New nVidia SLi technology

Apparently nVidia is working on a new SLi technology for notebooks which will allow a notebook to switch on the fly between an integrated graphics solution and a dedicated card as needed. While this is present in some notebooks already such as a model of Sony Vaio (not sure which one), this technology comes straight from nVidia and would not require a reboot or any changes to switch between the two graphics solutions. It is also expected to reduce heat and, of course, power consumption for mobile users. I know I would certainly look forward to this. Imagine, 4-5 hours of battery life when you need it, and a powerful gaming machine when you need that. Perfect balance. Here is the link.

I hope this isn't a repost. I did a search first and didn't find anything.

 

wouldnt it be easier to have just a dedicated and severely reduce the clockspeeds of it when not necessary? this seems like a waste of space to me

 

they already do that dude... won't work nearly as well as switching. and integrated cards are integrated into the motherboard, they take like no space.


that is really cool! but you will still have a huge laptop regardless, still, i think it would be usefull!

 

I thought of this the other day, what about using power strip or another program, to underclock the vid card to like 100/100 on the core and memory. then seting up a profile so that it jumps up to normal clock speeds when you start games? granted nvidia's idea is better, but will it work on current notebooks? do current notebooks with dedicated vid cards have an intergrated too?

 

I know in low power mode my GFX sits at 25% clock speeds (100ish/100ish) so they already do that. Its obviously a new hardware implementation.

Ofc it stinks they are slapping SLi on everything :s

 

SLi laptop are like 19" purely because you cant fit two high end GPU's in a smaller chassis. Why on earth would I need lots of battery power on a 19" behemoth? Not exactly a pick up & go piece of kit is it? And the drain from the screen would mean short battery life anyway!

 

No this is talking about having a SINGLE dedicated chip along with a northbridge with INTEGRATED graphics and being able to swap seemlessly between the two.

IIRC there are no chipsets that support multi GPU AND have integrated gfx.

 

Ahh, I thought SLi was refering to 2 powerful GPU's but in this case its one strong and one weak. Misread it i guess!

 

Actually, Alienware has the m9700, which is a 17" with dual Go7900GS'.

This looks to be a very useful technology - thanks for the link. It's not a repost, no.

 

Yeah, the m9700 is really nice. I almost wanted to buy one, then decided I'd rather save my money and get something that would have better customer service anyway. But dual 7900GS'... . Very nice.