Notebook SLI...It is really all its cracked up to be

Post your thoughts on Notebook SLI GPU performance Here...including (but not limited to);

1)Performance increase over single GPUs
2)Notebooks with SLI GPUs that are worth buying
3)Prices, 3DMark Scores, screenshots , games that use the full power of the SLI GPU Technogoly
4)Best Drivers and overclocking

This is like your thread for anything Notebook SLI oriented

Keep those posts coming

 

Here's a good system to compare to - the NP9260 we tested with SLI'd Go7950GTX 512MBs.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3783

Note that there are no special drivers for SLI - any modern Nvidia driver will work.

SLI definitely does offer a nice performance gain in games that support it.

 

3dmark is not a good real world bench. at all.

the 86/8700m's get compareable to mine. but I can triple murder them...

I recently went head to head with a m1730 sli 8700 and I did better in oblivion at 1900x1200. they can't handle high res that good.

at bioshock I did pretty much even bench at 1900.


the dual 7950's on the other hand are really powerfull!!!

the 8700m and 8600 are mid-range cards. any way you say it! if you want a super powerfull sli the 7950 is the high end one.. or wait for a 88xxx card.

 

Love to see some real results from a real 7950GTX user...
Love to see the definition of "triple murder".
(There is no way you have 3 times the FPS at 1280x1024.)

Use real games and timedemos please, document the process and bench at 1280x1024 as a standard.

I bet the 8700 comes a LOT closer than you think at 1280x1024.

FYI
1920x1200 is outside the design of the 128-bit 8700GT.

Also, Tom's benchmark (sibling rivalry) shows the SLI8700s actually SUPERIOR to SLI 7950GTXs at lower resolutions...

He also illustrates why using one game (like FEAR) is even more biased than synthetic benchmarks like 3dmark. (3dmark has its flaws, but frankly there is no single test which doesn't.)

 

It is incorrect to say that special drivers are not required for SLI; in fact each SLI laptop usually requires its own customized driver. These drivers are not provided by nVidia, they are supposed to be provided by the manufacturer. Unfortunately, they update their drivers very rarely, leaving the users with outdated drivers, which do not work with new games, or forced to use only one graphic card. A good example is Alienware's M9750, which to date does not have functioning Vista drivers, and has only old XP drivers.

You can read about this in more detail at http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14594

If you go to Dell's message boards you will see many users having problems with the new XPS m1730; in fact Dell ships the laptop with SLI disabled.

Sager has currently suspended shipment of 9261 SLI laptop with 8700m and 4GB of memory because drivers crash Vista while it is booting.

Please note that for each game to work with SLI, it has to have a game profile provided by nVidia. This means that drivers have to be regularly updated, but nVidia does not provide laptop graphics drivers. Unlike single-chip graphics cards, for which it is possible to use reference drivers with .inf file changes, SLI cards do not work with standard reference drivers.

 

that was the most informative post ive read this month....nice work

 

ok so your supporting the fact your card is weak? of course the m1730 is going to better at lower res's, its CPU dependant at that point and we know the m1730 has a better processor.

 

That is incorrect, users can make their own SLI game profiles, and they are not dependent on the driver (although Nvidia does offer a request area if you do want them to build them into there newer drivers). More information can be found at www.slizone.com and www.nvidia.com

 

not sure exactly what's being said here is totally true, but I've got a Toshiba X205-SLi1 that I've been running the Nvidia 163.75 drivers with since I got it last week... SLI works fine best I can tell, and these aren't specific to Toshiba in any way... they're just the Nvidia drivers off of laptopvideo2go and their inf file... I have all the profiles and settings, and SLI seems to work, and every game I've tried yet has had a profile and ran fine... So why would I need Toshiba specific drivers? Where's the problem? Or am I doing something wrong? I only ran the stock Toshiba drivers the first day until I did a clean format and vista install, and from what I can tell all settings appear to be the same.

PS, this thing is running duel 8600M GT's if that matters for the debate

 

I agree. Toshiba's drivers are not required for the X205 SLI. Modded nVidia ones work fine.

 

Are you sure that SLI is enabled ? The reference drivers will work, but they usually disable SLI. You can check that in the nVidia control panel.

 

the benchmarks of this bout are over at notebookforums1!

when you buy a "beast" aka the m1730... you have 1920x1200 res.. and the so called SLI powerhouse... you kinda expect to play at native....

All i did prove in my benchmarks with the guy with the m1730 is that I can go head to head. in those games and even come out on top a little.

I have a fx2500 aka 7900gtx...

he has 2 beasty 8700m sli..

read the thead and find out


lol the 8700 is a crappy card.. bottom line!!!

I dont care who gets mad over that.... It isnt a high end card.

