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Gigabyte creates dual-GPU graphics card

05:58 - Thursday 16 December 2004 by Wolfgang Gruener - source: Tom's Hardware

Chicago (IL) - Gigabyte will announce Friday a graphics card running two graphics processors on one board. According to sources, the SLI card will lift current 3DMark2003 record levels by a significant margin while being priced lower than ATI’s and Nvidia’s single-GPU high-end cards.

If two graphics cards in one system are too expensive or simply not fast enough, Gigabyte’s new 3D1 board may be worth a serious look. Sources told Tom’s Hardware Guide, that the company prepares to launch a dual-GPU card Friday, saying that it will "revise the VGA performance ranking".

The card integrates two Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics processors and is the first 6600 GT card on the market to offer a total of 256 MByte DDR 3 memory and 256 Mbit of memory bandwidth, according to the manufacturer. The card is cooled by two on-board fans.

The 3D1’s two processors communicate through Nvidia’s SLI interface and achieved 14,293 points in 3DMark2003, sources at Gigabyte said. This would not only be almost twice the performance of a regular 6600 GT card, but also more than ATI’s Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition, which achieved in Gigabyte’s test environment 13,271 points and Nvidia’s GeForce 6800 Ultra, which posted 12,680 points.

While Gigabyte claims that the 3D1 will trump the performance of Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition and the GeForce 6800 Ultra cards, it says that the card will be offered in combination with the mainboard GA-K8NXP-SLI for less money than ATI’s and Nvidia’s single-GPU graphics cards alone. These high end cards current carry suggested retail prices between $500 and $600.

Tom’s Hardware Guide’s test lab staff will run the 3D1 through its benchmark track, as soon as the card becomes available. According to sources, will be available in samples at the end of this month and will be sold as "luxury solution" for gamers by mid of January.