Waiting for DX10 but like the 7950!

I'm impressed with the 7950 but would like to wait for DX10 before buying a
new system.

Any news on a DX10 dual/duo core card from nVidia in the works? I can't
find much roadmap info for nVidia.

The only thing I'd like changed about the 7950 is an ability to put in a
zalman or other cooler for the chips. Perhaps Zalman could work with
nVidia about a nice quiet cooler for the 7950 and the next model.

On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 07:48:13 -0700, "Boe"
wrote:

I'm impressed with the 7950 but would like to wait for DX10 before buying a
new system.


By that time nVidia will have cranked out the DX10-compatible GPU
family on a single card. The top-end candidate is expected to take at
least as much power as the 7950GX2. May need fluid cooling, and will
need an auxiliary power-supply. Ati's offering is expected to have the
same power-requirements Spring 2007 at the earliest. Not that many
games will take any advantage of DX10 until 2008.

Remember that one big advantage of the 7950GX2 for current games
is the fact that it offers SLI with 512Meg of "effective" graphics
memory. Oblivion with some of the user mods that tweak the landscape
already requires more than 256Meg of graphics memory to avoid
slow-down due to memory-thrashing. I'm sure that other
graphics-intensive games will be coming along within the next few
months that could make use of more than 256Meg graphics memory
at their highest settings.

Since SLI does a memory ping-pong, - so the software only really sees
the memory on one SLI-pair card at any time -- you would otherwise
need dual 7900GTX card in SLI achieve more than 256Meg of video
memory visible to the software if you want to run in SLI mode. And
in non-SLI mode, the 7950GX2 still provides 512Meg of graphics
memory visible to the software.

John Lewis

Thanks.

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 07:48:13 -0700, "Boe"
wrote:

I'm impressed with the 7950 but would like to wait for DX10 before buying
a
new system.


By that time nVidia will have cranked out the DX10-compatible GPU
family on a single card. The top-end candidate is expected to take at
least as much power as the 7950GX2. May need fluid cooling, and will
need an auxiliary power-supply. Ati's offering is expected to have the
same power-requirements Spring 2007 at the earliest. Not that many
games will take any advantage of DX10 until 2008.

Remember that one big advantage of the 7950GX2 for current games
is the fact that it offers SLI with 512Meg of "effective" graphics
memory. Oblivion with some of the user mods that tweak the landscape
already requires more than 256Meg of graphics memory to avoid
slow-down due to memory-thrashing. I'm sure that other
graphics-intensive games will be coming along within the next few
months that could make use of more than 256Meg graphics memory
at their highest settings.

Since SLI does a memory ping-pong, - so the software only really sees
the memory on one SLI-pair card at any time -- you would otherwise
need dual 7900GTX card in SLI achieve more than 256Meg of video
memory visible to the software if you want to run in SLI mode. And
in non-SLI mode, the 7950GX2 still provides 512Meg of graphics
memory visible to the software.

John Lewis

On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:54:48 -0700, "Boe"
wrote:

Thanks.

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 07:48:13 -0700, "Boe"
wrote:

I'm impressed with the 7950 but would like to wait for DX10 before buying
a
new system.


By that time nVidia will have cranked out the DX10-compatible GPU
family on a single card. The top-end candidate is expected to take at
least as much power as the 7950GX2. May need fluid cooling, and will
need an auxiliary power-supply. Ati's offering is expected to have the
same power-requirements Spring 2007 at the earliest. Not that many
games will take any advantage of DX10 until 2008.

Remember that one big advantage of the 7950GX2 for current games
is the fact that it offers SLI with 512Meg of "effective" graphics
memory. Oblivion with some of the user mods that tweak the landscape
already requires more than 256Meg of graphics memory to avoid
slow-down due to memory-thrashing. I'm sure that other
graphics-intensive games will be coming along within the next few
months that could make use of more than 256Meg graphics memory
at their highest settings.

Since SLI does a memory ping-pong, - so the software only really sees
the memory on one SLI-pair card at any time -- you would otherwise
need dual 7900GTX card in SLI achieve more than 256Meg of video
memory visible to the software if you want to run in SLI mode. And
in non-SLI mode, the 7950GX2 still provides 512Meg of graphics
memory visible to the software.

John Lewis




I forgot something VERY important.

Check that your Motherboard BIOS supports the 7950GX2 he-

http://www.nvidia.com/content/geforce_gx2_sbios/us.asp

The 7950GX2 incorporates a PCIe switch to enable the internal SLI.
The Motherboard BIOS needs to be updated to allow the driver to
recognize this switch. If it does not recognize the switch, only one
board on the GX2 will be utilized.

John Lewis