Jerk... sound familiar?
Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 5:54 pm
Alienware Corp. has designed a "video array" that places two PC graphics cards in parallel on a single motherboard, an innovation that could dramatically its PCs' graphics processing power.
The technology looks remarkably similar to the Parallel Graphics Configuration graphics card maker Metabyte Technology pioneered in 1999, when it took two Voodoo 2 SLI cards from 3Dfx Technology and ran them in parallel. The Voodoo 2 Scan-Line Interleave technology allowed the two graphics cards to draw alternating horizontal lines of resolution; Metabyte slightly altered the technology, allowing each card to draw one half of the screen. The Metabyte PGC technology was eventually purchased by Alienware, although the PC maker never shipped any products based on the technology.
Like the PGC, the two cards won't always divvy up processing tasks equally. If the 3D perspective looks toward a horizon with a relatively simple skyscape above, the second card may be pressed into duty to render the more complex portions of the scene, the spokesman said.
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The technology looks remarkably similar to the Parallel Graphics Configuration graphics card maker Metabyte Technology pioneered in 1999, when it took two Voodoo 2 SLI cards from 3Dfx Technology and ran them in parallel. The Voodoo 2 Scan-Line Interleave technology allowed the two graphics cards to draw alternating horizontal lines of resolution; Metabyte slightly altered the technology, allowing each card to draw one half of the screen. The Metabyte PGC technology was eventually purchased by Alienware, although the PC maker never shipped any products based on the technology.
Like the PGC, the two cards won't always divvy up processing tasks equally. If the 3D perspective looks toward a horizon with a relatively simple skyscape above, the second card may be pressed into duty to render the more complex portions of the scene, the spokesman said.
Full Story Here