nForce4 SLI vs nForce4 SLI X16

T-break compares NVIDIA’s nForce4 SLI X16 with the original nForce4 SLI chipset in high-end gaming using two 7800GTX cards in SLI mode:

We initially started out by conducting tests at only 0X and 4X AA however looking at the benchmarks in the previous pages, we really didnt see any difference at all. We contacted nVidia about this and they suggested doing tests using 8X and 16X AA and thus we went back and benched all four games using that setting as well. Besides Quake4, we really do not see the X16 posting higher results in anything else. In fact, Serious Sam 2 and Call of Duty 2 consistently showed the older nForce4 SLI performing better in most of the benchmarks.

That being said, we recently asked DFI why their latest limited Venus series of nForce4 boards was not based on the X16 chipset and we were told that the Venus board would produce results equal to or even faster than an X16 board. Also keep in mind that ATI has the faster solution with the x1900 and Crossfire at the moment and neither ATI nor Intel is making any noise about requiring anything above than an X8 slot.

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