SLI/CrossFire could soon combine VRAM thanks to DX12/Mantle

This sounds rather exciting for SLI owners:

Source: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/43347...on-combine-vram-thanks-dx12-mantle/index.html

 

Interesting, I'd like to see how laptop with 980M SLI with 16GB VRAM handles business.

To use Mantle, though don't you need to have at least AMD graphics card or AMD CPU?

 

Civilization: Beyond Earth already uses SFR CrossFire under its Mantle path. Compared to DX11 AFR, scaling and FPS is better when CPU-bound and lower when GPU-bound, but there is less microstutter overall.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...mance-Maxwell-vs-Hawaii-DX11-vs-Mantle/2560x1

 

You need an AMD GCN GPU (HD 7000 Series and above).

 

How about the next version of OpenGL, glNext?

 

We'll know after GDC.

 

The thing is... if they do make it like one "large" GPU... would it effectively "raid 0" the memory in the vRAM buffers? If it doesn't, we might lose the benefit of doubled memory bandwidth and quad-buffered vSync, no?

 

SFR behaves like single GPU in regards to V-Sync and double/triple buffering. And scaling/FPS is lower than AFR but it feels smoother because there is no microstutter.

 

So basically, it's a sidegrade. Slay quadbuffering, scaling and memory bandwidth doubling, but gain smoothness and vRAM.

I'm not exactly sure I'd prefer this "benefit".

 

There's still an FPS increase, just not as much as AFR. So instead of 100% scaling, you might get 80%, for instance. If there's anything these last 2 years have taught us about performance metrics, it's that FPS isn't as important as frame times, esp. in a multi-GPU setup, for determining how smooth a game feels.

Plus, with all the AAA titles that came last year which were not AFR friendly, SFR could mean better multi-GPU support.

 

True. I'll just be glad for reductions in CPU performance... but this might also mean our GPUs will get hotter. Might spell some bad news for the mobile market.

 

That's the fault of the mobile market then if cooling is inadequate for a GPU operating normally at 99% usage.

 

We both know this retarded, ridiculous thin/light craze is the fault of the mobile market and a ton of misinformation among desktop users. I highly doubt many of these newer notebooks will properly cool things, especially if in the future pascal/whatever-AMD-shoves-our-way is hotter than the abnormally cool maxwell chips.

 

That sounds like the GPU vendor's fault if their chips are hotter instead of cooler under identical heat management solutions.

There's plenty of notebooks that are NOT thin and light, no reason we can't have both to choose from.

 

It's on notebook OEMs to design their chassis and cooling system around a GPU's TDP, not the other way around.

 

There's actually only four new models that haven't shrunk down quite a bit. P7xxZM line and the GT72 and GT80. The P6xxSx, alienware's new line, MSI has no 15" replacements for its GT60 and GX60, ASUS just went full integration... When the PxxxSM-A line and the GT60/GT70 line finally gets discontinued, there'll be so little choice for the enthusiast market it's a joke.

 

There must be a good reason for that.. If the money was being spent on them, they would be making them.

 

Exactly, all we can do is not buy slim and convince others to do the same. Simple supply and demand economics. I blame Apple for starting the slimming down war though.

 

But the simple fact for me is I'm in love with my Razer and wont buy another laptop heavier than this and not built this sturdy. If being part of this "problem" is wrong, I don't want to be right.

 

Well yeah, different customers have different preferences and I don't blame you. It's just that more companies/people jumped on the thin bandwagon than there should've, but that's just my opinion.
Edit: Just like my Samsung Galaxy Apollo: it was my first smartphone: tiny screen, thick as F. But I didn't care since it fits into any of my pockets nicely. Now I use a Galaxy S3 which is quite slim, but I added a big case around it, and it can be another centimetre thicker for all I care about, would fit into my pocket just fine, yet companies keep yipping thinness on phones.

 

I'm actually looking forward to more options for slim, portable laptops with fast CPU and graphics cards. This past year has been exciting, first time we have seen a couple slim models with the flagship Nvidia mobile graphics card, even slim models with SLI.

For work I have to travel frequently to attend film festivals, sometimes walking all over town from early in the morning until late at night, lugging around my laptop and charger along with lots of other materials. Sometimes I need to sit down at some random spot and tweak some display ad, trailer or motion graphics project, etc., and now we are starting to do more stuff with 4k files.

