[diceman111]

Hi just got my new computer and I have a geforce 7950GX2 just wondering if anybody else here have one since I think that my computer only uses one card since I only got 5000points in 3d mark 2006.
Wondering if anybody knows if i have to activate the other card or something......


System Specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Nvidia Geforce 7950GX2
2x1GB DDR2 6400 RAM



/Dice

[CP5670]

It sounds like SLI is not activated. Turn it on in the nvidia control panel. I'm guessing you should get somewhere between 8000 and 9000.

What does this have to with FS though?

[diceman111]

Sorry posted it in the wrong section 

[Kon]

My, my.  You made a mistake getting the very first DirectX 10 vid card and processor.  This first-gen hardware often can't use the full power of the new software (DirectX 10.)  I would have waited until Windows Vista actually comes out, and games start being made with DirectX 10.  By then, the truly DX10-compatible cards will be out.  And even after Vista comes out, most games will be using DirectX 9 for another few months, because most of their market will still be using DirectX 9.  Oh, and as for the SLI, if you are playing an older game like FS2, you might want to turn off the second card.  SLI is unsupported in most older games and if you have it enabled it can actually have a negative effect on performance.  Just a little tip.

[CP5670]

The 7950GX2 is a DX9 card. It's been around for a little while.

SLI actually works with solid speed improvements in most old games, but the vsync problem really becomes pronounced there and most such games will subjectively "feel" a lot slower than on a single card. You can just change their profiles though; you don't need to turn off the second card.

[neoterran]

My, my.  You made a mistake getting the very first DirectX 10 vid card and processor.  This first-gen hardware often can't use the full power of the new software (DirectX 10.)  I would have waited until Windows Vista actually comes out, and games start being made with DirectX 10.  By then, the truly DX10-compatible cards will be out.  And even after Vista comes out, most games will be using DirectX 9 for another few months, because most of their market will still be using DirectX 9.  Oh, and as for the SLI, if you are playing an older game like FS2, you might want to turn off the second card.  SLI is unsupported in most older games and if you have it enabled it can actually have a negative effect on performance.  Just a little tip.

Yeah, that's totally wrong. There are NO DX10 cards. In fact, you should not buy any DX10 cards, becasue there is going to be a DX10.1 that adds a bunch of stuff, including window management improvements to the hardware for Windows' Vista's Aero interface, so a safe bet would be to wait until DX10.1 is available.

All cards currently are only DX 9.

[IceFire]

My, my.  You made a mistake getting the very first DirectX 10 vid card and processor.  This first-gen hardware often can't use the full power of the new software (DirectX 10.)  I would have waited until Windows Vista actually comes out, and games start being made with DirectX 10.  By then, the truly DX10-compatible cards will be out.  And even after Vista comes out, most games will be using DirectX 9 for another few months, because most of their market will still be using DirectX 9.  Oh, and as for the SLI, if you are playing an older game like FS2, you might want to turn off the second card.  SLI is unsupported in most older games and if you have it enabled it can actually have a negative effect on performance.  Just a little tip.

There are no DX10 cards on the market.  The upcoming generation of cards from ATI and nVidia aren't likely to be DX10 either although it'll be truly hard to say till they come out.  Nothings really solid on that front...just lots of speculation.  But understand...no DX10 cards are available right now.

[CP5670]

Actually, the R600 line will support DX10. Although it won't make any difference for some time and people will buy it mainly for its DX9 capabilities.

[Bob-san]

The GF FX 5 series supports DX9 but not well. The GF 6 series will probably not support DX10 because of the small ammount of time between DX8 and DX9 releases. DX9 and DX10 are more spread out then the previous version(s) of DX. GF 7 series will probably be the only ones supporting DX10, and maybe GF 6 series will support too (though that is not likely).

Remember the GF 8 series will be a dual-core videocard, with SLI on a single card! Quad-SLI over 2 individual cards.

[neoterran]

Actually, the R600 line will support DX10. Although it won't make any difference for some time and people will buy it mainly for its DX9 capabilities.

R600 is not available currently.

[neoterran]

The GF FX 5 series supports DX9 but not well. The GF 6 series will probably not support DX10 because of the small ammount of time between DX8 and DX9 releases. DX9 and DX10 are more spread out then the previous version(s) of DX. GF 7 series will probably be the only ones supporting DX10, and maybe GF 6 series will support too (though that is not likely).

Remember the GF 8 series will be a dual-core videocard, with SLI on a single card! Quad-SLI over 2 individual cards.

You seem confused between hardware and software support. Geforce 7 is a DX9 hardware card, period. It cannot support DX10. This doesn't mean to say if you have DX10 installed on a machine with Geforce7 that it won't work; it simply cannot take advantage of new DX10 hardware features. This has been standard for many generations now.

