Thursday, April 8th 2010

GeForce GTX 480 Supports 4-way SLI?

by
btarunr
 Discuss (82 Comments)
Soon after EVGA laid its hands on stocks of GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards, it claims from an internal test that 4-way SLI is possible on the reference design GTX 480 graphics cards. The GTX 480 was advertised to work with up to two more of its kind in 3-way SLI, in NVIDIA's presentations to the press. EVGA's feat of running four GTX 480 cards was possible on its X58 Classified 4-way SLI motherboard, which has room for four graphics cards, and a special SLI bridge that connects to four NVIDIA graphics cards with two SLI interconnect bridges each. EVGA released a special-edition GeForce GTX 285 4-way SLI ready graphics card to go with the motherboard.

The EVGA X58 Classified 4-way SLI isn't the only motherboard to support 4-way SLI, the recently released EVGA Classified SR2 also ships with the special SLI bridge. No other motherboard vendor released a 4-way bridge, yet. EVGA demonstrated the 4-way SLI setup with a run of Unigine Heaven, although it did not give away any performance numbers. 4-way SLI is not to be confused with Quad-SLI, which is also a four-GPU SLI configuration, but involves a 2-way SLI connection between two dual-GPU graphics cards (such as GeForce 9800 GX2, GTX 295, MARS). Any SLI-supportive motherboard supports Quad-SLI.

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82 Comments on GeForce GTX 480 Supports 4-way SLI?

#2
KainXS
I was looking for info on this, what PSU did they use to power this system.
Posted on Reply
#3
va4leo
BENCHMARKS PLEASE!! ROFL :respect:
Posted on Reply
#4
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
KainXSI was looking for info on this, what PSU did they use to power this system.
Probably EVGA's own Classified SR2. 1200W continuous, 1500W peak.
Posted on Reply
#5
DaedalusHelios
It makes since for folding but if you would spend that kind of money I would say why not watercool them. Also 4 way SLI would not scale well. Just like 4 way Crossfire sucks for everything but E-peen. Folding doesn't need an SLI bridge and it would do fine with the standard tri-SLI bridge when you want to fire it up for gaming.
Posted on Reply
#6
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
I doubt for its target buyer scaling matters. If adding the fourth card results in 5 more frames per second in a performance competition, it will be bought.
Posted on Reply
#7
DaedalusHelios
btarunrI doubt for its target buyer scaling matters. If adding the fourth card results in 5 more frames per second in a performance competition, it will be bought.
That is rather pessimistic. Watercooling and overclocking three cards would yield much higher frames and higher benches. Four has no relevance unless you are folding. People that like to spend large sums of money care about performance too. There are always the ignorant too. Like those who buy a 5970 to run one 1680x1050 LCD.
Posted on Reply
#8
Yukikaze
DaedalusHeliosThat is rather pessimistic. Watercooling and overclocking three cards would yield much higher frames and higher benches. Four has no relevance unless you are folding. People that like to spend large sums of money care about performance too. There are always the ignorant too. Like those who buy a 5970 to run one 1680x1050 LCD.
And yet, watercooling and overclocking four of them will yield even higher benches, which I suspect was btarunr's point.
Posted on Reply
#10
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
DaedalusHeliosThat is rather pessimistic. Watercooling and overclocking three cards would yield much higher frames and higher benches.
I'm talking about after one has water-cooled and overclocked three cards to their max, and adding a fourth card (and water-cooling and overclocking) is going to give him that slight boost that makes him top a leaderboard. There will be takers for it.
Posted on Reply
#11
gumpty
First pic is a different setup to the other two. Different cooler for the CPU and different power cables to the 480s. Just pointing it out. EDIT: Also different ram and different power connectors to CPU. All this means, though, is that they set the system up at least twice with slightly different gear; it doesn't mean they didn't do it.

