Thursday, September 3rd 2020

NVIDIA Reserves NVLink Support For The RTX 3090

NVIDIA has issued another major blow to multi-GPU gaming with their recent RTX 30 series announcement. The only card to support NVLink SLI in this latest generation will be the RTX 3090 and will require a new NVLink bridge which costs 79 USD. NVIDIA reserved NVLink support for the RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2080, and RTX 2080 Ti in their Turing range of graphics cards. The AMD CrossFire multi-GPU solution has also become irrelevant after support for it was dropped with RDNA. Developer support for the feature has also declined due to the high cost of implementation, small user base, and often poor performance improvements. With the NVIDIA RTX 3090 set to retail for 1499 USD, the cost of a multi-GPU setup will exceed 3079 USD reserving the feature for only the wealthiest of gamers.
Source: NVIDIA
Add your own comment

81 Comments on NVIDIA Reserves NVLink Support For The RTX 3090

#51
RoyTyrell
Raendoryes, Huang can’t sleep at night because he’s afraid someone will use 3080 or god forbid 3070 for professional machine learning activities. Don’t be ridiculous.
I wouldn’t say they’re “worried” - that implies way too much drama.

But I do think they are reserving scalable compute for their quadro and enterprise lineup.

fyi: pcie peering went away in the 2000 series of GeForce line
Posted on Reply
#52
HugsNotDrugs
DuxCroIf you buy RTX 3090 for gaming, something is wrong with you. I don't care if you are rich. It just means you are a fool with too much money. It's a card for professional use and you would be better off just buying RTX 3080, watercooling it and OC-ing the shit out of it. Btw. does anyone doubt that there will be RTX 3080 Ti?
Nvidia always evolves the top GPUs of any architecture to drive more sales from those who want the best. It may be the vanilla 3090 first, then 3090ti then maybe some Titan model or something - just to keep people spending.

Huge margins on those top chips. If people are going to spend like that, why not?
Posted on Reply
#53
Unregistered
Ya it's too bad. I've been running multi GPU setups here and there for many years. Started many years ago nervously (since I'd heard of people running into trouble with multi card setups) running a couple mid-range AMD cards in Crossfire and was getting better performance than the big dog card at the time in virtually every game I had for less money. I eventually migrated to NVidia with a pair of 780 Ti cards, then Maxwell Titans, and now 1080 Ti cards. Without multi GPU I wouldn't have been able to game at the resolution and framerates I've become accustomed to. Was even considering moving to 5k or 8k within the next year but without mGPU support there really is no point, I'll just stay on 4k like I have been for a while longer. I occasionally see folks mention stuttering...I don't know if I'm just lucky, but I've never seen stutter in any of my games using mGPU - I usually lock them in at 4k / 60fps with Vsync and have excellent performance, and just an all-around fantastic experience in terms of games being smooth and responsive.

Until now I've never even considered not running multi GPU. We'll see what the performance numbers actually look like with the 3090 to see if it actually justifies its pricetag or if it's as ludicrous as the Titan RTX. I'll either pickup a pair of used 2080 Tis from Ebay to make it through one more generation, or bite the bullet and move to just one 3090. We shall see. I like having options, so definitely sad to see mGPU get phased out.
#54
Chrispy_
SLI started dying when people started investigating frame pacing and frametime consistency because of the microstuttering, and then the shift to Freesync/GSync was the nail in the coffin.

Now that almost no game engines even offer SLI support it's amazing that Nvidia even offer it as an option at all.
Posted on Reply
#55
petepete
Nothing wrong with buying a gaming graphics card for gaming. Thats why I'm getting the 3090. If there's something stupid about that than you're from Mars
Posted on Reply
#56
TeeKayTK
Big Navi or whatever Radeon group comes out with might have HBM2. Good news for GPU render rigs.
Posted on Reply
#57
DemonicRyzen666
Chrispy_SLI started dying when people started investigating frame pacing and frametime consistency because of the microstuttering, and then the shift to Freesync/GSync was the nail in the coffin.

Now that almost no game engines even offer SLI support it's amazing that Nvidia even offer it as an option at all.
now we've gone to overall "end system latency"
Posted on Reply
#58
phill
SLI I've had for ages, but never had too many issues with it. I think it's sad they are taking it away and that games companies aren't making the most of it. I think it's an untapped resource which we are loosing out on, to just put it on the top end card is crazy to me.. I love SLI or Crossfire. I have a big case and would love two cards in there over one, it would look stupid with one lol Still... We'll see what the reviews do for the various cards and go from there..... :)
Posted on Reply
#59
Lycanwolfen
Hmmm SLI or buy a used Car.

