Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) You nerds! Update me on computers!

Damn!

What's dual channel mode again? Since that obviouslly is the advantage of haveing two 512 modules. BTW I remember there was some kind of advantage of haveing two 512's, just couldn't remember what/what it did. Does it go for DDR2 too?

Übereil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_channel
http://www.kingston.com/newtech/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hardware

So, basiclly dual channeling doubles the bandwidth? And still, does the acuall size of the RAM-module effect the bandwidth? Example: does a 512 module have the same bandwidth as a 1024 module (same brand, same clockfrequence)? And DO you know if this is possible on DDR2 too? Is it even necesary?

Übereil

Just finnished the processor part and started the graphicpart. The problem is GeForce vs Radeon. Have no clue how to pull that off... (Hardly know the difference between them, and don't have a decent source to refer to.)

Übereil

I would try Nvidia vs Ati.

I pck Nvidia since the driver support for Linux is (much) better

NVidia once bought its fiercest competor : 3DFX. I just bought a 8hopefully) PCI version of one 3DFX graphic cards today on a flea market, because I just wanbted to know how all these *very* early games optimized for it look like ... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

(I'm generally very curious, that's why. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

Someone who could be kind enought to in short fill me in on the main difference between ATI and nVidia? Wikipedia isn't that good, and google is annoying <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" />.

Übereil

In short they both make Graphic Cards, Ati calls them (at the moment) Radeon and Nvidia calls them (at the moment) Gforce in tota Nvidia has a dual card capability that works thru the MB names SLI, ATI has a dual card Capability that works independent from the MB and connects them together with crosslink wires hence the name "Crossfire",

Having said all that I can nearly guarantee that the SLI solution from Nvidia works wayyy better for games <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Basiclly it's like AMD's integrated Northbridge vs Intels external northbridge? Is MB the graphic memory, or am I out bikeing?

And if this is the case, you know of a good source? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Übereil

AMD is faster, because integrated. Also, the memory controller is in there somewhere, which gives an additional plus of speed, if I understood it correctly.

I know AMD is faster because of integrated, that's what I said it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />. I'm trying to transfer that theory to graphic cards, but it might not fit that well <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />.

So, dual-coreing is being used in graphic cards too nowadays? Can I get a proper source? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Übereil

No. The technique used by NVidia and ATI is to connect TWO CARDS via cables or whatever, so they can *both* work on one thing.

I did not say "task" though, because that *could* be wrong, as like in dual-cores.

The thing about tasks is, that a program can contain *Üseveral* tasks, so a dual-core processor might decide to gibve one task to the one core and the other to the other core. Depending, how long one of both needs for the task, it could be that one of them has to wait for the other one.

Same could be with two connected graphic cards, but I'm not that sure about it. I actually don't know much about programming graphics cards.

Look at this site, its German version is quite good, maybe it can help you ? http://www.tomshardware.com/

Thanks Alrik, I'll check it out tomorrow (or more I check out the INFO tomorrow, since I'm too tired to think properlly for the moment).

Übereil

Another major difference between nVidia and ATI is the driver handling.....

I favour the nVidia way of driver handling.... 1 driver to handle the card.... that includes the 2nd output (i.e. TV)... since most cards compile the graphics for a 2nd output in ANYCASE whether you use it or not, this helps a lot to improve the throughput on the card (since 1 pic is processed only ONCE for both outputs)

ATI installs 2 drivers for the card (one for each output).. so 1 pic will be processed for output 1 and then processed again for output 2.... this is a handy feature when you are stretching desktops, but a big slow-down when you cloning or extending.... Most people i know clone their desktop, even if they dont know it (2nd output not connected).

As for the SLI cards (Duel processing).... very handy.... when you have the right games for it... or do video rendering. It pretty muchly SHARE the workload of the cards, depending on how the game gets handled through windows, you can either have 1 card doing a section of the screen and the 2nd the other section, or 1 card will process the basic graphics, while the other do shadow rendering or whatever compliments it, and then outputs to the same monitor...

Most games on the market (not including heavy FPS)do not utilise any of the duel processing capabilities, they hardly use a standard card... you see a performance lag because of a bottle-neck on the memory or ramdac. THe speed of both the memory and ramdac makes a HUGE difference... I.E> lets say i have a nVidia 6800 LE with a memory speed of 333 mHz and a ramdac speed of 350 mHz... (for argument sake 256 mb mem) and i have a nVidia 6800 LE TDH with a mem speed of 400 and a ramdac speed of 400 same amount of mem.... the 2nd card will outperform the 1st by FAR.... purely because there is much less bottleneck...


Check the SLI speed of the card 8 x or 32 x etc... most motherboards only handle up to 8.... but that doesnt mean that getting a 32x card is a waste.... there will also be a reduced bottleneck because its designed for 4 x hhigher performance speeds, and a year from now, you probably will have a motherboard with 32 x capabilities.

SLI= what? Dual card?

How do you know a card is dual card? And I checked some cards at a site who sell computers, they say memory type DDR3. Does this referr to what kind of memory the graphicmemory is, or what kind of RAM they need? And how do you know the memoryspeed? By looking at the name? And is the GPU and VPU separated, is that whay you're talking about, Lady? You don't happen to know of a good source? Is it annoying when I ask so many questions at once <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />?

Übereil

scalable link interface

SLI was once invented by 3DFX, but it disappeared when NVidia bought them. It reappeared now again.

SLIck <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Ube, sorry if i sound a bit rude/blunt, but have u checked out the links i recommended?

Webopedia
How Stuff Works
PC Technology Guide

they will explain to u those terms like DDR, SLI, dual-channel, dual-core, etc.

what u should ask is how advantageous are those technologies compared to the previous ones in real life situations. now such questions can be answered with authority by Morbo & Lady Rain, since they do own such hardware & have done real life tests.

another good sites are;
Tom's Hardware Guide
Anandtech

@ Lady Rain -> wow! i didn't know that ATi has THAT poor of a driver handling! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> crap! now that i'm on ATi Radeon 9000 Pro (can't afford better since there are other things in life that need higher priority) as my first Radeon since i want to try out the alternative to NVidia. true that NVidia has the easiest driver installation & also simpler configuration which makes the hardware manageable to casual PC users. as for ATi, it confuses even me who normally has no problem diving into hidden settings & obscure vocabulary in manuals. which is why i use omegadrivers version of drivers for my ATi card since it's a lot better than the original Catalyst.

It looks like SLI has even more on the way for us.


From this site.

So, SLI is a way to handle two graphic cards (isn't there just one? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" /> And in case there are two, how do you know there are two?), which only nVidia has access to? Meaning ATI has to depend on one driver/card?



Hehe, forgot about those <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />.

Übereil