8800 bootcamp SLi

[ojwk]

I realize that alot of people have had many problems with the 8800GT and so I ask this question in mere speculation.

Theoretically (given ample watts) would it be possible to have two 8800s installed with the ability to bootcamp Windows XP and use the pair as SLi cards?

I don't really know much about this so here are my concerns:
1. Would the NVIDIA drivers for Windows XP be compatible with the Mac version of the 8800GT?
2. Would the motherboard in the Mac Pro be able to operate SLi given it is not designed to?
3. Are the PCI-E slots in the Mac Pro all 16x?
4. Would Forceware drivers recognize the multiple cards as being SLi compatible or would it simply use the other card for driving more displays?

 

[Tallest Skil]

It can't be done. The platform doesn't support it and there aren't hacked GeForce 8 drivers yet. There is enough power for two 8800 GT, and some people here run them.

You can flash a PC 8800 GT for use in OS X with the Mac firmware. There are two threads on this here, one for each version of the 8800 GT.

... With... hacked drivers... MAYBE. Some people got the 7300 from the original Mac Pro running in SLI in Windows...

No. Two 16x 2.0 and two 4x 1.0. Why? Gonna try quad SLI? There isn't enough power for that.

No. I don't know what that is, but it still can't be done. Sorry.

 

[Cindori]

Simply put, you can not SLI on Mac Pro.

 

[tom.]

There is no SLi controller, 1 card can render for the displays attached directly to it, unlike SLi where 2 cards can help render an image on a single display and share load.

2 x 16x PCI-e, but you will not be able to SLi these cards. Forceware will recognise both of them (I believe) but without a bridge between the cards, and without a controller I doubt you are going to get any further with that.

Good luck!

 

[Sesshi]

Some people got the 7300 from the original Mac Pro running in SLI in Windows...

http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=2159

The big question is, would you be any better than the hackintosh guys that many of you Apple owners blast(and have frequently reported when discussion of it occurs on this forum)? An interesting conundrum no doubt.

If you can track it down it might work, it might not work. Results have been very variable for a lot of users it seems, and is unlikely to be as stable as or possibly even as fast as 'real' SLI - and if you know SLI, you'll know that it still has the occasional stability issue even on NForce boards.

The 8800GT is a very good card to use in SLI though - the combo is fast with SLI aware games, pretty quick even with non optimised games and is excellent bang for the buck.