How does 2GB RAM on graphics cards sound?Facing the futureBy Theo Valich: Monday 13 June 2005, 07:28WHILE BROWSING through my 5.88GB archive of photos from Computex, I've come across a picture of MSI's Dual 6800 Ultra prototype board.What I didn't notice at the first sight was the presence of a golden SLI connector. Also, the board featured two six pin PEG power connectors, 32 GDDR-3 memory chips from Samsung (16 on the back side) for a total 1GB of video memory.Everything was cooled by MSI's copper/aluminium cooler, enhanced with six heatpipes. Browsing through other pics of dual-headed graphic cards, I managed to see a couple of Dual 6600GTs with SLI connector present as well, which looked as fishy as certain folks down at Fisherman's Warf in sunny San Francisco.While Albatron had to cover its SLI connector on an GeForce 6600 (product was dubbed PC6600U, but "Ultra" naming wasn't dear to Nvidia... since PC6600U was in fact, slower that 6600GT), MSI is proudly showing an SLI connector on this monstrous baby.In case you think this will never come to market, think again. Since the G70 PCB is quite similar to the 6800, just as the 6800 was similar to the FX5900, how many MSI engineers are needed to change the "NV45 Maslenica Bridge" chip to, let's say G70? Furthermore, it seems that if ATi makes the CrossFire a good product, we won't wait for long to get software update from Nvidia, which would enable a four GPU configuration. After all, ForceWare Rel 75 and 80 look really good on paper, and you'll be able to download one on a day, or a day later, when Nvidia launches its latest G70 baby, and that is June 21.Imagine four NV45 or G70 GPUs with two gigs of available video memory... hmmm... just makes me wonder what are those Taiwanese engineers playing with in their "no photo" labs. Perhaps even Elvis is stashed somewhere around.
