Nvidia Unveils New 64x SLI GPU Rig

The Register has an answer for the problem of what to get the graphics buff who has everything, Nvidia's new 64x SLI GPU rig. While it doesn't come cheap, a mere $17,500, it will offer rendering at around 80 billion pixels every second and a combined resolution of around 148 megapixels. The new hardware is being targeted at content creators and people doing scientific modeling, and is due to ship in September.

Please use my referral link

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy it here [reghardware.co.uk] and I'll earn a 1% commission!

I will gladly pay you Tuesday...

[Chas]

Just ship it right out.

Re:Please use my referral link

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks, justjoking! I'll post a review as soon as I get it.

Re:Please use my referral link

[theGeekDude]

This chip was especially made for all the billionaire's kids so that they can play the latest video games without the need to worry for uprgrades... thus the high price...

Re:Please use my referral link

[Reaperducer]

Oh, great. Another graphics card the Wintel people can complain isn't available as a BTO option in a MacBook.

Vista ready!

[Anonymous Coward]

it will offer rendering at around 80 billion pixels every second and a combined resolution of around 148 megapixels.

Vista requirement.

(but by the time vista comes out, these things will be cheap).

Re:Vista ready!

[__aaclcg7560]

Is that what's needed to run the Windows Classic interface?

content creators

[Bromskloss]

Gah, I hate that word. brrrrr We make content. It sounds awfully wierd.

Re:content creators

[gardyloo]

Gah, I hate that word. brrrrr We make content. It sounds awfully wierd.

      The winner of your discontent, eh?

Mere, huh?

[hawkeye_82]

....a mere $17,500...

I don't think that word means what you think it means...

WHOOOOOSH

[Winckle]

Sarcasm doing mach 3 over your head.

Re:WHOOOOOSH

[Goaway]

It may have been meant to be sarcasm, but it failed miserably. You can not start with a serious "doesn't come cheap" and then suddenly tack on a sarcastic specifier, "a mere $...". Either both halves are sarcastic ("It's cheap, a mere $...") or both serious. Trying to mix them ruins it.

Re:WHOOOOOSH

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

You can not start with a serious "doesn't come cheap" and then suddenly tack on a sarcastic specifier

Someone starting seriously, then ending up sarcasticly? You CANT be serious?

Re:WHOOOOOSH

[Anonymous Coward]

Things doing mach 3 don't make a wooshing sound.

Re:WHOOOOOSH

[Basehart]

I bet I could find a few places on an object doing Mach 3 that are making a whooshing sound. Place a mic inside the landing gear bays, or at various places inside the wings and you'll hear all kinds of whooshing sounds. Also place one under the pilots seat and hit record when he/she hits negative G's at the top of a vertical climb. You'll hear a whooshing sound then for sure.

Re:WHOOOOOSH

[ericfitz]

Don't you mean 'BOOM' at mach 3?

Re:WHOOOOOSH

[yourOneManArmy]

What's really happening here is that the OP's joke was tremendously unentertaining, while the reply was a tremendously funny comment when the OP is taken seriously.

Video

[certel]

I'll take 2. Just to make sure I can play Quake 4 at the highest resolution.

Re:Video

[eosp]

How about a nice, large 640e10x480e10 monitSegmentation fault: core dumped

Re:Video

[djdavetrouble]

I'll take 2.

um, doesn't SLI mean you are hooking a few together already ?

Re:Video

[Millenniumman]

Yes it does, but as we all know, more is better.

Re:Video

[Hoi Polloi]

Oooooh, 5000 fps! I'm sure that some rich guy somewhere will buy this and be on a game server going "Damnit! I spent $17,500 and I still get owned!".

64x? Eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing "64x" in there is the FSAA... Not the cards. From TFA:

It doesn't come cheap, mind - prices start at $17,500. Nvidia has three models on offer. Two contain two Quadro FX 5500 GPUs, while the mid-range version, the Model II, has two Quadro 4500 X2 GPUs - ie. four graphics cores.

Nowhere near 64 cards, that's ridiculous...

Re:64x? Eh?

[dnoyeb]

64 cards at Nvidia prices would be about $35,000. But 64x is a pretty pathetic way of headlining the story i agree...

Re:64x? Eh?

[Blimey85]

I was thinking the same thing and was utterly confused after reading the article. I looked at the phone and thought that's pretty damn cool. 64 graphics cards in their own case... I wonder how they power it... then I read... then I'm like WTF Mate?!?!?! It's only 2 cards! What the hell happened to the other 62? It's like marketing said build us a unit with 64 and production sent out a unit with only 2 but forgot to tell marketing.

