{"video_id":"D24ueW8G0-w","title":"The AMAZING 8-Way SLI VooDoo Brick - Quantum3D Mercury","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2024-05-04T14:53:45Z","duration_s":1083,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":9.66,"text":"what gets FPS gpus what gets more FPS","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":6.299,"end_s":11.34,"text":"more gpus obviously everybody thinks so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":9.66,"end_s":16.619,"text":"and manufacturers have been working on this technology since the late 90s so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":13.92,"end_s":19.859,"text":"then what the heck happened to it I'm gonna let you know a little secret","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.76,"end_s":23.279,"text":"come here hide","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":21.72,"end_s":27.06,"text":"future now that might seem like a bold","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":25.14,"end_s":31.74,"text":"prediction given that NVIDIA just completely removes the multi-GPU links","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":29.58,"end_s":36.48,"text":"from their latest generation even on the premium workstation cards but there is a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":34.32,"end_s":42.239,"text":"clear course set for better performance through multi-GPU Graphics Solutions and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.02,"end_s":46.68,"text":"the most bizarre part is that it's Apple who ultimately did it to properly see","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.82,"end_s":53.219,"text":"where we're going sometimes we have to visit the past which is why we got our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.96,"end_s":57.18,"text":"hands on this legendary piece of Kit the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.219,"end_s":60.539,"text":"quantum 3D Mercury brick is an 8 GPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":57.18,"end_s":62.46,"text":"design from 25 years ago that has a lot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.539,"end_s":67.2,"text":"more in common with your future gaming rig than you probably realize like you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":65.46,"end_s":72.06,"text":"realize I'm about to tell you about our sponsor zoho1 unify all your business","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":70.08,"end_s":76.2,"text":"processes into one comprehensive platform and improve productivity with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":74.159,"end_s":80.46,"text":"Zoho one you can lay all concerns about integration and compatibility to rest","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":78.42,"end_s":84.74,"text":"follow the link below for a free 30-day trial Our Story begins today with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":82.619,"end_s":88.08,"text":"quantum 3D obsidian 100sb-440v that Ross tregamba","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":86.88,"end_s":93.06,"text":"thoughtfully brought along when we shot our Voodoo 5 6000 video the name might","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":90.9,"end_s":98.159,"text":"not sound like much but it's a great example of something that the original","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":94.74,"end_s":101.88,"text":"3dfx Voodoo one was capable of even if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.159,"end_s":104.579,"text":"it rarely did it dual GPU operation in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":101.88,"end_s":109.079,"text":"this case on a single board now these ones were intended for desktop PCS but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":107.1,"end_s":114.899,"text":"the primary purpose of cards like this was to drive arcade machines more on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":112.259,"end_s":120.479,"text":"that later because first I want to talk about the brick this extremely rare","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.14,"end_s":127.32,"text":"piece of computing history uses a four card setup with each card equipped with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":123.36,"end_s":128.88,"text":"two Voodoo 2 gpus that is eight gpus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.32,"end_s":133.98,"text":"running all together on the same workload now I know what you're thinking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.72,"end_s":139.02,"text":"that looks like it would have a tough time fitting in a PC that also needs","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":136.319,"end_s":145.14,"text":"dedicated cards for sound networking and yes 2D Graphics to run the desktop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.02,"end_s":147.48,"text":"because the voodoo 2 was 3D only and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.14,"end_s":151.739,"text":"you'd be right about that but again more on that later for now","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":149.22,"end_s":155.099,"text":"it's time to see this thing in action I was going to be the one to install the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":153.36,"end_s":160.02,"text":"brick in this simulator chassis from 1999 but understandably the owner didn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":157.56,"end_s":164.879,"text":"trust me to do it without dropping it so um I didn't but we've got some b-roll of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":162.18,"end_s":169.14,"text":"how it goes in it's wild I mean all four cards need to go into their own PCI","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.739,"end_s":174.0,"text":"slots then it's got to be wired up to a VGA out and in then it's got to be wired","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":172.08,"end_s":177.48,"text":"up to a VGA pass-through at the back of the chassis then these two cables are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.099,"end_s":183.36,"text":"wired up to the back for a feature called swap lock that allows more than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":180.239,"end_s":187.019,"text":"one of these than twenty thousand dollar","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":183.36,"end_s":188.94,"text":"machines to be utilized at once the rest","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":187.019,"end_s":192.959,"text":"of these specs are high end even if relatively mundane we've got dual","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.8,"end_s":198.9,"text":"Pentium 3500 