Alienware Develops Dual GPU System

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-05-13 03:50pm

Gamespot wrote:Today at E3, desktop, mobile and professional PC manufacturer Alienware has unveiled a new desktop system capable of supporting two processors and two video cards. The new system will debut under Alienware’s new ALX, “Alienware Luxury Experience” line of high performance PC systems.

Under development for almost three years, Alienware started work on producing an AGP dual video card system back in 2001. The company developed a working prototype in 2003, but decided to update the technology to support the upcoming PCI Express interface since video cards will switch over from AGP to the new PCI-E interface later this year. Alienware demonstrated the fruits of its labor at E3, where CEO Nelson Gonzales and CTO Humberto Organvidez demonstrated an alpha test system running two PCI-E Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics cards.

Reminiscent of 3dfx’s Voodoo2 scan-line interleave (SLI) technology, Alienware’s “Video Array” technology allows two video cards to work together while running a game. Unlike 3dfx’s SLI, where the two video cards shared the workload by drawing alternating lines on the screen, the video cards in Alienware’s Video Array split the screen in two with one card working on the top half and the second card working on the bottom. Load balancing software ensures that the workload is evenly split between the two cards in cases where graphics complexity in one half of the screen is greater than the other. Alienware isn’t ready to release benchmark numbers since the hardware is still in alpha, but the company expects a “50+% performance gain over traditional graphics solutions” when the system is ready for release.

Alienware’s Video Array technology will make its debut in a specially designed Alienware X2 motherboard. Manufactured by motherboard company Iwill Corporation, the X2 will feature dual PCI Express graphics ports, compatible with both Nvidia and ATI hardware, and will also have support for dual next-generation Intel Xeon processors and up to 8GB of DDR2 ECC memory. Alienware currently has no plans to license its technology to third party manufacturers, and the X2 motherboard will not be available for purchase as a single component. The only way to get your hands on an X2 system will be to purchase a fully loaded X2 Alienware ALX PC.

Alienware's new ALX line of systems will be the first to feature X2 based systems. Unique features of the new ALX line includes factory overclocked hardware, personal one-on-one attention from sales, support, and manufacturing, factory tours, games pre-installed, tweaked, and tested, aluminum briefcase, chrome-plated WASD keyboard keys, 24/7 tech support, and discounts on system upgrades.

ALX systems will also feature an “ultra-quiet water cooling solution.” The system we saw had water cooling blocks for both CPUs and both video cards. Since the power requirements for a dual-CPU, dual-GPU system will be very high, expect X2 based ALX systems to ship with a massive power supply in the 800W range. Initial ALX systems available this June will be single CPU, single video card solutions, but Alienware expects to offer X2 based systems in Q3 or Q4 of this year, with pricing yet to be determined.

Jesus Fucking Christ eh? No plans to license it either...looks like Alienware just got a leg up over the people at Falcon and Voodoo. What is really surprising is that no one did this sooner; the AGP spec always had provisions for a bridge.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2004-05-13 03:54pm

Damn, thought I'd post it first

From a basic side this looks amazing, but will it actully be 50%? or is that best case?

Seems this an truly elite PC, tech support and all, but will it be worth it?

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-05-13 04:03pm

In Apple-speak, SLI-Extreme.

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2004-05-13 09:24pm

That's 3dfx speak, I think.

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2004-05-13 11:03pm

Well, Holy McFuckshit. That's pretty fuckin' cool, and y'know, the first thing I thought when I read it was, "Holy McFuckshit, why didn't this idea seem obvious before?"

I am so scrapping my plans on picking up one o' the new (6800 or x800, whichever) graphic cards and waitin' 'til I get more information on this monster.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-05-13 11:40pm

SPOOFE wrote:Well, Holy McFuckshit. That's pretty fuckin' cool, and y'know, the first thing I thought when I read it was, "Holy McFuckshit, why didn't this idea seem obvious before?"