Man I would love to hear that thing running. Those fans cooling the middle two GPUs will be earning their keep.
Posted on Reply
#12
Yukikaze
packetnot some noob running heaven benchie
So EVGA is a noob running heaven benchie ? Troll much ?
Posted on Reply
#13
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
packetI SMELL BULLSHIT and coming from techpowerup im a little disappointed...im pretty sure Nvidia would release this not some noob running heaven benchie
At first I was just as skeptical but seeing these pictures come from Jacob at EVGA, I'm taking them at face value. It is plausible.
Posted on Reply
#14
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
packetwhy would you pull a stunt like this and not show a gpu-z saying there linked? (proof)

why not sub a 3Dmark (proof)
why not showing precision (proof)


I SMELL BULLSHIT and coming from techpowerup im a little disappointed...im pretty sure Nvidia would release this not some noob running heaven benchie
if you are going to troll, i suggest doing it on another forum. BTA works hard to bring the news and does a very good job at it. Please keep comments like the one above to yourself or ask in a different manner
Posted on Reply
#15
InnocentCriminal
Resident Grammar Amender
packetwhy would you pull a stunt like this and not show a gpu-z saying there linked? (proof)

why not sub a 3Dmark (proof)
why not showing precision (proof)


I SMELL BULLSHIT and coming from techpowerup im a little disappointed...im pretty sure Nvidia would release this not some noob running heaven benchie
Easy now.

:D
Posted on Reply
#16
HammerON
The Watchful Moderator
packetwhy would you pull a stunt like this and not show a gpu-z saying there linked? (proof)

why not sub a 3Dmark (proof)
why not showing precision (proof)


I SMELL BULLSHIT and coming from techpowerup im a little disappointed...im pretty sure Nvidia would release this not some noob running heaven benchie
Aren't thee quick to judge?
:shadedshu:shadedshu:shadedshu
Posted on Reply
#17
cronicash
Need to see more proof imo. They said the same with standard gtx285 being capable of going 4 way. Also being told its only drivers prohibiting us from using such config and that nvidia/ evga want to pull another poor marketing act by releasing 4 way specific variations.

Capable or not, are we (the general consumer) going to be able to take advantage of this without having to fork out hundreds more just to have this capability legitimately available?
Posted on Reply
#18
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
cronicashNeed to see more proof imo. They said the same with standard gtx285 being capable of going 4 way. Also being told its only drivers prohibiting us from using such config and that nvidia/ evga want to pull another poor marketing act by releasing 4 way specific variations.

Capable or not, are we (the general consumer) going to be able to take advantage of this without having to fork out hundreds more just to have this capability legitimately available?
you make a good point. if you are going to pay the big money for these cards then they should work in 4-way SLI BUT are you ever going to need it? The heat would be horrible and you would need a VERY power PSU to use all 4.
Posted on Reply
#19
gumpty
cronicashCapable or not, are we (the general consumer) going to be able to take advantage of this without having to fork out hundreds more just to have this capability legitimately available?
If someone is going to pay for 4-way SLI at ever-decreasing returns then I doubt they'd be too worried about paying a few hundred more for gear that'll definitely work.
Posted on Reply
#20
cronicash
Im currently running 4x 5870 off one psu (1500 strider). Very much considering the 4x gtx480, but it has to be for substantial performance gain, as that i haven't yet seen. To add a second psu would just be a nightmare imo. Would prefer a 2kw psu lol, i dont see me getting one of those too soon. Personally i would be more likely to look at their cards if they got the power and heat down a tad.....
Posted on Reply
#21
InnocentCriminal
Resident Grammar Amender
brandonwh64... BUT are you ever going to need it? The heat would be horrible and you would need a VERY power PSU to use all 4.
If you're a huge folder. If I had the money to fold, I'd definitely go out of my way to get the best, plus I could save money on heating my house.

;) ;)
Posted on Reply
#22
Unregistered
My god imagine the heat from the back of the cards,toast anyone.Looks impressive but the heat and noise must be amazing.
#23
Bo$$
Lab Extraordinaire
soo much heat expect atleast 90% of these cards to come back on RMA aleast 2-3 times
Posted on Reply
#24
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
InnocentCriminalIf you're a huge folder. If I had the money to fold, I'd definitely go out of my way to get the best, plus I could save money on heating my house.

;) ;)
LOL!! yea this could be a good space heater buy yes i understand it would probly fold like no other!
cronicashIm currently running 4x 5870 off one psu (1500 strider). Very much considering the 4x gtx480, but it has to be for substantial performance gain, as that i haven't yet seen. To add a second psu would just be a nightmare imo. Would prefer a 2kw psu lol, i dont see me getting one of those too soon. Personally i would be more likely to look at their cards if they got the power and heat down a tad.....
If i was you, i would just stick to the 5870s due to heat and power consumption. i dont think you would get any better performance but only benches will tell
Posted on Reply
#25
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
cronicashNeed to see more proof imo. They said the same with standard gtx285 being capable of going 4 way.
Uh no, they never said standard GTX 285 could do that, which is why they came up with special GTX 285 Classified cards that could.
Posted on Reply
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