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Nvidia 8 Series Comes To PCI & Solves Common SLI Problem
Posted 07/12/08 at 11:58:16 AM by Justin Kerr
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No, this wasn’t a typo, GPU manufacturer Albatron Retrotechnology is actually releasing the Nvidia 8400, 8500, and 8600 for the PCI, not PCI-Express. What kind of performance can we expect from these “phat” cards riding the skinny bus?
Performance
Albatron claims the new GPU’s are capable of pounding out performance benchmarks in 3D Mark 06 of anywhere from 800 to 1200 depending on the model. While this is a considerable improvement over other PCI alternatives, it still pales in comparison with it’s PCI-E based brethren. A quick test with an XFX 8600 GTS Express card yielded results of close to 2200, almost twice as fast. This isn’t surprising given PCI’s meager 133 MB/s bus speed vs PCI-Express’s mammoth 8GB/s performance.
Why Power Users Might Want One
While we all know the productivity benefits of multiple monitors, it is something that has always been hassle for those of us with SLI setups. Short of disabling multi GPU support in the driver, Nvidia power users have been forced to make do with a single monitor. Luckily, most dual GPU solutions from Nvidia leave a single PCI port exposed allowing for further expansion. By adding a third video card to your spare PCI slot you unlock the potential to run three monitors full time while still maintaining your SLI configuration. Adding an extra video card may all so unlock additional gaming potential down the line as Nvidia toys with the possibility of allowing users to dedicate spare GPU’s to physics processing.
makes u wonder why the
Submitted by Naw-yi on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 10:49pm
makes u wonder why the PCI-express slots bandwidth at 8gb only manages to top the 17 year PCI slot w/bandwidth at 133mb only twice as fast...doesnt seem to me a huge difference considering the huge differences.
Submitted by bcweir on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 8:04pm
Albatron is releasing this card for the 17 year old PCI bus but not for the 12 year old AGP bus? Who's cracked idea was this? While it still can't match the PCI-Express part, an AGP 8x version could still push 16 times the amount of pixels that this PCI card could.
Albatron has finally lost its collective mind.
AGP 4X Video Cards
Submitted by nclaughlin on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 10:55am
Good that someone brought up the subject of AGP 4X cards. My old Gateway 500x machine with an Intel Essex motherboard with a 4X AGP slot is good enough for my needs, except I'd like a better video experience. I'd like to see something in Maximum PC or in these comments comparing available AGP 4X cards, which one is the best yet will still work in older motherboards. I bought a 8x card that worked for only a while, so I reinstalled my MX440. Anybody have any opinions? Thanks, Niels
Submitted by Muerte on Mon, 07/14/2008 - 7:15am
Do newer motherboards even come with an AGP slot anymore? While I agree it would be nice to have an upgrade for my old computer, I see why they chose PCI rather than AGP.
Every motherboard has PCI slots. Not all have AGP slots so why support more than one dying technology? Take advantage something that every computer has. I wouldn't buy one, but I can see why.
Submitted by linuxcrazy on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 10:47am
PCI, wow. I would at least think they would make AGP verions. There's not even AGP versions for the 8000 series nVidia cards. People that only have PCI slots on their computers would not be able to run anything that would take advantage of the cards anyway.
True, but it sure beats
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 11:21am
True, but it sure beats integrated graphics!
Alot of low end motherboards today come with integrated graphics and PCI slots only.
This would give these people at least some sort of upgrade path.
I agree i've seem many OEM
Submitted by M1K3Z0R on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 5:17pm
I agree i've seem many OEM machines that annoyingly come with no AGP whatso ever, or thos tiny small form factor machine (cough, DELL) that come with only a riser card cand one or two pci slots, even thought pci might not be the awesomest interface its nice to see the option available.I'd be worried about pricing though, i've seen pci video cards overpriced by quite a bit back in the day...
Hey, if anything I can now "modernize" that Pentium 1 in the basement :P
Submitted by linuxcrazy on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 6:38pm
I have pity on the person that would ever try to run Crysis on that!
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 7:54pm
I think it would be more fun to flip through Crysis screen shots on dial up, the experience would likely be similar.
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