Morphing nForce4 Ultra into nForce4 SLI
by Wesley Fink on January 18, 2005 7:30 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Far Cry: x16 vs. x16/x2 vs. x8/x8 (nVidia SLI)
As we have seen in past SLI reviews that tested Far Cry, the performance improvements in this game were not quite as great as Doom3 and Half Life 2. Still, the performance improved from 5% in the worst case to 51% at 1600x1200 with AA and AF. There was also an unusual anomaly in the test results with x16/x2 dual video mode. In both Doom 3 and HL2, the x16/x2 mode was 3% to 12% slower. However, in Far Cry, x16/x2 is actually slightly (1.6% to 2.8%) faster than x8/x8 nVidia SLI.
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Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
#40 and #44 -When the pads are closed on the nF4 Ultra chipset the chipset is then identified as SLI by the system and OS and performs the same as SLI. The x8/x8 is the nVidia defined SLI mode that works after the mod. The board can also - in addition - perform in x16/x2 mode.
icarus4586 - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
When the Ultra is modded to by closing the resistor pads, can it function in 8x/8x mode? At some points in this review I wasn't sure whether the modification allowed 8x/8x or just 16x/2x. Will 8x/8x work on a modified Ultra motherboard, as long as (like DFI's) it has 2 full length slots?KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
Googer: Wesley is correct. The MSI "DBS" board had an open ended 4 lane slot with a full 16 lane slot. The DFI board runs on two 2 lane slots.Kristopher
archcommus87 - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
Does even a simple pencil mod like this void any warranty on any board?Cygni - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
I honestly dont really see the point of the Ultra to SLI conversion. You are now paying an extra $400+ dollars for the second video card for 50% over the performance of one video card... it doesnt make sense. The 8x/8x SLI made the performance for the expendature much more attractive.The whole process of changing the Ultra to SLI is very cool, however, haha. Personally, I still see the extra $100 for a true SLI as worth it when you are already shelling out $800 for video cards (assuming 6800U's).
Zebo - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
I just don't see the attraction. It's slower obviously and anyone doing sli can afford a non-hacked solution like real live sli.Right now you can get SLI boards for $200. Thats insignifigant premium compared to two GT's @$500 a each. And especially after this flood of new boards price will come down on the real sli boards.
bob661 - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
#16I said "cheaper" not cheap. Maybe you need to bone up on your reading comprehension skills.
Crassus - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
Wesley, thank you for following up on my comment.Googer - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
By the way SLI offers a poor price to performance ratio, IN some games the performance is 10-15% or less and in others there is none. A single 6800ultracan beat a 6600 sli setup in MOST games.
Googer - Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - link
Wesley are you sure it was MSI that had the x4 slot and an sli mode for the nFORCE4 ultra, because that discriptrion sounds more like DFI than any MSI beta board that I have seen lately.