3 grand plus tax and thats US btw.

4000.00 canadian for that in SLI plus tax is about 4500. Ya no thanks. I could buy almost 2 cars for that price.
Chrispy_SLI started dying when people started investigating frame pacing and frametime consistency because of the microstuttering, and then the shift to Freesync/GSync was the nail in the coffin.

Now that almost no game engines even offer SLI support it's amazing that Nvidia even offer it as an option at all.
Funny thing about that is I have played games IN SLI even if the game did not support it. It's always on reguardless. Heck even Old games work with it.
Posted on Reply
#60
PowerPC
This was leaked as well. It's a new kind of SLI explicitly for this card that they are probably testing. If they want to do it, it should be better supported and scale better but at this point, we don't know much about this new version. If it actually works better, we will definitely see Multi-GPU coming back.
Posted on Reply
#61
ElementalFade
DuxCroIf you buy RTX 3090 for gaming, something is wrong with you. I don't care if you are rich. Btw. does anyone doubt that there will be RTX 3080 Ti?
The 3090 is the 3080 to. They said they would stop doing the ti and even Titan naming schemes. I don't see how something is wrong with if you get the rtx 3090. If you have a lot of money, it not like the A100. If you bought an A100 GPU for gaming then that's just hilarious. Honestly the 3090 is cheap if the performance is going to be projected to be. The rich are often not practical and that's often how they got their cash... and how they loose it sometimes.
Posted on Reply
#62
F-man4
bugDoes anyone still care about mGPU?
The tech never lived up to its initial promises (anyone remembers "don't get rid of your old video card, just install a new one on the side and enjoy"?) and support was always spotty.
To achieve 4K 60-120 we did care about SLI in Pascal-Turing period.
But now single RTX3080 KOs 2080Ti x2 SLI so if we don’t want 8K gaming performance then no SLI is OK now.
Posted on Reply
#63
PowerPC
F-man4To achieve 4K 60-120 we did care about SLI in Pascal-Turing period.
But now single RTX3080 KOs 2080Ti x2 SLI so if we don’t want 8K gaming performance then no SLI is OK now.
It wouldn't KO 2080Ti x2 SLI if SLI scaled x2 as it should. SLI scales horribly and this is a new version of SLI, so we don't know how this one will scale performance. It was leaked long before launch and they just said it's going to be different.
Posted on Reply
#64
Dux
SchittiI would buy 2 if it actually helped with games. But I like your statement, fool with too much money. So your saying that an extra $1000 on an over powered gpu is a fool with too much money. Can I ask how much money you make yearly so I can understand where your ignorance comes from?
Hey buddy, if you want to pay like 114% more for a card that according to specs isn't a lot faster than RTX 3080, it's your money. But in my eyes, you are a fool with too much money. :roll:
And what does it matter how much i earn yearly? I work for a living and because of that i understand the value of money. You sound like a rich snob, or some kid whose parents still pay for everything.
Posted on Reply
#65
Chrispy_
DuxCroHey buddy, if you want to pay like 114% more for a card that according to specs isn't a lot faster than RTX 3080, it's your money. But in my eyes, you are a fool with too much money. :roll:
And what does it matter how much i earn yearly? I work for a living and because of that i understand the value of money. You sound like a rich snob, or some kid whose parents still pay for everything.
The 3090 exists for VRAM quantity. At the moment, 10GB seems to be enough for games but I'm willing to bet that 3080 users will not be able to run games at 4K max settings for more than a year or two.
Of course, Nvidia's plan at that point is to sell you a new $900 card.
Posted on Reply
#66
Dux
SchittiLol I made 35k this month. And I have no degree, fuck what you think and know, get it how you live bro. $1k ain't shit for building a dream computer. Don't feel sorry for you
So, YOU ARE a rich snob. Otherwise you wouldn't brag about that in this way. From time to time i see comments on web from people like you. You're either indeed a rich snob, spoiled brat, or full of shit.
Either way, a fool. Money doesn't buy intelligence. God knows the world isn't fair and there's too many stupid people out there with lots of money. Especially today with internet being omnipresent.
Posted on Reply
#67
GhostRyder
As someone who used to run multi-gpu setups (Recently 3 R9 290X's) and went to a single GPU I don't see this as a problem anymore. Honestly the support has become garbage and no-one really wants to implement it in a meaningful way especially recently so it makes sense reserving this for the highest end semi-pro card.