For my personal usage needs, the more portable, the better, and I don't have a problem forgoing socketed CPU/GPU, just buying a new laptop every 4 or 5 years. Although I haven't attempted to upgrade CPU myself, I have upgraded RAM and SSD, etc., and I share the concern that we may eventually see completely locked down laptops at some point with soldered RAM, maybe even battery or SSD, etc..

Perhaps the best option going forward for enthusiasts would be laptops with desktop mobos? Considering market trends, however, I would not be too surprised if even desktops eventually go BGA as well.

 

^Sell me on a thin-and-light gaming notebook.

 

It's more about what your needs and desires are, not someone selling it to you. I sold myself on it.

 

The problem is that almost none of those models work right, and even the ones that DO only do so because maxwell is unnaturally cool. The 980M is arguably better than 680M SLI (stock for stock), draws as much power as one 680M or less, and is cooler than those cards. I'd go so far as to say the 980M is about as cool as a midrange GPU with a top-end heatsink in a laptop designed for a top-end card. As I stated before, if Pascal, Volta, etc and whatever AMD's new offerings are prove to be HOTTER than Maxwell's current lineup, we're going to entirely forfeit flagships in such thin envelopes. Maxwell is an anomaly; one that allows top-end notebook GPUs to be placed in exceedingly thin lines with a cooling system designed for midrange GPUs, and especially moreso if they share the CPU cooling with the GPU, so that the hot haswell gets some extra cooling and the GPU doesn't cool as well, and the overall temp balance in the notebook ends up being a bit high but well within safe limits under most gaming load.

MANY MANY MANY average, non-NBR users want top-end chips to be designed for 1" thick notebooks, and they are of the (wrong) opinion that powerful notebooks should be forgotten and anyone who wants a powerful machine should get a desktop. They'd rather the next generation design a 65W, cooler, 980M-strength GPU as the flagship so they can shove it in something as thin as a macbook pro and never have it overheat and let a 120W-150W PSU be more than enough. They don't want the next generation's flagship to be 50% stronger than a 980M, draw the same 100W and be designed for a notebook like a P170SM-A, and delegate their midrange notebooks to the midrange offerings, which WILL be ~65W, but have less vRAM and likely a slower memory bus etc. Hanging around NBR is very different from hanging around any other forum. The surprise people respond with if I show them my (honestly mediocre compared to Mr. Fox and Johnksss and Meaker's runs) Firestrike or Valley scores is insane. I've had people try to say I ran it at 720p to boost scores, or claim I'm using a desktop, or all sorts of crap. They don't know, don't bother to look, and only see a purpose in something that you could mistake for a very large iPad in terms of size/weight. NBR is the only (active) place where people'll actually do even a slight bit of research into what to look for, or consider anything weighing over 5 pounds.

And for that same reason, there will never be BGA-only desktop chips. The desktop market is so absolutely large and loud-mouthed that the idea would be slain while forming in Intel's meeting room by a hard-light version of Gordon Freeman rendered in Unreal Engine 4 dual-wielding a crowbar and a shotgun. But the way everyone seems to enjoy integrated GPUs and integrated (broken) CPUs because it means their notebook gets to be thinner means there is indeed a very real possibility of integrated HDDs and SSDs and RAM. And if it happens, by the time people try to retaliate there might be nothing else on the market and it'll be too late.

And again. I'm not saying that thin/light/etc notebooks have no place. There's a very real demand for it by a lot of people. And I'm not trying to deny them that choice. I'm just annoyed that people are killing the high end market for that. And nobody but about 10 people on this forum seems to care, even.

 

Imagine that... while dGPU grows complacent obsessing over temps to shoehorn into thin/light machines,
iGPU's end up cannibalizing the the whole laptop market - lock, stock and barrel.

 

I don't see that happening. iGPU aren't powerful enough. There isn't any "shoehorning" happening. Increasing performance per watt will continue iteratively. People willing to buy powerful thin and lights with the knowledge of the compromises will continue to exist. People wanting larger notebooks will also. The thing to consider is how large are each market, because they are truly different markets.

 

I was melodramatic. But D2Ulitma made a great point.
As long as design choices aren't solely based on efficiency, things should be ok.