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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: JoeLo on February 27, 2006, 02:30:09 pm

Title: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: JoeLo on February 27, 2006, 02:30:09 pm
I know the software comes from PCI conventional as shown by the Voodoo 2's. But can any card be run or just those programmed to? I.E. I have a Radeon 9250 if I bought another exact same model would it work? I am aware of the disadvantidges, but it would be a cheap fun experiment.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Unknown Target on February 27, 2006, 02:34:03 pm
...do you have some sort of difficulty with understanding that you need to use the right parts to do something?
You need an SLI-capable card in order to run in SLI.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: CP5670 on February 27, 2006, 02:35:11 pm
Quote
I know the software comes from PCI conventional as shown by the Voodoo 2's. But can any card be run or just those programmed to? I.E. I have a Radeon 9250 if I bought another exact same model would it work? I am aware of the disadvantidges, but it would be a cheap fun experiment.

Simply put, no.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: karajorma on February 27, 2006, 02:49:13 pm
You need to stop trying to MacGyver yourself a top of the line PC out of cast offs. These things never end well unless you have a mullet and are in the 80's. 
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Sandwich on February 27, 2006, 03:06:55 pm
Ouch.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: StratComm on February 27, 2006, 03:11:22 pm
You need to stop trying to MacGyver yourself a top of the line PC out of cast offs. These things never end well unless you have a mullet and are in the 80's. 

In which your best case scenario is you with a terrible hairstyle and a computer that can barely play pong.  Worth trying for the entertainment value alone.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: JoeLo on February 27, 2006, 03:14:58 pm
Until last week I had a mullet. I also have a black leather jacket, and I did fix a computer with duct tape and a screw driver. (not really for the last one)
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 27, 2006, 03:32:17 pm
There are three variants of the two video card concept. There's the 3dfx SLI, nVidia SLI, and ATi Crossfire. The only one of the three that will work on PCI is the 3dfx SLI, assuming you can find paired Voodoos.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: an0n on February 27, 2006, 03:55:47 pm
I thought most PCI-e cards could be used in SLI, even if it wasn't explicity said so?

Or was that that other dual-card thing?
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: CP5670 on February 27, 2006, 03:57:29 pm
You can have multiple cards for running several monitors, but that's not SLI.

Quote
You need to stop trying to MacGyver yourself a top of the line PC out of cast offs.

Hey, it works with some things, just not in this case. :D
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: aldo_14 on February 27, 2006, 04:34:02 pm
I know the software comes from PCI conventional as shown by the Voodoo 2's. But can any card be run or just those programmed to? I.E. I have a Radeon 9250 if I bought another exact same model would it work? I am aware of the disadvantidges, but it would be a cheap fun experiment.

Are you building a PC by raiding peoples' bins?

Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: JoeLo on February 27, 2006, 07:49:38 pm
No I just only have PCI slots on my current computer, and I like experimenting. I build comps for $25 a comp. I almost have enough to get my own gaming computer.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 27, 2006, 08:53:04 pm
You know, I'm trying to figure out what Fair Trade for Africa has to do with any of this (it's one of the Google ads that comes up for me)
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: phatosealpha on February 27, 2006, 09:43:04 pm
Could be something about the whole 'donate' broken old pc equipment to third world countries cause it's cheaper then recycling it thing.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 28, 2006, 01:46:21 am
Possibly. Personally, I keep them to use as parts bins. The floppy in my computer, for example, is about 10 years old.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: WMCoolmon on February 28, 2006, 02:16:20 am
No I just only have PCI slots on my current computer, and I like experimenting. I build comps for $25 a comp. I almost have enough to get my own gaming computer.

Either go all-out and buy a 7800GT for PCIE, or go conservative and buy a GF6600GT

Either way, you will get much more gaming done, rather than...uhm...well, I'm not exactly sure what you would get done with two or more 9250s on a PCI channel. That's like trying to run a home stereo system off a 9v battery.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 28, 2006, 02:37:08 am
Wait a few weeks. The 7800GTs should fall in price with the release of the 7900GTs.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Sandwich on February 28, 2006, 03:04:48 am
The floppy in my computer, for example, is about 10 years old.

Funny how we all love to hate the decrepit floppy, love to hate how we're STILL dependent on it to install a Windows OS under certain not-rare conditions (such as installing to an SATA drive), and yet, in the end, the floppy drive itself is the most reliable thing we've ever had in a computer, dust and all. Even CRTs die out after 7-8 years, but I've never heard of a floppy drive (not disk, mind you, which is another story entirely) going belly-up.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: WMCoolmon on February 28, 2006, 03:30:34 am
Really? I remember building computers out of spare parts, and having trouble finding a floppy drive that worked.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 28, 2006, 03:44:13 am
The floppy in my computer, for example, is about 10 years old.

