Abit SLI Motherboard Showcase

Before wrapping up our testing, we installed a second graphics card into each of the Abit motherboards featured in this article and benchmarked them while running in SLI mode using a couple of popular tests.

Performance Comparisons with 3DMark05 v1.2.0 - SLI Dual GeForce 6800 GT Cards at Work

3DMark05

3DMark05 is the latest installment in a long line of synthetic 3D graphics benchmarks, dating back to late 1998. 3DMark05 is a synthetic benchmark that requires a DirectX 9.0 compliant video card, with support for Shader Model 2.0 or higher, to render all of the various modules that comprise the suite. To generate its final "score", 3DMark05 runs three different simulated game tests and uses each test's framerate in the final tabulation. Fillrate, Memory bandwidth, and compute performance especially have a measurable impact on performance in this benchmark. We ran 3DMark05's default test (1,024 x 768) here, and have the overall results posted for you below.

Both the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI and NI8 SLI performed well in the default 3DMark05 test, but adding in a second GeForce boosted performance dramatically. The AMD powered Fatal1ty AN8 SLI posted the highest 3DMark05 score while running in SLI mode, but both boards showed a marked increase in performance, as expected. The NI8 SLI's score jumped by 68% and the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI's score increased by 75%.

Benchmarks & Comparisons with Doom 3 - SLI Dual GeForce 6800GT Cards in Action!

Doom 3

id Software's games have long been pushing the limits of 3D graphics.  Quake, Quake 2, and Quake 3 were all instrumental in the success of 3D accelerators on the PC.  Now, years later, with virtually every new desktop computer shipping with a 3D accelerator, id is at it again with the release of the visually stunning Doom 3.  Doom 3 is an OpenGL based game that uses extremely high-detailed textures and a ton of dynamic lighting and shadows.  We ran this benchmark using a custom timedemo with Doom 3 set to its "High-Quality" mode, at a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200 with 4X anti-aliasing and 8X anisotropic filtering both enabled.  (Note: Doom 3 enables 8X anisotropic filtering automatically when set to "High Quality" in the game's control panel.)

A high-resolution batch of Doom 3 benchmarks again showed similar performance improvements for both of the boards. Here, the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI's framerate jumped by almost 50 frames per second, or about 79%, and the NI8 SLI's performance increased from 57.6 FPS to 104.6 FPS, an approximate 81% boost.