SLI Notebook

We also had the opportunity to check out several notebooks equipped with SLI graphics. There were notebooks from Toshiba and Dell. Here are two Toshiba Satellite notebooks with SLI graphics.

And here you have a small Dell notebook. It may be smaller than the Toshiba Satellite notebooks but it has two NVIDIA GPUs in SLI mode running in there. The F.E.A.R. benchmark gave it frame rates of between 41 fps and 239 fps, averaging at 103 fps. Impressive!

You can also see the sample notebook motherboard with the two GPU modules attached. According to NVIDIA, using SLI graphics allows manufacturers to provide better graphics performance with easier thermal dissipation.

Their reasoning is that two GPUs would create a larger surface area for thermal dissipation, compared to a large single GPU solution. Of course, it also allows NVIDIA to sell two GPUs instead of just one!

NVIDIA has been working with many notebook manufacturers on SLI graphics. Although you have only seen the Toshiba and Dell notebooks above, NVIDIA has also gotten the following companies onto the SLI notebook bandwagon.

It's noteworthy that with the exception of Toshiba, all the companies that have signed up are American companies. There were no other Japanese or Taiwanese manufacturers in the list. Evidently ATI still has a strong connection with those companies. Well, maybe they will join up later...