Why the hell would you want to play a game in an UBER rig at low res?????? gimme a break.. no justifications ... take it to the absolute max.. that is what they are for.


my rig plays all games right now at 1900x1200. no I know I will hit some barriers. but even Bioshock maxed I get 30-40fps constant @1920. something the 8700 cant do. even in SLI.

again check the thread.


and aga


triple murder is just a saying G...

My single card can go head2head with the 8700m in sli. at high res. *the res that you would be using on a bleeding edge gaming rig... if you arent playing at full res. you shouldnt have one of those beasts.



Full res fraps benchmarks. tell it all.

 

loflol.... this one gets me bad...

lol

My car cant beat you pinned. but if we are coasting down a hill side by side in neutral my car can beat youl...

its a bleeding waste to play your games in an UBER bleeding edge beast at low res... who the hell cares.

they are meant for high res gaming. that is all that matters in the end. not how fast you can go low.

the fact is that the 8700 sli goes as good as 1 fx2500 in 1900x1200.

now the 7950 sli can ass rape my card....


but until the dells sli solution drops the low-medium card end. and goes back to 256 bus 512mb 88xx cards. then we will see some damage.

 

Any HP compaq laptops available with SLI technology?

 

One reason you'd need Toshiba specific drivers is for watching hd dvd movies. Give it a try now, bet it doesn't work.

 

Are you sure your using SLI on that Toshiba? Toshiba ships their SLI notebooks with SLI DISABLED so right now, yes, you may be using modded drivers but when you try to enable SLI you wont be able to. Either you wont have the option to do so or only half the screen will render while the other flickers during games.

 

out of the box, clicked nvidia control panel, sli was disabled (suprised me why it was but it was), turned it on with indicators, and seemed to work fine, showing the little green bar going up and down on the left of the screen in games... then, reformated and did a clean install of vista and used the laptopvideo 163.75's, turned SLI on, and everything so far using SLI has worked great to the best of my knowledge... all the options are there, indicator does it's thing, and running side by side comparisons it's faster than the X205 from Best buy with the single 8700. 3DMark06 ran 6800ish versus 4500ish for the 8700 in 1280x854 (only res i could get in the free version for some reason?)

So, not sure why i need special drivers? Only reason I can see is like OV10stang said, the toshiba HD DVD player software doesn't work with SLI enabled or anything but the Toshiba drivers... but, in my opinion, that's simply a fault of the player software, as it's the only thing that hasn't worked fine with SLI enabled. Seems retarted to me on Toshibas part, and why they'd ship the notebook with SLI disabled baffles me, but, so far since no problems at all.

 

@dexgo: You play Bioshock at 1920x1200 maxed and get 30-40fps constant? On a Go 7900 GTX? That's interesting, as even a desktop 8800GTS or HD 2900 XT have problems doing that.

Try running something like FEAR in 1920x1200 with everyingthing maxed, 4xAA, the works. I seriously doubt you'll do anywhere close to the consistent 35fps of the M1730.

I would almost guarantee that SLI'd 8700M-GT's (if properly configured) would kill your Go7900GTX in any game, at any res. Of course two 7950GTX's are still better, but SLI'd 8700M-GT's is currently one of the absolute fastest mobile setups, providing DX10 support while still being able to play games at very high resolutions and acceptable settings.

 

where is the link showing the m1730 running fear at that res with 4x AA with consistent 35 fps?

 

It's from tomshardware review. I'm too lazy to search for the link, sorry. Just google it. They compared the AW m9750 to the XPS M1730. Okay review, but didn't use enough new games.

 

okay

thanks

 

we have tested like 5 games allready, all the games we tested were even at HIGH RES. against a 7900/7950gtx. sure they are better at lower resolutions.

but as I said. WTF cares about low res i a uber gaming rig.

and yes I get those FPS on my OC'd CARD.

 

the card blows HARD!!!. the laptop is a good idea. but the cards are only 128mb bus. high res = no way. they are totally even with my card. I have tested with my friends rig And numerous tests.

check out the threads FRAPS over at NBF.

 

Could you please link to these tests? And I was clearly talking about high res, 1920x1200.

 

Ok so ur cards were oced. But were the competing cards oced as well?

 

He's claiming a single OC'd 7900GTX is equal to or better than two SLI'd 8700M-GT's in 5 tested games at 1920x1200. I'm still requesting a link to those results, as that would only be possible if there were driver or SLI config issues with the M1730. Otherwise it would most certainly beat out a stock 7900GTX, probably even an OC'd one.

 

Ran some benchmarchs on my old vodoo 3000 card beats the 8700 sli no problem on all games 8700 really sucks lol anyone who has one is putz .
proud owner of xps 1730

 

Fraps Benchmark Thread. in the 17" to 20" forum at notebookforums.com