megahertz processors what appears to be an Intel first party","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.3,"end_s":201.06,"text":"extended motherboard a mere 425 watt","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.9,"end_s":205.86,"text":"power supply from the legendary PC power and cooling we've got 256 Megs of RAM a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":204.0,"end_s":211.019,"text":"gigantic sound card that's as big as some gpus today and then a ton of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":208.739,"end_s":215.76,"text":"cooling is especially for the time dual 92 millimeter fans and then a couple","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":213.42,"end_s":220.56,"text":"more 80 mils that blow directly down onto the heatsinks over the gpus with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":217.92,"end_s":223.459,"text":"this what looks very handmade shroud let's fire it up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.68,"end_s":226.68,"text":"oh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":226.799,"end_s":233.22,"text":"this is part of the simulator experience it needs to sound like it's taking off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":231.299,"end_s":237.0,"text":"wait there's no event for those 80 millimeter fans","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":235.379,"end_s":242.819,"text":"they're just yeah it's got enough spacing in there for just okay all right","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.239,"end_s":246.659,"text":"Windows NT let's go we have a few options for things we can run we could","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.62,"end_s":249.959,"text":"play games on it which obviously is the first thing I would have done if I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":247.92,"end_s":252.959,"text":"worked at a military installation in one of these showtimes how fast does it run","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":251.7,"end_s":256.739,"text":"halfway but we actually also have some simulator","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":255.12,"end_s":262.139,"text":"software cool it's so weird seeing a Sierra","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":258.78,"end_s":264.54,"text":"splash screen when you fire up half-life","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":262.139,"end_s":273.8,"text":"you mean valve right right about okay all the geometry what the what that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":269.58,"end_s":276.419,"text":"stop stop buddy check out the pixelation","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.8,"end_s":281.34,"text":"whoa the first thing I noticed was that compared to the voodoo 5 6000 the frame","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.82,"end_s":287.46,"text":"rate is obviously lower what I didn't think to look at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":282.9,"end_s":292.08,"text":"is house move it is what the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.46,"end_s":294.36,"text":"this was possible in 1999","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":292.08,"end_s":299.4,"text":"I think that's functionally 16 times anti-aliasing this looks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":297.3,"end_s":303.0,"text":"modern cleaner than modern","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":301.259,"end_s":309.0,"text":"it looks like a much higher resolution than it is that is wild","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.479,"end_s":313.62,"text":"like I'm specifically going out of my way to put these straight lines at just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":311.82,"end_s":318.06,"text":"you know ever so slight an angle so that I can see the stairs","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.3,"end_s":322.38,"text":"it's just not there it really makes the crappy old texture stand out doesn't it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":319.979,"end_s":327.479,"text":"oh yeah like if this had the horsepower to run modern games with modern","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":324.419,"end_s":329.72,"text":"resolution textures it would look so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":327.479,"end_s":329.72,"text":"good","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":330.5,"end_s":333.5,"text":"blah blah","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":334.139,"end_s":340.62,"text":"blah blah got him it's Hardware level anti-aliasing okay that's pretty wild I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.18,"end_s":344.759,"text":"think I do kind of need to see it without the hardware anti-aliasing then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":342.96,"end_s":349.8,"text":"okay so how do you uh is that something you can change while the game is running","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.32,"end_s":352.74,"text":"yes oh no way yeah so no wait wait what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.8,"end_s":357.6,"text":"so this is a Medusa cable uh-huh so it's got a 26 spin guy here two bgas so what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.1,"end_s":363.24,"text":"we're gonna do is we're gonna bypass this by just plugging into one of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":360.3,"end_s":368.94,"text":"boards individually so in this case each board is a dual GPU GPU and the other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":366.84,"end_s":374.1,"text":"three boards are just contributing to more anti-aliasing correct yeah so the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":372.12,"end_s":378.6,"text":"bridge is basically combining the image it's basically four instances of voodoo","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":376.44,"end_s":385.44,"text":"to SLI okay basically what it is so I'll get the same FPS correct but it'll look","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.02,"end_s":387.36,"text":"like crap exactly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":385.44,"end_s":394.74,"text":"we're both going pretty much the same place slightly different stages I can confirm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.8,"end_s":399.72,"text":"anti-aliasing no longer working now it still looks smoother than it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":396.96,"end_s":404.46,"text":"would on an LCD just because CRTs have they're not really pixels they're more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":402.0,"end_s":408.12,"text":"like