Conclusion
As we often say of multi-GPU solutions (and as tests go on we are convinced even more), they are reserved for the high end and hardcore users. This is all the more true for triple and quad GPU systems.
In our opinion, for less expensive cards, there is little interest in the update of these solutions when compared to the rapid evolution of products in the mid-range segment and the added cost put on platform level to offer this capability. As for the average Joe willing to buy the fastest system, coming with triple or quad GPUs, they will have to put up with certain inconveniences related to these solutions.
This leaves us with those users who aren’t afraid to ‘’get their hands dirty’’ in putting these systems into place, closely follow the evolution of drivers which may improve a lot overtime, especially thanks to this article, determine the level of interest of this technology in their favorite games. And of course they will disregard the uncertain behavior of such solutions in the future in order to simply enjoy owning such an extreme system.
More specifically, if such a configuration interests you, we recommend GeForce 8800 GTX / Ultra triple SLI. You may recall that its 768 MB of memory is precious help as the quantity of memory for each GPU isn’t cumulative. In very high resolutions, this poses a problem, which is somewhat ironic, because this is the intended use of such an ultra high end system. Quad SLI has not yet convinced us, partly for this reason, as well as the various problems we encountered in certain games.
As for CrossFire X based solutions, while their flexibility shows the overall robustness of AMD’s multi-GPU driver, it has to be said that only more or less homogenous solutions are of interest. We particularly appreciated the possibility of combining a mono-GPU card with a dual-GPU one, a capability which Nvidia does not offer. This flexibility can also be found on the software level with AMD’s enabling the use of multiple screens independent of the number of GPUs used at the same time. Nvidia allows only the use of a single screen.
While Nvidia has the highest performance system with GeForce 8800 Ultra triple SLI and AMD proves to have the most robust and complete multi-GPU system in its implementation, neither of the two have us totally convinced. There is still some work to do in order to get multi-GPU systems working smoothly!