I would have a different opinion if I saw developers and games that were supporting multi-GPU in a significant way like they were back back around 2013 (Meaning at least alot of the AAA games having some support) but recently I cant even name a game off the top of my head other than BFV that had any support (And even then it was not great).
Posted on Reply
#68
Schitti
DuxCroSo, YOU ARE a rich snob. Otherwise you wouldn't brag about that in this way. From time to time i see comments on web from people like you. You're either indeed a rich snob, spoiled brat, or full of shit.
Either way, a fool. Money doesn't buy intelligence. God knows the world isn't fair and there's too many stupid people out there with lots of money. Especially today with internet being omnipresent.
Worked hard and got to where I want to be, rich snob lol. Work harder in life bro you'll get what you want..
Posted on Reply
#69
bug
DuxCroSo, YOU ARE a rich snob. Otherwise you wouldn't brag about that in this way. From time to time i see comments on web from people like you. You're either indeed a rich snob, spoiled brat, or full of shit.
Either way, a fool. Money doesn't buy intelligence. God knows the world isn't fair and there's too many stupid people out there with lots of money. Especially today with internet being omnipresent.
No need to call people names. When income goes up, you inevitably see the world differently. Remember, the true price of any purchase is its opportunity cost. With more $$$ on hand, that opportunity cost goes down. By a lot.
I.e. some people won't be able to pay for housing if they purchase a 3090, some people can buy a 3090 and still have the $$$ to buy a car/yacht.
Posted on Reply
#70
RichF
Telling someone they aren't wealthy because they haven't worked hard is calling them names: lazy and stupid.

As someone who busted his backside for years trying to rise socially I can tell anyone who wants to know about the reality of compensation vs. the hardness of one's work.
Posted on Reply
#71
Lycanwolfen
Yep SLI now only for the rich. Remember when Nvidia allowed SLI for the middle class and the poor. Good times then also Nvidia was built for gamers now Nvidia Built for the Rich.
SchittiWorked hard and got to where I want to be, rich snob lol. Work harder in life bro you'll get what you want..
One thing I have learned in life is you can be at the top of your game make 35k a month and the next year lose it all and make less than 1500 a month. Nothing lasts forever no matter how hard you work for it. In 2014 I was there money flowed like crazy I was happy things were going my way for the first time in life. Was about to buy a house and was growing my income more every month. Then some shit happened lost the business because of stupid landlords kicked me out. could not find another place with low overhead to keep business going. 6 month later lost my father to a heart attack. Took 2 years to get back to that happiness again. Got a high paying job got back out of debt went on a vacation in 2017. Then after vacation company I was working for got bought out. I was making 35 an hour and they asked me to work for half my wage What a freaking Joke new company. Then lost my second backup income as well. Had to look for work again never found it so I had to Move to Montreal for work.

So ya learned nothing ever lasts. Enjoy it while you can. My new job In montreal works in Hotels, and IT administration for 100's of companies so I never lost my job during Covid19 but to move here and get settled I went 30K in debt. Money is tight but I can afford the bills and food on table which is more important than gaming at this time.
Posted on Reply
#72
doscape
GhostRyderAs someone who used to run multi-gpu setups (Recently 3 R9 290X's) and went to a single GPU I don't see this as a problem anymore. Honestly the support has become garbage and no-one really wants to implement it in a meaningful way especially recently so it makes sense reserving this for the highest end semi-pro card.

I would have a different opinion if I saw developers and games that were supporting multi-GPU in a significant way like they were back back around 2013 (Meaning at least alot of the AAA games having some support) but recently I cant even name a game off the top of my head other than BFV that had any support (And even then it was not great).
You meant BF1, because BFV doesn't support multi-gpus
Posted on Reply
#74
Unregistered
If they end up releasing a 3080 Ti, I wonder if it will have multi gpu support. Seems like there's a perfect slot for a card that performs somewhere between the 3080 and 3090 but has maybe 12-16GB of VRAM.
#75
Unregistered
Watch for the guys with 3090 sli posting to show of their massively muscled right arms after all the fapping. only fidiots and fappers will buy two
SchittiLol I made 35k this month. And I have no degree, fuck what you think and know, get it how you live bro. $1k ain't shit for building a dream computer. Don't feel sorry for you
So you registered just to post this shitbag statement, move along, certainly an appropriate name
Add your own comment
Apr 26th, 2024 19:12 EDT change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts