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Graphics Software Hardware

CeBIT 2005: SLI Shuttle Surfaces 91

Posted by timothy from the small-packages dept.
Kez writes "You wouldn't think it could be done, but you can actually fit two high performance video cards into a Shuttle XPC and run them in SLI mode. Shuttle are being a bit coy about the whole affair, despite the fact that they have the system on show. As such, no internal photos are available, but HEXUS.net has a writeup explaining what's inside."
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CeBIT 2005: SLI Shuttle Surfaces More

CeBIT 2005: SLI Shuttle Surfaces

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  • Another CeBIT story? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 13, 2005 @03:09PM (#11927474)
    Why not do a daily summary of multiple CeBIT stories?

    • Re:Another CeBIT story? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by unts ( 754160 )
      CeBIT is a HUGE event with an awful lot to cover. It's a chance for a lot of companies to showcase new hardware. There's bound to be a lot of CeBIT stuff both on Slashdot and the rest of the tech-geared web for the next few days.

      • Re:Another CeBIT story? (Score:3, Informative)

        by sbryant ( 93075 )

        Oddly enough, there hasn't been that much CeBit stuff on /. in comparison to what is actually going on there. I've read articles about some really cool stuff. If you can read German, there's good coverage on the German tech news site Heise [heise.de].

        -- Steve

    • Why not do a daily summary of multiple CeBIT stories? Because then there would be far less potential for duplicate /. stories about CeBIT, which just wouldn't be as fun.

    • Re:Another CeBIT story? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This isn't a CeBIT story. It's a hexus advertorial submitted by Steve Kerrison of hexus.
    • Well... why? Why should stories be posted together just because they all originated from CeBIT? They aren't even necessarily related topics. It's like saying "Another story from the US? Why not do a daily summary of multiple stories from the US?", isn't it?

  • Oh yea!?!? (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by FreeLinux ( 555387 )
    Well, I have a Cirrus Logic 5401 VGA controller.

    I'll sell it to you but, it won't be cheap.
    • Versus my S3 Virge... you will be crippled.

      Come to think of it, SLI S3 Virges would be a sight and a half!
      • It would be a sight and a half to see you attempt to cripple someone with only a video card.
      • The sad thing is I actually have both cards(well, chips) mentioned in this thread. Luckily I havn't had to use either in ages, but I do remember getting 15fps in tfc in software mode(no support for GL/DX), 320x240 or so.
  • Does anyone need 12,000 fps for Star Wars Republic Commando?

  • If Only (Score:4, Funny)

    by leathered ( 780018 ) on Sunday March 13, 2005 @03:13PM (#11927506)
    Now if you can get that shhutle syystem to ruun in SLLI mode I would be most immpressed.
  • What is the point of this article? All I am interested in when I hear about 2 cards in SLI configuration is their performance, and this article does not mention the performance at all.
    Paul

  • When you consider (Score:3, Interesting)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Sunday March 13, 2005 @03:15PM (#11927518) Journal
    the Gigantahugeanormus selection [nzone.com] of apps that get a benefit from SLI, it makes the price of a SLI system oh so much more reasonable.
    • I think this shows a misunderstanding of what support means. That is the "supported" list, which I think is the slew of programs which they test against. I imagine that a lot more will work, but just because it isn't listed as supported doesn't mean it won't work.

      • Re:When you consider (Score:3, Informative)

        by Mafiew ( 620133 )
        "unsupported" games may work but to try you have to make your own "application profile" if Nvidia has not released one. Basically all this involves is specifying which mode to use for specific programs.

        http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzExLDM= [hardocp.com]

        I'm sure its pretty annoying for the average gamer though, to edit some obscure file every time they want to play a new unprofiled game. But then again Nvidia fanboys who are crazy enough to spend 1200$ on a pair of video cards will doubtless have no
        • "But then again Nvidia fanboys who are crazy enough to spend 1200$ on a pair of video cards will doubtless have no problem with this."

          When you consider the fact that two 6600GTs are the same price as a 6800GT, and the SLI'd 6600GTs are 1.5 times faster than the 6800GT, you realise that SLI is a Good Thing.

          Price for two 6600GTs right now is between $500-600 CAD, far FAR off from your $1200 USD (I'm assuming) throwaway estimate.

          • Most times the 6800GT is faster, and you have 256MB of RAM on the 6800GT versus 128MB effective RAM on 6600GT SLI. You have some games too where performance is up by only 5-10% (Far Cry in HDR rendering..)
            • I would consider Far Cry to be a erroneous example, as it tends to do quite poorly in any nvidia benchmark. If you look at the numbers for Doom3 and Half-Life 2, you'll see that the performance is much better.

              Oh, and you can get 6600GTs with 256MB.

  • Space shuttles? (Score:3, Funny)

    by _Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) <sharper AT booksunderreview DOT com> on Sunday March 13, 2005 @03:15PM (#11927525) Homepage Journal
    Am I the only one who pictured two space shuttles taking off in tandem?

    • Re:Space shuttles? HAHAHA (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yes, the rest of us pictured two space shuttles surfacing in tandem and that you should definitely not consider quitting your day job to become a comedian. kthxbye.

  • Isnt the point.. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by yuriismaster ( 776296 )
    of Small Form Factor computers to be light, portable , and functional (like a Mac Mini [slashdot.org]?)

    I'm not exactly dissing this card setup, but the price of one of these machines is starting to outweigh the weight and size of a standard form factor.

    When I first heard about SFF, the first thing I thought was media server. A light, portable, PVR. Its now turned into 'How much tech can I squeeze into the smallest space possible?'

