1950XT cards are now very cheap. However, those looking at purchasing a GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card have to make the tough decision to spend either $300 US or $400 US. Of course if you are limited to a $300 US budget then the 320MB version of the 8800 GTS becomes an obvious choice.
Generally when a new graphics card such as the GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB) is released, there is much more to talk about such as increased pipelines, additional memory bandwidth, different clock frequencies for both the core and memory. However as I mentioned earlier, there is absolutely no difference between the 320MB and 640MB versions of the GeForce 8800 GTS, other than the onboard memory capacity of course. Both GPU’s are based on the G80 architecture which features a 90nm design process.
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Generally when a new graphics card such as the GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB) is released, there is much more to talk about such as increased pipelines, additional memory bandwidth, different clock frequencies for both the core and memory. However as I mentioned earlier, there is absolutely no difference between the 320MB and 640MB versions of the GeForce 8800 GTS, other than the onboard memory capacity of course. Both GPU’s are based on the G80 architecture which features a 90nm design process.
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Budget PSU Roundup with HardwareCanuck
Well here we are on my first PSU review here or anywhere else for that matter and this one is going to be a big one. This roundup will focus on four budget-minded power supplies which range in price from $45 to $75 with one power supply being included in the price of a $120 case. I will give all these units a thorough going-over and put them through a battery of tests. I suggest you read this whole review as in many places I will refer to performance differences between the units. You should also know that these are all on an even playing field as they were all purchased by me so I do not want ANY of them to fail.
Just my quick comment that this review is good because it includes two EVGA 7900GTO cards in test! So you can see how much quality and reputation of PSU is important in setting up SLI comp. So here it goes Sparkle, Nmedia, Enhance and Antec go head to head....
AM2 SLI-capable Main boards - 2*Asus and 1 MSI
In the today's Review we regard now today three Main boards with NVIDIAs current chip corroding of the 500-Serie, which have at present a not insignificant portion with sold Main boards for AMD CPUs. ASUS made us available with the model Crosshair a copy for the Over the Top Enthusiast, which flanks the M2N32-SLI Deluxe already mentioned. Both use NVIDIAs Top model nForce 590SLI, while the third Main board in the federation, a K9N SLI Platinum of MSI, which nForce 570SLI represents smaller brother.
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