If you were to connect 64 off the shelf $400 cards it's run you $25,600 but you'd expect a quantity discount so I could see it going for $17,500. But two cards with two gpu's each for $17,500? That's nuts.

Re:64x? Eh?

[miyako]

You were right the first time. It is an array of cards, each card contains 2 GPUs and each GPU contains 2 cores. So you have 64 cards * 2 GPUs per card * 2 cores per GPU = 256 cores total. The article is extremely poorly worded.

Re:64x? Eh?

[miyako]

Hmm, then the article was really poorly written. I spent several minutes pondering over what they were trying to say and it was still not very clear.

Re:64x? Eh?

[PhraudulentOne]

Perhaps this will help you all...

CLICKY [nvidia.com]

Re:64x? Eh?

[smallfries]

The other weird anomaly is the fillrate. 80 Gp/s is a long way ahead of the 7800-GTX. A long way. Currently the 16 ROPs on the 7800-GTX limit the fillrate to 25GB/s or 1.6Gp/s assuming 16 bytes per pixel. The claim of a 148 megapixel framebuffer in 2GB of memory implies 16 bytes per pixel but this would produce a whopping memory bandwidth of about 1.2 Terrabytes per second. Even if it were a single byte per pixel there is no way they will get 80GB/s of fillrate out of just two cards. DDR3 is maxed out at 25

Re:64x? Eh?

[JDevers]

Each card has two GPUs with it's own memory, so there would need to be just 20 MB/s per GPU which is feasible. The rest of your argument still holds though. I agree that a lot of this is marketspeak. I have a feeling that the 148 MPixel thing is related to FSAA and not a real metric.

Re:64x? Eh?

[smallfries]

Not quite. If there are four separate memory subsystems then the fillrate of 80 *billion pixels* could be divided into 20 Gp/s per subsystem. But to get 20GB/s that would imply one byte per pixel. Four bytes per pixel is the absolute minimum, but 80 GB/s is way above DDR3. The claim was actually in the Register article rather than the press release so it possible that somebody copied down the wrong number and/or unit in a briefing...

Re:64x? Eh?

[staeiou]

The only thing "64x" in there is the FSAA... Not the cards. From TFA:

The summary should say x64, instead of 64x. x64 is the amount of lanes (a measure of bandwidth - 1 lane = 250 MB/sec) the board can carry to the bus. The early PCI-E graphics were limited by lanes - one card ran at x16, but there wasn't enough bandwidth in the chipset for two cards, so an SLI setup had to run cards at x8 each, halfing the bandwidth. Newer chipsets can handle two sets of x16, meaning 32 total lanes for graphics. For thi

I'm not their target, I'm sure.

[caluml]

calum@torro ~ $ /usr/sbin/lspci |grep VGA
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)
calum@torro ~ $

That's with a whopping 64MB of RAM. Woo.
They'll not be getting me to take out a loan for that new one.

RTFA 512 & 1024

[Gates82]

Read the article there are three models available in 1 gig GDDR2 and 512 MB GDDR3 configurations.

--
So who is hotter? Ali or Ali's Sister?

Re:RTFA 512 & 1024

[caluml]

But... but.. no-one will ever need more than 64MB?

Beat this!

[Pegasus]

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. G400/G450 (rev 82)

With 16MB of memory, no less!

Running perfectly silent with crystal clear picture on 1600x1200.

I don't see why would anyone need more. X is just for having many xterminals on the screen at the same time, right?

Re:I'm not their target, I'm sure.

[MoxFulder]

dlenski@danimal:~$ lspci
0000:00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51G [GeForce 6100] (rev a2)

Hah, mine is even weaker! It's an integrated video card. And I *still* can play games and watch movies. Wowza!

Re:I'm not their target, I'm sure.

[kalirion]

/opt $ lspci
bash: lspci: command not found

beat that!

Alright!

[fireman sam]

Something that can run Vista.

Re:Alright!

[dvice_null]

> Something that can run Vista.

Yes, but how many of these do we need to run one Vista?

Re:Alright!

[Zindagi]

Yes, but how many of these do we need to run one Vista?

Or how many Vista's can we run on one of these ?

Re:Alright!

[Exuder]

Knowing Vista's true launch date, even this card won't likely be compatible!

Re:Alright!

[Iamthefallen]

Why?