dots so they're they're not squared at the edges","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":405.6,"end_s":412.86,"text":"but you can really see the difference here oh look especially on objects that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":411.06,"end_s":417.96,"text":"are farther away where the level of detail is lower like those picture","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":414.3,"end_s":419.759,"text":"frames yeah that's a big yikes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":417.96,"end_s":425.16,"text":"and the shimmering as I'm moving back and forth that is a big difference not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.78,"end_s":429.9,"text":"the kind of difference the average home user would pay for but a difference","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.44,"end_s":434.18,"text":"nonetheless let's try some simulation stuff it's a non-interactive right I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.419,"end_s":438.8,"text":"guess I wouldn't have whatever control cockpit they would use for something","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":436.259,"end_s":438.8,"text":"like this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":440.039,"end_s":443.539,"text":"and that is smooth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":443.639,"end_s":450.3,"text":"60fps in 1999","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":447.84,"end_s":455.759,"text":"that's the thing we got to remember hold on I'm not I'm not done I'm not done","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":452.639,"end_s":458.9,"text":"checking out how smooth the terrain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":455.759,"end_s":461.52,"text":"looks like yeah we're seeing that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":458.9,"end_s":467.039,"text":"whether that's like a frame pacing issue or whether that's just a vsync issue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":465.24,"end_s":472.5,"text":"isn't it pretty incredible how well the AAA Works in this thing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":468.74,"end_s":474.96,"text":"anti-aliasing is unreal","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":472.5,"end_s":478.44,"text":"like look at these particle effects like yeah they're not amazing or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":476.94,"end_s":482.639,"text":"whatever but they exist","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":481.02,"end_s":488.22,"text":"there's just no other way to put it this machine is mind-blowing but what's most","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":485.759,"end_s":493.979,"text":"mind-blowing about it at least to me is that the maker of the brick Quantum 3D","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":490.74,"end_s":495.9,"text":"still exists as a producer of simulation","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":493.979,"end_s":499.62,"text":"hardware and software if you remember the Evans and Sutherland Sim Fusion card","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":498.24,"end_s":502.86,"text":"that we looked at a couple of years ago these guys probably would have been in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":501.479,"end_s":509.58,"text":"competition with that at some point going back to the days of the brick though they sometimes sold enhanced","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":506.759,"end_s":514.979,"text":"versions of 3dfx's single GPU cards to enthusiasts with extras like additional","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":512.52,"end_s":519.0,"text":"video memory and texture units but their main business was to act as 3dfx's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":517.02,"end_s":523.2,"text":"arcade and simulation division until they were spun off as their own company","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":520.5,"end_s":527.339,"text":"in 1997. with that history it makes a lot of sense that they had the know-how","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.7,"end_s":532.14,"text":"to create Exotic Solutions like these out of voodoo gpus the first known use","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":529.98,"end_s":537.24,"text":"of a Quantum 3D card was Ice Home Run Derby in 1996 and a lot of high-profile","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":535.32,"end_s":541.8,"text":"games like San Francisco Rush would go on to use them too these were not cheap","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":539.64,"end_s":546.72,"text":"solutions ending up insist is costing anywhere from over a thousand to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":544.019,"end_s":550.44,"text":"thousands to in excess of ten thousand dollars but while it would have been","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":548.58,"end_s":554.58,"text":"Unthinkable for a home user to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":552.36,"end_s":559.62,"text":"gaming device at the time at the high end Quantum 3DS devices were used for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":556.74,"end_s":563.58,"text":"military simulation and even down at the low end they could be expected to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":561.06,"end_s":566.94,"text":"deliver tens of thousands of dollars of revenue for their owners quarter by","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":565.2,"end_s":571.56,"text":"quarter over the lifetime of the machine and it's that lifetime that was one of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":569.58,"end_s":576.899,"text":"their big advantages because before Quantum 3D it was quite common for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":573.839,"end_s":580.08,"text":"arcade games to use bespoke Hardware or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":576.899,"end_s":582.72,"text":"at best a platform like the Neo Geo by","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.08,"end_s":587.22,"text":"comparison Quantum 3DS platform was more or less a PC in all but form factor","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":585.06,"end_s":591.42,"text":"which made changing over to a new game even one that requires a hardware","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":588.959,"end_s":595.92,"text":"upgrade much simpler and more cost effective than it had been in the past","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":592.86,"end_s":598.74,"text":"often game data was even stored on a