Dual Array Technology

Azza

You guys hear about Alienwares new patent pending array technology. Apparantly this allows them to run dual PCI-X cards in one machine. They claimed a benchmarking score using an Xeon cpu and a Geforce 6800 of 1758 in 3D Mark 2003 with 16x AF and 8x AA on a resolution of 1600x1200. The article which I read on www.megagames.com went on to state they score 3100+ marks using there dual array technology.

The technology sounds interesting I mean serious benchmarkers and performaces junkies will no doubt love running 2 top end graphics cards but I would less than thrilled about Alienware being the people behind it particularly if they get patented rights to it. Looking at the Alienware site they are incredible high priced with nearly all components with a rare exception hear and there. I also heard reports from several people in England complaining about the poor assembly quailty of alienware machines and then ringing up the technical support to find only about 2 different people on technical help who where unable to slove there problems. Alienwares European center is based in Athlone .....I seen them advertising for staff not too long ago to help with the support lines. I know Alienware don't sell there compononts individually like the case so I doubt this technology will be sold seperatly even at an inflated price. That leaves the prospect of buying the lowest spec machine you can off them and then stripping it down and selling the crap you don't want.

I only hope that a rival company throws out something similar to it soon. Man though sticking in 2 X800XT at near € 500 a peice phew alot of money.

dazberry

Originally posted by Azza
You guys hear about Alienwares new patent pending array technology. Apparantly this allows them to run dual PCI-X cards in one machine.

This isn't all that new as a concept - you could for example many moons ago link 2 voodoo 2 graphics in SLI mode.

D.

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by dazberry
This isn't all that new as a concept - you could for example many moons ago link 2 voodoo 2 graphics in SLI mode.

D.

Was gonna say the same, I used to have it running on two 12 meg voodoo 2's for a short while... I think the Apocalypse 3Dx cards could do the same thing. The main difference between the two is that the Voodoo 2 required a type of ribbon cable while the PowerVR powered cards used the PCI bus to sync with each other.

I am sure Alienware have come up with their own novel way of doing it. From the looks of things, they have developed their own proprietry board with 2 AGP slot etc.. If they have done all this by themselves, they are sorta worthy of the patent. No?

Mutant_Fruit

If they have done all this by themselves, they are sorta worthy of the patent. No?

Well, no. They have not really done anything new. They have just revived some old technology, and put it in a new modern computer. So what if they replaced the old PCI way with a new PCI-X way. Its not a new idea, therefore i think its not patentable. There has been prior use of that idea.

CombatCow

Yeah it sure does sound impressive..heres a pic of the inside.It's running 2 watercooled p4's 3.2GHz iirc.

http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=2137646&article_id=515363&channel_id=192&page_title=E3+2004%3A+Alienware+Video+Array+and+X2&adtag=network%3Dign%26size%3D468x60%26channel%3Dgear%26site%3Dgear_hub%26channel%3Dhardware%26type%3Dpartner

http://gearmedia.ign.com/gear/image/e32004_alienware_4_big_1084501583.jpg


Iv always heard alienware were top notch for customer support and generally fixed/replaced broken hardware with no questions asked for customers.:dunno:


CombatCow

** check this link for leaked benchmarks of the video array performance **

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20040618_201209.html

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
Well, no. They have not really done anything new. They have just revived some old technology, and put it in a new modern computer. So what if they replaced the old PCI way with a new PCI-X way. Its not a new idea, therefore i think its not patentable. There has been prior use of that idea.

Is their execution as simple as using the PCI Express bus over the legacy PCI bus the only difference though?

CombatCow

well the old voodoo2's drew the picture on the screen differently to the new alienware system.The two voodoo 2's would draw seperate lines,eg...one card would draw the evan lines and the other would draw the unevan lines on the screen.The alienware system's cards each draw half the screen but they can be changed to draw more or less of the screen if needed,eg...im most games the top half of the screen is the sky or something so both the cards would change to 70% utilisation for the bottom and 30% for the top.:)

CombatCow

jesus_thats_gre

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/index.html

The graphics card market is a harsh place. One day, a given company can be top dog, the next it's just a footnote in the history books, only existing through patents and intellectual property other companies use. This is exactly what happened with former consumer 3D graphics innovator 3dfx, whose know-how was bought by former rival NVIDIA.

Six years ago, if you'd mentioned the three letters SLI to a gamer, you would have been greeted with wide eyes and wild excitement. Why? SLI (scan line interleave) was a new concept that promised no less than improved gaming performance and playable frame rates at what was then an unheard of 1024x768 resolution with a Z-buffer enabled by combining the rendering power of two Voodoo 2 add-in cards. Since then, we haven't seen anything of the sort commercially available.

However, it seems that this may change very soon. With the introduction of PCI Express, using two graphics cards in parallel is once again a possibility, and surely many a gamer's dream. Back in March, we already speculated on such possibilities in our PCI Express article.

NVIDIA recognized the potential of the new bus interface early on and has incorporated something akin to 3dfx's SLI functionality into its newest graphics processor, the NV40, a.k.a. GeForce 6800. PC builder Alienware also presented a working dual-card solution of its own at this year's E3, although it differs from NVIDIA's SLI in several points......................................

Gyck

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