Gigabyte Dual Core 3D1 card and SLi Mobo

[danrok]

This looks like fun:
http://www.giga-byte.com/VGA/FileLis...050107_3d1.htm

You can buy the whole bundle for about £375 inc. VAT in the UK. Which isn't so bad.

[cadaveca]

that aint bad at all. actually, cheaper than buying the mobo and 2 6600gt's, no?

[Gizmo]

Isn't this the thing that nVidia is getting their undies in a bunch over?

[danrok]

Originally Posted by gizmo

Isn't this the thing that nVidia is getting their undies in a bunch over?

Are they? LOL

My 6800 Ultra cost about the same as this lot bundled together.

[cadaveca]

hence the bunched undies lol.

it's a way for gigabyte to get out of the SLI liscencing fee too...that's almost $60 a machine for me!

[Gizmo]

There's something about Gigabyte (and Via too, I think) working around nVidia's tech to enable SLI and thus not have to pay nVidia's 'SLI Tax' to build SLI capable systems. nVidia has retaliated by putting their parts on allocation, meaning that they get nVidia parts when nVidia is good and ready to ship them. At least, that's the rumor I've heard.

[cadaveca]

More than a rumor, giz. SLi boards and compatible parts are on hold for me until i pay the fee for them. I was lucky and got 5 ASUS SLi boards before Nvidia instituted this, and they went fast, but it's even hard for me to get SLi-enabled vidcards.

It's unfortunate, but if Nvidia can get programmers to use half instead of float for shaders (takes a bit more time), then this is just what I expected from them. Notice that Nvidia did not complain about HL2 performing so poorly, once it was released, it's just the fans...they've been too busy trying to figure out how to get some of the revenue back that they have lost to ATI! Sad news is that this is the best they could come up with! SLi builder's tax...what a crock!

[Gizmo]

You get revenue by building superior products, not by extorting your dealers and users. Sigh. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

[cadaveca]

well, it's funny...i can sell the systems, but i have to ...get this...use a black marker to remove any SLi branding. Or pay the fee. Luckily i got those SLi boards out when i did...out of pocket 300 bones for 5 mobo's...how can i make a profit?

[Gizmo]

Whoa! 60 smackers a pop for the SLI branding?! That's a third of the cost of even a top-of-the-line mobo!

[cadaveca]

Well, it's 60 for having sn SLi-enabled machine...vicards, mobo, drivers. But, if it were a via chipset, there wouldn't be the cost. Of the 5 boards i sold, only 2 were in SLi systems, so i would have not had to pay for the remaining 3, from what I understand, unless there was SLi involved in the marketing of those boards (that it's possible to sell one without saying SLI!). Anyway, the INQ puts it best:

In return, the licensees get to use the Nvidia SLI logo, provided they obey the guidelines. Further, integrators have to give Nvidia a system configuration list and a sample PC so that other parts of the PCs are certified partners.

And yes, that means i had to build a system that i plan on selling as "SLi", ship it to them, and swallow the cost. How do you like that one?

[danrok]

So, you can just sell a system as a Dual PCIe Graphics Card system without mentioning SLi to avoid the 'tax'.

[cadaveca]

Well, yes, and no. Legalese is not my stong point, i mean I understand it, but basically i have to pay for any part that is SLi, from what i understand. If the branding is on the product itself, it includes an additional fee..whether Nvidia put that lebelling there or not.

Now, with all personal feelings aside, becasue SLi is in it's infancy, and only a small part of Nvidia right now, charging the users of SLi directly for support in drivers and such does seem to make a bit of sense. This way, no matter how poorly the tech fails, there's some definate money to be made back from the initial investment. Then there's the fact that Nvidia, as it stands right now, are far ahead of the game than ATI, at least in the products on the market. This, of course, has to have some sort of cost...and technically, should be bourne by the user. But hiking prices on prenium products is just not the way to go...it's way too prohibitive to the end user. That leaves us, the retailers, bearing the brunt of this bad situation. Frankly, if i knew i could pay my bills by dropping all Nvidia products, i would, but that's not what real life is like. Supply and demand, after all...

[dsio]

You realise gigabyte will only sell this thing in a package deal, so if you want the card, you have to buy the gigabyte sli board to go with it (has had bad reviews already) and their marketing people claim that it will not work in any non gigabyte bundled board. HardOCP heard this and thought it was tripe, tested it in an ASUS SLI board and it worked in full sli mode flawlessly... Performs close to the same speed as a 6800GT, but not quite... and only if SLI support is present in the game (nvidia profile exists)... doesnt OC very well due to the lowest common denominator nature of SLI... requires an external power connector... not cool stuff... but on the other hand, not paying the SLI tax, i support that. Nothing like Stickin' it to the man (or GPU manufacturer in this case)

[cadaveca]

When it comes to Gigabyte, i really can't say anything bad. They don't produce the ultra-high-end overclocking components, but what they do bring to market is usually full of onboard options, and rock-stable.

However, like you hint at, there are better options on the market...just depends on what you are looking for. If it was within my budget to own one of these kits, I would. Would not hesitiate in placing an order at all. Not everyone will be able to go out and buy one of these things...collector's part, if you will.

[dsio]

If you want to collect, buy a voodoo 2 SLI setup

cheaper and more nastalgic too ^^
for extra cool points get the 3d stereo goggles

old school gaming

yea, ive never had a problem with gigabyte, they just always seamed to have useless rubbish on their boards like that funny dual power thingy (dont know exactly what its meant to do) and their iffy K8 mounting frames, and their feature bloated boards just dont have the performance of an EPoX, Abit, or MSI. those 3 manufacturers are my favourites mainly for making no nonsense, do what their told stable boards that OC well. i just cant say i get that feel with gigabyte.

[dolanenwindrift]

Ok clearly I am missing something here... you are getting SLI boards either from a distributor or directly from the board manufacturer, right? If that's the case, nVidia can't make you pay any additional 'tax' to them for using a consumer available product, at least not here in the US. You may pay a higher price up front for the motherboard, but that should be passed directly to the consumer.

[GrahamGarside]

voodoo2 sli worked across the board as well, none of this games needing support nonsense

[dsio]

Originally Posted by GrahamGarside

voodoo2 sli worked across the board as well, none of this games needing support nonsense

yea, thems were the good old days. So did the VooDoo 5 with its multi GPU pseudo SLI system. i think the VooDoo 5 is almost exactly what Gigabyte is trying to do which is odd, because nvidia went to the trouble of naming the geforce5 the fx after aquiring 3dfx because they wanted to distance themselves from the thing. now gigabye tries to replicate it, and already the card has issues (few mobos support it, SLI support is flakey as it is, OC limited, power hog).

i wonder what 3dfx would be making today if they werent owned (literally) by nvidia.

[GrahamGarside]

thats what I don't understand. Nvidia bought out 3dfx, so with access to it's technology, why is it producing such a crap version of the multi core setup?