[CP5670]

The GF FX 5 series supports DX9 but not well. The GF 6 series will probably not support DX10 because of the small ammount of time between DX8 and DX9 releases. DX9 and DX10 are more spread out then the previous version(s) of DX. GF 7 series will probably be the only ones supporting DX10, and maybe GF 6 series will support too (though that is not likely).

Remember the GF 8 series will be a dual-core videocard, with SLI on a single card! Quad-SLI over 2 individual cards.

None of the current cards (6, 7, X and X1 series and whatever else) will support DX10 in hardware. You can't just add that in through driver updates.

There is also currently no indication that the initial GF8 lineup will include a dual GPU card (which is different from dual core; current GPUs already have up to six cores), although it is quite likely that we'll see some GX2 style card as a refresh part later on.

R600 is not available currently.

I was referring to the comment about the "upcoming cards."

[Bob-san]

What I meant was a sliding scale on support (VIA software) of future DX versions. I have a GF FX5200 that supports (badly, I must add) DX9. I need a new PC soon. GeForce 8 will probably be the first DX10 hardware compadible card series.

I remember that from a rumor I read somewhere. GeForce 8 series ill be SLI by having basically 2 graphics cards on a single card. True there is no indication that they will have Dual GPU.

[S-99]

I've just got a 7600gt(very good card). 3dfx with their voodoo 5 series had dual gpu's. Then some people set out to try and build the covetted voodoo6. That was the last time i heard of a graphics with physically two gpu's on the same card. Last from what i remember how 3dfx did it, was by doing sort of an sli setup...except on the same card. The dual gpu voodoo5 was a very big card though. So went the demise of 3dfx Back in the day with my voodoo3 3000pci...voodoo3 getting purchased by nvidia, that was really unexpecting. On another topic, it's funny how sli has made a comeback, it's not really quite as cool as sli was with the voodoo2. I find current graphics cards to be too powerful(good thing) to even really require an sli setup, or for the better part requiring a separate card for physics processing(physics processing is at least radical enough of an innovation, but it's still something a gpu can do, just not so much dedicated to one thing like physics...later plans for physics processing for ati was integrating all into the gpu of future cards).
The question for someone like me needing sli? Half life2 at maximum settings and hdr runs perfectly smoothly and no bog downs, i have yet to get my copy of fear back and try that. Sli is more cool with inferior cards, like the 7600gs and 7300 series, that sounds a lot more fun with sli, and makes more sense. Plz enlighten me to what the point of the second 7950 card is supposed to do exactly besides being a rich bastard? The geforce 7 series is very powerful, but sli with anything higher than my type of card just asks the question to why

[CP5670]

You need to try one of the modern bloatware games at a decent resolution, where even a 7950GX2 struggles unless heavily overclocked. FEAR multiplayer is good example and Oblivion is supposed to be like that too. The 715/830mhz X1900XTX I have generally performs close to a 7950GX2 on HQ mode and I still find it too slow in quite a few games. The game engine programmers have gotten lazy these days.

I think SLI would be a great idea if they ever get around to fixing the vsync problems, which annoyed me to no end and were the reason I got rid of my SLI setup. It's too bad Crossfire has equally bad problems, like the 320mhz output limit and the lack of a proper profile system.

[Bob-san]

Yeah, modern cards are too fast already for SLI to be needed to play smoothly. About 10fps less isn't noticable if your current FPS is about 80... 70 FPS, 80 FPS, and 90 FPS are basically the same to the human eye! A normal TV set has 30 FPS (smooth) on normal broadcast. HD (I think) has 60 FPS... twice that of traditional TV.

Also, it's widely accepted that computer LCD and CRT monitors are the highest quality for size when compared with basically anything else!

[S-99]

That's why like sli is great for inferior cards, you know pair two low end cards together and you'll probably have something pretty fast. But why pay twice the money on two low end cards when you can just go up the price ladder for something faster in a single card solution(pretty much a higher end card that would cost just as much as to low end cards or less). Offering sli capability on all cards is stupid. If people want more speed, then that's why you buy the more expensive one. The only plausible location for sli(no matter how cool it is on lower end cards) is on the high end cards only. Now's when a 7950 geforce with sli capability would be practical, that's if only high end cards offered sli capability(it'd definitely give better incentive for people to buy a high end card since it offers a "paired" capability none of the others have). Sli makes no sense anymore. At least with the case of the voodoo2 there was added advantage of sli, such as being able to do resolutions higher than 800x600 in games and offering more speed. Sli purely in current times just stands out on something to spend extra money on with so far not much of a benefit.
And i doubt my 7600gt will have a single problem with fear. My old 9600se could run fear at minimum settings, my old 9800pro could run it fast with most of the high end settings, and now i have an even better card.
Maybe you guys are talking about running a game like fear at max settings at 1600x1200? 1600x1200 and higher is a decent resolution for the 7950 sli