I have a friend that asked me what the maximum resolution he could expect to atain if he picked up a second 8MB Diamond Monster V2. Right now he can get 800 X 600. I wanted to say 1024 X 768 but I've never owned a pair of 8MB cards.

If the 8MB card are able to run @ 1024 X 768, what is the benefit that the 12MB SLI set would have over his 8MB SLI set?

Yes, 1024x768 is also possible with a pair of 8MB cards. The difference with 12MB cards is only to be found in performance.

So would it be safe to say that with 2 identical machines, the one with the 12MB cards would have the higher FPS?

wrote on 20.08.06 at 21:29:42:

So would it be safe to say that with 2 identical machines, the one with the 12MB cards would have the higher FPS?

Yes- Games with "lots" of textures will cause the 8mb cards to hitch more while loading during play.

wrote on 20.08.06 at 22:13:37:

Yes- Games with "lots" of textures will cause the 8mb cards to hitch more while loading during play.

Ti's true :( I have two Creative Blasters with 8MB and it's not enough for smooth play in some glide games...

I'd better advise him to pickup a couple of 12MB cards on eBay.

I'd recommend two Gainward Dragon 3000 boards for SLI. ;)

They come with funky Green heatsinks already attached - which really helps to stop the dreaded overheat problem suffered by Voodoo cards in SLI. :o

I thought the SLI cable was long enough to skip a slot in between...

I thought I was setup that way with my first set back in the old days (before I started buying Q3D on ebay ;D )

wrote on 24.08.06 at 01:08:34:

I'd recommend two Gainward Dragon 3000 boards for SLI. ;) They come with funky Green heatsinks already attached - which really helps to stop the dreaded overheat problem suffered by Voodoo cards in SLI. :o

Hmm... Never heard of that problem. I have been constantly using V2 SLI (the two creative blasters 8MB) for three years and I have never had that kind of problem.  ???

Ookay!

I could have jumped the gun a bit, but I've had the overheating with a few of my V2 SLI setups before.

It might only affect older V2's, as newer models use better manufacturing procedures.

But it could also affect newer cards too, as some use faster RAM, therefore the rest of the card is running faster than V2 spec. speeds...

(actually, this could be an interesting experiment!)

As for the SLI cable, the shorter the better! A longer SLI cable can pick up interference causing synch mismatch and messing up the SLI rendering!

I have heard of X-24 cards having overheating issues. That baby has 2 boards on one card.

Some cards are clocked a bit higher than others, between 90 and 93MHz.

wrote on 25.08.06 at 04:02:17:

I have heard of X-24 cards having overheating issues. That baby has 2 boards on one card. Some cards are clocked a bit higher than others, between 90 and 93MHz.

As far as I know, 90 Mhz is standard rate. Only Diamond Monster II and a handful others have had 100Mhz by default...

Are you talking about the memory or the clock speed the core/memory runs at? I was talking about the core/memory clock speed.

I know some memory on the card is rated @ 90 & 100MHz. Some have 125MHz memory but the core/memory is in the low 90s.