bog","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":595.92,"end_s":603.3,"text":"standard IDE hard drive and because the Glide API that the gpus ran on was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":600.899,"end_s":609.24,"text":"readily available and had a similar syntax to opengl games were much easier","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":606.3,"end_s":613.26,"text":"to prototype and develop then as now the hardware is only part of the battle and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":611.339,"end_s":617.16,"text":"the real work is in making it easier for developers to get the most out of it and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":615.18,"end_s":621.54,"text":"get the most out of it they did the additional power on tap from Quantum 3D","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":619.5,"end_s":627.66,"text":"cards could be used in one of two ways either as a traditional SLI setup where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":624.54,"end_s":630.12,"text":"the additional GPU or gpus could be used","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":627.66,"end_s":634.14,"text":"to push resolutions or frame rates higher than they would be able to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":631.44,"end_s":639.74,"text":"otherwise or as was common in the simulator space to have multiple cards","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":636.6,"end_s":642.24,"text":"generate the same image but with rotated","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":639.74,"end_s":646.44,"text":"anti-aliasing patterns this was a way for them to Output ridiculously smooth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":644.22,"end_s":650.399,"text":"Graphics in the absence of resolution that was high enough to prevent aliasing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":648.3,"end_s":655.26,"text":"that is how the Mercury brick would have been used and this was actually very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":652.86,"end_s":660.24,"text":"important because in a simulator hard pixel edges can be very distracting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":657.36,"end_s":666.42,"text":"unlike our new circuit desk pad on LTT Store stealthy AF now of course with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":663.48,"end_s":670.74,"text":"demise of 3dfx came the demise of SLI as the world knew it then but that didn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":668.459,"end_s":674.399,"text":"mean that companies like Quantum 3D and Evans in Sutherland were left without","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":672.3,"end_s":678.839,"text":"Hardware to sell multi-GPU development was seen as essential in the Sim Space","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":676.68,"end_s":683.16,"text":"and continued in Earnest even while there wasn't yet an official way to make","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":680.82,"end_s":688.14,"text":"it work for major players be they NVIDIA or ATI in fact Alienware even had a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":686.459,"end_s":692.94,"text":"project in the works to run multiple gpus before New Age SLI and Crossfire","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":691.26,"end_s":697.26,"text":"came along when those Technologies finally hit the scene though multi-GPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":695.04,"end_s":700.8,"text":"came back to the masses in a big way with some very interesting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":698.579,"end_s":705.839,"text":"implementations early Crossfire for example required a master GPU that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":703.98,"end_s":710.22,"text":"stitched together the output from multiple gpus rendering different parts","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":708.12,"end_s":714.18,"text":"of the scene with an external dongle this method is called split frame","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":712.14,"end_s":718.5,"text":"rendering and is similar in concept to how old school SLI used to work it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":716.7,"end_s":723.0,"text":"wasn't ideal though even aside from the hardware complexity this setup limited","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":720.54,"end_s":726.66,"text":"the maximum resolution there was also software Crossfire at the time which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":724.8,"end_s":731.579,"text":"allowed dongle free operation directly over the PCI Express bus but PCIe wasn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":729.899,"end_s":736.74,"text":"as fast then as it is now and it was only really suitable for low end gpus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":733.68,"end_s":738.839,"text":"newage SLI and Crossfire X meanwhile","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":736.74,"end_s":743.579,"text":"used Bridges between the Cards themselves which is actually quite","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":740.94,"end_s":747.959,"text":"similar to 3dfx's SLI the difference though was that rather than stitching","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":745.62,"end_s":752.16,"text":"together scan lines or quadrants of the screen the cards could communicate with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":749.76,"end_s":757.44,"text":"each other over the bridge and divide up their work by each rendering alternating","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":754.38,"end_s":760.92,"text":"frames leading to you guessed it a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":757.44,"end_s":764.579,"text":"return to multi-GPU cards like the GTX","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":760.92,"end_s":766.68,"text":"590 and Radeon 6990 even three-way and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":764.579,"end_s":771.36,"text":"4-way configurations were possible using multiple Bridges these setups were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":768.839,"end_s":775.44,"text":"gargantuan and power hungry but they represented the best performance you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":772.98,"end_s":779.459,"text":"could get at the time and unlike in the past they were available to the general","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":777.18,"end_s":783.66,"text":"consumer now while it's obviously simpler to implement the alternate frame","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":781.8,"end_s":787.74,"text":"rendering