How do ATI and Nvidia honestly expect us...

[eyetrip]

..to adopt multigpu platforms when:

A) You basically have to choose what kind of graphics subsystem you prefer (now) before you can pick a base (mobo) for your system.

B) Said motherboards cost an arm and a leg for anything remotely decent - 790's almsot decent price, but X38's expensive.

C) The performance yields drop quite considerably for each additional card (most fo the time)

An added problem is that once you got your Nvidia/X38 chipset motherboard, you are then tied to either Nvidia or ATI, unless you choose to once again update your mobo.

Now, I know some of you will say "So just change your system", etc Thats not really a viable option for many people. And for some of those where its viable, some really just can't be bothered....

So how can these two really be trying to push sli/crossfire on the markey in general (as opposed to just the "money is no object enthusiasts) while these problems exist?

Personally, the only way I see it working properly is for platform independance. This is my biggest gripe with the multi-gpu environment, and whats actually keeps me from considering going one way or another.

Anyone else feel the same?

 

[OrphanBoy]

Well what about these dual-gpu cards that don't require an SLI/Crossfire-compatible motherboard? By releasing these cards they're *trying* to cater for the people who don't want pick a particular platform!

 

[eyetrip]

Ok, but theres a bit of a premium on those cards too - 3870 x2 more expensive than 2 3870 xt, and 9800 gx2 more expensive than 2 x 8800GTS.

Plus, many cases just cna't handle cards those lengths....

 

[drunkenmaster]

the high end gaming market is less than one percent of pc sold, that already makes it a select market. Then the people running proper crossfire/sli, as in two separate cards, are probably 5-10% of that 1% at most. They DON'T expect the average user to use sli/crossfire. as with anything, cars, computers, stamp collecting, you pay a cheap price for basic stuff, you can even get good stuff quite cheap, but the top high fastest/best end of the spectrum is limited and exponentially more expensive.

Your post is essentially saying, I want the extra performance but i don't want to pay for it. Thats life I'm afraid, with anything. Mostly because when a company supports something that by design will only sell a miniscule fraction they put less time into it, much less are sold and it costs exponentially more because R&D costs a lot but is spread over far less sales.

If you don't want to run sli, stick with a smaller lcd, or deal with less AA. You can get a 3870 or a 9600gt, and there are VERY few games that can't be played at 1680x1050 VERY smoothly, let alone any res lower, infact both those cards can still play 99% of games with high levels of AA/AF.

 

[eyetrip]

Actually, my post was not that personal... I would pay, but won't based on being tied down to either ATI or Nvidia. I am not a fanboy and won't stick to one for the sake of it. I like freedom to choose, and thats what prevents me from going with either right now.

My post was more general....

I really do think that they are trying to push sli/crossfire for the masses. Its not stricly a high end thing anymore. Its becoming a lot more affordable (the cards themselves - 3850/9600gt) and its becoming more viable for one to buy one card now, and one a little later.

I think nvidias latest offering also imply they are not really trying to push the envelope too drastically on getting a much better single card, when they can tell people to just buy more than one of their current cards.

 

[Nickolai]

I think Ati are most user friendly with regards to motherboards and crossfire because nearly every intel board supports crossfire
Nvidia are probably just holding onto sli for their boards alone and skulltrail because without sli there is no reason to buy their motherboards especially when an x38 can be had for £140 ish and 780i is £160 and the 790i is 240/260 on ocuk for example.
And people go with sli because Nvidia's cards are better unfortunately yet there is the limitation of sli on Nvidia boards only

 

[Chimerical]

I agree with the OP. If Nvidia wants SLi to become more widely used, they should just license it to Intel. If Nvidia did this then fair enough, their motherboard sales would plumet, but surely they'd sell more cards if every board (even AMD?) could support SLi. They should stop using SLi as a reason to make chipsets and actually do what ATi have done and allow anyone to license their dual graphics technology. Then they could push on with marketing SLi to the entire enthusiast sector rather than just the marginalised section of people that bought NForce boards.

 

[mdjmcnally]

At the moment I believe that Nvidia/Intel are having a contest regarding cross licensing. Intel won't sell/give licenses for certain things regarding the Chipset and Nvidia won't license SLI compativility for the Chipset.

ATI had a much better relationship with Intel regarding crosslicensing.

At the moment I tend to buy my Motherboard and GPU together, I am too lazy to swapout my GPU's for a small increse with my existing Motherboard.

In my sig I am running 7900GTX SLI on NF4. I haven't felt the need to upgrade my GPU's to 8/9 series as would move to a Core2 system anyway from the AMD FX60.

Whilst some people do like to swap a lot, this as a percentage of the revenue stream for Nvidia/AMD is miniscule.

They don't expect SLI/Crossfire to become mainstream unless the Dell/HP boys adopt it, and lets face it if you are buying Dell/HP etc then you probably would buy a new machine at upgrade time rather then actually upgrade aspects of the box.