I can't believe no-one has posted this yet. Head over to sharkyextreme.com
They have an exclusive on SLI capable Tnt/Tnt2 cards. Wow! SLI-ed TnT2 supposedly will destroy Voodoo3 in the performance benchmarks, not to mention the fact it will support 32-bit color.
Ready for the Amazing Performance Surprise?
Here's where it gets good people, a large bomb is about to be dropped on the gaming world and the reason for the PCI and AGP versions of Metabyte's TNT is about to be made clear:
There's a fully functional SLI capable port on each of Metabyte's PCI and AGP TNT cards.
Oh good lord, there we've said it, and we feel like a load's been lifted off our shoulders. The
secret's out for good, and the repercussions will be felt worldwide.
Now you say you want the gory details, including how, why, when, and how much the
Metabyte TNT cards will check in at?
Read on friends…
How?
Metabyte's engineers have been working on an undercover technology that allows not only
nVidia chipsets to be SLI'ed in tandem, but virtually any future chipset from any vendor that
hits the market.
The internal code name for the Metabyte project is "Wicked3D Stepsister" (don't ask us,
no one we talked to remembers where this name originated from) and it heralds a new dawn as far as linked high-powered video options go. Our Metabyte sources answered "Yes, yes, and yes" when asked if it was possible for the Wicked3D Stepsister program to
be adapted to work with the S3 Savage 4, 3Dfx Voodoo3, TNT2, or another brand new chip
architecture. Although it's unlikely in Metabyte's mind that they'll do a Savage4 or
Voodoo3-based SLI product, the TNT2 is a whole different enchilada. Later in this article
we'll break the news on two possible TNT2 SLI solutions, but for now let's look at the Step
Sister technology itself.
Here's the way the system will work:
Metabyte is going to sell both PCI and AGP versions of their TNT SLI capable cards
separately for between $125 and $150 for each 16MB card. Much like the Voodoo2 SLI
setups that we all know and love, the Metabyte TNT SLI system works similarly but differs
with two possible SLI combos: 1 AGP TNT + 1 PCI TNT
1 PCI TNT + 1 PCI TNT
The AGP + PCI version of the Metabyte SLI rig will offer slightly faster performance (about 5
to 10%) than the 2 TNT PCI cards when linked together. This is due to the way that
Metabyte has chosen to implement SLI, to maximize their driver's capabilities. Instead of
rendering each 3D image's odd or even lines in succession the way 3Dfx's SLI system
works, Metabyte's process separates the entire 3D image into two halves: The top half of
the on-screen image, and the bottom half of the on-screen image. This supposedly reduces
the CPU overhead versus the odd/even 3Dfx approach while making the whole operation
smoother and more seamless.
-Tae Kim
tigerinvestor.com |