approach unfortunately led to the micro stuttering that we became","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":785.279,"end_s":792.48,"text":"familiar with in the 2010s since each GPU might complete its frame in a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":790.2,"end_s":796.26,"text":"slightly different amount of time the pacing of frame delivery could be all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":794.399,"end_s":800.94,"text":"over the place resulting in impressive benchmarks but a really poor gaming","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":798.66,"end_s":804.839,"text":"experience some attempts were made to smooth out frame delivery NVIDIA for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":803.1,"end_s":808.2,"text":"example released a high bandwidth version of the SLI bridge that allowed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":806.579,"end_s":812.82,"text":"the cards to communicate more quickly but it just wasn't able to keep up with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":810.66,"end_s":816.899,"text":"advancements in monitor technology both in terms of resolution and refresh rate","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":815.279,"end_s":822.6,"text":"these Niche projects were taking considerable resources from both AMD and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":819.779,"end_s":826.139,"text":"NVIDIA that along with tepid enthusiasm from game developers who really prefer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":824.399,"end_s":831.0,"text":"to Target the lowest common denominator ultimately led to the demise of consumer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":828.839,"end_s":835.139,"text":"multi-GPU it's not that NVIDIA gave up without a fight though they actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":832.62,"end_s":839.1,"text":"quietly made an attempt to resurrect SLI in the RTX 2000 generation when they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":837.42,"end_s":843.12,"text":"explored checkerboard frame rendering unlike split frame rendering we which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":841.079,"end_s":847.92,"text":"would have both gpus contributing to each displayed frame but would often","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":845.279,"end_s":852.839,"text":"have an ugly scene down the middle CFR would divide the frame into small chunks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":850.26,"end_s":857.339,"text":"for each card to render then composite the result into a single image in theory","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":855.72,"end_s":861.6,"text":"it could have been the best of all worlds and even avoid NVIDIA having to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":859.68,"end_s":867.12,"text":"specifically optimize a given game for multi-GPU but they ultimately abandoned","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":864.899,"end_s":871.019,"text":"it for a few reasons first the processing overhead was significant","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":868.86,"end_s":876.48,"text":"which could increase latency and second DirectX 12's explicit multi-GPU model","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":874.139,"end_s":881.16,"text":"showed up around that time which handed multi-GPU control over to the game","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":878.519,"end_s":885.899,"text":"developer entirely offloading it from the driver which game developers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":883.079,"end_s":891.12,"text":"obviously haven't done anything with but that doesn't mean the multi-GPU dream is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":888.12,"end_s":893.639,"text":"dead and of all people it's Apple","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":891.12,"end_s":899.699,"text":"showing us the way you see the M1 series of socs has far more in common with our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":896.94,"end_s":903.0,"text":"Quantum 3D brick than meets the eye have a look at these die shots and you'll see","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":901.139,"end_s":908.639,"text":"what I mean we could think of each of these GPU core blocks on the M1 Pro as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":905.88,"end_s":913.139,"text":"similar to the GPU chips on our brick with a fast enough interconnect they can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":911.04,"end_s":918.42,"text":"act as one to render a single output like we see in the M1 Max but then okay","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":916.68,"end_s":923.279,"text":"nothing that we're looking at here is really multi-GPU it's just a bigger","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":921.66,"end_s":927.959,"text":"single die GPU it's only when we move to the M1 Ultra","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":925.56,"end_s":935.1,"text":"that things get really interesting you see the 64 core GPU in the M1 Ultra acts","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":932.399,"end_s":940.32,"text":"for all intents and purposes like a single die solution but Apple disclosed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":938.04,"end_s":944.22,"text":"in their launch event that is actually a dual die design that uses a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":942.54,"end_s":952.26,"text":"game-changing packaging solution that they call Ultra Fusion so it's two gpus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":947.42,"end_s":954.42,"text":"acting as one it's SLI but with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":952.26,"end_s":959.399,"text":"absolutely none of the downsides how on Earth did they do it well you see the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":956.76,"end_s":964.86,"text":"problem has always been the interconnect speed see traditionally once you go off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":962.519,"end_s":969.12,"text":"a single die your bandwidth drops dramatically that's why NVIDIA couldn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":966.899,"end_s":974.699,"text":"achieve vram coherency across multiple cards via their SLI Bridges the links","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":971.76,"end_s":978.839,"text":"were just too slow it's also why tricks like split frame or alternate frame","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":976.98,"end_s":983.76,"text":"rendering have always been necessary