    If we insist on such prick-waving, then please make sure the thing doesnt burn. That's t
    • The point of any system is whatever the hell you want its point to be. You may look at the mac mini (not sure if that "link" was a joke or a pathetic attempt at the freemac spam crap) as the system you want. Someone else may like this shuttle to be able to carry their gaming system around more easily, like being able to take it to your friend's place for a LAN party yourself, instead of having to drive because it's too heavy to do so.
    • of Small Form Factor computers to be light, portable , and functional (like a Mac Mini?)

      This is a power gaming box for lan parties. No question. All the beef of what most people have in a desktop tower in something you can carry with one hand. They are making enough room (and I assume cooling and power) for the latest greatest set of video cards in SLI configuration. The video cards alone cost more than a mini-mac, never mind the CPU and RAM. You don't need that for PVR's, surfing the web, or any hom
      • I'd still prefer a laptop. Carrying around a laptop with a power block and separate mouse is more preferable to the SFF + monitor + mouse + keyboard + power cords.
    • notwithstanding your "free bullshit" referral spam, i believe the point of small form factor PCs is to have a small form factor. as in size.
    • The point of Small Form Factor computers is to be small. Hence the word "Small" in the name. The rest is up to you.
    • It isn't so much about weight as size. I can move a 50lb dumbell fairly easily; a 50lb computer case no so much.

      My SFF has tons of crap in it. It weighs as much as my Lian-Li mid-tower case. But If I haul the tower to a LAN party, I really appretiate the SFF.
    • no. the point of it is to be small.

      lightness isn't that much of an issue for most people. deskspace and easy to take to lans.

      besides it looks like it's the normal shuttle size, just extra space inside for the second card.
  • This is great! Now due to me getting fired for gaming all the time, I can still game in the efficiency apartment that I can barely afford while working part time at my local fast food joint! Kudos to going smaller and smaller as my income falls!
  • Don't SFF cases usually have weak psu's, and don't high end video cards consume lots of power? Doesn't seem like a good match to me.
    • I don't think Shuttle would be dumb enough to produce a product with a PSU that isn't up to its intended task. If the intended task is to run two video cards, then it would probably have a higher rated power supply. Power supply requirements of video cards have been overstated in the past, but I don't think it will be a problem.
      • You'd be suprised how noticable the power drain can be. My teammate got a nice highend ATI workstation card (FireGL I believe) and of course used it to play counterstrike with us. The problem was if someone threw a smoke grenade, the extra gpu cycles would push his UPS too far and cause it to give a warning beep. Yes, Throwing smokes at him while he tried to talk was as fun as you'd imagine.

  • Makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Sunday March 13, 2005 @03:24PM (#11927582)
    It makes sense. Existing XPCs already have two slots; one PCI slot and one AGP/PCIe slot.

    It looks like all they've done is replaced the PCI slot with a second PCIe slot, and put in a shorter SLI bridge between them. The only actual difficulty in this setup would be cooling, which I'm sure Shuttle will solve considering their expertise with SFF cooling.

    I think the article is misquoting though. The slots themselves are probably not spaced half the distance together. It's just that SLI solutions normally require the space of 3 slots, and they're doing it in the space of 2.
    • I imagine power would also be a problem. Dual video cards and everything else would need, what, 500 watts? Those are some tiny power supplies in SFF computers.
      • I doubt it. The reason such powerful power supplies are required in PCs is often because of the quality; manufacturers often either measure power output at room temperature (Not the 40 or 50 degrees that they actually heat up to), or they sometimes lie outright.

        The original shuttle XPCs had a 240 watt power supply, and yet were able to handle the fastest P4s and the best videocards available.

        I would imagine they might be able to get away with a 350w power supply, which they already have in their XPCs. At
        • This is quite possibly the stupidest shit I've ever read. The reason powerful power supplies are required is not because "of the quality" (you never specify why, you just claim this). A fast video card and CPU are hardly things that warrant lots of power use. Fast hard drives and optical drives are. Idiot.
          • The cheap $10 power supplies are crap. For one thing, the manufacturers measure their power output at room temperature, not at operating temperature. As a result, a budget-bin 350W PSU might only put out 200W. The makers of higher quality PSUs measure power output at close to average operating temperatures.

            And then of course there is actual quality. Cheap PSUs have cheap components, and not very many of them. There is a reason why you can tell the quality of a power supply by it's weight.

            So, the reason pe
  • Seems to me that with ~two~ high end cards like 6800GTs, cooling would be even more of an issue. What are they doing to deal with the extra heat?
  • The real story here is Shuttle perfecting the folding of space-time.
  • I deeply enjoy my Shuttle SB65G2, it works reasonably well w/ a P4 and an ATI FireGL X1, but lately I'm more interested in dual CPU systems over dual video cards.

    I don't suppose anyone knows if Shuttle is planning a dual Opteron system or something similar?

  • Already done. (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by dago ( 25724 )
    Look at this product range [yep.it] from a well-known manufacturer. They already have that.

    • Huh, link to Whirlpool Ovens.
    • Hmm..a guy named Dago (an insult to italians) posting a link to an italian search engine result, completely irrelevant to anything geeks care about, let alone the topic.

      Slashdotters, please, continue to amaze me.

  • in other news (Score:1, Redundant)

    by sirshannon ( 616247 )
    you can squeeze 2 of the letter "y" into the word "system"

  • Seems kindof silly (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mantus ( 65568 )
    Not only do SFF computers have weaker power supplies, they are SMALL.
    The GeForce 6800 Ultra cards afaik all take up 2 slots (one connector, double wide though).
    And from benchmarks I've seen using two 6800 non-ultras doesn't equal the performance of a single 6800 Ultra. Plus the system would have to have some crazy cooling going on and would likely be very loud. The only way I see this being reasonable is if they use a internal power supply + an external.

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