Triple SLI Was a Big Joke That Wasn't Funny

Back in December at the launch of Triple SLI, I blogged about how I was really hoping the technology around this was going to pan out. I saw it as a killer enthusiast-level function that I really thought high-end, money-doesn't-matter, can't-help-myself customers would love. It seemed like a good idea, and although there were issues from the start, I wanted it to work. Well, here's my three month report card, and it's got big fat F on it.At launch, Triple SLI already had an uphill battle. If you want to use it, you're video cards have to have two SLI connectors on them. So when the technology got released into a market that was really excited about a line of video cards that didn't have those connectors, it was obvious something was amiss. If you actually wanted to get three cards into a machine, you had to buy the older cards which were twice as expensive. Fine - At the time, we could swallow that line because those cards were actually ever so slightly better performing anyway. So, nVidia could spin Triple SLI as an exclusive function to the highest performing products on the market, and if you wanted to use it, well then you just had to cough up the dough. It sort-of-kind-of-partly-maybe-in-a-sideways-way made sense if you're a little gullible and not really listening. And regardless, we knew the 9000 series was launching some time in Q1, and certainly nVidia would put the connectors on those. Then, the problem would be solved.

sigh.. Nope. Sucker. I lose. So far, still nothing. And now, even if I could get my hands on the 8800GTX/Ultra, who's going to buy it?

The fact is that Triple SLI was so late to market that it was worthless and it should have been launched six months earlier. I don't even know how long the 8800 Ultra/GTX cards had the two SLI connectors on them, but I have to assume it was a while, maybe even since they launched. So what that says to me is that someone was thinking about this a long time ago, and somewhere along the way it got screwed up. It didn't need the 780i chipset to work (it worked on 680i with the right drivers), so why even take the chance at waiting to try and launch them together? What a mess.

Fine, so now what. Well, I still think it's a good idea, so I would love to see the capability for the new 9000 series cards to be able to use this. That's all I ask. Just get it done. Don't release another video card without the capability to use this. Just don't. With the cost of the new generation of nVidia GPU's being dramatically cheaper than ever, Triple SLI is something that is actually a reasonable proposition for the laymen and could have fairly broad market appeal. ie, We could be selling the heck out of this! Helloooooo!

So until then, get the hat on and stay in the corner.