they couldn't just pull together the GPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":981.839,"end_s":988.44,"text":"resources because the left hand would have no idea what the right hand was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":985.26,"end_s":991.56,"text":"doing in real time but Apple did it and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":988.44,"end_s":993.899,"text":"both AMD and NVIDIA have also talked","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":991.56,"end_s":999.12,"text":"publicly about the possibility of future GPU designs that use multiple chiplets","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":996.839,"end_s":1004.339,"text":"with high-speed interconnects in order to economically scale performance it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1001.82,"end_s":1010.94,"text":"coming back baby but how does this factor in well the thing is back in 1998","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1007.759,"end_s":1013.94,"text":"the bandwidth requirements for inter-GPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1010.94,"end_s":1016.279,"text":"communication weren't as high so your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1013.94,"end_s":1020.24,"text":"Ultra Fusion interface could look a lot more like this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1018.56,"end_s":1023.66,"text":"it's really funny isn't it how the more things change the more they stay the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1021.86,"end_s":1028.76,"text":"same just like I always do the same segue to our sponsor vessi it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1026.839,"end_s":1032.0,"text":"springtime which means rain can still show up and ruin your day like an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1030.439,"end_s":1036.1,"text":"annoying neighbor but that's fine because hello we have Bessie shoes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1033.86,"end_s":1041.36,"text":"Bessie claims their shoes are 100 waterproof so we can go step into as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1038.6,"end_s":1045.26,"text":"many puddles as we want they're dymatex technology keeps their shoes light and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1043.28,"end_s":1049.22,"text":"breathable while still being stretchy and comfortable also all of their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1047.24,"end_s":1053.059,"text":"products are vegan and cruelty free maybe you're planning a trip to get away","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1051.26,"end_s":1057.5,"text":"from some of this miserable weather don't forget to pack a pair of essies","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1055.16,"end_s":1062.299,"text":"their stretchiness means they can easily pack into your luggage or carry-on rain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1059.96,"end_s":1068.24,"text":"or shine here or there it's always a great occasion to wear a pair of vessies","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1063.98,"end_s":1070.4,"text":"mon frere go to vesi.com Linus Tech tips","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1068.24,"end_s":1074.419,"text":"and get 15 off your purchase with code Linus Tech tips if you guys enjoyed this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1072.919,"end_s":1080.179,"text":"video go check out our coverage of the Evans and Sutherlands Sim Fusion 6500","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1077.12,"end_s":1084.1,"text":"Cube for more multi-GPU Madness that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1080.179,"end_s":1084.1,"text":"thing is really cool","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"what gets FPS gpus what gets more FPS more gpus obviously everybody thinks so and manufacturers have been working on this technology since the late 90s so then what the heck happened to it I'm gonna let you know a little secret come here hide future now that might seem like a bold prediction given that NVIDIA just completely removes the multi-GPU links from their latest generation even on the premium workstation cards but there is a clear course set for better performance through multi-GPU Graphics Solutions and the most bizarre part is that it's Apple who ultimately did it to properly see where we're going sometimes we have to visit the past which is why we got our hands on this legendary piece of Kit the quantum 3D Mercury brick is an 8 GPU design from 25 years ago that has a lot more in common with your future gaming rig than you probably realize like you realize I'm about to tell you about our sponsor zoho1 unify all your business processes into one comprehensive platform and improve productivity with Zoho one you can lay all concerns about integration and compatibility to rest follow the link below for a free 30-day trial Our Story begins today with the quantum 3D obsidian 100sb-440v that Ross tregamba thoughtfully brought along when we shot our Voodoo 5 6000 video the name might not sound like much but it's a great example of something that the original 3dfx Voodoo one was capable of even if it rarely did it dual GPU operation in this case on a single board now these ones were intended for desktop PCS but the primary purpose of cards like this was to drive arcade machines more on that later because first I want to talk about the brick this extremely rare piece of computing history uses a four card setup with each card equipped with two Voodoo 2 gpus that is eight gpus running all together on the same workload now I know what you're thinking that looks like it would have a tough time fitting in a PC that also needs dedicated cards for sound networking and yes 2D Graphics to run the desktop because the voodoo 2 was 3D only and you'd be right about that but again more on that later for now it's time to see this thing in action I was going to be the one to install the brick in this simulator chassis from 1999 but understandably the owner didn't trust me to do it without dropping it so um I didn't but we've got some b-roll of how it goes in it's wild I mean all four cards need to go into their own PCI slots then it's got to be wired up to a VGA out and in then it's got to be wired up to a VGA pass-through at the back of the chassis then these two cables are wired up to the back for a feature called swap lock that allows more than one of these than twenty thousand dollar machines to be utilized at once the rest of these specs are high end even if relatively mundane we've got dual Pentium 3500 megahertz processors what appears to be an Intel first party extended motherboard a mere 