Quad SLI finally ready for the DIY crowd

Rich Brown Former Senior Editorial Director - Home and Wellness

Rich was the editorial lead for CNET's Home and Wellness sections, based in Louisville, Kentucky. Before moving to Louisville in 2013, Rich ran CNET's desktop computer review section for 10 years in New York City. He has worked as a tech journalist since 1994, covering everything from 3D printing to Z-Wave smart locks.

Expertise Smart home | Windows PCs | Cooking (sometimes) | Woodworking tools (getting there...)

See full bio

Rich Brown

Aug. 9, 2006 11:29 a.m. PT

2 min read

Nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2

It's been roughly eight months since 3D graphics technology, and on today's release of the ForceWare 91.45 graphics drivers, you can finally put together a Quad SLI rig yourself. You'll need an Nvidia Nforce 4 SLI or Nforce 590 chipset motherboard for either AMD or Intel and a pair of Nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2 3D cards. That hardware alone will cost you at least $1,100, not to mention the CPU, the memory, and the 30-inch LCD that will use that much 3D power to best advantage. If you do have the means, reports from PC Perspective, HardOCP, and other sites around the Web that got an early crack at the drivers indicate that you'll be in for a heretofore unseen 3D gaming experience.

Our take is that, yes, it's fantastic to be able to play at super high resolutions with all the detail levels turned on. We've seen the old GeForce 7900 GX2, system vendor-only brand of Quad SLI in action, and even that was amazing. But as we said in our review of the GeForce 7950 GX2 card, DirectX 10 is coming with Windows Vista, and with it a whole new generation of PC graphics. Yes, you'll have to wait for January or perhaps even later for Vista and the DirectX 10 games (Crysis chief among them). But just know that if you shell out $1,000+ for the best in current 3D gaming technology, you could be a generation behind in less than six months. We imagine that plenty of folks out there will still want to try Quad SLI now, but if you're the type who likes to pick your technology spots wisely, we think waiting for the soon-to-be-released next-gen stuff is the most prudent option (if you can call spending $1,000+ on 3D graphics prudent).

Mobile Guides

Phones

Foldable Phones

Headphones

Mobile Accessories

Smartwatches

Wireless Plans