if Sli means 2 cards in same machine, aren't they supposed to be the same cards?

I was just thinking about this, and it just struck me .
i know im not an expert,but if Sli means 2 cards in same machine, aren't they supposed to be the same cards.

Like if i want a 9800 GTX in sli, i can get one in the laptop now, and have one in the drawer until an appropriate driver comes out....

If this the case , is it software only?? b/c it says 9800 GTX can be upgraded later to 9800 GTX in sli, i sincerely hope it is just adding anther "same card" to the motherboard, and loading a driver.....

 

From past experience with these high-end videocards getting SLI support... the main hold up was the driver/software config.

So if you want to get SLI 9800M GTX, you can just order one first, and order another later when SLI is ready.

You will not get a firm answer from vendors... which is expected... because they do not work with rumors or speculations. They will only give an official announcement when its good to go.

 

In theory yes, we need some official info on whats going on with the 9800GTX SLI yet.

 

I live overseas, and shipping costs me +250$, add to that i travel allot, if i can get the 2 cards now , and wait for a software i download from internet, it looks like a nice saving deal to me ....

how can i know if i can do that?

 

Where do you live?

There are Clevo vendors worldwide.

 

I live at north pole, any vendors here?

 

Actually I had some people tell me they got their Clevo from a Greenland vendor.. but I was not able to find that Clevo from my search.

 

man, if the 2 month wait for sli is just a software thing, then i am really disappointed.

I hate the waiting game....

 

Why do you want SLI? It has shown not twice the performance by having two cards... its always has to do with the games you are playing that supports SLI and the drivers that are available.

I think a single 9800M GTX or SLI (dual) 9800M GTs are already overkill for the games on the market.

 

i thought that with Sli you can go up to 50% more framrates on games like Crysis, and should be a big boost.
Why would anyone run Sli if it is not more than 25%,i mean i am really far from being an expert, but i want to configure a system to last a long time. I also want to run everything very smoothly for a long time.Thought sli can give me that..

 

SLI can give you a great boost, as long as your drivers are good/stable and the game that you play supports SLI.

FYI, Crysis is poorly coded and NOT optimized (multi-core CPU and GPU not fully utilized)... I know I beta tested it and they [the developers] did not listen to the testers, they just focused on releasing ASAP.

While on the other hand, Epic did a great job and released Unreal Tournament 3 very well optimized (100% utilization of multi-core CPUs and GPU) at its time of release... the beta testing did pay off to make a great product.

I am confident that SLI 9800M GTX will be out soon, but cannot say how long.

You can do what some previous owners did when the 8800M GTX was out without SLI support.... buy both cards and just wait until the drivers/software/BIOS updates are available to enable them in SLI mode.

 

SLI were supposed to give you 100% more framerates. a single 8800m gtx will last for years.

 

This was my point in this thread, kind of weird that whats holding back 9800 GTX Sli is a driver, when sli for other cards is already out. It shouldnt be hard to do a software, or should it

 

You have to realize that the 9800M GTX is not readily available for testing yet.

Thats usually the hold up... testing units and then Nvidia's timeline to write working drivers.

 

^ well apparently notebookcheck.com has tested it according to their benchmarks lol.... i really want to know if those are bogus or not and why they would put up bogus benchies

 

notebookcheck is a source for latest info... but not always full accurate.

 

so i hear which is really annoying. im just curious where they got the cards and the notebooks to do the benchies on the whole 9000m series when they just seem to be trickling out.

 

those quick benchies are usually done on beta systems and/or engineering samples.

 

ahh i see.... well we should all see pretty soon as the 9800 gtx should be in peoples hands soon

 

It never will be, to have twice the performance, you would every component to be twice as fast as even though the GPU is the main bottleneck, the CPU would lag behind if the GPU would be twice as fast.

SLI was never meant for 100% boost. It's getting close though.

I would say mid to end of August.

 

So just how reliable are these benches for use as an accurate reference?

 

Just to get the picture. But don`t take the # for granted, use a bit of salt with it

 

They are hit and miss.

So I would just use them as a general source... not a definite one... especially with new/upcoming hardware.

Since those benchmarks are with preliminary hardware, the results might be varied after the final products are on the market.

 

if they are semi accurate though, then the 9800m gt def seems like the best deal assuming the gts isnt much cheaper than the gt

 

Yeah, but he always knows if you've been naughty or nice, and he only delivers to the nice, so I wouldn't count on it.

 

the 9800M GT has definite benchmarks already, since its already on the market and notebooks have shipped with them.

They are definitely a good replacement for the 8800M GTX.