It's not like pitch black looks any better at 600fps.

Benchmarking

[DaHat]

I suddenly have the desire to see a 3dmark or Quake score for that rig... I imagine that it'd cause me to cry.

Re:Benchmarking

[B11]

I suddenly have the desire to see a 3dmark or Quake score for that rig... I imagine that it'd cause me to cry.

or pitch a tent perhaps?

Re:Benchmarking

[__aaclcg7560]

I imagine that it'd cause me to cry.

Probably so since professional graphic solutions usually don't have DirectX drivers. This isn't a game card. You just might have to roll your own DirectX drivers.

Re:Benchmarking

[DaHat]

That may be true in general however Quatro cards have had DX support for many years.

Re:Benchmarking

[snuf23]

The Doom 3 and Quake engines use OpenGL.

Re:Benchmarking

[evilviper]

I imagine that it'd cause me to cry.
You wouldn't happen to be The Devil, would you?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/10/09 [penny-arcade.com]

Re:Benchmarking

[Petrushka]

Don't worry, Oblivion with all settings maxed will still bring it to a crawl.

Hello, Santa...

[Donniedarkness]

I know what I want for Christmas!

More like Hello, Satan

[Snarfangel]

BTW, what is the going rate for souls nowadays?

Re:More like Hello, Satan

[Donniedarkness]

...and here to answer our question is... pop sensation, Britney Spears!

Re:More like Hello, Satan

[ettlz]

Seems reasonable.

good news everyone

[geekoid]

in a month they'll be 50 bucks!

For sale at CompUSA in 3 to 5 years

[sprins]

Seriously, this is what we'll have in our desktop computer for $150 in at most 5 years.

But (obligatory)

[snoggeramus]

But does it run Linux?

Re:But (obligatory)

[CRiMSON]

Uhhh yes, poor attempt you fail. -1 humor point for you. And while were at it -50 DKP!

Re:But (obligatory)

[Ant P.]

It's a workstation card made by nVidia, so I think it'll run out of the box.

Now if you're talking about with OSS drivers... not a chance in hell.

Cheap, I'll take two.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of jokes about something that can finally run Doom3 at max detail or similar, I suppose that's to be expected. But on the serious side, graphics processors being used as ad-hoc physics processors and tasked with a compute-intensive job that is inherently parallel is the perfect job for something like this. Compared to what it would probably cost to assemble a cluster of general-purpose CPUs to do the same thing, $17,000 is dirt cheap.

Another task that this would be great for is high-fidelity image generation, say for flight or vehicle simulation. Sure, you can hook up a couple projectors, but until you get full surround projection at eye-limited resolution, it still looks somewhat pixellated. Drive a set of laser-scan planetarium projectors with this (ok, so they cost tens of thousands of dollars each) and you're good to go.

Now, of course, I have to say it...
Just imagine what a beowulf cluster of these could do!

You're addicted to your computer if...

[frosty_tsm]

Your computer costs more than your car.

(not mine, off of a shirt I got from the ACM club at college; they also had something about Doom and a 12 step program).

Are you trying to be funny?

[Chas]

I paid $20,000 for my car.

No. Don't even ask about my computer(s). I won't like the answer.

Re:Are you trying to be funny?

[frosty_tsm]

And if your GPU cost $17,500, it wouldn't take much (assuming big LCD and other insane hardware) to pass the 20k mark.

Re:You're addicted to your computer if...

[drinkypoo]

Maybe it just means you drive shitboxes. My car was $1500, which is not a particularly high-end computer. The Athlon XP-based system I just sold cost more than that if you count the monitor. Well, it did back when it was new. It brought in $500 now.

Re:You're addicted to your computer if...

[networkBoy]

I spent 34,500 for my car (Plus T&L).
I spent more than that (by about 7K) on my "PC".
My PC was supposed to be a compute machine, but ended up being mothballed after purchase because the department that bought it went tits-up.
No-one else wnats to pay the depriciation, so it sits in the corner of the machine room gathering dust and transcoding the odd file here and there.

Bit of trivia:
Since AutoGK is not optimised for running on multiple CPUs on multiple machines as a cluster, it is vastly faster to break

score -1, did not read the article

[RelliK]

RTFA (or, better yet, go to NVidia's site to verify). It's not 64x, it's 2x or 4x depending on the configuration. Stupidest sensationalism ever! Here is the link [nvidia.com] for the lazy.

can you imagine

[mseidl]

playing tux racer on this?!?!?! How about Starcraft? Omg!!!111 1zeryg rUSh!!!!11!!loL1zer

Targeted advertising?