425 watt power supply from the legendary PC power and cooling we've got 256 Megs of RAM a gigantic sound card that's as big as some gpus today and then a ton of cooling is especially for the time dual 92 millimeter fans and then a couple more 80 mils that blow directly down onto the heatsinks over the gpus with this what looks very handmade shroud let's fire it up oh this is part of the simulator experience it needs to sound like it's taking off wait there's no event for those 80 millimeter fans they're just yeah it's got enough spacing in there for just okay all right Windows NT let's go we have a few options for things we can run we could play games on it which obviously is the first thing I would have done if I worked at a military installation in one of these showtimes how fast does it run halfway but we actually also have some simulator software cool it's so weird seeing a Sierra splash screen when you fire up half-life you mean valve right right about okay all the geometry what the what that stop stop buddy check out the pixelation whoa the first thing I noticed was that compared to the voodoo 5 6000 the frame rate is obviously lower what I didn't think to look at is house move it is what the this was possible in 1999 I think that's functionally 16 times anti-aliasing this looks modern cleaner than modern it looks like a much higher resolution than it is that is wild like I'm specifically going out of my way to put these straight lines at just you know ever so slight an angle so that I can see the stairs it's just not there it really makes the crappy old texture stand out doesn't it oh yeah like if this had the horsepower to run modern games with modern resolution textures it would look so good blah blah blah blah got him it's Hardware level anti-aliasing okay that's pretty wild I think I do kind of need to see it without the hardware anti-aliasing then okay so how do you uh is that something you can change while the game is running yes oh no way yeah so no wait wait what so this is a Medusa cable uh-huh so it's got a 26 spin guy here two bgas so what we're gonna do is we're gonna bypass this by just plugging into one of the boards individually so in this case each board is a dual GPU GPU and the other three boards are just contributing to more anti-aliasing correct yeah so the bridge is basically combining the image it's basically four instances of voodoo to SLI okay basically what it is so I'll get the same FPS correct but it'll look like crap exactly we're both going pretty much the same place slightly different stages I can confirm anti-aliasing no longer working now it still looks smoother than it would on an LCD just because CRTs have they're not really pixels they're more like dots so they're they're not squared at the edges but you can really see the difference here oh look especially on objects that are farther away where the level of detail is lower like those picture frames yeah that's a big yikes and the shimmering as I'm moving back and forth that is a big difference not the kind of difference the average home user would pay for but a difference nonetheless let's try some simulation stuff it's a non-interactive right I guess I wouldn't have whatever control cockpit they would use for something like this and that is smooth 60fps in 1999 that's the thing we got to remember hold on I'm not I'm not done I'm not done checking out how smooth the terrain looks like yeah we're seeing that whether that's like a frame pacing issue or whether that's just a vsync issue isn't it pretty incredible how well the AAA Works in this thing anti-aliasing is unreal like look at these particle effects like yeah they're not amazing or whatever but they exist there's just no other way to put it this machine is mind-blowing but what's most mind-blowing about it at least to me is that the maker of the brick Quantum 3D still exists as a producer of simulation hardware and software if you remember the Evans and Sutherland Sim Fusion card that we looked at a couple of years ago these guys probably would have been in competition with that at some point going back to the days of the brick though they sometimes sold enhanced versions of 3dfx's single GPU cards to enthusiasts with extras like additional video memory and texture units but their main business was to act as 3dfx's arcade and simulation division until they were spun off as their own company in 1997. with that history it makes a lot of sense that they had the know-how to create Exotic Solutions like these out of voodoo gpus the first known use of a Quantum 3D card was Ice Home Run Derby in 1996 and a lot of high-profile games like San Francisco Rush would go on to use them too these were not cheap solutions ending up insist is costing anywhere from over a thousand to thousands to in excess of ten thousand dollars but while it would have been Unthinkable for a home user to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a gaming device at the time at the high end Quantum 3DS devices were used for military simulation and even down at the low end they could be expected to deliver tens of thousands of dollars of revenue for their owners quarter by quarter over the lifetime of the machine and it's that lifetime that was one of their big advantages because before Quantum 3D it was quite common for arcade games to use bespoke Hardware or at best a platform like the Neo Geo by comparison Quantum 3DS platform was more or less a PC in all but form factor which made changing over to a new game even one that requires a hardware upgrade much simpler and more cost effective than it had been in the past often game data was even stored on a bog standard IDE hard drive and because the Glide API that the gpus ran on was readily available and had a similar syntax to opengl games were much easier to prototype and develop then as now the hardware is only part of the battle and the real work is in making it easier for developers to get the most out of it and get the most out of it they did the additional power on tap from Quantum 3D cards could be used in one of two ways either as a traditional SLI setup where the additional GPU or gpus could be used to push resolutions or frame rates higher than they would be able to otherwise or as was common in the simulator space to have multiple cards generate the same image but with rotated anti-aliasing patterns this was a way for them to Output ridiculously smooth Graphics in the absence of resolution that was high enough to prevent aliasing that is how the Mercury brick would have been used and this was actually very important because in a simulator hard pixel edges can be very distracting unlike our new circuit desk pad on LTT Store stealthy AF now of