nVidia and ATI: Listen up!
You’ve probably already read that nVidia is going to launch quad SLI at E3. Reading that, I just wonder what the fascination is with SLI. I can’t help but wonder if the guys over at nVidia ran into some kind of innovation barrier, that they can’t seem to make videocards faster anymore based on a single chip and have to resort to having people install 4 videocards in their computer in the future to get the performance they need. What’s next, 6 videocards running in SLI? Will we have space left in our case to put other stuff in, like say, a CPU, a hard disk or two and perhaps some memory?
I remember back in the days of 3Dfx, they seemed to have the same problem. At one point you had to have two 3Dfx videocards running in SLI, if you wanted to come even close to the performance of a single nVidia videocard. And I remember how I was amazed that nVidia seemed to be able to do what the guys over at 3Dfx were obviously struggling to do, but couldn’t, and were coming up with HACKS like SLI to be able to compete with nVidia.
And today, nVidia seems to be in the same position. And if they think they are impressing people with quad SLI, they should probably think again. Just think about it, 4 videocards in your system. First of all, you’ll need around $1500 to $2000 just for the videocards. Then, you’ll also need a monster of a cooling system to be able to turn on your computer and not have random hardware inside it melt and/or blow up because of the immense heat those cards are going to generate. Then, you need to think about the power consumption. The powersupply you’re likely to need could probably easily be used to light up a small country. And that is if you’re lucky. Chances are you may need to build your own nuclear powerplant to be able to not only reliably power the videocards and the monster of a cooling system they need, but also any other hardware in your case. Expect a call from Mohamed ElBaradei from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and expect to deal with US foreign policy, because people just might suspect you of trying to build a nuclear weapon. What, you didn’t think they would believe you when you tell them that you just want to power your quad SLI system so you could run Doom 3 at 500 FPS on 2560 x 1600, did you? Oh you did! Aaaw, you’re so cute and naive.
Think of all the headache. I honestly just don’t think quad SLI is worth all that. And remember that this is when you are actually able to obtain a quad SLI system and at least 4 quad SLI enabled videocards in the first place! If you consider that even Dell can’t get their hands on a GeForce 7900 GTX these days, then what makes you think you can? Yup, blame it all on the paper launches. I’m all for companies trying to outsmart and be faster and better than their competitors, but this is just stupid. Don’t you think that when you say that you’ve just launched a product, that it should, you know, actually be available in large enough quantities to the public? What’s the use of sending out press releases mentioning the launch of the latest videocard, and it not being available for the next 2 months? And even if it becomes available after 2 months, supplies barely last to provide Jen-Hsun Huang and some close relatives with some samples.
It’s so stupid you’d have expected ATI and nVidia to have stopped with this nonsense long ago. But let me tell you something ATI and nVidia, and listen carefully. If you want to really impress me, and I mean seriously impress me, release a videocard with a single GPU on it, that matches the performance of a quad SLI setup, consumes much less power than a GeForce 7900 GTX and runs stable on my system with a 350 watt powersupply, and does not need any kind of cooling system whatsoever. And also make sure most of the planet will be able to actually get one on the day it is launched.
That is what I would call REAL innovation. Comparable to when nVidia was beginning to beat 3Dfx. No hacks like SLI, no excessive heat because of overclocking, no need for external power, just raw power in a single, cool and low powered GPU. And you can’t tell me that you can’t do it. I’m willing to bet that you could get a GeForce 7900 GTX running at the speed of a 5950 Ultra, where it uses less power and produces less heat compared to the 5950 Ultra, while performing just as well.
What we need released today, is technology two years from now. We need a GeForce 9900 GTX which would be available 2 years from now, to be released today, clocked at speeds that make it run cooler and use less power, and perform just as well as the 7900 GTX. Instead of releasing a videocard every 4 months because you want to appear like you’re trashing the competition, you just might want to actually take the time to make a really innovative product instead. We won’t mind at all of it takes a year or two before you release your next videocard, as long as it’s good. Comprende?
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