NVIDIA 780a: Integrated Graphics and SLI in One
by Gary Key on May 6, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
NVIDIA's chipsets have almost always been pretty decent (if not excellent with the nForce4 for AMD), their only issues were usually price and a lack of any compelling features to justify the added cost. SLI was always the biggest selling point of NVIDIA's platforms but with the nForce 780a (and its new lineup of chipsets in general), NVIDIA is attempting to bring more value to the table.
Honestly the biggest attraction to the nForce 780a SLI platform is its support for HybridPower, which will finally allow gamers to build machines that are both high performance and are efficient on power usage. Thankfully you aren't limited to the 780a for HybridPower support as these motherboards won't come cheap. Our ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe board will carry an introductory price of $249, something we are not used to seeing in the current AMD market sector.
Whether or not this price tag is worth the premium over the nForce 750a SLI boards is up for debate. It's not really in our opinion as we do not believe the current AMD processor series is capable of the required computational power needed to support 3-way SLI or Quad SLI configurations. This is not a knock against NVIDIA as AMD has the same problem with Quad CrossFire; it just reflects the current state of the processor offerings from AMD.
HybridPower is clearly in its infancy, the lack of dual-link DVI support from the mGPU means that owners of 30" displays can't enjoy the benefits until the next generation of NVIDIA chipsets come out. We would like to see eventual automated switching between HybridPower modes, not to mention a reduction in switch time for multi-GPU setups, but we'll take what we can get as a starting point. The list of GPUs that support HybridPower will hopefully continue to grow as NVIDIA would be doing its customer base a disservice by reserving the feature for only its highest end graphics cards.
Then there's the plain fact that what we're looking at here is an expensive Socket-AM2+ chipset, and while AMD can be competitive at lower price points, at the very high end of the market there's simply no reason to go with anything non-Intel right now. With Intel's G45 chipset due out later this summer, we would much rather see an Intel solution from NVIDIA shipped quickly as the combination of a mGPU with H.264 decode acceleration and HybridPower could be enough to actually make NVIDIA's platforms competitive in the Intel space.
Looking to the future, we wonder what will happen to NVIDIA's chipset business. Giving every chipset integrated graphics is a good move, but is it possible that it is too little, too late? Nehalem will begin shipping this year and next year we should start to see models with integrated graphics, leaving NVIDIA with SLI as the only thing it has to bring to the table once again. Losing on the integrated graphics performance front to AMD is also troublesome. Surpassing Intel's IGP performance is nothing to crow about for a GPU manufacturer; it's the competing GPU manufacturers that you have to beat, and here NVIDIA falls short. We want to see NVIDIA raising the bar for mGPU performance relative to AMD, not lowering it.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
38 Comments
View All Comments
SiliconDoc - Monday, July 28, 2008 - link
Very glad this happens : " The good news is that ASUS has replicated several of our problems and we expect a new BIOS release shortly for use in the motherboard review. "That's what I call useful review that isn't a waste of time. Glad you have the reputation and the pull. ( one wonders what they do at Acer - I guess they wait for you guys to tell them...)
piroroadkill - Sunday, May 11, 2008 - link
I agree with the guys who are saying they need to make discrete (not discreet, jesus) GPUs consume much less power when idling, even if that means a hybridpower style segmentation of the gpu, but it should be done all on the hardware, completely transparent to the chipset and systemKGR - Saturday, May 10, 2008 - link
Maybe hybrid sli doesnt help frame rates too much , but it can make sense when nvidia integrates the Ageia pysics in gpu, then the mgpu can take the load of physics and the dgpu the graphics in hybrid mode, i dont know if it is possible but i think it is...duploxxx - Thursday, May 8, 2008 - link
Always like to read the reviews and comments from your site, but why don't you just provide proof with real data instead of a hit in the dark. You already have big parts of the data in an other review.(http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3232...">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3232...
" Whether or not this price tag is worth the premium over the nForce 750a SLI boards is up for debate. It's not really in our opinion as we do not believe the current AMD processor series is capable of the required computational power needed to support 3-way SLI or Quad SLI configurations. This is not a knock against NVIDIA as AMD has the same problem with Quad CrossFire; it just reflects the current state of the processor offerings from AMD."
why don't you just put 9750-9850+790fx+2-3way crossfire against q6600/q9300+x38+2-3way and compare total price/performance/power but perhaps need to add a x48 board since the lack of pci-e lanes on the x38
you could do the same with lower spec P35 but then again this board has no decent feature set against current amd chipset offerings when you talk about multi gpu setup but would still be interesting to read what happens when using CF on this board against amd770
gipper - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - link
So why isn't the 750a going to be the perfect HTPC motherboard?Aren't the two requirements for the perfect HTPC motherboard native 1080p output via HDMI and 7.1 LPCM audio on the same HDMI connector? Also, the post processing with a phenom matches the AMD 780 chip feature set.
So, I don't understand why you would say that the AMD 780 is better for HTPC's.
Or are you guys suggesting that it's best to wait for the AMD 780 refresh that includes 7.1 LPCM because the integrated graphics perform so much better?
Gary Key - Thursday, May 8, 2008 - link
I personally believe the 750a would make an excellent HTPC system if you utilize a ATX case design, might plan on using it for gaming with a discreet video card, and can afford it. The GF8300 board that just arrived is a better solution at first glance (if a uATX design and not having SLI capability is important) and compares favorably to the 780G from a price to performance viewpoint, more so than the GF8200. We will have an update on it next week.We received the 175.16 drivers right after the article went live and will have some post-processing comparisons (174.14s did not handle this right) this weekend between the two chipsets. Right now, it is a toss up in my opinion, and due to that fact, I would go NV for the multi-channel LPCM.
The Jedi - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - link
A couple of points here:[QUOTE]
This is absolutely unacceptable and would prevent us from recommending the 780a as anything more than just another SLI motherboard. HybridPower is quite possibly the best feature for a high-end SLI user and if it won't work with 30" displays then its usefulness is severely degraded.
[/QUOTE]
I'll tell ya I use a 26" LCD TV on my desktop and it's big enough. I don't need 2560x1600. 1080p (1200p) is fine and matches the pixels on HDTV. Anything 1080p capable is completely reasonable. Just up the AA or AF if the FPS are too fast for ya. Just because Dell or Apple says Uber-users need a 30-inch LCD to be cool doesn't make it true. 24", 26", 27", these are great on today's desks. I really think a 30" LCD on my desk would be too big.
Gary Key, you da man, seriously, but proofread the article for typos.
Last point, and this goes for all of Anandtech's staff: Respect due, but seriously: NO dGPU. Call it A VIDEO CARD. Or -- A GRAPHICS CARD. Also, no calling a product from a CPU or GPU company a 'part' . Call it a chip -- or a CPU or a graphics chip, etc.
strikeback03 - Thursday, May 8, 2008 - link
I'd love to see a 2560x1600 24-26" display, the more resolution the better. If that 9 megapixel LCD weren't several thousand dollars it would be sweet.Wolfcastle - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - link
The author should clean up the grammar a bit. Anandtech has a large audience.James5mith - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - link
Maybe I'm just foolish here, but for the extreme overclocking crowd, I see an immediate and tangible benefit:If you happen to fry your video card while OC'ing it, you can use the onboard video as a stopgap until you get it repaired.