Funny how we all love to hate the decrepit floppy, love to hate how we're STILL dependent on it to install a Windows OS under certain not-rare conditions (such as installing to an SATA drive), and yet, in the end, the floppy drive itself is the most reliable thing we've ever had in a computer, dust and all. Even CRTs die out after 7-8 years, but I've never heard of a floppy drive (not disk, mind you, which is another story entirely) going belly-up.
I really don't have a problem with the floppy drive. It's dependable, provides a nice way to transfer documents, and is useful for tampering with things such as the BIOS. I trust BIOS flashing from a floppy far more than the in-Windows BIOS flashes.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: Kosh on February 28, 2006, 04:50:11 am
The problem with floppies is that except for doing SATA windows installs and BIOS flashing, what can it be used for? The A: drive just sits in the My Computer folder and collects dust for most of its life.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: Descenterace on February 28, 2006, 05:53:11 am
Floppy drives fail frequently. I've got a stack of ten of 'em, and less than four still work properly. Average age: 3 years.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: vyper on February 28, 2006, 07:12:43 am
Whatever happened to the LS120 standard?
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: aldo_14 on February 28, 2006, 10:01:04 am
The floppy in my computer, for example, is about 10 years old.

Funny how we all love to hate the decrepit floppy, love to hate how we're STILL dependent on it to install a Windows OS under certain not-rare conditions (such as installing to an SATA drive), and yet, in the end, the floppy drive itself is the most reliable thing we've ever had in a computer, dust and all. Even CRTs die out after 7-8 years, but I've never heard of a floppy drive (not disk, mind you, which is another story entirely) going belly-up.

Mine's broken.  Kaput.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: JoeLo on February 28, 2006, 02:30:23 pm
For a gaming computer I was actually planning on a 6800GS but I my wait and get  7800GT, I buy cheap, or even get free computers occasaionally when building, so I part them out or sell them.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: Roanoke on February 28, 2006, 03:31:07 pm
so is SLi essentially a 3dfx throwback, that has been left untouched for 5/10 years ?
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 28, 2006, 03:40:25 pm
The concept is, though they redid all of the technology.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: CP5670 on February 28, 2006, 06:14:50 pm
I haven't had any of my floppy drives ever break. I keep one in my main machine since it's the only way I can transfer files to my '90 mac (mostly retro games off Mac Garden) and it's also useful for occasional BIOS updates.

Quote
Wait a few weeks. The 7800GTs should fall in price with the release of the 7900GTs.

I guess I need to decide quickly whether I should sell my cards now and recover as much money as possible or wait to see if the 7900 line is any good and then see what to do. All the new rumors are indicating that the top end 7900GTX is going to be a letdown though, so I may be better off just sticking with what I have.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Nix on February 28, 2006, 06:21:40 pm
LS120 vs Iomega's baby?  The LS120 disks were slower than the Zip disks, and were expensive.  Iomega flooded the market with thier disks as well, and apparently did better than Imation's LS120.  I personally thought it was better than zip disks untill I saw some benchmarks on Zip vs LS120, internal models.  Yeesh. 

The floppy disk is a lifesaver, if you use the bootable HD utilities such as Ghost and Partition Magic, the floppy disk is your friend.  I'll always have one in any of my systems untill they are no longer manufactured.  I think the reason why we really havent been able to completely phase them out, is due to the lack of pimpage of Mount Ranier support for optical discs.  Most drives support Mount Ranier, and apparently, it would make the disc operate just like a floppy disk, though it honestly cant be that fast.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: Cyker on February 28, 2006, 06:43:01 pm
I still have a Canon Dual drive installed in my system! :D

(It's a 1.2MB 5.25" and 3.5" combo drive in a single 5.25" bay ;))

I've not actually used it in a very long time 'tho...
It is, however, the only surviving component from my original computer ;)

Unless you count the power lead and floppy cable... (Can't use new ones that come with mobos; They use 40-pin connectors. This drive uses the old 5.25" FDD connector!!!)
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on February 28, 2006, 07:05:15 pm
I haven't had any of my floppy drives ever break. I keep one in my main machine since it's the only way I can transfer files to my '90 mac (mostly retro games off Mac Garden) and it's also useful for occasional BIOS updates.

Quote
Wait a few weeks. The 7800GTs should fall in price with the release of the 7900GTs.

I guess I need to decide quickly whether I should sell my cards now and recover as much money as possible or wait to see if the 7900 line is any good and then see what to do. All the new rumors are indicating that the top end 7900GTX is going to be a letdown though, so I may be better off just sticking with what I have.
Current indications seem to be that the 7900s are going to be decent, though most likely just a clock increase. The silicon is probably 99% identical.

The early reviews do seem to suggest that the 7900GTs are the equals of the 7800GTXs, though.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Nix on March 01, 2006, 11:28:33 am
I wonder if its possible to SLi that drive so you can write twice as fast to two disks at once!  :lol:

Dear God dont let JoeLo see that....
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in
Post by: Grey Wolf on March 01, 2006, 03:24:28 pm
I wonder if its possible to SLi that drive so you can write twice as fast to two disks at once!  :lol:

Dear God dont let JoeLo see that....

RAID.
Title: Re: Running a pair of PCI (Conventional) cards in SLI
Post by: Descenterace on March 03, 2006, 11:35:27 pm
Anyone else seen the RAID-5 floppy drives?  :D