ATI's original (and only) multi-chip solution did something very similar (abliet on a single board) but was a horrible, horrible failure. Of course, 3dfx's V2 did SLI just fine, but it was designed to do it from the ground up.

I am so scrapping my plans on picking up one o' the new (6800 or x800, whichever) graphic cards and waitin' 'til I get more information on this monster.

Looks quite cool, but is the cost of an extra video card worth the 50% performance gain?

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-05-13 11:40pm

SPOOFE wrote:Well, Holy McFuckshit. That's pretty fuckin' cool, and y'know, the first thing I thought when I read it was, "Holy McFuckshit, why didn't this idea seem obvious before?"

I am so scrapping my plans on picking up one o' the new (6800 or x800, whichever) graphic cards and waitin' 'til I get more information on this monster.

Got a spare $10K? Because that's about what this rig will cost you. Alienware isn't going to be selling the mobo seperately and this system will have 2x state of the art GPU's, dual Xeons, an 800W power supply and liquid cooling. If you do the math, $10K is a conservative estimate considering the custom designed hardware.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-05-13 11:42pm

phongn wrote: Looks quite cool, but is the cost of an extra video card worth the 50% performance gain?

This isn't about cost-benefit, this is about penis envy...

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-05-13 11:54pm

Vohu Manah wrote:That's 3dfx speak, I think.

Nope. Apple solidified the "Extreme" moniker with "Quartz Extreme" and "Airport Extreme." It's now a running joke with Mac users.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-05-14 12:34am

Just imagine how fast I could render video on that thing.......

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-05-14 01:48am

Durandal wrote:
Vohu Manah wrote:That's 3dfx speak, I think.
Nope. Apple solidified the "Extreme" moniker with "Quartz Extreme" and "Airport Extreme." It's now a running joke with Mac users.

I think he was talking about the "SLI" part of it, and he is correct. SLI or Scan Line Interleave was introduced first by 3Dfx.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-05-14 01:55am

The Kernel wrote:Got a spare $10K? Because that's about what this rig will cost you. Alienware isn't going to be selling the mobo seperately and this system will have 2x state of the art GPU's, dual Xeons, an 800W power supply and liquid cooling. If you do the math, $10K is a conservative estimate considering the custom designed hardware.

I've been hearing that Intel's initial chipset will only support one PCI-E x16 slot as well ... further upping the cost since they'll have to get a custom run from Intel.

Vertigo1 wrote:Just imagine how fast I could render video on that thing.......

Yeah, the problem is that while you can send data to video card quite quickly to do something, most aren't designed to send data back to the system to do something useful, like write it to the disk.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-05-14 02:09am

phongn wrote: I've been hearing that Intel's initial chipset will only support one PCI-E x16 slot as well ... further upping the cost since they'll have to get a custom run from Intel.

No they won't, the Grantsdale (and every chipset that follows the PCI-E spec) supports a bridge chip which is almost certainly what they are using. Check out the whitepapers and you'll see what I mean.

Yeah, the problem is that while you can send data to video card quite quickly to do something, most aren't designed to send data back to the system to do something useful, like write it to the disk.

PCI-E is designed for synchronous independent data channels, so you can send the full x16 upstream and downstream simultaneously. This is one of the major advantages of PCI-E, you can stream HD video over the bus.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-05-14 10:19am

The Kernel wrote:
Durandal wrote:
Vohu Manah wrote:That's 3dfx speak, I think.
Nope. Apple solidified the "Extreme" moniker with "Quartz Extreme" and "Airport Extreme." It's now a running joke with Mac users.
I think he was talking about the "SLI" part of it, and he is correct. SLI or Scan Line Interleave was introduced first by 3Dfx.

Well yes, the SLI part. But the Extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeme is all Apple.

Vertigo 1 wrote:Just imagine how fast I could render video on that thing.......

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those things!

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-05-15 02:27am

That's just unholy power; maybe after a half a decade of saving I might be able to afford one of those ungodly machines; and hell, it might be "high end" for 2 years; hell 3!