course with the demise of 3dfx came the demise of SLI as the world knew it then but that didn't mean that companies like Quantum 3D and Evans in Sutherland were left without Hardware to sell multi-GPU development was seen as essential in the Sim Space and continued in Earnest even while there wasn't yet an official way to make it work for major players be they NVIDIA or ATI in fact Alienware even had a project in the works to run multiple gpus before New Age SLI and Crossfire came along when those Technologies finally hit the scene though multi-GPU came back to the masses in a big way with some very interesting implementations early Crossfire for example required a master GPU that stitched together the output from multiple gpus rendering different parts of the scene with an external dongle this method is called split frame rendering and is similar in concept to how old school SLI used to work it wasn't ideal though even aside from the hardware complexity this setup limited the maximum resolution there was also software Crossfire at the time which allowed dongle free operation directly over the PCI Express bus but PCIe wasn't as fast then as it is now and it was only really suitable for low end gpus newage SLI and Crossfire X meanwhile used Bridges between the Cards themselves which is actually quite similar to 3dfx's SLI the difference though was that rather than stitching together scan lines or quadrants of the screen the cards could communicate with each other over the bridge and divide up their work by each rendering alternating frames leading to you guessed it a return to multi-GPU cards like the GTX 590 and Radeon 6990 even three-way and 4-way configurations were possible using multiple Bridges these setups were gargantuan and power hungry but they represented the best performance you could get at the time and unlike in the past they were available to the general consumer now while it's obviously simpler to implement the alternate frame rendering approach unfortunately led to the micro stuttering that we became familiar with in the 2010s since each GPU might complete its frame in a slightly different amount of time the pacing of frame delivery could be all over the place resulting in impressive benchmarks but a really poor gaming experience some attempts were made to smooth out frame delivery NVIDIA for example released a high bandwidth version of the SLI bridge that allowed the cards to communicate more quickly but it just wasn't able to keep up with advancements in monitor technology both in terms of resolution and refresh rate these Niche projects were taking considerable resources from both AMD and NVIDIA that along with tepid enthusiasm from game developers who really prefer to Target the lowest common denominator ultimately led to the demise of consumer multi-GPU it's not that NVIDIA gave up without a fight though they actually quietly made an attempt to resurrect SLI in the RTX 2000 generation when they explored checkerboard frame rendering unlike split frame rendering we which would have both gpus contributing to each displayed frame but would often have an ugly scene down the middle CFR would divide the frame into small chunks for each card to render then composite the result into a single image in theory it could have been the best of all worlds and even avoid NVIDIA having to specifically optimize a given game for multi-GPU but they ultimately abandoned it for a few reasons first the processing overhead was significant which could increase latency and second DirectX 12's explicit multi-GPU model showed up around that time which handed multi-GPU control over to the game developer entirely offloading it from the driver which game developers obviously haven't done anything with but that doesn't mean the multi-GPU dream is dead and of all people it's Apple showing us the way you see the M1 series of socs has far more in common with our Quantum 3D brick than meets the eye have a look at these die shots and you'll see what I mean we could think of each of these GPU core blocks on the M1 Pro as similar to the GPU chips on our brick with a fast enough interconnect they can act as one to render a single output like we see in the M1 Max but then okay nothing that we're looking at here is really multi-GPU it's just a bigger single die GPU it's only when we move to the M1 Ultra that things get really interesting you see the 64 core GPU in the M1 Ultra acts for all intents and purposes like a single die solution but Apple disclosed in their launch event that is actually a dual die design that uses a game-changing packaging solution that they call Ultra Fusion so it's two gpus acting as one it's SLI but with absolutely none of the downsides how on Earth did they do it well you see the problem has always been the interconnect speed see traditionally once you go off a single die your bandwidth drops dramatically that's why NVIDIA couldn't achieve vram coherency across multiple cards via their SLI Bridges the links were just too slow it's also why tricks like split frame or alternate frame rendering have always been necessary they couldn't just pull together the GPU resources because the left hand would have no idea what the right hand was doing in real time but Apple did it and both AMD and NVIDIA have also talked publicly about the possibility of future GPU designs that use multiple chiplets with high-speed interconnects in order to economically scale performance it's coming back baby but how does this factor in well the thing is back in 1998 the bandwidth requirements for inter-GPU communication weren't as high so your Ultra Fusion interface could look a lot more like this it's really funny isn't it how the more things change the more they stay the same just like I always do the same segue to our sponsor vessi it's springtime which means rain can still show up and ruin your day like an annoying neighbor but that's fine because hello we have Bessie shoes Bessie claims their shoes are 100 waterproof so we can go step into as many puddles as we want they're dymatex technology keeps their shoes light and breathable while still being stretchy and comfortable also all of their products are vegan and cruelty free maybe you're planning a trip to get away from some of this miserable weather don't forget to pack a pair of essies their stretchiness means they can easily pack into your luggage or carry-on rain or shine here or there it's always a great occasion to wear a pair of vessies mon frere go to vesi.com Linus Tech tips and get 15 off your purchase with code Linus Tech tips if you guys enjoyed this video go check out our coverage of the Evans and Sutherlands Sim Fusion 6500 Cube for more multi-GPU Madness that thing is really cool"}