[Otter]

I love the Google ad on this story:

Teen Sex Addict Treatment
Pine Creek - Teen Sexual Addiction Residential Treatment Program
www.pinecreekranch.org

Because the teenagers drooling over 64x SLI hardware are having so darn much sex that ordinary therapy isn't enough! They need to be packed off to a ranch so a team of experts can dial back their sex lives!

Either Google needs to add a few more PhD's or someone isn't spending his ad budget wisely...

Re:Targeted advertising?

[Elegor]

Hey don't knock it! I was just kicking back, flicking through the articles on Slashdot after a 48-hour non-stop marathon of unbounded sexual pleasure with three gorgeous coeds, when I noticed that ad. Intrigued, I clicked the link and read their literature. It has made me realise what a hollow, unfulfilling life I lead. A string of simple, no-strings relationships with nubile young women in their sexual prime is no life at all really. I should be spending my time more creatively, by contributing to ope

Re:Targeted advertising?

[Otter]

Sooo, Mr. Otter, been surfing any teen sex sites lately?

Heh, humiliation 1, me 0.

In all seriousness, though -- I posted that from my work computer on a strongly censored network. If that ad is based on my cache, there's something seriously wrong either with Google or somebody's keyword purchase.

how many of these can you buy for that price?

[80 85 83 83 89 33]

**best price/performance**
  nVid 7600 GT ($210)
  ATI X1600 XT ($170)
  nVid 6600 GT ($140)
              (MSI & BFG = quiet)
**best price/performance**

the faster at top:

  ATI X800 Pro ~$250 ($150 refurb)
  ATI 9950 ultra (N/A)
  nVid 6800 LE/XT (LE=slower)($150,$300)
  ATI 9800 XT(~$185) (6600GT is above this)
  ATI X700 PRO($125)
  nVid 5900U/5950 Ultra($250)
  ATI 9800 PRO(~$130)
=ATI 9700 pro
=ATI 9800 ($90??)
=nVid 5900/5950
  ATI 9700 ($110)
  ATI X700 (NOT pro)???
  ATI X1300 PRO($80-95)???
  nVid 6600 ($100)
  nVid 5800 ultra
  nVid 5700 Ultra (N/A)
  ATI 9500 Pro ($95 used)
            (yes it beats 9600pro!)
=nVid 5600 Ultra
=ATI X600 PRO/XT ($95-114)
=ATI 9600 pro/XT ($100)
  nVid 5800
  ATI 9800 SE(128 bit)
  nVid 5700/5750
  nVid 6200 non-tc (under $100!)
=nVid 5600
=ATI 9500/9550/9600
  ATI X300 non-Hypermem???
  nVid 5700 LE (MINE)
  nVid GF4 Ti 4600
  nVid 5200 ULTRA
  nVid 5600 XT (XT=lower)
  ATI 9600 SE

this last group of expansion cards is equal to the current generation of integrated onboard graphics
***very slow***

nVid 5200/5500 ($50 PCI)
nVid PCX 5300
nVid 6200 Turbocache
ATI 9200 SE
ATI X300 SE Hypermemory

current generation of integrated graphics chipsets:

-- Intel GMA950
-- nVidia 6100/6150
-- ATI xpress 200

Duke Nukem Foreveeeeer . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that the hardware is in place, the game we've all been waiting for can be released.

(mod me up or mod me down, just don't leave me at zero you clown)

firmware hacks?

[PhrostyMcByte]

I remember older Geforce cards could be turned into a Quatro just by uploading new firmware to the card's flash. They were essentially the same cards but with some features disabled on the Geforce. I wonder if is can still be done?

Re:firmware hacks?

[FuturePastNow]

Not with the "7" series cards. As far as I know the last card that could be Quadro-modded was the 6800 with the nv40 core: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=5 3058 [nvnews.net]

A serious question

[Curate]

Will this be sufficient to run Duke Nukem Forever?

Re:A serious question

[Mostly a lurker]

Will this be sufficient to run Duke Nukem Forever?

As of today, probably yes. However, the new GPU rig is not due until September and, by then, the DNF development team will have discovered the absolute need to redesign DNF to the latest engine with innovative graphics features that no hardware due before 2010 can handle.

The $17,500.00 question

[AxXium]

Why?

Sounds familiar...

[pr0nbot]

Is nVidia going to be the new SGI?

Re:Sounds familiar...

