Meant to be Seen

Hey folks.

I need a bit of a refresher on the old Nvidia method, it's so long since I used it. First thing I want to ask is about SLI. Do I remember right, these old drivers never benefited from SLI? I plan to build a rig to play older games in S3D, I still have my old graphics cards - two 7900GTXs - but having a second card will make no difference to Nvidia's 'old' S3D, is that right?

Speaking of those graphics cards, I'm wondering if it's worth upping them to 7950GX2s. I just spent a few hours looking at the reviews & benchmarks of yesteryear and saw that the better card differed greatly from one game to the next. Has anyone here tried both 7900GTX and 7950GX2 in S3D, and can tell me how they compare? If the 7950GX2 is absolutely the best card to use with the old Nvidia way, then I'll see if I can grab one cheap.

I think you'll get the most out of your 7900gtx as is now. Don't know if nvidiastereo at the time benefits from sli and 7950GX2 at all but i can be wrong. Try talking to photios on the nvidiaforums since i think he's running a similar sli-rig.
I've even underclocked my 7900gtx to get some more time to spend with it. Most games runs very well with it any way.

Ah, thanks for the tip, I'll do that... maybe my old profile still exists at the Nvidia forum, I haven't checked in years!

You mean underclocked so it will live longer? I agree they are great cards, got loads of use out of my two in SLI. I'm currently lending one to a friend whose graphics card died, and he loves it - don't think he wants to give me it back!

VanBurenPhilips wrote:I'm currently lending one to a friend whose graphics card died, and he loves it - don't think he wants to give me it back!

Name him and i'll retrieve it for.... me...

SLI will work in 3D under 91.47, which are the best 90 series drivers, but your results will be anywhere from 5% - 20% gain. Not much and not worth the extra card. And you can only force Split Frame Rendering in 3D. Alternate Frame Rendering will not work with 90 series drivers IN 3D (AFR is great in 2D). I can't say if 162.50 work with AFR in 3D.

I have a 7900 GTX SLI system. Very fast for old stereo gaming.

The best thing to do is just get one 7900 GTX, it's plenty fast enough and will save you the headache of trial and error.

A further follow up: I also own a 7950 GX2 that is in storage. It will not beat the 7900 GTX (single) straight up in 3D. This is because multi-gpu mode only gives the 7950 GX2 a ~15% advantage in 3D, and since a 7950 GX2 is basically two 7950 GT's, it doesn't scale to it's 2D potential to out pace a 7900 GTX. The 7900 GTX will beat it in 3D hands down. Having said that, the 7950 GX2 works well in 3D, but think of it in 3D as more of a 7950 GT (which is a slower card than the 7900 GTX).

Great info! I've been away from the forums for a while but just checked back and saw these responses, thanks a lot.

I already have a pair of 7900GTXs, so I'll put them both in a box dedicated to old-skool 3D gaming. Probably only use it for Dark Engine games and Doom3+The Dark Mod if it can cope with it (might be too much). But I know it should be able to handle Thief and that accounts for a lot of my gaming time.