[protohiro1]

Yeah I guess so, reminds me of the old SGI Onyx. I was an intern at sgi in 1997 and I recal playing GL quake on an Onyx2, list price $110k. 50fps @ 1600x1200. Compared to what sgi used to charge for their stuff $17k is a steal considering this thing is vastly more powerful than any of those old $100k sgi machines.
Is there really any demand for this though? Like what can't a dual SLI Quadro do for you?

Oh, no.

[FlyByPC]

Now that this is out, I can just see the new "recommended hardware configuration" on the box for Flight Simulator X...

Is SGI the target?

[ettlz]

So is nVIDIA now targeting SGI's traditional clientelle and moving into the graphic brick business?

A little sad to think...

[Digital Pizza]

... this is the kind of thing SGI used to do. Well, I guess a little SGI does live on in NVidia (and in the price of this thing!)

Re:A little sad to think...

[stox]

A good portion of the folks who did the work at SGI are now working for NVidia.

Go Sony!

[eebra82]

"The Quadro Plex 1000 family is due to ship in September."

Oh, so now we finally know the reason why the PS3 is so delayed. Does this Plex 1000 come with a Blue-Ray?

WIMPY Get an APEXX 8

[AgNO3]

Bah that thing is total wimp. This thing holds dual dual cards and 16cores.

http://www.boxxtech.com/products/apexx8.asp [boxxtech.com]

Lots of heat

[Mr. Freeman]

Alright then, I'll just go replace my furnace with this as well. This thing could probably keep the house nice and cozy during -30 degree weather.

Re:Lots of heat

[WhiteWolf666]

You know, if you combine the cost of your furnance and desktop PC.... you might be able to get closer to justifying the cost of this thing.

Perhaps if you cooled it via heat pipe, used the exchanger to run a water cooler, and pump the remains into radiant heating.......

NOT FOR GAMING

[iamsolidsnk]

The nVidia Quadro graphics cards are for rendering, not for high-end gaming. The idea in the graphics card market that "more $$$$ == better graphics in games" does not hold true. These Quadro's will perform rather poorly compared to a 7950GTX, currently the top dog in the nVidia consumer graphics card market.

This computer is for the design/development professional, who needs to render large amounts of video, like digital animation (think Pixar and it's ilk).

So ... what does it do and how's it do it?

[Kadin2048]

Just because this was one of the first borderline on-topic posts in this discussion so far...

Can anyone explain to me how you'd use this thing? The Register article says "The machines are controlled from a PC or workstation - 32- or 64-bit, Windows or Linux - connected across a network. Nvidia reckons the boxes will interest not only content creators but folk doing scientific modelling and simulation work." That makes it sound almost like a standalone system of some sort, not just a graphics card. I mean, w

Re:So ... what does it do and how's it do it?

[Rufus211]

Nothing but a box with a power supply and an external cable and a breakout card?

From what I've read that's basically it. Oh, and probably some magic drivers to make it all work.

Re:So ... what does it do and how's it do it?

[Ant P.]

Looks like you're basically paying $12000 for a plastic box, a PSU and a PCI-E extension cable.

Amen!

[SloppyElvis]

Thank God, Brother, you're the first sane person in this forum. I think people do not understand what "workstation" means. Kids. heh.

Burning question

[SuperKendall]

Awesome setup, but will it be able to power by single 800x600 LCD monitor I bought several years ago? It's still working...

Oblig. Oblivion Joke

[bahwi]

So, would Oblivion run at more than 20 or 30fps with this? I already spent about 1/8th fixing it up to get it to about 20 or so!

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:(-1, Troll) or, visualize

[soibudca]

being welcomed as an overlord by a Beowulf cluster of these puppies in soviet Russia and still misspelling independant, accomodation and definately in an email to some old fart in Korea.

Re:(-1, Troll) or, visualize

[Reaperducer]

...delete select all.

Correction!!!

[Khyber]

640K GPUs will be all we need.

Re:Correction!!!

[Khyber]

Offtopic by responding to an on-topic joke about the graphics card - man the mods must be on the good drugs tonight, they can't even think properly. I think it's time for OSTG to suffer an EMP so people wake up and get their heads back in proper order.

Re:Back in my day..

[gnuman99]

We had 640x480 with 256 colors.. and we were happy about it! (No seriously, I still have a couple video cards that let computers do 256 colors instead of just 16)

As opposed to the 4 bit EGA cards and the 2 bit Hercules displays. The King Quest 4 on the EGA was something.